Event Marketing 101: The 3 Stages to Event Promotion

Latest article on PR Newswire's Small Business PR Toolkit offers expert advice on how to fill seats at your next conference

NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For a budget-conscious small business owner, hosting a live event can be an extremely effective marketing tactic that boosts brand exposure, strengthens existing customer relationships and increases inbound leads. Organizing and holding an event takes time and planning, and success can be found in the details.

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In his latest post, PR Toolkit contributing author Phillip Thune defines the three stages of event promotion and offers tips on how to spend your event budget to create maximum impact.

• Before the event: Social media has opened new channels of cost-effective communications that you should be using to your advantage. Thune suggests researching particular hashtags and including those in collateral, email signatures and social media posts. He also recommends that you create group pages on Facebook and LinkedIn for your event. Include the agenda, guest speakers and any additional activities. Post similar topics of content to these pages to keep the potential attendees coming back for more and to drum up excitement for the big day.
• During the event: Use this time to post pictures and videos or provide live-streaming options that not only reach event attendees, but also engage potential audiences who discovered your content online.
• After the event: If you collected contact information, send follow-up emails thanking your attendees. Consider publishing an event recap on your blog that repurposes the previously posted videos and photos. Thune also suggests creating a video showing the highlights from the event that can be reused in other marketing materials down the road.

Hosting a live event and inviting potential clients to experience the energy of your brand is a unique opportunity that small businesses shouldn't overlook. For further discussion on your event promotion blueprint, read Thune's complete article here.

PR Newswire's Small Business PR Toolkit is a comprehensive resource that provides small businesses and entrepreneurs the tools to develop an affordable public relations and marketing plan that helps generate interest from potential customers, engage with key audiences and grow their businesses. The toolkit features relevant content such as informative white papers, interactive webinars and how-to articles and premium access to educational resources, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of special offers designed specifically for small businesses. To request information on how PR Newswire can help your small business, click here. You can receive updates on new Small Business PR Toolkit content by following @prnsmallbiz on Twitter.

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