Events Demand Multi-Channel, Multi-Touch Effort

Event promotion is a common but sometimes challenging activity for campaigns and causes. A recent blog post by Lori Halley of Wild Apricot, the membership software firm, had some cogent advice for a multi-touch, multi-channel strategy -- adding new communications tools to traditional ones, like direct mail, for a more potent marketing mix. Part of a "multi-touch" approach starts by leveraging staff and volunteer social networks. Your organization can provide staff, volunteers, and fans with suggested guest posts, tweets, and draft text/visuals with links to event information, for example. Then make sure the formal event promotion plan also effectively includes online and social channels. For example, besides putting the event on the homepage and in the events calendar, create a dedicated web page with online registration capability and auto confirmations. Besides direct mail announcements, send coordinated, automated e-mail event promotions and reminders to your database. Maximize social media by enabling social sharing buttons/widgets wherever possible -- on your website, social media pages, blogs and e-mails. Create event pages for your social communities (on Facebook, for example), put event hashtags on tweets, use the LinkedIn event application, and everywhere don't be shy about asking for "likes" and sharing. And what about a video on the event or the cause for YouTube or Flickr? For more ideas, see the blog post at http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/2013/02/13/5-tips-for-getting-your-event-message-out