Creating a Buzz

Sporting events happen on a daily basis meaning the choice for visitors almost seem endless.

With all the noise and excitement competing for attendees it’s imperative that your event stands out so that when the decision needs to be made, your event is the one that people flock too.

How are you positioning your event?

So how can you make your event stand out? How can you be different and unique? Have a think about how you want to position your event, what is the content of your event, which sport is your event hosting, what are attendees going to get out of being there and how are you going to communicate with them?

Try and get all of this information included in a catchy and punchy title and supporting headline for your event. You will be using this headline in all your collateral so you need to make sure that it’s strong. Think about related things like what hashtag you could use to support the event. The hashtag will not only encourage people to share your event, but will allow you to connect with and engage social media users based on a common theme or interest (your event) later down the line.

How will you create enthusiasm?

Enthusiasm is infectious and it starts with the event organiser and spreads to the events community – so the sooner you can create a community the sooner you can create enthusiasm. Take a look at our ‘building a community’ page to learn more, but here is how you should start:

• Be passionate – you have to be passionate about everything you do; love your chosen sport, visualise the success of your event and passion and enthusiasm from your audience will follow.
• Be positive – draw strength from the positive, learn from any failings but focus and draw inspiration from any success.
• Be proud – be proud of your event, talk about it with peers and discuss it with family and friends. Enthusiasm is infectious; the more enthusiastic you are about your event, the more your audience will want to attend!
• Be creative – enthusiasm and creativity come hand in hand and are triggered by each other. Sports events can have particularly creative themes and promotional activities due to the fun, competitive and community focussed nature of the event. Be as innovative and creative as possible and watch the enthusiasm for the event build.
• Define goals and what you need to achieve them – write down what your exact goals are and keep this somewhere prominent, then use the plan that you have put together to accomplish them. Try and break down in to micro goals – as you complete more micro goals you’ll feel more accomplished leading to more enthusiasm.

If you’re not excited about your event, then it will come through to potential attendees. The benefits of generating some enthusiasm cannot be underestimated, you’ll have more confidence; you’ll be more productive and you’ll create more of a buzz.

Which marketing channels will you use?

The first thing to consider is your audience. Where do they hangout online? What channels do they use? What are they interested in? When you know this you know where and how to approach them. 

The corner stone of your event is creating an engaging website or event page - remember, this could be on a social platform, but just needs to be presented as an information hub to refer potential visitors towards for more information.

How will you measure audience engagement levels?

It’s important to first realise what you want to achieve from your event. There are several factors to take into consideration, including the internal KPI’s, the objectives of the event for your audience and financial targets. As with any plan, your objectives should be SMART; specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused and time bound.

The objectives will determine the success of your event. Your internal KPI’s will measure the overall return on investment for your event. For example, you may want to set a KPI of 1,000 competition entries at the event or 200 magazine subscribers. You may want to think about setting a promotional target, such as a ‘hashtag reach’ on social media for your events personalised hashtag.

Audience objectives are all about creating a positive experience for the audience. This can be hard to measure, so you may want to set an objective of receiving 500 positive reviews from the attendees, or possibly ask them to fill out a survey after the event. Audience satisfaction is key to the future success of your event.

Financial targets are not to be ignored either. While you want your event to be a success with the audience, you most likely want to make a profit too. Your financial objective will help you to measure your financial return on investment. Perhaps you want to set an objective of a certain number of ticket sales or purchases at the event? This will encourage your team to get the event sold out as fast as possible.

Top Tip

Know your audience! This will allow you to communicate effectively with them and encourage them to get excited about your event.

Did You Know?

• According to a survey by HubSpot, on average, companies use 5 different methods of promotion when creating a buzz around their event.
• According to the same survey by Eventbrite, 25% of SMBs said that email was their most effective tool for event promotion, while 23% said Social Media and 22% said Referrals or Word Of Mouth.
• Over 14.2 million Tweets were sent during the Portugal VS France UEFA Cup Final 2016 using the hashtag #EURO2016, highlighting the important of social engagement and your events own hashtag!