Planning an event? Email marketing can be your best friend for event promotion. It’s a fantastic way to connect directly with your audience, ensuring they don’t miss out on your offering. In fact, email marketing delivers 174% more conversions than social media, so it’s worth your attention. In this guide, we’ll show you how to use email to boost registrations, keep your messaging on point, and make your event a success.
Let’s get started!
Why Email Marketing is a Game-Changer for Event Promotion
Email marketing is a fantastic tool for event planners, acting as a direct line to promote events, build connections, and nurture potential attendees. By creating targeted email campaigns, event planners can reach their ideal audience, sending personalised messages that resonate and drive engagement.
According to Campaign Monitor, ‘email marketing produces 174% more conversions than social media’. For event planners, this means that a well-thought-out email marketing strategy can lead to impressive returns, boosting event registrations, ticket sales, and overall success.
How Email Fits into Your Event Marketing Plan
Email marketing is a crucial part of any event marketing mix. It works well with social media, content marketing, and paid ads to create a unified and effective campaign. When event planners use email alongside these other strategies, they can reach a wider audience, keep their messaging on point, and boost registrations.
Benefits of Email Marketing for Event Promotion
Email marketing has a lot to offer for event planners aiming to get the word out about their events:
- Budget-Friendly: Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach your audience. There’s no need to worry about printing or postage costs, and many email marketing services have budget-friendly plans based on your number of subscribers or emails sent.
- Targeted and Personal: With email, you can easily segment your audience by various criteria, such as demographics, interests, or previous event attendance. This means you can send out tailored campaigns with personalised content, making it more likely your audience will engage and respond.
- Trackable Results: Email marketing platforms come with detailed analytics and reporting features. You can track the success of your campaigns through metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, which gives you valuable insights to keep improving.
- Easy Integration: Email marketing works well with other marketing channels, such as social media and event registration platforms. This integration creates a seamless experience for your audience and helps you capture and nurture leads throughout the entire event lifecycle.
Key Elements of Effective Event Email Marketing
To nail a great event email campaign, you’ll want a mix of engaging content, eye-catching design, and smart targeting. Start with a catchy subject line that sparks urgency and excitement. Try something like “Don’t Miss Out” or “Limited Spots Available” to grab their attention. Like this email campaign from Adventure Cinema:
Once you’ve got them hooked, make it personal. Use their name and tailor the content to their interests or previous interactions with your brand. Show them you appreciate their time by highlighting what makes the event a perfect fit for them. Then, make sure the key details—date, time, location, and agenda—are easy to find and read. Bullet points or a clear layout work wonders here.
Prominent Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons
Ensure your email has easy-to-spot CTA buttons to encourage people to sign up. Use phrases like “Register Now” or “Claim Your Spot” to give a little nudge. Put these buttons in critical places—like right at the top and the bottom of the email—so they’re hard to miss and simple to click.
Designing Visually Appealing Email Templates
Making your event email campaign look great can really boost its impact. Start by weaving in your event’s branding—think logos, colours, and fonts—to make sure people recognise and remember your event. Use high-quality, attention-grabbing images or videos to highlight the venue, speakers if you have any, or incredible moments from past events. This will help get your recipients excited.
Since many people check their emails on their phones or tablets, ensure your email template works well on mobile devices. Go for a single-column layout with big CTA buttons to make it user-friendly on smaller screens. Don’t forget to test it on different devices to ensure everything looks and works perfectly.
When designing, try to balance text and visuals. Use plenty of white space to make it easy to read and highlight important details. Break up long paragraphs with subheadings, images, or bullet points to keep things engaging and easy to scan.
Writing Emails That Get Results
When you’re putting together the copy for your event email campaign, aim to make it engaging and focused on what’s in it for your audience. Share exciting stories about the experiences or insights they’ll get from the event to build buzz and anticipation.
Don’t shy away from addressing common concerns, like the time or cost involved. If you have early bird discounts, group deals, or other special offers, mention them to encourage sign-ups.
Remember to occasionally include testimonials or highlights from previous events to show potential attendees that your event is worth their time—this will help build trust and credibility.
Using Persuasive Language
When writing your email copy, use persuasive language that creates a sense of exclusivity and urgency. Phrases like “Join an elite group of industry leaders” or “Don’t miss this opportunity” can encourage recipients to act.
Keep your sentences short and punchy, using clear, concise language. Avoid jargon or overly technical terms that may confuse or alienate your audience. There’s no need to over-complicate it. Instead, focus on the benefits and outcomes that attendees can expect from the event.
Worth the Weight, a vintage clothing sale company, does this well. They keep things simple and to the point, using catchy, urgent phrases like “early bird tickets are selling fast” to get people to act quickly. They play on that fear of missing out (FOMO) by highlighting perks like getting “first dibs” on items, making it feel like a race you want to win. Plus, they make sure all the essential details—date, time, location, and a clear sign-up button—are right there in the email, so you don’t have to go hunting for info. It’s a smart, straightforward approach that gets results.
Email Automation for Streamlined Event Marketing
Automated email sequences are a game-changer for event marketers who want to simplify their promotion process. Basically, you set up a series of emails that get sent out automatically based on your audience’s behaviour and where you are in your event timeline. This way, you can keep your event front and centre and nurture your leads without manually sending each email.
To start things off, map out the main stages of your event promotion—the initial announcement, early bird registration, regular sign-ups, and last-minute reminders.
Timing Your Emails with Recipient Actions and Event Timelines
Make the most of your email marketing platform’s automation features to easily schedule emails based on different triggers, like when someone joins your event list or as important dates approach. For example, you can set up a sequence that sends a welcome email right after someone subscribes, followed by an early bird registration offer a few days later and a reminder a few weeks before the event. This way, your emails stay timely and relevant, keeping your audience engaged and in the loop. You can use platforms like Klaviyo, Hubspot or Mailchimp to help with this process.
Foreverland’s email campaign does a great job of using smart timing, clear calls to action, and a bit of urgency to keep its audience engaged. By sending a reminder email a month before the event with a clear button at the bottom and a note saying “only 20% of tickets remain,” they give people a good reason to act fast.
Personalising Your Emails Based on What Your Recipients Like
Want your automated emails to really hit the mark? Make them personal! Think about what each person likes and how they behave. Use their name, mention events they’ve attended, or highlight their interests. Customise the subject line and content to match their needs or challenges.
For instance, you could try a subject line like “Your Exclusive Invitation to [Event Name]” or start your email with “Hi [Name], we’re excited to have you join us at [Event Name]!” It adds a nice touch and makes your emails feel more personal and engaging.
Automating Reminders, Confirmations, and Post-Event Follow-Ups
Make life easier by automating those key emails! Send out registration confirmations, event reminders, and follow-ups without lifting a finger. These automated emails keep your attendees up-to-date, reduce no-shows, and open doors for feedback.
Conclusion
There you have it—email marketing is a must for event promotion. With its direct line to your audience and ability to boost registrations, it’s an invaluable tool in your event planning toolkit. By crafting personalised, targeted emails and integrating them with your overall marketing strategy, you can ensure your event gets the attention it deserves.
So, what’s your next move?
Recommended reading list:
A Guide to Influencer Marketing for Events
Common Event Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Transforming Event Marketing with User-Generated Content
For additional marketing tips, tune in to our podcast, Horizon by Hummingbird.
