Without further ado, here’s our 10 step guide to step up your event marketing strategy in 2020:

1. Seek Out New Venues

Although you can’t bid farewell to traditional venues, seek out new venues that cut out the boring factor of the same old conference rooms and auditoriums. Seek out non-traditional spaces such as gardens, warehouses, rooftops, museums, art galleries, and co-working spaces. Anything that gives your attendees more time to network with each other and elevate the bonding experience. This doesn’t mean that you cross off the regular venues on your list. You just need to drape it better in terms of styling and decor. You could pick up a few pointers from our piece on Designing The Ultimate Event Experience. 

2. Partnered Events 

Partnering with local businesses or sponsors that tie in with your event is a marketing match made in heaven. Maybe your music festival could amplify it’s brand awareness and impact by partnering up with that world-renowned brewery. Your event marketing campaigns gain more speed and weight when marketed through your sponsor’s channels. Maybe partner up with an event ticketing platform like Yapsody as well? Just saying…

3. Event Website Persona  

Your event attendees should get an instant feel and grasp of what your event will turn out to be. Don’t leave anything to their imagination except for a teaser that makes them grab your early bird tickets ASAP. This is where your event website persona plays a trump card in selling out the first phase of event tickets. 

With our Online Ticket Store, event marketers can brand and customize every element present of their ticket store. Apart from getting a personal subdomain, you get the option to customize your event ticket as well. Brand it with your logo and tease the upcoming events on the ticket itself to create a strong brand recall.  

4. Map Your Attendee Journey

Once you understand attendee personas, you need to map out their journey on your website and social media channels. There are multiple touchpoints for you to leverage – your event website, emailers, registration process, event check-in process, event perks and so on. What makes them click is the answer to win their hearts. Many of your events were mind-blowing but few fizzled out. You need to dig deep into insights and reports to check why that happened. With our Insightful Reporting, peak into your Event Sales report and Consolidated Inventory reports to plan better next time. 

5. Create Content Buckets 

Pillar your content based on different venues and types of attendees. Attendees for a seminar or conference might prefer podcasts and interviews from the keynote speaker. Similarly, for clubs and casino attendees, make them guess your next headliner act by putting up music playlists. Even if they don’t guess it right, you’ll understand which other artists they’d want to see live. We’d suggest you keep it topical and use hashtags to show up in trending searches. 

6. Event Marketing Frequency

Now that you’ve figured out your content, you need to actually schedule them in a manner that would garner maximum reach and shareability. Are your event attendees most likely to DM your Instagram post to their friends on a weekend or a weekday? Your event marketing frequency should match your audience’s browsing patterns. Stop posting randomly to avoid random results. You might want to look at our Event Marketing Services that have strategically increased revenue for many entertainment enterprises.

7. Live Streaming 

Your event attendees booked early bird tickets but unfortunately got stuck in a meeting on the D-Day. With live streaming, you’re giving them an opportunity to be a part of your event experience through different platforms. Instagram is a favorite among event marketers due to its innovative features and popularity. Divide your live streaming into pre-event, event, and post-event to keep them hooked. You can also save the stream on your camera roll which can be used in an after movie as well. 

8. Utilize the Power of Video

2019 was dominated by video content and shows no signs of stopping. Blogs and emailers are great for the initial pre-buzz marketing. Content in a video format seals that deal for many event presenters. A 30-second teaser is great for grabbing eyeballs and generating leads across multiple social media platforms. A video montage of your past events, if done well, refreshes memories of your attendees and works as a magnet for new audiences. Invest in a production crew that understands your vision.  

9. Turn Event Attendees Into Event Marketers 

Just how you’d turn your event partners into marketers, turn your event attendees into live event marketers. Maybe a contest or a giveaway to up the ante and create a competitive aura works well. Hook them with a catchy hashtag, design a great event, and let their Instagram stories do the marketing. User-generated content is organic traffic that is a true test for your event success. Your brand’s notification page blowing up with tagged pictures will be a worthy reward for any event presenter. 

10. Use Feedback and Survey Data 

After everything is done and dusted, you still need to gather post-event data. Give your audiences a tool to voice their opinions. Some might rant out their frustration of being held up at the queue for too long while some might give you a genuine piece of feedback that will change the game for you. Watch out for that tidbit that will elevate your attendee experience for future events. Maybe after a week or so, ask your attendees all the right questions through our Questionnaires and Surveys feature that will help you create easy to answer logic-based questionnaires. 

We hope this 10-step guide helps you step up your event marketing strategy in 2020. If you’re a new event organizer on the block, Sign Up with Yapsody to create, promote, and sell event tickets online. 

For more event industry insights in 2020, subscribe to our blog.

The post Step Up Your Event Marketing Strategy in 2020 appeared first on Yapsody.

As an event ticketing platform assisting presenters & hospitality enterprises all over the world, we have analyzed every possible dimension of successful and not so successful events. Here’s Yapsody’s 10 step guide on designing the ultimate event experience. 

