If you’re running a paid event, you should be hitting 80% of your revenue target by the day of your event — that means only 20% of attendees should buy at the door. 

How do you achieve this? Through groundbreaking event promotion.  

Effective event promotion goes beyond basics like posting on social media or sending emails — but you already know that. It’s about truly understanding your audience’s desires and using the right event marketing strategy to make your event irresistible. 

At Eventbrite, we’ve helped thousands of creators sell more than 284 million tickets. In this article, we’ll share our proven strategies that’ll help take your event to the next level.

Let’s start with the most important part: your audience.

Nonsense alt bunny event
(Image Source)

Stage 1: Connect with your audience on a deeper level 

To truly influence an audience, move beyond targeting surface-level interests and instead focus on tapping into their emotional responses. 

Harness the power of feeling and memory     

When purchasing event tickets, attendees are often driven by emotions without even realizing it. 

So if your event branding is inconsistent or only focused on event features rather than creating an emotional connection, it could be the reason you’re struggling to increase ticket sales or generate buzz. 

We relate to brands the same way we relate to people — and your event is no different. To motivate an attendee to take action, you need to trigger a memory filled with emotion.  

To do this, you want to market to the primal brain instead of using logical reasoning. 

The most common example is the “FOMO” (fear of missing out) effect. Emphasizing what people will lose if they miss your event can help you increase ticket sales. 

For example, Nonsense Atlanta consistently uses event photos that capture youthful energy to evoke nostalgia. This visual element subconsciously triggers a memory of feeling wild, carefree, and adventurous — the kind of experience attendees don’t want to miss.  

Every aspect of Nonsense Alt’s branding relates back to this emotional trigger.

When designing your event brand, it’s important to go beyond what looks visually appealing — that will only get you so far. Instead, consider what emotions and memories you can trigger to influence your audience.

Pro tip: Create a free event website through Eventbrite to build a custom page with consistent branding. 

All together now event photo
Pop Pop / All In Together Now / Seattle, WA

Use neuromarketing strategies 

Simple things like image layout may not seem to impact how your audience views your event, but the truth is they do — and you can use this to your advantage. 

By understanding neuromarketing techniques, you can tap into the subconscious desires of your target audience. For example, Netflix uses aesthetic visual analysis to create custom thumbnails for each user based on their individual preferences and behavior.  

Here are some core neuromarketing techniques that you can use to take your event promotion to the next level. 

With Eventbrite’s marketing tools, you can gain valuable insights into how your community responds to specific aspects of your event promotion:

Audience reports allow you to see if your audience is new or returning visitors and how long they’re on your site. This can help determine what aspects of your promotion are making an impact. For example, if potential attendees only spend 5 seconds on your site and don’t scroll past the first section, you may not be anchoring the right information about your event. 

A/B testing allows you to experiment with different elements of your event ads, such as color, image, and text, to determine what best resonates with your audience. For example, you could run two separate Facebook and Instagram ads with different-colored text to see which  generates more engagement.

Behavior reports provide detailed information on how visitors interact with your Eventbrite site and social media accounts. These reports can help identify factors of your promotion that impact potential attendees’ emotional experience, such as the loading speed of your landing page.  

Guy thrashing head at bar
Duck Club / Pink Fuzz + Floating Witch’s Head + MOS / Boise, ID

Use precise audience targeting 

Of course, consistent branding and images that elicit emotion won’t get you very far if your target audience doesn’t see your event promotions! When it comes to event promotion, targeting the right people is the key to increasing your chances of selling tickets. Think of it like a word-of-mouth recommendation versus a cold call — the more targeted your approach, the more likely you are to succeed. 

Instead, optimize your event email marketing strategy by segmenting your email lists into categories: people who have bought tickets to your events versus people who haven’t, or specific demographics within your target audience. Then create campaigns that speak to those smaller groups with a targeted message using email marketing platforms like MailChimp or Emma.

To maximize the effectiveness of your event promotion, focus on audiences who are already engaged in your community and likely to be interested in your event. With Eventbrite’s audience targeting tool, you can easily identify who’s responding to your ad and tailor your marketing efforts accordingly.

Pro tip: Use Eventbrite to keep track of your email list across multiple events. With our Mailchimp integration, you can send over 10,000 emails a day to nurture leads in between events. This can help grow your audience and increase ticket sales over time.  

Elevate your event promotion

All together now event photo
City of science Bronx event
City of Science: Bronx / New York, NY

Get creative with your promotional strategies 

Now that you’ve developed a deeper understanding of your audience and where to reach them, it’s time to use out-of-the-box strategies to really make your event stand out. 

Connect with people who can help promote your event

Connecting with the right people can help you expand your event’s reach and improve its visibility within your community. Here are a few potential partnership opportunities for your event.

One way to find potential event sponsors, influencers, and collaborators is through an event listing page. Eventbrite allows you to discover the most popular events in your area of expertise through personalized recommendations. 

By analyzing these events, you can get an idea of which sponsors might be interested in your event, what ads work with your audience, and which event companies might collaborate with you. 

Pro tip: Follow Eventbrite creators to find nano and micro-influencers who might be interested in promoting your event. 

Sakura festival two people drinking
Upstairs NYC / Sakura Festival Night Market & Asian Food / New York, NY 

Feature exclusive offers at your event

Give your event an exclusive feel with creative offers and VIP experiences that can build interest. Check out these ideas.

Eventbrite’s powerful marketing tools allow you to easily create and distribute custom promo codes, VIP tickets, and native checkouts seamlessly across multiple platforms. With the ability to track performance, such as how many VIP tickets are being sold, you can examine which promotional offering is most effective. 

