8 Surefire Ways To Promote Your Event Planning Business

Alex loves being an event planner. He loves the people, the decorations, the vendors, and the music. He even loves the crisis management he has to do 50% of the time. It’s his world, and he revels in it. 

He planned and arranged weddings, conferences, meetings, company getaways, and much more for a steady group of customers over the past few years. 

But the year 2020 changed it all. The fear of the virus and its transmissibility led to lockdowns worldwide. Alex’s clients either downsized or chose the virtual route for their events, and he had to adapt faster than ever.

Like they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Alex proved he is tough. He took the challenge head-on and pivoted to virtual events, digital marketing, and pandemic-ready business models for when things open back up.

And now he finally gets to execute those models.

Event planning businesses like Alex’s, are finally seeing restrictions easing worldwide. And the return of events with larger capacities for attendance. 

So if you’re an event planner, the time is ripe to step up and hit the hammer while the iron’s hot. And one way to do this is to go hard on promoting your event planning business. 

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” 

-Charles Darwin

Kickstart your Event Planning Business’ Promotions

The world has changed drastically over the last 18 months. Do you remember going out to a grocery store without a mask? And going to weddings and crowded concerts probably seems like a far-fetched dream. 

Your clients and potential clients are in the same boat. So it’s up to you to remind them of how great events can be. Especially in the face of these new norms. 

And as customer sentiment is slowly leaning back towards planning for events, it’s important to position your business as the one to choose.

Now that the importance of promoting your event planning business is clear, let’s get down to the purpose of this blog.

8 Surefire ways to Promote your Event Planning Business 

How can you entice your audience to choose you? What are the different ways to gain an edge over your competition? 

With Kimp’s curated list of surefire ways to promote your event planning business, you’ll find the answers to your questions. 

And you’ll find that these methods include a healthy mix of online and offline promotional activities. A good campaign must focus on every segment for best results. 

So without further ado, let’s dive right in. 

1) Personalized marketing and advertising 

For a person in the event planning business, the importance of providing personalized service is no new concept. People like it when a brand resonates with their values. 

So don’t run blanket, one-size-fits-all advertising and marketing campaigns. Tailor them to your target audience and see the change in your ROI. 

Let’s take business listings for example. Typically you’ll include generic details and contact information. A more tailored approach goes a step further with these Best Practices for Personalized Campaigns:

  1. Highlight different services for on-site and online events. For example, promote your back-end management for online events and catering/decor for on-site events. 
  2. Tweak the content based on the local COVID-19 guidelines while advertising in local newspapers and magazines. 
  3. Leverage the power of digital ads on platforms like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Display different customized ads for different customer sets based on varying demographics, behavior patterns, and locations. 

Kimp Tip: Choose an ad design that speaks to your target audience. Choosing the same imagery, color palette, content tone, or design style for ads related to event planning for weddings, conferences, and music shows won’t impress anyone.

Source: The Balance
2) Go big on social media marketing. 

No business can afford to ignore the power of social media marketing. With over 4.2 billion social media users, you can bet on your customers being active users. When you advertise and promote your business on these platforms, you connect with your target audience directly. 

But social media marketing is not just about posting your company or event’s information. Users tend to look for a story, a purpose to connect with you and become a part of your journey. And this requirement varies for each platform. The expectation from a Twitter account differs from that of an Instagram account.

So follow this blueprint for your social media marketing to get results:
  1. Establish a presence across platforms – even if you think your target audience may not be there. It will help you when the time is right.
  2. Maintain a cohesive brand identity across platforms and establish a brand style guide to avoid any misses. 
  3. Create valuable content for your audience consistently. If you feel you need inspiration, Kimp has a valuable guide on social media content ideas. 
  4. Repurpose your evergreen content as per each platform’s best practices to improve your reach. 
  5. Encourage user-generated content and repost these regularly as social proof. These will establish trust among customers, making you a valuable choice in their minds.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPG1zCjBex1/

Sharing event designs like Bassett Events above is an evergreen content idea. One that your followers will never tire of seeing as they dream up their own event ideas.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPlcUfqhgHm/

Try promoting your business as Hayevents does on social media. They’ve cleverly tied in their potential client’s aspirations for their events with their ability to help execute them.  

Kimp Tip: Redesign your content to suit the target audience on each platform to improve your engagement rates. In order to do this, be sure to give your designers all the information you can about your audience, and where your designs will be placed. 

