How do I market my events to get more attendees?

Building your audience is something that takes constant effort combined with plenty of time.  There are lots of possibilities but what works best for your area is a code you will have to crack. Some ideas to start you off:

  • A good place to start is Dimitris's presentation on how to create a buzz. You can find it HERE.
  • We had a great discussion on this topic at an Office Hours webinar, watch that here.
  • Each event is a prefect marketing for the next event, the better the current event, the more attendees for next event
    • Photos: Invest on photos your event. Post them on social media after the event, make sure to create separate album for each event. Tag people in the photos to ensure they can share and their friends can see the photos.
    • Videos: When resources are available invest on event videos. Create highlight videos of your event, take key moments from your videos and crate short clips, and finally film the full event chat/panel and upload them to Startup Grind local youtube channel.
    • Posting Sequence: If you post the photos and videos of your event in a sequence on social media, you will ensure enormous engagement. A suggested sequence is as follows:
      1. Upload photos: One or two days after event. View example here
      2. Upload the highlight video: One or two days after photos. View example here
      3. Upload key moments video: One or two days after highlight video. View example here
      4. Upload the the full chat/panel video: Finally one or two days after the key moment video, upload the full video to Startup Grind Youtube Channel and post the link to social media. View example here
  • Host your event at a co-working space since then people can literally just stay (reduces travel friction: they skip traffic + get dinner)
  • Create posters to give to all local co-working or local shared office spaces and build relationships with each one so they put these posters up for you each month.
  • Get to know everyone who reaches out to your audience (organizations, businesses, etc.) and sends event newsletters then see if they’ll help promote your event.
  • Find every business event calendar in town and post your event each month (Startup Digest, Biz Journal, other local papers, local tech council or associations, etc).
  • Search for your local startups and reach out to them directly – if you have time go meet them to see how you can be of help and connect them in useful ways.
  • Create a post and put it in every relevant (startup or entrepreneur) Facebook (or WeChat) group you are a part of.  Give your friends a free ticket if they will post that same post.
  • Ask your speaker & sponsors to promote to their circles. Always tag them on social media, too, to get more exposure.
  • Make sure each month’s speaker inspires your outreach; whatever the category or expertise your upcoming speaker has can create a fresh way for you to look for local entrepreneurs who might find that speaker especially interesting. Get on their website, find their email and send them a personal invite.
  • Write articles for the local papers or entrepreneur-focused publications and mention your events whenever possible - perhaps even with a discount for attendees. Or, build your own following on something like Medium.
  • Send potential articles to local press: If you write the article for a journalist (or at least prepare it) then you'll increase the likelihood of success - because you're actually doing them a big favor if the content is good. Journalists like this. :-)
  • Reach out to your city’s economic development team and invite them + ask who you should be connecting with.
  • And then the obvious ones; send newsletters through our system, have active social media pages for your chapter, etc. If you get a sponsor you can even use some of the funds to do FB ads or the like.
  • Also make sure to stay active on our Slack channel – sometimes there are great conversations about this topic in there.

Just like when we own a business, getting the “customers” is always about 10x more work than we anticipate. Even when we have a stellar product. :-) But, pick a few things each month and they’ll continue to build.