1. Be Clear on your Event Objectives

The most successful events we witness in terms of selling out tickets and drawing more footfalls are those whose organizers have a clear picture of their event objectives. Your event goals are the purpose of your event – to party, to celebrate, to educate, or to persuade. Narrow down these event objectives and check if they are relevant, achievable, and measurable within the designated time-frame. Once you figure them out, every other process falls into place. 

2. Delegate Tasks Equally

Whether your event is big or small, your team members should be firing on all cylinders. They should be clearly aligned with your event marketing strategy and their role in achieving them. While creating an event on our ticketing platform, you can assign tasks to your members equally through our User Management System. So, if one member needs to manage the Ticket Pricing and the other needs to integrate Event Marketing Tools, they don’t need to depend on one single person handling the dashboard.  

3. Map Out Your Event Venue

An event venue can make or break your reputation. Imagine an outdoor event planned during the monsoons without having a contingency plan of moving indoors. Similarly, mapping out the event venue will help you arrange the entry, seating,  standing, dining, and exit points. Ask for a seating chart from the venue owner which will help you assign different price points for different seating sections. 

4. Make Your Sections Easily Navigable

Imagine a music festival with attendees from all over the world. Not only do you need to surpass the language barrier, but also make sure all the sections of your events are easily navigable through simple signs or instructions. Position the food, bar, and smoking sections easily accessible from the main stage.

Easy access to these counters + reasonable pricing = More revenue. 

At no point during the event should your attendee feel a disconnect from the event experience. Also, don’t make your attendees cross rivers and mountains to access a restroom.  

5. Streamline The Security & Check-In Process

This is where we see many event attendees lose their cool. Nobody wants to wait for hours just because you didn’t create multiple check-in points. Make sure security checks are handled before anything else. Once they’re in the clear, validate their tickets through a QR Code scanner.  

An attendee might turn up late but it’s your job to not make them wait any longer. Imagine being stuck in a queue while hearing your favorite band strumming their latest summer single. Our ticketing system supports 12 prominent languages & over 150 currencies to bridge any communication gap between event presenters and attendees. 

6. Don’t Make Your VIP’s Wait 

After all, they are VIP for a reason. Create a separate line for guests belonging to the Reserved Seating sections. A luxurious black-tie event in a casino is not synonymous with sweating it out in a line. Keep your VIP guest list updated before they start pouring in. They are paying top dollar for your tickets which should be reflected in your event experience. 

7. Make Your Main Stage Memorable 

The main event stages of any EDM festival or an expo delivers the “larger than life” experience. The stage design and audio-visual setup of your main stage create an atmosphere that energizes your guests. With the right budget, you can go for a holographic setup as well for that futuristic leap. Every year, thousands of events organized all over the globe blow up on news and social media just because of their main stage setup.  

8. Will They Do It For The Gram? 

Now, that you’ve taken care of all the essentials, you’re waiting for that euphoric audience reaction. You created a brilliant event marketing campaign, brought the best artists to perform at the hottest venue in town, and sold out the venue. As an organizer, it’s normal to expect an outpour of Instagram posts and stories #tagging your event. Your event success will be heavily reflected on social media through user-generated content. Even something as small as a signpost or a quirky art installation will have your event attendees pulling out their phones for a selfie. So, while you’re planning an event, always ponder “Will they do it for the Gram?”

9. Expect The Unexpected 

An event organizer hopes for the best and prepares for the worst. In the entertainment industry, we’ve seen things go haywire even with months of planning. Your artist might catch the flu or miss a flight. Or maybe the rain gods decided to generously flood your venue. As an event planner, you should always be ready with a contingency plan A, B, and  C. This is truly a testing ground for any event presenter to prove his mettle and not disappoint his audience. 

10. Go Above & Beyond

Event planning and organizing is a constant hustle. But the returns are tenfold – financially and emotionally. Treat every event as your first and last and you’ll surely go above and beyond for every minute detail. For you, it might be the 10th event in a month, but for an attendee, it might be his first. Create a memorable experience and you’ll have them coming back to you for more. 

We hope our 10 step guide resonated with you in planning your future events. Do share your personal experiences in creating the perfect event experience below in the comment section. 

Don’t forget to SIGN UP with us if you’re an event presenter looking for an end-to-end event ticketing platform.

The post Designing The Ultimate Event Experience appeared first on Yapsody.

Entertain 

Make sure to start with a bang. It could be an emailer, blog, or social media post. Your storytelling starts the moment anyone engages with your brand either through a flyer or an Instagram post, so make sure your stories keep them hooked. It should intrigue and encourage them to learn more about your event. Stay true to your brand and event persona as everyone loves to see the uniqueness. 

