Event marketing is a crucial element of modern marketing. It offers many excellent advantages, including the opportunity to interact with, and engage, customers directly. In many instances, it can also offer a very broad platform for reaching many different kinds of people.
However, planning an event can also be a challenging process, and quite time-consuming, when you don’t do it wisely. That’s why we’re about to look at some of the best event marketing tools and software options you can use to make the process easier.
Challenges of event planning
There are many different challenges that you may encounter while planning an event. The right tools and software can be instrumental in overcoming these challenges. Let’s take a quick look at some of the main types of challenges you’re likely to encounter.
Budgetary challenges
Effective budget management is the most common challenge in event management. From overspending to underestimating costs and limited funding, there are seemingly endless challenges here. However, good tools can help you to ensure that your budget is accurate and that you make the most of the available funds. .
Venue and logistics challenges
Finding an appropriate venue, and organising the logistics can be a difficult part of planning an event.
Some of the main challenges include identifying a venue with availability during the duration of the event, especially in the peak seasons or for larger events. Finding an event venue with sufficient capacity is another challenge, as is ensuring that it offers sufficient accessibility and that it’s in a good location.
Attendee management challenges
It can also be difficult to effectively manage booking systems and attendees. Some of these challenges may include difficulty attracting sufficient attendees, or an excessive number of no-shows to the event.
Other struggles may include engaging effectively with attendees, both before, during, and after the event.
Contingency planning challenges
Planning for emergencies is another source of concern for many event organisers. Not only do they need a contingency plan to help deal with unexpected events, but they also need to have a full plan in place for managing any crises that occur during the event.
Marketing and promotion challenges
One of the most significant challenges faced during the planning phase of event management is that of marketing. It can be difficult to reach as many people as you need to.
In many cases, these struggles relate specifically to the difficulty of reaching the target audience. It may also be difficult to track and analyse the return on investment of your marketing efforts. In many industries, the competition on this type of event can also be intense, making it more difficult to market effectively.
Evaluation and feedback challenges
As you’ve undoubtedly seen in our guide to post-event marketing, gathering and analysing data after your event is a crucial part of the process.
Without decent tools, one of the most difficult things to do will be to obtain feedback from event attendees. You need this type of data to help assess the event's success and identify areas for improvement.
These are just a few of the many types of challenges event planners may face. Now, let’s discuss some types of tools that may help overcome these problems.
Types of event marketing tools
Event marketing strategies rely heavily on planning and preparation and there are many different types of tools that can help you plan your event successfully. Let’s take a look at just a few of the categories that work best for event planning.
Marketing Automation Platforms (MAPs)
Marketing automation platforms, or MAPs are an excellent set of tools for managing your marketing campaigns.
They allow you to automate repetitive tasks like sending email campaigns, scheduling social media posts, and creating targeted ads, which helps you to streamline your event promotion and save significant amounts of time.
Many of them also allow you to centralise your campaign management and analytics. Not only does this create a unified view., but it allows you to optimise each campaign based on its performance data.
Many MAPs also allow you to analyse insights about attendee behaviour and preferences, allowing you to personalise your marketing efforts and identify the most effective marketing channels.
Customer Relationship Management tools (CRMs)
Customer Relationship Management tools, generally known as CRMs, can play a significant role in facilitating a successful event. They help you to track attendee interactions, engagement, sales, and more by maintaining a comprehensive record of attendee data and interactions.
They also work well as a means of identifying potential leads, and can help to nurture relationships by making it easy to tailor follow-up communications to individual attendee needs and interests.
Social media management tools
Promoting your event online through tools like social media marketing is an essential part of event marketing today, which makes social media management tools invaluable.
You can use them to schedule social media posts in advance, thereby ensuring a steady stream of content on the relevant social media platforms, all while saving time and effort through automating posting.
In many cases, they also allow you to measure social media performance by tracking engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments. They can also be a useful way to help you identify successful content formats and strategies.
Project management tools
An essential part of event planning is knowing what to accomplish and when. This means that a project management tool can be of an essential nature.
Not only does it help you to keep track of tasks, speakers, content creation, and attendee follow-up, it’s also excellent for helping to organise and manage the various aspects of your event planning process.
It’s also an excellent way to ensure that deadlines are met and that tasks are completed efficiently. Furthermore, it can help to facilitate teamwork and communication among event team members, especially as relates to specific tasks, while providing a centralised platform for tracking progress and sharing updates.
Communication and collaboration platforms
Depending on the tools you decide to use for project management and CRM, you may also require a tool for communication and collaboration between the different organisers and event teams (I.E. organisers, speakers, attendees, etc.).
