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The most important thing about event marketing is this: you have to get your target audience’s attention. Although there are plenty of ways to spend loads of money on live events, it doesn’t mean that you have to break the bank. Here are 10 creative ways for event managers and marketers alike to market their next big event without breaking the bank!

Utilize social media

This is a given but it can be hard sometimes when people aren’t responding in the way that they should. The trick here is not only using hashtags but also making sure that your posts are regularly engaging with others by liking or commenting on posts from other accounts. If you’re posting something funny, make sure someone else responds in kind!

Remember, social media is all about building relationships, not broadcasting information! Make sure that what you put out there attracts people and keeps them coming back for more.

Don’t forget to include links throughout your posts so it’s easy for people who are interested to find out even more about what your company is doing!

Invite all of your friends on social media

This is one of your largest groups of followers! If you’re someone who likes to attend all of the cool events in town, it might be time for you to put those social media fingers to good use and start inviting people on Facebook and Twitter

People will also appreciate that you invited them and it really does go a long way toward building up excitement for your event. After all, we love free stuff so seeing an opportunity where we can get more than what we paid for makes us feel like we’re getting something special.

Create a Facebook page for your event and “boost” posts

Although Facebook might not be as popular as it was a few years ago, it’s still a huge social media platform and can definitely help you reach more people. The best way to utilize this is through hosting contests or having your event ambassadors share funny anecdotes about their experiences at other events.

Share the page on all of your platforms and encourage others to do the same!

Pay for an ad on Facebook

The great thing about social media ads is that they allow you to target specific demographic groups based on geographic location, age, interests, and so much more! Make sure your landing page has all of the necessary information about your event and make it easy for people who are interested to get in touch with you.

One major thing to remember here though: don’t overdo it! People can tell when a company advertises too much and it becomes very off-putting.

Create an Instagram account

People love pictures! So take pictures at your event and post them on Instagram to get even more people excited about what you have in store. Try using the popular “boomerang” function if uploading videos is too much work for you.

Make sure that all of your photos are high quality, well lit, and show off your event in the best light possible.

Join a club or organization that has similar target demographics as your future attendees

This requires some minor research but it can really pay off if done right. If you’re hosting an International Film Festival, see if there’s an International Association out there dedicated to film buffs! This will help expand awareness of your event both before it happens and after it takes place by encouraging current members to get involved.

Get local businesses involved through sponsorship packages

Depending on what kind of business you run or which companies are interested in attending, you have a large variety of options when it comes to sponsorship. You could give them a free table to sell from, shout outs during the event, or even a guaranteed number of attendees if they’re willing to pay!

This is a great method for making sure that you’re getting sponsorships from the right kind of people and that they have something sizable invested in your event as well. Even just having their logo on your fliers should be enough but giving them more exposure ensures that they’ll definitely want to show up.

Go to big networking events

More specifically, go to TED Talk meetups and see which of the folks there would be interested in attending your event! Having a personal connection with someone will definitely incentivize them more than if they were to attend simply because they heard about it from a friend.

This strategy doesn’t only work for bigger names in town but also for entrepreneurs or business owners who might want to make their mark on your event.

Create an email list and contact all the attendees

This is one of the most important pieces of pre-event marketing that you can do! Email subscribers tend to be more dedicated than social media followers (they actually gave you their email address!) so it’s important to keep them engaged with your brand.

Try sending a funny meme or a fun fact about something that will pique their interest but also makes sure that you’re not spamming them. Patience is key here because finding the right balance might take some time!

Send out direct invitations to everyone who has ever attended your events

Even if someone didn’t attend your last event, it’s worth reaching out to them and seeing if they would be interested in coming to the next one. They could’ve simply missed your email or forgotten about it so this is a good way of reminding them that you still exist and will still be doing great things moving forward!

Tell a blogger about the event and ask them to cover it

There are a lot of bloggers out there that love to share their stories and get the word out about local events. If you can reach out to them and ask if they would be interested in covering your event, it could go a long way toward promoting awareness.

You might also try reaching out to newspapers or bigger companies who host events themselves! They’ll probably be more willing to help you because their target market is similar to yours.

Create a video trailer

A video is a perfect way to introduce an event and catch people’s interest! Try making a quirky or funny promotional video that will get people interested in your event.

Make sure that it’s no longer than 15-30 seconds and has all of the information about when, where, and what you’re hosting. Everyone loves a good trailer!

Invite interesting speakers

If you want people to show up and be interested, you need to make sure that they’re given a reason why. So try getting in touch with speakers who have large followings online and see if they would be willing to do a promotional post for your event

This strategy works especially well when it comes to YouTube personalities or experts who know something about what you’re hosting and how it could impact the world moving forward! They’ll probably even bring along some fans just because of their name alone so take advantage of this by making them feel important at your event.

You can’t put a price on the memories and connections you make at your event. Marketing for a live event doesn’t need to be expensive. Make sure you have enough promo materials, like banners, flyers, postcards or posters with the date of your upcoming show so people know when it is happening! If they don’t see any promotion about your event anywhere in their community then how are they supposed to know? Plus word-of-mouth marketing is actually free because all someone has to do is tell one person that there’s an awesome live event coming up – which could lead them to sign up too!