Educate 

Once you’ve had their attention, your storytelling should deliver value in terms of your event offering. You can achieve this once you’ve studied your target audience that’ll help you dissipate information accordingly. Don’t give away all the good stuff at once like a bad movie trailer as the best reveals are always at the main screening. Similarly, give glimpses of what to expect without creating false expectations. Take them on a journey through previous events you’ve done and the artist’s testimonials.

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Another shoutout from one of our favorites – @olddominionmusic⠀ ⠀ Here's to many more sold out shows.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #northernquest #olddominion #artists #testimonial #shoutout #events #liveentertainment #soldout #entertainment #casinoentertainment #yapsody

A post shared by Yapsody (@yapsody) on Sep 23, 2019 at 11:15am PDT

Inspire 

Once you’ve gained momentum weaving an engaging narrative, it’s time to embed your event persona. Good stories will stay with your audience and hold a powerful place in their memories. Channel all that emotional build-up into a CTA that binds into your campaign objective. Even on the off-chance that they couldn’t book a ticket or make it to the event, they will keep their eyes peeled for your next event announcement. Just because you struck an emotional chord through your event marketing. 

Combine these actionable narratives that will boost your event experience. Coupled with Yapsody’s Event Setup Wizard,  you can immerse them in an engaging ticketing experience and lead them to the desired conclusion. With our Event Marketing Services, they will be buzzing about your event even after it’s done which in return will create user-generated content on social media. 

Last but not least, with every good story, there’s room for positive feedback or reviews which is why a mobile-friendly ticketing system comes in handy for your attendees to leave a quick word about you.

The post 3 Ways Of Storytelling To Boost Your Event Experience appeared first on Yapsody.

Let’s start with the registrations because those are usually the first impressions you make on your attendees. Also, beginning from the beginning (you see what I did there) will help you get the hang of this approach effectively.

Save Paper, Save Trees, Save Earth, and of course, Save the Trouble!

If you’re worried online registrations might be too high-end and technical for the grandmothers’ club, why don’t you drop them a text on WhatsApp or tweet to @groovygranny and find out?

That’s right – everybody today prefers online event ticketing system to paper forms because they’re easier, hassle-free, less complicated, and all other synonyms of these three.

Okay, class, form a Group!

*everybody looks at their homies*

Asking one person to register for an entire group is, again, less complicated, efficient, and cost-effective. You can promote group registrations by giving away group discounts, and including an option for group registration on your page. At the same time, communicate with group members individually to confirm their attendance through emails, just to make sure nobody is being dragged into it forcefully (if they’re homies, that is happening).

I call dibs on the Driver’s Seat!

Giving your attendees the chance to “personalize” their event experience will leave them much happier than pens and notepads imprinted with your logo. You could include preferences on your registration page wherein your attendees will be able to choose not just between a “vegetarian” or “non-vegetarian” meal, but also the cuisine, t-shirt sizes, room, and probably even vote for the guest speaker they desire.

Work for them.

If you’re all about focusing your event around your attendees, you might as well fill out their forms for them. Especially for repeated visitors, they would appreciate if their information is already available in the browser, relieving them of typing the same stuff all over again. This will reduce entry errors and there will be fewer people who’ll abandon the process mid-way.

Are you coming? Are you SURE you’re coming? Are you?

Like I mentioned in the first paragraph (yeah, go on, scroll up), event presenters are practically competing for attendees’ time and attention because everyone’s busy. You might want to send a series of emails to the registrants to confirm whether they’re going to show up or no because they might’ve changed their minds, or forgotten about the event completely. These emails will help you figure out if there are going to be free spaces and also act as reminders for your attendees.

I’m going if you’re going, totally!

The chances of me signing up for an event are directly proportional to the chances of my best friend doing the same. It’s always going to help you as well as your attendees if you include a list of attendees on your registration page and even in your confirmation emails so that registrants are aware of who’s attending and what sessions they’re signing up for.

Build Better Badges (try saying that five times without pausing)

It’s not just a great example of alliteration, it’s an even better tip that you should always have in your mind. Attendee badges should have all kinds of information that can be contained in a single QR code for easy scanning and exchanging. Along with their names, include their scheduled meetings, sessions they’ve signed up for, demographics, and other information that you think is relevant (try relationship status, just in case a hopeless guy is trying to pick up dates at your event. Well, he’s an attendee, too, so honor his needs).

Don’t ask too many Questions.

You’re asking me why? Really? Because you do ask too many questions, that’s why!

When you’re asking your attendees to fill out forms, they are most likely to get bored and annoyed if the forms are long and irrelevant. Try using conditional logic to form questions that get displayed based on what the registrant has previously entered. Less trouble for attendees, less workload for you.

Before The End…

Now that you’ve simplified the registration process (this is where the quote at the beginning makes sense), you have a head-start with nailing that Attendee Journey approach. Work on these lines when you plan out every step after this, and there won’t be a single unhappy attendee leaving your event (the hopeless guy trying to pick up dates can be excluded).

The post How To Improve Attendee Journey? appeared first on Yapsody.