Strategies for Attracting Niche Event Audiences

While large-scale consumer and business events may be daunting to organise, there is one aspect of planning them that’s actually pretty simple – marketing. After all, if your team is in-charge of putting together the next Consumer Electronics Show or Social Media Marketing World, you’ll barely need to do anything more than put out an event date to get hordes of interested participants clamouring for tickets.

The reality for most of us though, is that many of our events will be smaller scale affairs – even niche events that are targeted to niche crowds. The question is, how can you attract niche audiences to your events, without big budgets or fanfare?

Step one: Stop thinking of your event as “niche”

One secret that experienced event planners know is that no matter how niche your event may be, you’ll always have a dedicated audience that will enjoy it. Even flat earth societies have the Flat Earth International Conference to look forward to each year – and if those event organisers can attract enthusiastic crowds, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do the same.

So remember step one – stop thinking of your event as “niche”, because you always have an audience. You just need to find them and reach out to them.

Step two: Reach out to audiences, wherever they are

A great place to start would interest groups, which can be found online. Look them up on sites such as meetup.com, or in forums, directories, Facebook groups and other online communities. Niche audiences may take a little more effort to locate, but they’re also usually more fervent fans than regular crowds.

Step three: Get influencers on board

Connect with social media influencers that appeal to your target audience. Whether your event is in tech, investing, business or any other area, there are surely influencers who have large followings on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Get these influencers on board and they can bring huge traffic to your event pages. (i.e. Your website, sales page, social media pages, etc.)

Step four: Everything else

Speaking of websites, social media pages and all that, remember that every other marketing tool you have in your back pocket also works with attracting niche audiences! So keep those strategies in mind too (and budget for marketing expenses in these areas).

Finally, speak to the pros

Need more assistance with drawing crowds to your niche event? Our team at Angage work with event planners like yourself every day. We provide solutions that help companies promote, work on, and execute their event. Speak with us, we’ll be happy to share our thoughts and ideas with you.