Event Marketing: How to Successfully Promote Events, Festivals, Conventions, and Expositions

hand, a promotion for a local fundraiser may be limited to per-

sonal phone calls to potential benefactors and community leaders,

enlisting their support for the event.

We have already discussed the circus parades staged by P. T.

Barnum, which certainly increased public awareness that the cir-

cus was in town. But the promotional effort was much more than

the parade itself; it also included the posters, press releases, ad-

vertising, requests for press coverage, press kits, and advance pub-

licists that called attention to the entire enterprise.

There are many tools to be considered for use in a promotional

campaign, among them:

■Letters

■Flyers (“single sheets”)

■Brochures

■Mailing inserts

■Advertising

■Posters

■Speeches

■Postcards

■Street demonstrations

■Radio and television commercials in host venue

■Public service announcements

■E-mail, list serves, and e-commerce

■Tent cards at host facility

■Bus and subway signage (inside and outside)

■Press kits

These and other types of promotions should be selected on the

basis of how you define your market or event. In addition, the

amount budgeted to fund the effort will assist you in making that

decision. We will discuss budgeting in Chapter 4. Because the full

range of promotional tools can be enticing to marketing execu-

tives, it is essential to conduct market research to determine which

of these tools will be most cost effective and generate the greatest

return on investment.

ADVERTISING

One of the most predominant and traditional event promotion

techniques is advertising. While most think of advertising in print

form, involving newspapers or magazines, it may come in many

42 Chapter 2 Event Promotion, Advertising, and Public Relations