Although I do love a restaurant launch, events and festivals are one of my favourite forms of Entertainment PR. The pure joy and tangible connection you can cultivate between a consumer and a brand can be palpable. Now that most of our pandemic related restrictions have eased, we are seeing events come back in full force and we’re so happy to see it! So, how do big events or festivals work as a component of Entertainment PR and what kind of impact can they have?
An effective entertainment PR strategy for the promotion of festivals and events can have a huge influence on driving foot traffic, boosting ticket sales, building reviews and interest with relevant audiences. It’s also important to note that you can still create a compelling PR strategy for a B2B event – it’s not just purely reserved for consumer driven events (B2C). Over the years, we have worked on several events in both sectors with Hunter Valley Gardens, Online Retailer Conference and Expo and the Mindful Drinking Festival, to name a few.
So, what types of strategies can you use for Entertainment PR? Firstly, a media release outlining key attractions or drawcards, timings, spokespeople quotes, and ticketing information should be written and distributed to relevant media. To ensure you are not pushing out this press release week after week, see if you can identify distinct themes so that you are able to create multiple press releases and offer it up to different types of media. For example, does the event have attractions that would be appealing to couples, or young families? The language and assets for each will be very different, so use this to your advantage in order to capture different audiences.
We always recommend gaining access to any talent or performers for a B2C event, or keynote speakers or exhibitors for B2B events to bolster these efforts. While an informative press release is a fantastic way to cover off the basics, we always find that these individuals or companies have compelling stories that will gain wider media interest. If these individuals are willing to be involved in your PR efforts, ask them if they can participate in media interviews and always confirm the quantity from the outset, so you don’t waste any precious time pitching if expectations are not aligned! As an PR agency, we are well trained in drawing out unique stories that can be used and promoted, so a phone call prior to pitching is always carried out. We have used this tactic countless times for Online Retailer Conference & Expo and we’ve secured meaty pieces in The Australian Financial Review, Sunrise, The Australian and SmartCompany.
The next point of call in an entertainment PR strategy would be engaging social media influencers. Pending on the content and type of event, this might not be relevant, but again we will guide you. For the past 10 years, we have worked with Hunter Valley Gardens to promote their fantastic events, which include Mega Creatures, Snow Time in the Garden and Christmas Lights Spectacular. Due to its visual appeal, influencer relations is paramount in promoting ticket sales and driving foot traffic. We’ve seen some beautiful content that has had a direct impact on sales, website traffic and Hunter Valley Garden’s Instagram following. To ensure expectations are clear, we draft a detailed influencer briefing document which outlines key messages, tags and expectations of posting. This must be signed off on by the influencer before they attend the event. We have seen quite a few brands come to us saying that they’ve used influencers in the past for events, but they only saw a few Instagram stories that disappear after 24 hours. This is devastating to us, as this document and clear communication with our influencers, mitigates this risk and ensures influencer relations has real business impact.
Another effective strategy for Entertainment PR is hosting ticket giveaways and promotions with media outlets, social media influencers or via your owned channels. We always offer this up in our media pitches and communication with influencers as we believe this opens brands up to new audiences who might not be familiar with them e.g. they have to tag a friend to go into the running to win tickets.
Finally, we can also assist with the copywriting and distribution of EDM’s. While you may have an extensive database, these subscribers may not be engaged with your brand and will forgo attending your event. It’s important that you nurture these individuals, so they feel compelled to attend and further their connection to your brand.
So, how do you measure success? In the digital age, a successful Entertainment PR campaign is so much more than just ticket sales and number of attendees. This is why we always benchmark a client’s owned channels before the campaign goes to market. If a brand has hosted the event or festival previously, we always ask for these figures and their expectation for the upcoming event so we can build this into our KPIs. We will also ask for their current domain authority, social media followings and engagement, top referral sources, traffic etc. to build a bigger picture. These metrics will be built into our KPIs so we can measure the difference at the end of the campaign, to see how PR has had a direct impact on your event.
If you would like assistance getting your Entertainment PR strategy right, please contact us at info@agent99pr.com
Agent Amelia
