Borrow Event Promotion Ideas from This Marketing Example
The image above is from a Lumber Liquidators marketing post card that arrived today. What does it have to do with marketing your event? Not much at first glance. But,once you start to dig beyond the words ... there is deep marketing psychology at work. What most people consider junk mail, can be a gold mine of marketing ideas. You can reverse engineer the post card above for your event flyers, billboards, poster, and print ads. You just need to know what to look for ...
The Pre-Head / Headline
The first thing this peace does is try to get your attention with a time sensitive offer ... "SALE ALERT! End of Quarter Clearence! Must be picked up or delivered by Saturday, March 31st!" When you design your event advertising, are you using a limited time frame for readers to take action?
Here's how I would reverse engineer the headline "March Madness Sale! Save up to 50% OFF (The Name of Your Event) Tickets, If You Buy Before Saturday, March 31st!" You need to drive people to action with words that are compelling, specific, and time-sensitive ... Think irresistible offer.
Let's move on to the next part, "Every Floor In-Stock is on Sale, March 22nd - 31st (if it's in-store, it's on sale)." Again, they're re-emphasizing the time frame to get the reader to take action. You can take the previous sentence and turn it into, "Every Ticket We Have is on Sale, March 22nd - 31st (if it's on our web site, it's on sale)."
Body Area
This is a call to action ... "Too many deals to list. Get to you local store NOW!" This line teases you, with more deals and directs people to visit their local store. It can be re-purposed to say something like ... "Get Full Details on Our Web Site (yourwebaddress.com) RIGHT NOW!" The line, "Hurry Sales Ends Saturday, March 31st!" is yet another time constraint. I'd rejig it to say, "Our Biggest Ticket Discounts End Saturday, March 31st!"
It might seem like overkill to constantly remind people of when the sale ends, but it's necessary. People are bombarded with so much advertising that it's easy to forget details. Repetition within an advertising piece, that people care about, is a good thing.
The Footer Area
Jumping down the piece a little further, we get to the line, "SOLD ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS. While supplies last." This phrasing establishes scarcity. This tells the reader - there is a limited supply, so you better act now. You could re-write it to say, "There are only a LIMITED NUMBER of deep discount tickets available, Once They're Gone - Their Gone." Again, get them to take immediate action.
Company Logo is At the Bottom
Your logo is probably very important to one person ... you! It's important to realize, unless you're a major brand like Red Bull, your logo will NOT drive extra ticket sales. I strongly recommend that you keep your logo at the bottom of all your advertising. Using a compelling offer (that people actually care about) is far more powerful than any logo or brand. When you prominently display your logo in your advertising, it's about you. You need to make your event advertising about them (your customer)!
At this point, you might be thinking ... This sounds a lot like an infomercial, and you're right! Here's some insider info - The infomercial business is driven by extremely smart marketers. There is something to be adopted into your event promotions and advertising! They hold their advertising budget accountable to measurable results. Everything they do is tested to the Nth degree. If something doesn't work - it gets changed or discontinued. If you really want to learn about the psychology of selling and marketing ... take a closer look at the infomercial business. You won't be disappointed.
Hopefully you can integrate some of the ideas above into your next event marketing piece. From now on, keep an eye out for good marketing ideas you can ethically (respect the copyright) borrow.
Here are some additional advertising ideas for your event ...
The first thing this peace does is try to get your attention with a time sensitive offer ... "SALE ALERT! End of Quarter Clearence! Must be picked up or delivered by Saturday, March 31st!" When you design your event advertising, are you using a limited time frame for readers to take action?
Here's how I would reverse engineer the headline "March Madness Sale! Save up to 50% OFF (The Name of Your Event) Tickets, If You Buy Before Saturday, March 31st!" You need to drive people to action with words that are compelling, specific, and time-sensitive ... Think irresistible offer.
Let's move on to the next part, "Every Floor In-Stock is on Sale, March 22nd - 31st (if it's in-store, it's on sale)." Again, they're re-emphasizing the time frame to get the reader to take action. You can take the previous sentence and turn it into, "Every Ticket We Have is on Sale, March 22nd - 31st (if it's on our web site, it's on sale)."
Body Area
This is a call to action ... "Too many deals to list. Get to you local store NOW!" This line teases you, with more deals and directs people to visit their local store. It can be re-purposed to say something like ... "Get Full Details on Our Web Site (yourwebaddress.com) RIGHT NOW!" The line, "Hurry Sales Ends Saturday, March 31st!" is yet another time constraint. I'd rejig it to say, "Our Biggest Ticket Discounts End Saturday, March 31st!"
It might seem like overkill to constantly remind people of when the sale ends, but it's necessary. People are bombarded with so much advertising that it's easy to forget details. Repetition within an advertising piece, that people care about, is a good thing.
The Footer Area
Jumping down the piece a little further, we get to the line, "SOLD ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS. While supplies last." This phrasing establishes scarcity. This tells the reader - there is a limited supply, so you better act now. You could re-write it to say, "There are only a LIMITED NUMBER of deep discount tickets available, Once They're Gone - Their Gone." Again, get them to take immediate action.
Company Logo is At the Bottom
Your logo is probably very important to one person ... you! It's important to realize, unless you're a major brand like Red Bull, your logo will NOT drive extra ticket sales. I strongly recommend that you keep your logo at the bottom of all your advertising. Using a compelling offer (that people actually care about) is far more powerful than any logo or brand. When you prominently display your logo in your advertising, it's about you. You need to make your event advertising about them (your customer)!
At this point, you might be thinking ... This sounds a lot like an infomercial, and you're right! Here's some insider info - The infomercial business is driven by extremely smart marketers. There is something to be adopted into your event promotions and advertising! They hold their advertising budget accountable to measurable results. Everything they do is tested to the Nth degree. If something doesn't work - it gets changed or discontinued. If you really want to learn about the psychology of selling and marketing ... take a closer look at the infomercial business. You won't be disappointed.
Hopefully you can integrate some of the ideas above into your next event marketing piece. From now on, keep an eye out for good marketing ideas you can ethically (respect the copyright) borrow.
Here are some additional advertising ideas for your event ...
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