Choosing the right communications tool can create a central hub for team discussions and collaboration, improve communication and coordination among stakeholders, and enable the events team to collaborate on documents, presentations, and other resources in real time, regardless of location.
Integration management and automation tools
When you’re trying to make your event planning process as simple as possible, you need to integrate the different aspects as well as you possibly can. It’s also essential to practise automation where possible, saving both time and effort.
The best integration management tools will allow you to connect various event marketing tools for a unified workflow. This helps you to create seamless data flow between different platforms, while facilitating the automation of repetitive tasks.
By streamlining and automating processes like data entry, lead generation, and email marketing, you can free up time for more strategic tasks.
Design tools
Design is an essential part of any event’s marketing. Your designs and marketing materials need to match your brand identity, which means you need to create visually appealing event branding materials.
These materials could include anything from landing pages to social media graphics and flyers. It’s important to design professional, engaging marketing materials that reflect your event's theme, as this will help to enhance brand recognition and attract attendees.
Choosing the right design tool can play a significant role in the overall design success.
Analytics platforms
Analytics platforms are another, often overlooked, set of tools that can be invaluable. This set of tools can include various different things, including website traffic and user behaviour, to help you understand attendee journeys.
By allowing you to gain insight into how attendees interact with your event website and marketing materials, you can easily identify areas for improvement and optimise your event promotion.
Analytics platforms also allow you to measure event success and identify areas for improvement, based on the event KPIs you’ve set.
Best event marketing tools
Now that we’ve discussed how tools can help you and what kinds of tools are available to you, let’s delve into some of the best tools for this purpose.
EventBrite
Key features
EventBrite facilitates easy ticket sales and management, making it easier to create and sell tickets for your events, manage attendee registrations, and track ticket sales.
It also enables you to provide a seamless registration process for attendees, including options for early bird discounts or group rates.
The addition of a myriad of built-in marketing tools allows you to promote your event through email campaigns, social media, and other channels.
It makes the process even more convenient by allowing you to accept payments online through Eventbrite's integrated payment gateway, streamlining the registration process for attendees.
Finally, it contains analytics tools that enable you to track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your event's success, including ticket sales, attendance rates, and attendee engagement.
Strengths
- User-friendly interface: Eventbrite's intuitive platform makes it easy for event organisers to create and manage events.
- Wide reach and audience: Benefit from Eventbrite's large user base and visibility to attract more attendees to your events.
- Integration with other tools: Seamlessly integrate Eventbrite with other popular platforms like Zoom and Mailchimp for a more streamlined event experience.
Weaknesses
- Can be expensive for large events: Fees for Eventbrite can increase for events with high ticket sales or attendee numbers.
- Limited customisation options for event pages: While Eventbrite offers basic customisation options, you may have limited control over the look and feel of your event page.
Zapier
Key features
Zapier allows you to effectively automate workflows, which helps to connect various applications and streamline tasks.
It also offers effective data syncing tools that can automatically transfer data between different apps, eliminating manual data entry.
Finally, it enables you to set up triggers that initiate actions based on specific events or conditions.
Strengths
- Flexibility and customisation: Tailor workflows to your specific needs and requirements.
- Wide range of integrations: Connect to thousands of popular apps and services.
- Easy to use (no coding required): Create automations using a visual interface without writing code.
Weaknesses
- Can be complex for beginners: While Zapier is user-friendly, it may require some learning for new users.
- Limited options for advanced users: For complex automations or custom integrations, additional tools or coding may be necessary.
HubSpot
Key features
The HubSpot platform makes it easy to perform email marketing by allowing you to create and send personalised email campaigns that will nurture leads and drive conversions.
As a platform with a CRM focus, HubSpot also makes it easy to practise lead management. It enables you to track and manage leads throughout every level of the sales funnel, providing insights into their behaviour and engagement.
HubSpot makes it easy to automate repetitive tasks like email marketing, social media scheduling, and lead nurturing.
HubSpot also offers excellent analytics tools, giving you valuable insight into your marketing performance through detailed analytics and reporting.
Strengths
- All-in-one solution for marketing and sales: Streamline your marketing and sales processes with a comprehensive platform.
- User-friendly interface: HubSpot's intuitive interface makes it easy to use for marketers of all levels.
- Extensive integrations: Connect HubSpot with a wide range of other tools to enhance your marketing capabilities.
Weaknesses
- Can be expensive for small businesses: HubSpot's pricing plans may be beyond the budget of smaller businesses (more about small business event marketing here).
- Steep learning curve for advanced features: While the basic features are easy to use, mastering advanced functionalities may require a learning curve.
Trello
Trello
Key features
Trello allows you to use comprehensive kanban boards. Essentially, you can use them to organise tasks and projects visually with customisable columns and cards.
