If you’ve already read the guide Organize an Event – the 20 Top Tips! Then you already know what it takes to put on an epic event. You are really confident that the attendees will all have a blast and that it will be talked about long after the fact. The problem is that now you have to get the word out there to make sure you have a full house.
You can’t sell many tickets if nobody knows about the event, to begin with! There are a lot of ways to market your event but one that is very direct and highly targeted is to use Google Adwords. Having a blog and getting organic traffic takes far too long. Social media worlds well, but it does take a while to build a following. Using ads is more immediate and is a great way to get the ball rolling for your event.
In this article, we will go over how to make a successful Google Ads campaign for your next big event.
Know your audience
Different events attract different types of people. You can’t be a generalist and spend tons of money on ads that are reaching the wrong people. This means that you have to identify who the ideal attendee is going to be at one of your events and then create the campaign around that person.
The reason is that they are going to be using certain keywords when doing searches. Knowing who they are will give you some insight as to what they would be searching for so you can use the right keywords for your bids.
You should know as much about their demographics as possible. This way you can narrow down who sees the ads to reduce wasted clicks. This should include age, geographic area, and gender when possible.
Match the ad to the keyword
An ad is only going to work when it is relevant to the person searching. This means that the keywords they use should influence which type of ad you use for it. It won’t get a good ROI if you are using the same ad for different keywords as they won’t match the search intent of the user.
Create different ads for each type of keyword so you can be sure the ad gets attention. For instance, the keyword “music festival next week” is likely being searched by somebody who is ready to buy some tickets to see a show at the last minute. The ad should let them know that time is ticking for your music festival. On the other hand, “things to do in Chicago for music fans” is more generic and informational so an ad that is less pushy will work well.
Optimize the landing page
If the ad did its job then the click brought the user to your landing page. This is where the conversion has to happen. The landing page needs to have a compelling call to action so they know what the next step is that they should take. Whether it is signing up for a waitlist or purchasing their tickets right away, they should have a clear signal as to how to proceed.