Marketing your event takes longer than you think. Sending out a “Save the Date” email to your list as soon as you set a date and posting some social media updates serves 2 purposes. It tells people you are hosting an event, so it promotes your event, and it serves to create a hard deadline. Nothing like an announcement to hold you accountable. I have never once heard anyone tell me, “Next time, I am going to start my promotions later.” The very first thing people say after their event, is that they are going to start promoting their event earlier. The only exception to this might be someone who has a marketing plan in place about a year in advance with a timeline with mini-launches for the entire year so you could started seeding a year in advance. Sooner is better than later! I am not saying that you need to start a year in advance, but sooner is always better than later. Timing is an important key in promoting your event. For an introductory workshop or event that lasts 2-3 hours, you don't need too much lead time. 4-8 weeks of well targeted promotion would be sufficient. If you start promoting it much further out than that, people may sign up and forget about it and not show. Or, they may choose to sign up closer to the event and something else may come along, or then they forget about it. 4-8 weeks is a great space of time to get it on their calendar, get them to sign up and show up. Larger Events Take More Time To Promote. If you are planning a larger event that requires a larger investment of time and money, and that will have people coming from out of town, you want to start marketing way ahead of time. You may not want to sell tickets right away, but you want to get it on people’s calendar and get them excited about it. Give yourself 3-4 months from the date of your live event to really promote it and to get the information into people's hands. These promotional cycles are getting longer. A few years ago, it would have only taken 2-4 weeks for an intro workshop and 60-90 days for a bigger event. The lead times are getting longer and it takes a bit more work to fill your events. If you desire to draw people from all over the nation, start seeding at least 4-6 months in advance. You can start dropping hints and even do a “Save The Date” campaign. to get people excited about your upcoming event. You can also promote early bird pricing or special bonuses for signing up early. There are two types of people - those who schedule everything and who will take advantage of your early bird pricing and special bonuses and those who will chose an event 5 minutes before it starts. What can you do accommodate both and create your event as successful as you know it can be? Require assistance in creating or promoting your event? Go here and book your FREE Event Strategy Session with me today!
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