It facilitates easy task management by enabling you to create, assign, and track tasks efficiently within your Kanban boards.
Trello also offers you some excellent collaboration features, allowing you to easily collaborate with team members by commenting, assigning tasks, and sharing files.
Strengths
- Simple and intuitive interface: Trello's user-friendly design makes it easy to learn and use, even for those new to project management.
- Easy to use for teams of all sizes: Suitable for small teams and large organisations, Trello can accommodate projects of varying complexity.
- Customisable boards: Customise your Kanban boards to match your specific workflow and project requirements.
Weaknesses
- Limited reporting features: While Trello provides basic reporting capabilities, it may not offer advanced analytics or customisation options.
- Can become complex for large projects: As projects grow in size and complexity, Trello's limitations may become more apparent.
Google Analytics: Best for analysing web-based data
Key features
It offers website traffic tracking, allowing you to track website traffic to your event registration page.
It enables you to analyse user behaviour, allowing you to understand how potential attendees interact with your event website.
It allows you to monitor aspects like including time on page, click-through rates, and conversion funnels, giving you the opportunity to pinpoint any bottlenecks or pain points in the registration process.
It helps you to track how many of your leads turn into successful conversions (registrations), helping you to measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Finally, this tool can be tremendously effective in identifying trends and patterns. By identifying trends in attendee behaviour and preferences, allowing you to enhance your marketing preferences..
Strengths
- Powerful reporting capabilities: Generate detailed reports on various aspects of your website's performance.
- Free to use: Access Google Analytics without any cost.
- Integration with other Google tools: Seamlessly integrate with other Google products like Google Search Console and Google Ads for a comprehensive marketing solution.
Weaknesses
- Can be complex for beginners: Setting up and analysing Google Analytics data may require some technical knowledge.
- Requires technical knowledge to set up and analyse data: Understanding data analysis concepts and metrics is essential for effectively using Google Analytics.
How to choose the best event marketing tools
Now that you know what kind of tools are available to you, let’s discuss how to find the right tools for your specific applications. We’ll take you through the process step-by-step, and help you to narrow down the options till you find what you need.
Step one: Consider your needs
The first thing you need to do is determine exactly which functionalities are crucial for your event planning. These may include things like email marketing, social media management, customer relationship management, or attendee tracking. When you set your event objectives, your needs will be apparent.
After deciding what you need, consider whether you want an all-in-one tool that allows you to manage everything from one centralised platform, or if you’d prefer to use individual or specialised tools and bind them together using integrations.
Step two: Set a budget
The next most relevant step is to set an event budget that you’re willing, and able, to spend on tools for the event planning process. Once you’ve determined how much you can invest in event marketing tools based on your overall budget, it will make it considerably easier to narrow down the available tools.
It’s also important to consider the potential ROI (return on investment) of using these tools to improve event efficiency and results.
Step three: Evaluate accessibility
Before deciding on a specific tool or tools for your event, you need to consider which ones you can practically access. This means ensuring that any tools you consider are compatible with your team's devices and operating systems. In the case of need, you also need to ensure that the tools offer features like accessibility options for users with disabilities.
Step four: Check for integrations
While many tools are absolutely fantastic as standalone modules, they often aren’t very compatible with integrations. This means that, rather than simplifying the planning process, they can add unnecessary additional steps to it.
You need to ensure that any tools that you choose can integrate seamlessly with your existing software systems. If you want the best possible experience, you also need to avoid integration issues. This can help minimise disruptions and ensure smooth data flow between tools.
Step five: Consider software suitability
The next step is to ensure that the tools and software you consider aligns with your event's specific characteristics and industry requirements. Some tools and software choices are intended for specific industries, which can make them unsuitable for certain uses.
If possible, you may also want to consider getting tools with tailored features. This means looking for tools that offer features relevant to your event's goals and target audience.
Step six: Prioritise customer support
The final thing that you need to consider when choosing a tool or software is how good the provider’s customer support is.
Pay especial attention to the responsiveness and accessibility of the tool provider's customer support. This includes considering the level of expertise and assistance offered, and ensuring that the support team can effectively help you resolve issues and troubleshoot problems.
Once you’ve considered these six individual characteristics, you’re well prepared to choose the best tool for your company and event.
Conclusion
It is readily apparent that there are many different types of tools that you can use to help successfully plan your event. In this article, we’ve mentioned just a few of them, and there are so many more options to choose from.
However, while tools can be a tremendous help and make the event planning process significantly easier, and even the overall event marketing process, they are still limited by your knowledge and experience.
Sometimes, having access to both the tools and the experience can tip the balance in your favour. If you feel like you’re ready to call in professional help for marketing your event, take a look at our events marketing services. We’d love to help you ensure that your event is as successful as possible.
