Fundraiser promotions to meet or beat your event goals

Luckily, it’s never been easier to promote an event. Start by making marketing a priority on your event calendar. Have a sound strategy, be persistent in your efforts and guests will be lining up to attend.

Know your audience

Who are your guests? Are you inviting people that you know? People from the community or school zone? As many folks as possible?

Knowing your target audience informs how and when you reach them. Spend some time upfront clearly defining your potential attendees—where they live and work, what they like to do, where they frequent, and the like—to save time and be more productive in your promotional efforts.

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Plan smart

Use what you know about your target audience to brainstorm ideas for spreading the word. Do they congregate in a local coffee shop? Spend time at the farmers’ market? Belong to groups or organizations? Are they Facebook fans?

Jotting down these ideas can help you come up with an efficient marketing plan. Try an online event plannerto organize your ideas. As you create your program, always consider the context. Promoting an adult-themed fundraiser with flyers at a neighborhood preschool might not be appropriate, even if parents are your potential guests.

No budget, no problem

We’re visual people. We process visual information more quickly than text and retain more of it. A strong and memorable graphic element should be an essential part of any event communication. But that doesn’t mean you have to shell out money for a designer.

You can find online templates with a wide range of design options for almost any promotional piece. Choose your design, name your event (if you haven’t already) and create an anchor piece using a flyer template, event invitation template, or poster template.

Use this piece to build all your other communications. Having a consistent design or a common color palette and typeface will tie your messages together and make a greater impact.

Beyond the flyer

Your promotional efforts are competing with at least 5,000 other messages people receive in a day. Go ahead and post up your flyer on community boards at places of worship, coffee shops, and community centers. But don’t stop there.

Piggyback on other events that your audience might attend and hand out event postcards detailing your fundraiser. Wear your message on a T-shirt around areas your potential guests might be. Give away free invitations with other services, like car washes or dry cleaning (arrange with merchants ahead of time).

You can use an event tracker to manage your efforts. And don’t be afraid to think big.

Drive attendance with digital

Studies show that nearly 70% of adults spend time on Facebook. Use the social network to share your fundraiser with your friends on your newsfeed, or, better yet, initiate a Facebook event.

Facebook events are easy to create and can be open to anyone or a specified audience. Users can post events on their timelines and share them with their entire network.

Plan to use Twitter? Think about adding a hashtag to connect potential guests so that they can share their thoughts and see who else is attending. Remember to use a visual, such as your flyer, in your post. Tweets with attached images have more stopping power and are more likely to be retweeted.

Email blast still works

Email marketing is a trusted tool among fundraisers. Build a contact list from whatever sources you have, for example, emails collected at previous events. A typical campaign could include a save-the-date or teaser email, the event announcement and a reminder email a few days prior to the event.

The key is to keep the content interesting. Change the headline and subject line, add new images, or highlight different aspects of your event to make each email unique and worth reading.

Other online efforts can include mentioning your fundraiser on your organization’s or personal web page, dedicating a blog post to your event, and posting to online calendars in newsletters or neighborhood websites, such as Nextdoor.

Have fun

Don’t forget—your guests are your best ambassadors. Treat each ticket sale as a way to generate more sales by encouraging attendees to share your event online and in conversation. This dynamic word of mouth, along with the above ideas and a little creativity, should set you up for a successful event that meets—or beats—your fundraising goals.