Guide to Marketing Your On-Campus Event
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Guide to Marketing Your On-Campus Event Guide to Marketing Your On-Campus Event......................................... 1 1. Introduction................................................................................. 1 2. Plan Ahead.................................................................................... 1 A. Who's Your Audience? .................................................................. 1 B. Create a Marketing Plan................................................................ 2 C. Publicity Design ........................................................................... 2 D. Vary Your Tactics........................................................................ 2 E. Environmental Impact ................................................................. 2 3. Online Marketing............................................................................ 3 A. Online Marketing Tools at Columbia................................................ 3 B. Other Online Marketing Tools ........................................................ 4 4. Analog Marketing: Fliers and Beyond ............................................. 4 A. Where to Print............................................................................. 4 B. Where to Hang Fliers.................................................................... 5 C. Ethics of Fliering .......................................................................... 5 D. More Analog Marketing Ideas ........................................................ 5 5. Audience Development .................................................................. 6 A. Why It's Important ...................................................................... 6 B. Stay in Touch.............................................................................. 7 C. Collaboration............................................................................... 7 1. Introduction So you finally have everything ready for your event - the space is reserved, everything has been purchased, the performers are rehearsed, and you're good to go. Now how do you get people to actually come see all your hard work? There are over 150 student groups at Columbia and thousands of events every year. Your event will almost certainly be competing with performances, classes, lectures, meetings, and more, each vying for the attention and attendance of the Columbia community. This guide is designed to help you make your event more visible and reach out to the kind of audience you want. 2. Plan Ahead A. Who's Your Audience? First, determine who your audience is. As exciting as your event may be, there's simply no way for you to interest everyone on campus. Targeting a specific audience will enable you to use your resources wisely, reaching only those who are most likely to respond. Is your event geared to those with a specific interest or affiliation? Who attend a specific school? Think outside the box. For example, a student production of Fiddler on the Roof would want to target theatre enthusiasts, musicians, and family and friends of the performers, but could also consider reaching out to the local Jewish community and human rights activists. B. Create a Marketing Plan For every event, you should have a clearly thought-out plan for all of your advertising. This will save you from frantically hanging up posters the day of your event! The plan should include a schedule for all promotional materials, such as when to create an event on Facebook or when to send out emails to your group's members. Think about the timing of your plan so that you don't advertise too early (people will forget about your event by the time it comes around) or too late (no one will know it's happening, or they'll have made other plans). C. Publicity Design Carefully consider the design of your marketing. Start by thinking about a couple of key aspects of your event that you want to promote most strongly; this could be the sponsoring group, the performers, the content of the event, the cause behind it, etc. Design your event's logo and posters around those ideas, using eye-catching images. Above all, all visuals should be clear. Someone stumbling across your event on a calendar, flier, or email should be able to tell exactly what the event is and when. Don't get too carried away with flashy graphics or excessive text; most people won't spend more than a couple of seconds looking at your publicity, and you need to convey all important information to them in that time. Also, make sure that your publicity is unified. This doesn't mean everything has to look exactly the same, but they should be clearly related. Define your promotional language ahead of time and use the same phrases on posters, in emails, etc. Use the same image (or variations on that theme) for all of your materials; the viewer should be able to mentally connect your poster with the email they received and the Facebook message they got. D. Vary Your Tactics People receive information in different ways, so make sure to reach them in as many ways as possible. The internet is a great way to reach people in many different ways - by email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. You can also couple that with an analog component, to reach people on campus who may not be in your online network, or to emphasize your online message. Don't limit yourself to just one form of publicity. E. Environmental Impact Consider the environmental impact of your marketing plan. It is difficult to make much of an impact with one flier in a sea of others plastered on a bulletin board; this method also demands huge resources both to pay for the printing costs and the environmental impact of so much paper. Non-paper marketing tends to be cheaper, easier, and more effective. 3. Online Marketing A. Online Marketing Tools at Columbia - Keep a listserv and email past event attendees: This is an excellent way to cultivate your audience and reach out to those who are already interested in your work. If you use the Ticket and Information Center to sell tickets for your event, they can provide you with the names and email addresses of all your attendees. - Register your event at the Ticket and Information Center: In addition to selling tickets, the TIC will also advertise your event on their website and LCD screens at the TIC in Lerner Hall. - Columbia Arts Group And Resources List - A listing of all Columbia's arts and culture groups. Make sure your group's information is up-to-date. Let us know if any information is missing or needs to be changed by emailing us at [email protected] with "Student Group Revision" in the email title. - Arts Initiative E-Newsletter - This e-newsletter lists a sampling of exciting arts and culture events both on and off campus. It goes out every Friday, reaching over 15,000 Columbians. Email your event's information to [email protected] to ask to be included. - Bwog: This popular campus blog lists events on its sidebar, along with a picture and link to your website. To be included, email the details of your event to [email protected] a day before you want it to appear. - Columbia Events Calendar: An online calendar listing Columbia events of all kinds. Submit listings one week before the event. - This Week At SIPA: An listing of events that is posted both online and around SIPA. Fill out the form online to be included. - Theatre Division Events: A weekly e-newsletter showcasing works by current or previous School of the Arts students. For inclusion, email Jamie Hardy. - P&S Club Calendar: Online calendar of events hosted by the Physicians and Surgeons Club at the Medical School. - Student Council Listservs: All student councils have a weekly e-blast featuring announcements and events. To be included, contact your class council or the council's Executive Board. - Columbia University Performing Arts League (CUPAL) Listserv: Reaches a large listserv of students interested in the performing arts. To get on the listserv or list your event, email [email protected]. - Music Performers Program E-Newsletter: A weekly newsletter sent out to on-campus musicians and also posted online. You must email submission requests to [email protected] by Tuesdays at 5:00pm. - Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) "Just a Note" e-newsletter. Deadline for submissions is 12:00pm every Wednesday. Send your listing to Marta Equilin at [email protected]. B. Other Online Marketing Tools - Facebook: Make an Event online and invite your friends. You can also ask everyone involved with your event to change their Facebook profile pictures and statuses to advertise. - Twitter: Create a Twitter account for your group to advertise your event, link to articles of interest, and generate discussion. You can also tweet @CUarts or other groups who may be interested in your event. - CUArts Fan Page: Post your event on the wall of CUarts' Fan Page. - Blogs: Consider creating a blog for your group to share your work and post information. You could also approach another blog about doing a feature on your event or allowing you to post as a guest. For starters, try the CUarts blog. - Contact heads of departments or professors that may be interested in your event and ask them to pass the word along to their classes. - Create a website: Google Sites, Free Webs, and Office Live are all free and user-friendly. - Create a video: A video can be a great way to showcase your event and get people excited. Post it on YouTube, embed it onto a website, or email it out to your friends. 4. Analog Marketing: Fliers and Beyond A. Where to Print If