Getting word out about your event services is an important step in growing your business, and it’s often a struggle for most event planners.

A reader recently asked our advice on how to get more clients and avoid marketing mistakes event planners make.

It’s a question we hear often at Event Planning Blueprint, so I decided to tackle it because event planners are often looking for ways to market their services and set themselves apart from the competition.

Marketing Mistakes Event Planners Make

Here are four common marketing mistakes event planners make that you’ll want to avoid, and how to fix them.

Mistake #1: Putting All

Your Eggs in One Basket

One mistake that wastes marketing dollars is depending on a single marketing strategy. Some event planners focus on email marketing, building a website or trying pay-per-click advertising and never try anything else.

How do you avoid this mistake?

Create a multi-layer marketing plan.

A balanced marketing plan for your event planning business might include an attractive website, a blog about planning great events, an email marketing campaign or local advertising. These are just a few of the ways successful event planners attract new business.

Rather than waiting for business to come through your website, you might decide to call on local companies. You may want to host your own party to highlight your skills. Use your creativity and planning skills to reach out to your audience in several different ways. Don’t make the mistake of depending on a single marketing method to bring in business.

Mistake #2: Not

Developing a Unique Marketing Proposition

Would you launch a marketing campaign without defining what makes you and your event services unique?

Sadly, some event planners do.

The best marketing results come from identifying your unique appeal to your ideal customer.

Why would a client prefer what you do over what’s offered by another event management professional?

Why is that important to the specific group you hope to reach?

Until you can answer those questions, you aren’t fully prepared to launch a marketing campaign. Your unique marketing proposition should be the cornerstone of all future marketing.

Mistake #3: Casting Too Wide a Net

Now that you’ve seen the dangers of depending on one type of marketing and failing to define your unique appeal, it’s time to pinpoint your audience. Reaching out to too wide an audience will dilute the impact of your advertising efforts.

Focus your Internet, print and face-to-face marketing on the customer base most likely to respond. For example, an event planner who specializes in coordinating festivals doesn’t need to market to individuals in need of a wedding planner.

On the other hand, the expert wedding planner shouldn’t waste her marketing dollars trying to attract corporate clients.

Do you see how casting a wide net could go wrong?

Mistake #4: Failing to Engage with Your Audience

Have you ever asked for information from a website and never heard back? The website’s owner has failed to engage with you, the person in need of his product. The event planner who wants to maximize her marketing must stay fully engaged with her target audience. All the marketing dollars in the world won’t result in new business if you don’t commit to customer engagement. Engaging with potential customers means responding promptly to all requests for information. That means answering phone calls, emails and website inquiries. It means following up when someone requests a proposal, to make sure they have the information they need. Customer engagement means staying in touch with people who can’t use your services right now, but might in the future. Fully engaged customers have you on their minds when it’s time for their next event, because you’ve taken the time to connect with them. This last mistake, failing to keep the momentum going when someone responds to your marketing, is one you can avoid by putting systems in place to stay engaged. Your marketing plan should include regular contact with your customers and customers-to-be. Schedule time on your daily calendar to return phone calls and email messages. Don’t leave your prospective customers hoping to hear from you; feeling they’re important to you is what keeps them engaged. These are four marketing mistakes that event planners make. Now, I’d love to hear from you. Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. Do you have a marketing strategy that works? In as much detail as you’d like, share one marketing tip that has worked for you. Remember, we love hearing from you, but links to outside posts and videos are seen as SPAM and are deleted 🙂 As always, thanks for joining our International community of event planners each week and for sharing your insights.

P.S. Plan any event with The Event Toolkit. Get yours here.