10 Ways video marketing can enhance your events

Video marketing offers an incredible opportunity to get your event marketing messages across to potential attendees in a way that is immersive, engaging, and cost-effective. It can also help to capture a memorable experience during the event and provide content for attendees to look back on. 

However, there are several important considerations that make up a successful video marketing strategy in the events industry.  In this article, we’ll take a look at the following topics:

• What is video marketing for events?
• How can video marketing enhance your event?
• 10 ways to do video marketing for events

Let’s take a look at each of these now. 

What is video marketing?

In general terms, video marketing refers to the use of video content to promote or inform your customers about your brand, products or services. It can be used across a variety of digital channels, including your own website, social media, online advertising and more. 

The use of video content is widely considered to be one of the most effective marketing strategies for any business, and the use of video is at an all-time high. Hubspot reports that in 2023, more than 96 percent of marketers rated video as an important part of their marketing strategy. 

How can video marketing enhance your event?

Event planners can use video content in a very effective way to promote events, trade shows and conferences. While the main purpose of event video content is to sell more tickets in the pre-event phase, it can also be used to:

• Engage your audience during the event itself 
• Attract interest from potential sponsors and media
• Generate interest for future events.

In fact, we believe that video marketing is one of the best ways for an event company to generate interest in an event and improve the chance of hosting a successful event. Now let’s take a look at ten simple ways to leverage video marketing for your event.

1. Use video to generate and build hype for your event 

Pre-event promotion is extremely important – not only to sell tickets, but to make sure your attendees are engaged and hyped in the lead-up to the event. It can also help build momentum for your sponsors and your exhibitors, since many of your attendees will arrive with a list of the exhibitions or stands they want to visit. 

Using video content to spread the word or generate hype can be an effective strategy because it can help bring an audience closer to a brand. It’s a great opportunity to show the audience what they’ll be missing out on if they don’t attend, so don’t be afraid to make a splash.

Promotional videos for an event should be exciting rather than overloaded with too much information. Consider including short previews of event content, brief interviews with your keynote speakers and even short testimonials from previous attendees. 

Always remember to include a strong call-to-action (CTA) in your video, which will usually be to visit the event registration page. More on that later. 

2. Use behind-the-scenes content

If you don’t have footage from a previous event, consider filming some “behind the scenes” content for the current event. Sneak previews of various exhibition stands can also help to build familiarity, so that people know what to look out for. This kind of video content works really well when it’s shared on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and your company website.  

The good news is that behind-the-scenes is relatively easy to capture and produce, being a natural by-product of the event planning process, and it doesn’t need to be highly polished. 

3. Create personalized video invitations 

Marketing personalization involves tailoring your marketing based on the information you’ve gathered about your audience and prospects – and it can be applied to video marketing for events, too. While technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) will drive significant advances in this area in the years to come, you can start by using the information you’re already collecting in your CRM or marketing platform. 

Consider how you might use personalized video content to take your event invitation strategy to the next level. It’s a great way to form a personal connection with potential attendees, and communicate all the key RSVP info (dates, location, etc.) here too.

4. Use testimonials

Video is a fantastic way to capture short testimonials from past attendees, or even high-profile individuals in your industry who are happy to recommend your event. Peer testimonials are the ideal way to build trust and credibility with your target audience.

5. Broadcast sections of your event live

One of the most effective ways for an event company to leverage video marketing is to use live streaming to broadcast parts of the event to a wider online audience. This allows you to reach people who are unable to attend the event, helping them to feel like they are still part of the action.

There are also advantages to live video streaming in terms of improving audience engagement and inclusion. Additionally, users watch live videos for around three times as long as they watch videos that are on-demand.

Nevertheless, there is a balancing act involved with live event streaming. Unless the demand to attend is extremely high, you should consider only broadcasting small sections of the event. Otherwise, people may feel they have no real incentive to attend because they could get the same experience at home. Always make sure you’re working with an event tech partner who is an expert in running hybrid events to get the balance just right. 

6. Include a video on your event landing page

Hopefully, you have planned a dedicated landing page for your upcoming event, as this can help boost ticket sales or registrations. Video content can be extremely useful in this particular area, because it has the capacity to increase landing page conversions by as much as 80 percent, Promo says.

One of the reasons for this increase is that videos increase the amount of time visitors spend on a landing page, allowing you more time to persuade them to carry out the desired action. Generally, however, it is best to avoid using an auto-play function, as this can take people by surprise and cause them to leave the page.

7. Use SEO to improve video visibility

Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of optimizing web content, in order to boost its rankings within search engine results pages (such as Google). As a result, the content becomes more visible and more people see it. Although SEO is most commonly associated with web pages, the principles can also be applied to videos.

While there is some complexity to getting SEO right, and the search engine requirements change regularly, the most important elements to focus on are the title and the description, so try to include relevant keywords in these. You should also make sure the filename for your video is relevant. For extra SEO points, you may also wish to include a text transcript either on the page, or within the page code.

8. Integrate video into your exhibition stand

If you are a sponsor or exhibitor looking to harness the power of video at your next event, consider integrating video content into your stand or booth. This is easier to achieve with bespoke stands, but even modular exhibition stands can be designed to include screens and video content.

Used in this way, video content is also more sustainable, as you’ll be eliminating the use of traditional signs, paper collateral, banners or branding. You can use video within your exhibition stand to draw attention to your stand, let attendees know what your business does, advertise new products, or promote special deals or exhibition features.

9. Capture content during the event for later use

It’s really important to capture video content during the event for later use. It will help to bring back great memories, keep your messages front-of-mind and generate excitement for future events. And, you can also create an incredible wrap-up video, allowing attendees to relive memories at any time. 

If you’ve created a library of on-demand content, which people can pay to access online, it can also be used to help generate revenue long after the event is over. 

10. Always include a CTA in your videos

No matter how you’re using video to market your events, it’s important that it encourages your audience to do something. As mentioned above, it’s critical to include a CTA in every video.  This can be achieved by including a clickable link in a YouTube video, for instance, but it can also be done by including a call-to-action in the description, or in an email containing the video.

The CTA should nearly always be the last piece of information you present in your video, so it offers a logical “next step” for viewers.

How can our event management solution help to market your next event?

At EventsAir, we understand that the core of every successful event is a robust and effective event marketing strategy. That’s why our award-winning platform includes a comprehensive suite of event marketing tools to help you grow, engage, and delight your audience. 

We can also help you capture the full value of live streaming in your next hybrid event, helping you to create and deliver sensational events across all formats from one seamless, fully integrated platform.

We have one simple mission: to help event planners deliver the WOW in their events with the world’s most powerful event management technology. We’ve delivered some of the world’s biggest events, and we’d love to help you too. 

If you would like to understand how we can help you unlock the power of video marketing for your next event then schedule a demo with one of our team members today.