Pro tip: Offer exclusive perks and benefits for those who regularly attend your events. By showing your appreciation, you can increase brand loyalty and foster community around your events.

On Eventbrite, you can funnel event data to see which ticket holder is a new or returning customer to help you target returning customers more accurately. 

Avocadocon brick laying contest
Spark Social SF / Avocadocon / San Francisco, CA

Use social media to generate hype 

Social media is incredible — and the best part is many opportunities are free. Enlist these social media strategies as event promotion ideas.

Eventbrite can help take your social media marketing to the next level. With our add-to-Facebook tool and expert suggestions on optimizing your ad spend, you can effectively target your audience and ensure that the right people are seeing your event. 

Sell tickets on Facebook to your next event.

People at a small concert
Banner image for link to download an event promotion timeline checklist

Use the 3-month window to step up the intensity

Once you’ve unlocked the power of tapping into your audience’s subconscious mind and have chosen the best strategies to persuade them to buy tickets, it’s time to put everything into action.  

You can start as early as 12 months before your event. But for the vast majority of events, the most important period for sales is between one and 12 weeks out.

3 months before: pique curiosity    

Three months before the official launch is the perfect time to generate buzz and anticipation within your existing community. Tap into their subconscious desire to uncover secrets by creating a sense of mystery around your event.  

Here’s what you want to focus on:  

The trick is to balance providing enough information to keep your audience interested but withholding enough to keep them intrigued.   

2 months before: cultivate hype

With the cat out of the bag, it’s time to use creative marketing strategies to cultivate hype among your target audience. Create noise by building a movement around your event. 

Here’s what you want to focus on: 

At this stage, it’s important to focus on generating new leads while still appealing to your existing audience. To get the most out of your advertising budget, break it up like this:

You don’t want to blow through your entire ad budget when you’re still six weeks out from the big day. Make sure you have plenty of money left to reach those last-minute ticket buyers who won’t want to miss your event!

People dancing at a concert
Viceroy / Audio / San Francisco, CA

1 month before: trigger memories  

Now is the time to nurture the new leads you’ve accumulated in the first two months of promotion. Keep them on the hook by triggering memories of unforgettable past events and tapping into their subconscious desire to experience them again. 

Here’s what you want to focus on: 

It’s important to highlight that attending your event will allow participants to relive feelings of excitement. This will help your event stick in their minds and continue to chip away at any hesitation they have to buy a ticket.   

Week before: leverage FOMO 

The week before your event is your final chance to turn nurtured leads into sales conversions. The best way to do this is to use FOMO to create a sense of urgency. 

Here’s what you want to focus on: 

FOMO is a strong motivator to push attendees who are on the fence to buy a ticket, especially if they’ve seen three months of promotional material leading up to the event. Remind them that this is their last chance to be a part of something special — it’s now or never.

Day of: fuel excitement 

This is it — the day has finally come! Today is not just about prompting door sales but also building a strong connection with your attendees. This can help maximize your chance of attendees sharing their experiences on social media. 

Here’s what you want to focus on: 

It’s crucial not to drop the ball now, as encouraging attendees to promote your event on social media can increase brand awareness and provide invaluable social proof for future sales. 

Event promotion in practice: two inspiring examples

Now you know the process, it’s time to see it in action. Discover how two successful Eventbrite creators use their event promotion strategy and our marketing tools to target their market audience and boost ticket sales. 

MVMENT instagram feed
(Image Source)

MVEMNT: marketing to the right audience  

MVEMNT is an event creator that prioritizes community building throughout their event promotion strategy. In their promotions, they shift the focus from promotional to conversational, moving away from strict marketing messages and instead engaging potential ticket-buyers in thoughtful conversations. 

Each aspect of their promotional campaign works to show that their event is more like a group of friends meeting up to share experiences. 

How they do this: 

Overall, MVEMENT leverages Instagram and Facebook ads, as well as the Eventbrite app, to effectively evoke emotion in their target audience and drive engagement. Using consistent branding helps make MVEMENT instantly recognizable and hard to forget.

As a regular Eventbrite user, MVEMENT can use real-time data to analyze if their storytelling and community is working to increase attendance and build a loyal following. 

Event Promotion in Practice
(Image Source)

Duck Club: using social media to create buzz  

Duck Club is an event creator that showcases live indie music events to music lovers. They use Instagram and TikTok trends to engage with audience members and upcoming acts to create excitement about their events. 

Duck Club is especially good at creating a sense of urgency and anticipation in the last month before launch day. They will tease their community by posting snippets of past events that remind them of the feeling of listening to their favorite artist in a crowd of fellow music lovers. 

How they do this: 

The key to Duck Club’s success in event promotion is its ability to stay fresh in its audience’s mind. They do this by leveraging the latest technology, like Eventbrite’s AI tools to help launch social media ads 30% faster. 

Revolutionize your event promotion with Eventbrite 

If you’re looking to level up your event promotion, the best place to start is with your approach to marketing.

Instead of solely focusing on direct sales, leverage the power of neuromarketing to target attendees’ subconscious minds and build a strong brand identity. 

And partnering with an event promotion platform like Eventbrite can help you maximize your ticket sales by reaching people looking for events like yours. Eventbrite can also help you streamline your marketing and your attendees’ ticketing experience, as well as gain valuable insight into your community with audience reports. 

Remember, the key to effective event promotion is creativity — so don’t be afraid to think outside the box.