3) Email marketing to the rescue 

Excellent and customer-friendly event planning businesses like you already have a treasure box of clients. Chances are these clients have been a constant source of leads and repeat orders up till now. Yes, they may have paused bookings throughout the pandemic. But they can still help you.

Make the most of our existing client base and connections with creatively drafted, engaging email marketing campaigns. With physical events non-existent, email marketing campaigns help you reach people and persuade them to: 

  1. Spread the word about your business, and any promotions you may offer, (online and offline). This is especially true if you offer rewards (exclusive discounts or other perks) for the referrals. 
  2. Choose you for their own upcoming online and offline events. 

40% of marketers today swear by the effectiveness of email marketing, and it is time for you to jump on this bandwagon.

Best Practices for Email Marketing Campaigns: 
  1. Share a story and emotionally connect with your audience. 
  2. Choose a catchy subject line and preview text to improve your open rate. 
  3. Provide a clear CTA in the email. Most times, customers are not aware of what businesses expect from them after reading the email. Define a purpose and lead them to the Call to action. 
  4. Keep the CTA easy to understand and act. Reduce the friction in sharing the email on their social media handles or forwarding it to their friends. 

Kimp Tip: A picture speaks a thousand words, and a video speaks a million. Ditch the text and incorporate stunning visuals with minimal text. Check out some email marketing templates and content ideas by Kimp here

The example above from Hotels Tonight is an easy to adapt campaign that can help you encourage user-generated-content. And generate referrals with an exclusive offer. 

Whereas Hotels Tonight is looking for hotel photos, you could run an email campaign requesting pictures from events you’ve organized. Or pictures of a “dream event” a subscriber would love to have. The incentive? That a randomly selected winner will receive a perk or offer. And the win? You get yourself top of mind for your subscribers as they’re thinking about their next event. 

Kimp Tip: When looking for marketing ideas for your brand, don’t just look to your direct competitors, and others in your niche. Check out what businesses in related industries are up to. Decor and entertainment companies, as well as event venues, are just a few options to consider. But with enough creativity you adapt ideas from almost any industry and tailor it to your audience to offer them something fresh!

4. Turn customers into ambassadors 

“People make events into stories. Stories give events meaning.” –

Scarlett Thomas

Gen Z and millennial clients are increasingly turning to social media platforms to size up businesses they want to buy from. For businesses looking to turn leads into paying customers, this means that it is time to display your customers and their testimonials with pride here.

Social proof builds trust, authenticity, and relatability for a brand. 

You can share customer testimonials via image posts, videos, audiograms, and so on. But, if you want to step up your social media marketing strategy, you can turn your customers into brand ambassadors. 

A brand ambassador program must feature your actual customers to promote your services, businesses, upcoming events, and other online offerings as well.

You can share these features to your leads via Instagram Stories, Twitter posts and Facebook posts. And you take your promos offline as well via marketing posters and billboards to reach a local audience.

Kimp Tip: Create a customized hashtag to feature brand ambassadors with different design templates so that your followers and customers can easily spot these posts. Even when they are busy scrolling. Need help creating branded design templates? Try Kimp Graphics.

5) Plan Local Marketing Campaigns 

It just makes sense to target the customers in your local region first so that you can secure clients wary of region-hopping in the pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, over 90% of online searches were regarding a local business and 70% of these searches resulted in a purchase. 

So, it is time to invest in local marketing campaigns. 

As an event planning business, you must concentrate on offline marketing and online optimization to get the best results. Hybrid events with live-streaming have picked up steam through the pandemic. So your customers are more likely to expect both an offline and online presence from your brand. 

Ideas for Offline local marketing campaigns:
  1. Distribute engaging, branded, and cleverly designed posters, flyers, and brochures in your immediate locality. You can hand-deliver them or display or distribute them at relevant businesses (florists, caterers, bakeries, etc.) To incentivize local businesses to promote your services, offer to cross-promote their services. 
  2. You can also have billboards put up in busy neighborhoods that get a lot of foot and/or vehicle traffic.  
  3. If contact is a concern and outdoor space options have restrictions in your locality owing to the pandemic, choose contact-less delivery methods, such as mailing or delivering flyers in newspapers. 
Ideas for Online marketing campaigns:
  1. Update your Google My Business listing with details such as office address, contact number, operation hours, and any other relevant information.
  2. You can also include your advertising/marketing materials in the photos section so that customers can access them easily. 
  3. Ensure that you upload edited images on Google My Business, local websites, and listing platforms in line with your brand identity. 
A billboard Design by Kimp for an event venue
6) Leverage Website Marketing 

Websites are a huge part of your marketing strategy. The design of your website, the accessibility, and the user experience are crucial for someone to see you as a trustworthy business.

