Planning an event and getting people to register can feel like a rollercoaster. You pour time, energy, and resources into building an incredible experience, but a few common missteps in event marketing can mean the difference between a packed house and empty seats. Let’s walk through the most common event marketing mistakes that may be holding back your event registrations and what you can do to get your numbers up.
1. Not Really Knowing Your Audience
Imagine you want to throw a party, but you don’t know who your guests are and what they like. What do you think this would end up? The chances are, your guests won’t show up. Right! That’s how it goes with event marketing too! If you don’t put in the time to understand your audience, your message probably won’t resonate, and people won’t feel like signing up for the event. However, don’t worry you can avoid this event marketing mistake easily by simply knowing the likes of your event audience.
Tips To Know Your Audience:
Know Your Audience Beforehand: Create a profile for your ideal attendees and brainstorm what their interests, pain points, and goals look like. Think about how different people within your audience may want different things. Tailor your message to these groups.
Survey and Engage: Use quick surveys, social media polls, or even past attendees’ feedback to understand what would excite your target audience.
2. Relying Too Much (or Too Little) on Social Media
Social media is one of the best tools for event promotion, but simply posting once or twice on your favorite platform isn’t enough. You might also miss out if you’re not posting where your audience is actually hanging out.
How to Leverage Social Media to Avoid Event Marketing Mistakes:
Choose the Right Platforms: LinkedIn might be your best bet if your event is more professional. For younger crowds, Instagram can work wonders.
Stay Consistent: Don’t just promote your event in one post. Use a content calendar to plan out posts leading up to the event.
Try Paid Ads: A little budget can go a long way. Paid ads can help you reach specific groups, especially those who might be interested but aren’t already following you.
3. Failing to Explain Why Your Event Is Worth It
People sign up for things only when they know what’s in it for them. Make sure to keep your event description crystal clear that it would grab the attention of the people and they should care about it.
How to Avoid This Mistake With A Detailed Explanation:
Explain the Benefits: What is unique about your event? What will participants gain? Networking? New skills? Inspiration? Highlight everything in your event description.
Show Testimonials: If you have hosted other events in the past, show testimonials from previous attendees.
Lay out the Agenda: Provide a preview of the sessions, speakers, and activities. A clear agenda helps people have an idea of what they are going to experience.
4. A Website That’s Hard to Navigate
Imagine that someone finally decides they want to register but then your website takes a lot of time to load, isn’t mobile-friendly, or has a confusing event registration page. Chances are, they’ll click away. Therefore, a poor website experience is one of the biggest event marketing mistakes that can hurt your event registrations.
How to Fix Poor Event Page Experience:
Optimize for Speed and Usability: Do everything to speed up your website because a slow site could lead to fewer event registrations. Also, make sure it is optimized for mobile users to increase registrations.
Keep the Registration Simple: Don’t try to make registrations complicated. Make it simple by avoiding long forms or unnecessary steps that could frustrate potential attendees.
Highlight the CTA (Call to Action): Don’t make it a struggle for the registrants to find “Register Now” button. Instead, place the button where it’s easy to find.
5. Overloading or Underusing Email Marketing
One of the best ways to reach potential attendees is still via email event marketing strategy, but it may backfire if not used in the right way. Too many emails can be annoying while too few might leave your audience unaware. So, strategize your email marketing so that it doesn’t hurt your event registrations.
How to Avoid Ineffective Email Marketing:
Segment and Personalize: Customize your emails based on user persona. Know if it is for past attendees, early registrants, or industry professionals.
Find the Right Balance: Send a mix of reminder emails, exclusive updates, and valuable info, but don’t overdo it. Make each email meaningful.
Add a Personal Touch: Make recipients feel relevant by using their name and making content highly relevant to them.
