How to publicize your business events online

I wrote a newsletter article previously called "How to Schedule an Event Online," but recently I’ve had a few clients ask me how to get their events noticed. I’ve republished the article below:

Here’s the situation: consider that you have a business event coming up, and you want to organize everything online. You have a list of people you want to let know about it, and you want to set up a system for tracking responses. In addition, you want to publicize the event the best you can. Here’s how to do it all:

1. Sending an invitation

   Evite is a great site for sending out invitations to your event. The site allows you to choose a nice template design for your email invitation, enter the party details, and send the invitation to as many people as you like (you can store up to 1,000 emails in their address book). Setting up an event mailer on the site is very easy. Make sure to easily import your contacts.

   The site has lots of other nifty features, such as guests being able to set up carpools easily with one another, a built-in event picture gallery, and many useful party planning tools (such as a drink calculator).

2. Tracking Responses

   Once the invitation is sent, Evite allows you to monitor who is coming, who can’t make it, and who might be attending. The event you have just created (by sending the email) is entered in to the online calendar of events, and automatically has a page generated for it. This page will tell you who is coming to the event.

3. Advertising the Event Online

   Once you have sent out your event invitation with Evite, you will want to advertise it to the general public. This is a lot of work, but it could pay off. Below is a list of where to post your event online:

   • denver craigslist: events: The site is a great resource; it’s free, easy to use, and has a large user base. If you’re not in Denver, then your local craigslist will do.
   • YourHub.com Events : YourHub is a free public events board for the Denver area. They have a community calendar broken down into different categories (business, music, sports, etc…). YourHub is partnered with the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post, so some events are randomly chosen to appear in the newspaper.
   • Citysearch.com: Citysearch is a good place to post a party-style event. The site features many music events
   • Upcoming.org: Yahoo’s super events site. Very easy to add event, and even add a "badge" of your event’s information to your website.
   • Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau Events: Depending on your event, it could qualify to be put on Denver.org. From their site:
     

     [We accept] events that are open to the general public and would appeal to Denver visitors. Events that are generally not included are: events by invitation only, fundraising galas or benefits, workshops, classes and camps.