How to Promote Special Events

One great way to generate buzz for your tour and activity company is to create a promotion based on certain special events that will take place at your location. This is helpful in attracting not only visitors from other destinations, but also in increasing your bookings amongst locals who may not otherwise consider enjoying a tour or activity in their hometown.

This guide will give you the information you need in order to promote special events and increase your brand recognition in the community.

Step 1: Choose Special Events that will Appeal to a Broad Range of Guests

You want to attract both locals and travelers with your event, so your promotion should be catered to a diverse range of people. Special events that center around well-known holidays, such as Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day or New Year’s Eve, are sure to appeal to just about every type of person in the nearby region and beyond. Think about what sort of event fits with your brand image as well. If you run an adrenaline-fuelled activity such as skydiving or a race car experience, a Melbourne Cup-themed promotion might miss the point, however Mothers’ Day-themed promotions for these sorts of activities have actually proven quite successful.

If you are thinking about which event to base your promotion around, you could be a little clever with it. Look at your booking data over the past couple of years and identify which part of the year is your low season. If there is an event that you can feasibly link to your brand and that you think will attract people that takes place at that time, use it! Build up some brand recognition and boost your off-season revenue at the same time!

Step 2: Alert the Press!

Once you have planned your special promotion, you need to make everyone aware of it. Distributing flyers or placing ads in local news outlets can be effective ways to reach your local community. Think about the point of the event you are using as the basis of your promotion. If your promotion is, for example, based around Mothers’ Day or Valentine’s Day, consider marketing it as a gift to buy ‘to say thank you’ or ‘for that someone special.’ Alternatively, if your event is themed around a more general celebration such as St Patrick’s Day or New Year’s Eve, promote it as a way to be a part of the festivities.

Step 3: Promote the Event on Social Media

Lots of people head to social media in order to see what’s going on in their area, so promoting your event on social media is a necessity. Make posts drawing people’s attention to your special promotion, as well as paid ad placements if necessary. Plus, as your followers start to engage with your promotion event, their friends and followers will see it and the message will spread. It’s a great way to quickly spread the word about what’s coming up at your tour and activity company. It is very important that if you want to attract international visitors, you promote your event ahead of time. If you have, for example, a St. Patrick’s Day-themed event, it obviously takes place at a certain time that you can’t change. This means that if travelers are going to visit you for your event, they need time to plan their trip.

Step 4: Make Sure that Other Travel Businesses Have Information About the Promotion

Partner with local hotels and restaurants in order to allow them to promote your event to their own guests and customers. You can consider creating package deals with these entities, so that the entire business community can benefit from the increase in business that results from your event. Local pubs could be a really good way to promote a St Patrick’s Day-themed promotion – give people the full Irish experience!

Step 5: Set up the Promo Code in Rezdy

Setting up promo codes in Rezdy is the in-built way to run a special themed promotion. Set them up, name them so you know which one is based on which event, and then distribute them. You could put a link to the promotion landing page on your website in your social media posts or ads, or you could include the promotion in the emails you send to your customers. Sending promotion links to past customers is a great way to drive repeat business and get them to come back to you or to get them to refer you onto someone else they know.

You can consider planning events that complement larger events that are occurring in your destination — such as a festival or a large concert. You also might consider planning events that focus on an upcoming holiday or celebration. Themed events are particularly popular, and have a tendency to draw large crowds. Regardless of the type of event that you plan, an effective promotional strategy is critical to its overall success. To learn more about social media marketing your tour and activity company, be sure to download the Rezdy social media ebook today.