Learn more: How to Manage Your In-Person Event with Dreamcast’s Event Technology
6. Forgetting to Reconnect with Past Attendees
Past attendees are more likely to attend future events because they had good experiences in the past. Forgetting and not reaching out to your past attendees might lead to missed opportunities. That’s why it has become one of the event marketing mistakes that could hurt your event registrations.
How to Reach out to past attendees:
Be in Touch: Send post-event follow-up, thank you, and some sneak peeks of upcoming events.
Treat Favorites: Offer a discount on early bird rates or reserve priority seating for loyal attendees.
Exclusive Content: Share with past attendees some exclusive content such as interviews with the speakers or behind-the-scenes videos.
7. Skipping Early-Bird or Limited-Time Offers
Offering a special deal encourages attendees to act quickly when registering for the event. Without an early-bird discount or other incentives, people tend to forget.
How to Fix By Benefiting Early Bird Registrations:
Introduce Early-Bird Pricing: Offer a lower price for those who register well in advance.
Create Urgency with Limited-Time Offers: Consider flash sales or special perks for people who register by a certain date.
Add a Bonus: Offer something extra for early sign-ups, like VIP seating or exclusive content access.
8. Not Tapping into Influencer and Partner Marketing
Influencers and partners help extend your reach and credibility. Not leveraging such relationships may limit the publicity for your event and reduce trust.
How to Use Influencer Marketing for Events:
Engage Industry Influencers: Reach out to influencers who can amplify the message to their followers regarding your event.
Collaborate with Partners: Team up with companies or organizations that align with your event’s mission.
Ask Speakers to Spread the Word: Speakers often have loyal followers who would be interested in hearing about your event.
9. Skimping on Visual Content
People are drawn to visuals like photos, videos, and graphics to help people picture themselves at your event. If you’re relying only on text, you might not capture attention as effectively.
How to avoid this mistake with compelling visuals:
Create Engaging Visuals: Use high-quality images, branded graphics, and short teaser videos. You can also use the photos or videos from the previous events to let people imagine what they’ll experience. You can try out Instagram Stories, Facebook Lives, or Q&A sessions to engage people directly.
10. Missing Out on Remarketing Opportunities
People often need multiple reminders to register. If you’re not reaching back out to those who’ve shown interest, you might be missing potential attendees. Therefore, missing out on remarketing is a big event marketing mistake to avoid if your goal is to reach higher event registrations.
How to avoid this mistake with successful remarketing techniques:
Set Up Retargeting Ads: Use ads to reach people who visited your registration page but didn’t sign up.
Use Email Remarketing: Follow up with people who started the registration but didn’t complete it.
Learn more: How Onsite RSVP Solutions Can Personalize VIP Experiences at Events
11. Forgetting to Create Urgency
If it is not urgent, people might register later and are likely to forget all about it. Adding a sense of urgency can drive registrations and allow people to act sooner.
How to create a sense of urgency:
Use Countdown Timers: Show how much time is left for early-bird registration or special rates.
Highlight Limited Availability: If spots or sessions are limited, mention that to create a sense of exclusivity.
Leverage Social Proof: Showcase how many people are already registered, or use testimonials from other attendees.
12. Missing the Chance to Build Community
An event is not just a one-time experience; it’s a chance to build a loyal community of attendees who come back each year. Focusing only on registration numbers misses the bigger picture.
Fixing the mistake by building a community of potential attendees:
Engage on Social Media: Using social media platforms is a great event marketing strategy. You can use Facebook or LinkedIn to build a group or forum for attendees.
Create Year-Round Content: Share helpful resources or insights even after the event, keeping people interested in your brand.
Encourage Networking: Help attendees connect before and after the event, giving them a reason to return in the future.
Final Thoughts
Marketing an event is hard work, and it’s easy to make mistakes along the way. But if you stay clear on your audience, use the right mix of channels, and continually refine your approach, you’ll boost your event registrations. By addressing these common mistakes and leveraging the right event marketing strategy, you’re setting yourself up for a successful, well-attended event.
