2018 research from Eventbrite found that 57% of organizers planned to hold more events this year than in 2017. However, with more events being thrown, companies are going to have to get more creative with their event marketing to attract guests and stay ahead of the competition.
Thankfully, there are loads of fantastic digital tools out there to make your event marketing run more smoothly than ever before. From metrics and engagement packages, to tools which allow for video hosting and infographic creation, there’s something out there for every aspect of event marketing and management.
Here are ten of the best:
#1 Rainfocus
Designed to change the way you use metrics in your event marketing, Rainfocus has a range of features which put it ahead of the competition.
Data is the beating heart of all modern business, but so many people don’t realize how much they have access to that they aren’t making the most of. Rainfocus reduces the esoteric nature of data analysis and make trends, predictors, and outcome drivers more transparent than ever before.
Full profiles for all your attendees will allow you to find out, not just their work and personal details, but rich information about their activity and experiences as a year-on-year guest of your events. With Rainfocus, you can see, at a glance, which parts of your event are popular with your various guests and which are less so.
Rainfocus allows you to create reports and presentations quickly and effortlessly using built in templates to customize your results. You can construct a dashboard of reports, complete with charts and tables, and share them among your team ahead of the next huddle or meeting, helping make sure everyone is on the right page.
#2 Event Farm
Event Farm is built to engage and retain the interest of your guests right through the event experience – pre, during, and post.
For the registration process, you can create a customized event portal, complete with hard-coded and non-transferable RSVP functions, ticket blocks so your teams can manage invitations, guest list importing, and more. Grabbing the attention of your guests at registration is key to retention and Event Farm makes it personal and simple.
During the event, guests can check-in through the mobile application, with data being synched across all authorized devices in real time, making sure your staff are all on the same page. Offline functionality helps make sure your software still runs like clockwork, even at those more off the grid venues. You can even set-up real time alerts to notify you when VIPs have arrived.
Once the event is finished, powerful metrics help you see how you did, and enable you to make informed and meaningful follow-ups with any leads generated during the day. Attendees can also log into a portal to view a report on all the activities and content they accessed during the event, helping keep your brand fresh in their minds.
#3 BrightTALK
Content is a cornerstone of marketing, helping to keep your guests engaged with your brand before and after the event itself. BrightTALK uses AI technology to stream fresh content to your audience every day.
From informative webinars starring some of the biggest names in business, to written articles tackling the most important issues of the day, BrightTALK helps make sure accessing the right content at the right time is a matter of simplicity. Online events can also be created to help maintain the buzz of the real thing.
Content can also be streamed during the event itself, helping presenters bring the best information to their audiences.
#4 easelly
Infographics are a great way to re-engage with your audience after your event. They are bold, bright, engaging and informative, as well as being imminently shareable. However, the issue with infographics is they take time, money, and no small amount of design ability to create.
With easelly, the process of creating an infographic becomes infinitely simpler. You simply select one from thousands of infographic templates to be instantly taken to a powerful in-browser publisher suite. From there you can move the boxes around, change the colors, add your own images and text, and enter your data.
You can access a range of templates right now for free, with many more available if you go premium. There’s also a gallery of community created infographics which are great for research purposes, as well as getting inspiration for making your own.
#5 Canva
Creating the posters, booklets, and other documents which are used to promote your event ahead of time, and keep your guests informed during the show, can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor.
However, with Canva you can design and create beautiful graphics for documents, presentations, social media, and more, with a minimum of effort or artistic talent.
With Canva, you gain access to millions of stock photos, vectors, and illustrations with which to add some visual delight to your designs. If you want to be even more individual, you can upload your own images from your device. Use filters and editing tools to make the image your own and add striking icons and shapes. All that remains is to use one of hundreds of fonts to add your own text, and you’re done.
#6 buffer
Promoting your event through your social media channels can feel like a full-time job. With multiple streams across many different platforms, keeping up with it all can take a serious chunk of time out of your day.
With buffer however, you can manage all your social media accounts from one intuitive dashboard. Compatible with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, and Google+, you can plan and schedule your posts ahead of time. Just write the post, add any media you require, set the posting date and time, and select which of your social media accounts you want it to go to.
With buffer you can set up a few posts at a time, when it’s convenient for you. With the buffer mobile app and browser extension you can even schedule content as you discover it, so you’ll never miss an opportunity to share something great with your audience and keep them engaged with your event.
#7 Copify
If you’re looking for quality content to help promote your event but lack the time or writing talent to arrange it yourself, then Copify can help.
Designed for those companies who don’t want to commit to hiring a full-time copywriter or agency, Copify gives its clients access to a network of approved and vetted writers and has them create quality written content on your behalf.
Once Copify has your brief they will pair you up with the perfect writer for your niche, and aim to have all work written, proofread, formatted, and in your hands within 48 hours.
From press releases and web copy, to articles, blogs, and emails, Copify can help with all the written content you need to help make your event a success.
#8 Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg is here to make sure your event website is optimized perfectly for your guests.
Heatmaps show you where your website visitors are hovering, clicking, and, more importantly, where they’re getting lost. Getting prospective guests through the registration process as smoothly as possible is essential to retaining their interest, so any vagueness or esotericism needs to be eliminated quickly.
Crazy Egg also lets you use A/B testing to run different website builds alongside one another and compare the results, helping you to make the right design decisions for your event website. The inbuilt editor software lets you easily make any changes and publish them directly to your website.
#9 eBookBurn
Offering a free eBook is a fantastic way to encourage prospective clients to register with your website and begin the lead generation process, which will hopefully lead to them attending your events. At the other end of the process, an eBook can be a great method of thanking your guests for their attendance.
eBookBurn lets you take your existing written content, images, graphs, tables, and more, and package it up into an interesting and informative eBook. There’s no programming required, and nothing needs to be rewritten.
The finished eBooks can be formatted to be readable on Kindle, iPad, Nook, Sony, and many other eReader devices.
#10 InGo
InGo is built on the premise that 92% people trust word of mouth recommendations over all other forms of advertising. However, encouraging event attendees to go out of their way to help promote your events can seem like an uphill struggle.
InGo uses a suite of online widgets designed to remove as many barriers as possible to your event being shared. Guests can register for your event using their social media accounts, and other forms can be auto filled with data from those platforms, leading to reduced drop-off and more complete data, while reducing the amount of tedious “paperwork” your guests need to complete at registration.
InGo then provides them with screens displaying other guests who’ve consented to be shared, and even receive alerts to let them know who from their own networks will also be in attendance. Included are summaries of people who were invited but have yet to register, and suggestions for other people to invite.
Information can be shared on social media making sure your event is being promoted in news feeds, rather than ignored in ad sidebars. Personal social media messages can also be sent directly from the registration workflow, all helping to generate authentic word of mouth promotion.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are loads of brilliant tools out there to help you market your event at every step in the process. Please let us know in the comments if you feel there are any essentials we’ve neglected to mention.
