Whether your event is large or small, it can benefit from the use of an effective PR strategy. Public relations can help you to increase the profile of your event and the organisers as well as increase registrations or ticket sales.
So how do you go about using PR for an event? Below are our top five tips, which can be used for nearly any type of event.
Create an online community
Start by picking the social media platforms where your target audience members are. Your community should have a common name across all platforms, relating to your event.
In the lead-up to the event, don’t just use social media as a marketing tool, also share information relating to your conference topic. This will communicate to your audience you are interested in the topic and have a wealth of information to share.
If your event is annual, ensure to maintain your social media platforms year round, with a larger presence in the months leading up to the event.
Use your talent
If you’re hosting a conference, you may have a range of speakers who are experts in their field which you can use as media talent. If you’re hosting a different kind of event there will always be at least one person you can pitch to media for interviews. This may be a guest speaker, MC or the entertainment.
When journalists are writing stories they want to talk to someone who is a proven expert or thought leader in their field, the fact they are a part of your event demonstrates they have some sort of expertise to share.
Target bloggers
Of course you should still target traditional media and invite journalists along to your event, but don’t forget about bloggers as they can be very influential.
Bloggers will usually have more time to spend at your event, rather than a journalist who may just duck quickly in and out for an interview. Bloggers usually have a strong social media presence as well and can be encouraged to tweet and Facebook about your event, as well as writing a blog about it (if they enjoyed it!).
Create a hashtag
Hashtags bring together like-minded people on Twitter. You should create one for your event, and use it in the lead-up, as well as throughout the event. Make sure it is something simple and relates to the event.
Before and during your event, publicise your hashtag to encourage as many people as possible to follow the stream. Use it constantly while tweeting throughout the event.
Ensure to have interesting images on hand
If you are pitching your event to media, they sometimes will ask you for an image to go along with the story. You need to have these on hand, in high resolution (300 DPI). There is no point sending a 50kb image to a journalist, they won’t be able to use it.
At the event hire a professional photographer to take lots of photos. This way you have images you can use for the next year’s event or any post-event PR to send to journalists. You should also share them through your online community.
If you follow all of these steps you will increase the profile of your event and increase sales and registrations.
