Promoting Your Arizona Event

You’ve picked a date, reserved a space, and made all the arrangements to hold your event, but for an event to be a success, people have to show up. How can you promote your event?

The first thing you need to determine is how many people you want to attend your event and which people you are going after. If this is a wedding or party, you might just send out invitations with RSVP cards and be done with it. Small informal events can use email or Facebook invitations. Just make sure that everyone RSVP’s so you don’t end up with too many (or not enough people).

Larger events are going to take more work to promote, especially when there is an admission charge for an event. The earlier you start promoting your event, the better. Figure out what your draw is for your event and use that to your advantage. Sometimes it is a good idea to book entertainers or bring in inflatables games to draw more people to an event.

There are many events calendars online and on print, many of which will include events at no charge. Get on as many of them as possible. If you can not find information on adding your event to a guide, make some phone calls or emails until you find someone who can help you.

Advertise your event in the appropriate venues. The newspaper is usually a smart choice. There might also be magazines that are suited to your event. For large events consider radio and television ads. You can also post fliers and do a direct mailing (or email) to any individuals you feel would be interested. If you have a web-site or Facebook page, use it to promote your event. If you don’t, set up a Facebook page. It’s free and it’s a great place to promote both this event and future functions.

If you are selling advance tickets for your event you should have a pretty good idea how successful your promotion is. After all, once an event is sold out, there is no need to continue pushing it unless you plan to hold additional events in the future. If you have a lot of extra tickets, consider offering some as prizes for giveaways at radio stations, stores, and other businesses. Giving away tickets will get someone in the seat, plus you get advertising out of it every time your event is mentioned.

The event day is your final opportunity to get people to come to your event, so take advantage of it. Don’t stop promoting your event until it is over (or full). Make sure your event is well marked and easy to find. Good signs are very helpful. You can rent promotional items like Sky Dancers and Feather Flags from AZ Party Rents. These are effective for drawing people’s attention and helping people find your event.

After the event is over, keep track of what promotions worked and what did not and use the information to further promote your next event.