For your conference to be a success, you need a quality conference venue, good speakers, and a substantial amount of planning.

However, none of that will matter if no one attends. To get attendance you need to get the word out. Here are some tactics to advertise your conference.

In order to focus your marketing, know who you’re targeting. For instance, are you targeting businesses or individuals? Are you specifically targeting industry professionals to attend or is the event open to members outside of any specific field? Do you want to concentrate your efforts locally, or go as wide as international? Who your target is will affect how you focus and tailor your advertising.

Contact businesses directly
If your conference is for a specific industry or profession, it may be a good idea to contact directly those who’d be interested in such an event. Before you start making calls or sending out emails though, first take a moment to work on your pitch. What is your selling point? What would the benefits be? And what are your credentials?

Online marketing can be a very affordable way of getting the information out to a wide audience. Before you reach out, however, make sure your website is user-friendly. It must be easy to navigate, useful, enticing, and simple to register.

Then, utilise social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. But remember that even though social media is the marketing buzzword of the moment, social media marketing still takes careful planning and diligent work to successfully execute.

Also make use of online forums. This channel often gets left on the wayside these days, but it’s still a great way to target specific groups of people. You might be able to simply post an invitation for free, but first contact the webmaster to find out guidelines about listing your conference.

There is an association for every imaginable career, hobby and lifestyle. So no matter what your conference is about, there will be groups organised around it. Their publications and websites are great avenues to advertise your event, very often without charging you a cent.

Find out from your conference venue what in-house marketing services they offer. It’s very likely they have their own channels and resources that you could use – making your life that much easier. Not only that, but they will be able to tailor your marketing to the location. For instance, most Cape Town conference venues will know all the ins and outs of advertising a conference in Cape Town specifically. Try also Credo SA to help you with smaller conferences, events and presentations

Online event listing websites are usually very affordable, because they’re providing a service to the readers. South African sites on which you could list your conference include SouthAfrica.info and BizCommunity.com.

Consider who else is involved in your conference, such as your speakers, sponsors or partners. They will likely have their own channels and followings that could be of help to you. The great thing about this avenue is that by helping you, they’re also helping themselves, which makes for a very helpful alliance.

And finally, try to target every one of the above mentioned advertising outlets. Paid and free, print and online, so that your event gets the recognition it deserves and becomes a great success.

Image source: University of Exeter