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

substantial gains by creating new advertising opportunities for ex-

hibitors and other supporters. Its program book was 400 pages

long, which constituted a huge expense item in the budget. In a

short period of time, IFT was able to recover the cost of the pro-

gram book and generate a 40 percent profit through the sale of ads

to exhibitors, sponsors, and supporting organizations.

How do you decide on the right advertising instrument for

your event needs? First, identify the audience you wish to attract.

Then investigate the demographics reached by the advertising me-

dia you wish to consider. For example, marketing executives for

larger events may consider broadcast media, which may reach a

regional or even a national or international audience. More local-

ized events will likely be promoted through community newspa-

pers, local flyers or brochures, posters, and co-promotion with

supporting groups and facilities. The primary consideration is the

reach, or total impressions, of the group being sought, even before

considering the demographic audience of the media being

utilized.

Media sales representatives are equipped to demonstrate the

demographics of their readers, listeners, and viewers. You should

ask if the demographic data have been verified by an independent

auditing firm. Ask when that audit was performed, and investi-

gate the following criteria, among others of particular interest

to you:

■Age

■Income range

■Trade or profession

■Gender

■Geographic location

■Race

■Marital status and family size

Psychographic Data

Event marketers should also analyze the psychographic profiles of

their audience, namely, the values, attitudes, and lifestyles of the

target market. An effective method for determining attitudes is

through an attitude survey. This instrument will ask respondents

to indicate preferences for a range of issues, from personal inter-

ests to educational needs to locations and timing of events. Atti-

tude surveys may be conducted with quantitative or qualitative

44 Chapter 2 Event Promotion, Advertising, and Public Relations