Get Press and Media Coverage for your Event.

Any coverage in the press about your event should form part of your marketing plan. No matter how large or small your event is, getting coverage from key influencers is vital in promoting your event to your target audience. For event organisers on a tight budget it is possible to do this at little or no cost.

For large corporate companies organising events they will usually have a budget specifically for PR and may even employ the services of a Public Relations Agency to do the work for them. Not every event organiser has access to the budgets that a professional agency will likely charge so they are going to have to use other resources to get converge. 

For a smaller event with limited budgets get someone to take responsibility for getting media coverage, ideally it should fall on the shoulders of your marketing team. As part of their marketing plan they should have a schedule or announcements and press release dates plus a list of up to date contacts in their target media. 

It's easier said than done to have a have a ready-made list of media contacts but it is everyone's responsibility to build relationships throughout the year so that you aren't contacting someone blind. For target influencers try and offer them something different or an unusual angle specific to your event. Journalists like newsworthy topics and if you offer them an exclusive then even better. Journalists really want to hear something new and exciting that they can write about to interest their own audience. 

The easiest coverage will always come from local media close to your event venue so target them first. This should be relatively straightforward as they are always keen to publish news about something happening in their local area.   

National media, press, TV and Radio can be more of a challenge so leverage the contacts that artists have. Work together with artists and their managers to issue joint statements about upcoming events and make them available for interviews too. Always be prepared and make sure you have easy access to artist bios and photographs so that you can quickly react to journalist requests. 

When you do get coverage ensure that this is shared on all the media platforms you own like your website, Twitter and Facebook pages for example, as this will increase the coverage you get. 

On a final thought, if you are struggling to get any coverage try issuing a press release on an online platform like 1888pressrelease They have different levels of distribution service starting from a free press release. They also offer a choice of add on enhanced services at various prices up to a maximum of $249 per release that includes coverage in Google News and SEO enhancement so there is something to fit all budgets. 

If you are using an event management software solution like FestivalPro you get great functionality built in for managing artists bios to link to any promotional activity being conducted. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience. The easy to use FestivalPro platform will guide you through every aspect that you are likely to encounter in managing your artist profiles.

Photo by Wendy Wei from Pexels

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