Marketing Tips for Promotions and Special Events
Spring is our favorite time of year at Dion Marketing, after summer of course! It is hard not to love summer in Florida, especially for a marketing firm that specializes in amusement attraction marketing for family entertainment centers, waterparks and attractions across the country. Our creative planning starts in the fall along with re-evaluating the past seasons’ efforts. Winter is when we finalize our marketing plans and annual budgets. In the spring, we are building all of the campaigns and integrating the artwork and communication efforts with all available assets, also known as paid, earned and owned media. In the summer, we are in execution mode, making us more relaxed as the days get longer and warmer, watching our efforts pay off through positive results for our clients.
But for this spring, things are different. As all of our worlds have become upside down with uncertainties that lie ahead, marketing professionals should stay positive knowing that businesses will need our help more than ever re-establishing their brands and getting back on track. There’s no better time than now to stay productive by brushing up on our skills and resting up for a resurgence of creativity that lies ahead.
A lot of the businesses we work with come to us because of our experience in the attractions industry creating and executing successful promotions and special events that help drive attendance and optimize revenue. Here are some tips for any business looking to make the most of their promotional efforts.
Make a Plan
Plans don’t have to be daunting. They can be one-sheeters that spell out the who, what, when, why of your promotion or special event. For special events, it’s important to consider all operating costs involved including hard costs of advertising, special products to purchase, entertainment and/or staffing needs. For promotions, those tend to be easier when it comes to planning. A lot of times, promotions includes your own product. It might be discounted or combined as a package for a limited time. If your company sells items online, the promotion might only be available for purchase only online, and it might be limited more by using promo codes.
Assess your Assets
The next step is figuring out all you are going to do to get the word out about your promotion or special event. This is your paid, earned and owned media. Paid media is your advertising – what you spend money on. Nowadays, paid media should include brand advocates such as bloggers and micro-influencers. Earned media is when others do the promoting for you. Before social media, earned media meant PR hits. But now it has expanded to include social media sites as well as your guests who comment and share your posts. Owned media is those assets that you control such as your website, social media channels, email databases and in-store signage and marquees.
Execute
Now it’s time to execute! We are big believers in integrated marketing, and that means using all assets to create one cohesive campaign. To do that, the verbiage used and artwork for each communication channel should match. And while the artwork should have its own distinct look, it should still be in-brand, so anyone that sees it can associate it with the brand that is delivering the message.
Here is a checklist of assets that should always be used to consistently communicate your message:
✓ Email Marketing: Whether working with lists or one big list, they’ve opted in to get your updates, promotions and specials. The best advice is to make sure that your subject line grabs them, because no matter how big your list is, it won’t matter if it doesn’t have a good open rate. Another must-do is to have your email link back to your website. Website traffic is one closer step to a customer. If you are selling tickets or products online, linking directly to the shopping cart is one less step for the consumer, but be sure the shopping cart is robust enough to provide descriptions and all the information needed for your potential customer to make their buying decision.
✓ Social Media Posts: No one likes to be sold on social media. But they do like to find relevant information, so it is important to word your posts so they do not sound like ads. They should be fun and informative, with good imaging.
✓ Social Media Events: Utilizing Facebook Events are free and help get your message to those online who may be looking for things to do. If someone indicates that they are going to the event or interested, they will continue to get updates about the event if you continue to post on the event page. Plus, engagement goes up which is what Facebook’s algorithm looks for, which helps push your Facebook posts to more people that Facebook has determine wants your information. Facebook Events can even be tailored to target your audience through Facebook advertising and boosted to achieve further engagement.
Instastories is another tool to help push out brand messaging that is free, fun, easy and will reach a growing audience of moms who are turning more and more to Instagram if they’re your audience. If teens and millennials are who you are trying to reach, Instagram is a place where you will find them. Some brands are also on TikTok, a newer social media platform that every teenager seems to be spending all their time on now.
✓ Online Editorial Submissions: Just like Facebook Events and Instastories, an online editorial submission is a no-cost tactic that will help get your event online. For example, if you are hosting a Memorial Day event or promotion, those who are searching for Memorial Day events will have a better chance of showing up if it is in multiple places.
Online publications which include local tv stations, newspapers and blogs seek out special events to publish and offer free editorial submissions. A lot of times, you can even upload an image.
✓ News Releases and Media Pitches: It can be challenging getting media to cover a promotion or special event, because it can be perceived as trying to get free advertising. But if it is something charitable or relevant, you will have a better chance. For example, a special event can benefit a nonprofit organization or military can get something free on 4th of July. Positive media coverage is very important for a lot of companies and their reputations, and some promotions and special events are created with that goal of achieving positive news coverage, which in turn, can lead to positive business growth.
✓ In-store Signage: Marketing to the customers that you already have is easier than winning over new ones. They already know who you are and what you offer. Seeing signage for future promotions and special events will help increase their visitation rate, giving them more and new reasons to come back.
✓ Digital and Traditional Advertising: Combining traditional advertising with newer media options has always been one of our best strategies. Traditional media helps reach a large and broad audience but is expensive. OTT (over-the-top) is a newer option that reaches those watching TV in their living room like traditional TV but targets the consumer rather than programming. Radio has always been a good medium to drive promotions and special events, and a good radio buy combines their assets, too, further spreading your message through their social media platforms, email distribution, etc. Digital media is the most cost-effective media we are currently using for our clients, taking bigger slices of their budgets each year. And it gets more complicated as we’ve entered funnel marketing, retargeting and conversion tracking. As the media landscape continues to change and become more sophisticated, we have to continue to educate ourselves in order to provide our clients with the most efficient and effective combination of advertising tools.
The first day of spring this year is bittersweet. We are at home able to enjoy the warm air and spring blooms, but also anxious for the coming days, looking forward to brighter ones. We will be happy to get back on track doing what we love, which is helping our clients’ businesses grow and succeed!