Event Marketing

A huge sum of money is spent on event marketing every year - an estimated $166 billion in 2004 alone. Event marketing venues include: seminars, workshops, street festivals, charity events, sports competitions, tradeshows and any other event that takes place in order to promote a product or service to as many consumers as possible. As most of these events can be extremely costly to stage, the marketing professional or business owner should carefully plan all aspects of a proposed event.

Research Potential Events
Anyone put in charge of planning a marketing event should examine the venue options available and carefully weigh those against the existing event marketing budget. A low-cost event, such as a sponsored seminar or workshop, may be the best option for a small business with a limited budget. However, participating in more expensive venues (street festivals, tradeshows, etc.) may be affordable for the smaller business if sponsorship is shared by several companies.

Plan the Event
If the marketing event is a small, inexpensive venture, then outside help may not be necessary. If the event planner is inexperienced, then he or she may want to spend some time investigating the ways in which similar events are run by the competition. He or she can then see, firsthand, what seems to work and what doesn't.

If, on the other hand, the event is a large one, then hiring a professional event marketing company to plan and run the event may be the most prudent option. There are numerous behind-the scenes tasks that go into running a large event (i.e. equipment rental, contact with city officials, event security, talent coordination, transportation, etc.) and only someone with relevant experience will be able to smoothly run the entire show.

Market the Event
Obviously, the most important event marketing strategy is to somehow entice potential consumers to get excited about the event and attend it. Word of mouth advertising may work for small events, but utilization of radio spots, television commercials, and print advertising should be seriously considered for the larger event.