In fact 74% of customers agree that they judge a business based on the website design. 

Whether you are promoting your event planning business online or offline, customers will go online and size up your website. Make a good impression on them.

Your website must contain all essential information such as the events you handle, the services you offer, and your booking process. If possible, create COVID-19 specific content so that customers can see how you can help them plan their dream event, safely. 

Equally important as the details you’ll be providing in text, are the visual that will capture your site visitors’ attention and imaginations. Take the time to make sure that your sliders, icons, and imagery clearly show off the standard you hold your brand to. 

As an event planning business, you want to prove your planning skills, design skills, aesthetic sense, and customer-friendliness to your potential leads. So, take time and get it right.

Kimp Tip: Create a separate landing page for customers who visit your website from advertisements and social media profiles. Landing pages are simple, CTA-led pages that can be tailored to capture leads interested in a specific set of services you offer. This will help you avoid them bouncing from your site if there’s a lot of other info to navigate.

Use your landing page design to hook your audience and encourage them to book a call.
7) Collaborate and grow 

An event planning business thrives because of the many people you collaborate with. So, why not play to these strengths to promote your business too?

You can strengthen your ties with businesses in your industry and create engagement for your business in one go. 

Tie up with affluent venues, decor partners, florists, and media companies to cross-promote your services. This way you can share your customer base to build relationships and secure qualified leads for your businesses. 

Some ways to get the most of these collaborations are: 
  1. Print exclusive flyers, posters, and brochures promoting your partnership.
  2. Run online and offline campaigns offering discounts for customers who use the services of more than one vendor in this partnership
  3. For long-term relationships, launch a branding identity that is an amalgamation of the underlying brands. 
  4. Leave your business cards at your collaborators’ offices so that they can hand them out to their walk-ins too.

Kimp Tip: In collaborations, it is important to not lose your brand identity. Work with one of Kimp’s design teams to see how you can create collaborative marketing designs while still retaining your visual identity.

8) Harness the power of Visual Marketing 

Throughout this blog, we have stressed the need to choose graphics over text to captive and engage your audience.

But, the world of visual marketing goes way beyond that. Events are a tremendous investment for anyone, and you must assure them of your abilities and brand value beyond any doubt.

This is where visual marketing helps you. By invoking and engaging with the visual side of marketing, you can form an everlasting image in your potential customers’ minds.

People remember faces and not names. Similarly seeing is believing. So, go all out and flood their mind with visuals of your brand, services, and products.

Popular visual marketing content ideas for event planning businesses include: 
  1. Post behind-the-scenes videos of your event setups, decor meetings, and catering taste tests. It shows your presence in all stages, making customers see you favorably. 
  2. Leverage Instagram stories, Fleets on Twitter, and Facebook Stories to post quick snippets of your events.
  3. Share customer video testimonials on social media just after an event. The customers’ happiness will translate beautifully to the follower watching it. 
  4. Promote design mood boards on Pinterest and Instagram. Customers who relate to that aesthetic will book you in an instant. 
  5. Create trending Instagram Reels by repurposing evergreen blogs such as “Best Wedding Decor trends” or “5 Must-haves food items at a work event”. Bite-sized video content is easy to consume and share.
  6. Choose shareable content such as Infographics, GIFs, or videos instead of text-based posts to improve your organic reach. 

Kimp Tip: Want to leave a strong imprint on your customers’ minds about your brand identity, visual identity, ethics, brand personality, and other factors? Ensure that all your visual posts across platforms follow the same style. Leave an impression of your brand with every post, and customers will instantly connect with you. 

Boost your Event Planning Business with Kimp

Event planners are always juggling a minimum of 10 vendors, 5 crises, and 3 clients who demand their attention at all times.

So, why take on the additional responsibility of handling your promotional campaign and designs? 

Leave it to Kimp to deal with your graphics and videos, and rest easy, knowing that your business is in expert hands.

Our customers love the work of our designers and swear by our services to save them from the hassle of day-to-day design projects. 

Sign up for a free trial with Kimp. And find out just how much you can scale marketing and promotional campaigns for your event planning business!