Tips for Announcing Live Events and Webinars in a Press Release
A lot of time, energy, and money go into live events and webinars. They’re tremendous business building tools. You can use them to market your business, to sell products, and to generate leads. Webinars and live events position you as a problem solver and a trustworthy source of value and information.
You can put all of this time and energy into a webinar and not get the results that you’d hoped for. In addition to pulling together the event, you also need to spend a good amount of time marketing the event itself.
There are a number of different channels and tools you can use to announce and promote a live event. They range from social media and email marketing to content marketing. The press release is one often overlooked tactic to announce and promote a live event.
Press releases offer a good return on investment. They help you reach a wider audience. And they can be used to build authority and credibility – some of the same benefits gained from hosting your event. The following tips will help you leverage this content marketing tool to announce your next live event or webinar.
1. Value Driven Headline
A press release headline must announce news. That’s the foundation of a press release. It must be newsworthy. However, when you’re announcing a live event or webinar, that news should also inform readers of the value. It’s not just that you’re hosting a webinar, but what attendees will gain from the information?
“ABC Company to Host Marketing Webinar,” isn’t a compelling headline. However, “7 Key Marketing Trends for 2016 and Ideas for Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences, hosted by ABC Company” is a great press release headline. It promises value while announcing news.
2. Get a Head Start
The promotion for an event has to begin long before the actual event. Most companies start promoting their webinars a few weeks, if not a few months, out. That means you want to get your press releases planned in advance as well. If you’re sending the release to chosen media reps then you’ll want to send them the information a few weeks before you plan to issue a release and distribute it online. Your online distribution should occur simultaneously with the ability to sign up for the event. If you’re going to open up registration on the first of the month then consider making sure your press release is distributed that day as well.
3. Social Media
Leverage social media to get the most out of your press release. You’re likely promoting your event on social media. Don’t neglect the power of a social media press release to increase your return on investment.
Finally, use a press release to follow up after the event. There are many opportunities once the event is over to continue marketing and profiting from it. You might make it available as a product on your website. You can issue a press release announcing product. You might create case studies from the event, share the results of the event and more. Live events and webinars are opportunities to market your business. Use a press release to make them even more powerful and successful.
