9 Event Promotion & Event Ideas Creative And Cheap - What you need!

If you’re looking for event promotion ideas for a convention, trade show, craft show or even concert, don’t look any further. The Printmoz event promotion guide will give you the event marketing ideas you’ve been waiting for.

Event marketing ideas aren’t always at the top of your mind or the easiest to figure out. With years of working events in the past ten years of my life, I know the tricks of what to do, and what not to do.

So I’ll stick with the right way to do things! Printed banners aren’t the only way to advertise your live event, but it is a critical aspect.

Event promotion is a multi-faceted process

You can’t just focus on one event idea to promote your event. So I want to break it down into actionable steps that you can focus on one by one to make your event marketing go from stressful to blissful! You’ll need more than just the right poster.

Event promotions examples that are cheap and free are coming up soon!

Before we get into the basic structure of event promotion, first I want to share an event promotion definition: It’s the promotion of an event (your event!) That can entail paid solutions or cool promotional event ideas that are even free or cheap! That’s what we're going to cover today. Event promotion ideas that don’t have to break the bank!

Event promotion ideas you can’t live without

At the Event Manager blog, they asked 2000 event professionals to rank the most effective marketing tools. Here’s a list of them with the most essential first.

• Social media
• Email marketing
• Website
• Registration site
• Printed media
• Influencer marketing
• Experiential marketing
• Video
• Press releases
• Remarketing

Social media is the number one with email marketing running at a close second. But every one of the items on the list is essential. Let’s start with social media first. You’ll first want to pick which social media platforms will be the most effective for your event. Linkedin, Instagram, Google+, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, or any others.

There’s a thing called the conversation prism that will help you identify which outlets would be a good fit for your brand. If you’re hosting a business event, LinkedIn and other business social media outlets will be a good fit.

If you’re promoting crafters and want to attract beautiful art creator and lovers of art, Instagram and Pinterest would be an excellent social media outlet. Because these platforms are based on visual beauty.

The second most crucial event marketing ideas are your email list

So if you’ve already got a list of people in your email contacts, these are the first people you’ll want to let know about your event. And if you don’t have an email list, it’s time to start one STAT! There are lots of platforms you can use to connect with users directly, so your messages don’t end up in a spam folder.

Some of them are Mailchimp (this one is free!) Aweber and Constant Contact. There are many more, but these are some of the most popular. The best thing about email is that it’s free. Another benefit of using software is that you can schedule your emails to go out when it’s convenient for your contacts. This will help your event marketing ideas come to fruition.

There are more event ideas to cover, but you’ll need a website first

If you don’t have this yet, you need to get on the website ball. Websites are a great way to promote your event. Some popular ones are WIX and Squarespace, but my personal favorite is Wordpress, of course!

While it’s a little more complicated than the ones I mentioned already, it has more flexibility if you want to change things up and make Google happy. The world’s top online marketers use WordPress for a good reason.

Event promotion ideas that tie into your website is an event registration page

This is a must if you want to get with the times. I’ve worked with events which send out applications via snail mail. Yikes! The pony express was in vogue in the 1800s, not today.

Creating a downloadable application is great for vendors, or having an online form is another way to connect directly to your payment service. You’ll get the money in your bank faster than waiting to get a check from snail mail.

Event promotion ideas (my personal favorite!) is to have quality printed materials

Yes, digital media is essential, but the printed word is still going strong when it comes such an event promotion. You’ve got to have the right business cards when you meet people in your day to day life or at business networking events.

Another printed media idea is to have yard signs to let locals know about your event. Put your event name, date and website or phone number. When people have questions, they can search google to connect with your Facebook event page or your website where all the info is listed.

Some of the best event marketing ideas are to have loads of printed materials to promote your event before and during

Having posters promoting your event inside and outside of the event areas will help keep your brand and function in mind. You can learn about some of the best ways to hang posters, so you don’t damage the walls. Knowing the right tricks will also keep your signs in good shape so you can use them again and again.

Event ideas to promote your convention or party before are magnetic signs for cars. This is a super affordable way you can get free car advertising while you and your friends or employees drive around town.

Giving away cool freebies is one of the best ways to advertise!

Handing out promotional die cut magnets or stickers is an excellent way to get people to promote you for pennies

Mesh banners are a great way to go if you want t durable way to promote your event outside on a fence or porch of your event, or anywhere for that matter!

Connecting with influencers in your niche online or in person is another good event promotion strategy

If you have someone who has a large social media following, or not, they can send your event to their friends. An easy way to get attention is to share fun memes with people in your social media.

You can even show pictures of your posters online to get people excited about your event. Don’t be afraid to share online about every part of the process.

This can be from sharing photos of your graphic designer working on your gallery wrapped canvas print you’re going to put in the lobby or your volunteers setting out outdoor business signs.

Event promotions ideas are creative and cheap!

Now onto even more ways to save a few bucks . . . There are hundreds of event promotion ideas creative and affordable (thankfully!). Because some events don’t have a $20,000 budget. So you’ve got to get creative in your thinking. That’s what we’re going to cover in this section.

If you have connections at schools or any kind of club or classes, many instructors love to have their students perform at live events. This gets their students a chance to show their stuff. And as a benefit, you’ll get people that may not have attended to show up to support the people they know who are performing. You can ask dance groups, karate classes, bands, or your local theater group to show off at your event. If you have a kids dance group, guess who comes? Parents, grandparents, and other friends of the family.

There are even more event promotions strategies you’ve probably never even thought of!

You can ask your friends and community to become a volunteer at your event. You can offer free admission. People talk, and they will also let the people they know about your event.

You can also send out a press release to your local newspaper, radio and television stations. A simple email letting reporters know about your event can help your event promotions tremendously. Reporters are always looking for an exciting story. So do your best to highlight the unique selling points of your event. What makes it different or unique?

Event marketing ideas don’t have to break the bank!

Get creative event ideas and don't’ be afraid to ask for a little help from loyal customers and your vendors. I know I didn’t cover every aspect in this article, but you’ve got some good actionable affordable ideas you can start with today.

When everyone shares the info about your event, it will help you get the foot traffic you need. So, you’ve got money in your pocket and so do your happy vendors. As a result, everyone will talk about how great you are as an event organizer!