Email gives you a direct way to communicate with people who are interested in your events — whether that’s promoting upcoming events, sharing stories or keeping your organisation front of mind throughout the year.
And the best part? It’s a free marketing channel that you own.
Your list will naturally grow over time. Every time someone registers for an event and opts in to receive marketing communications, you’re adding another potential future participant to your audience.
But there’s a catch: most of this growth comes from people who are already within your reach.
Look beyond your participants
The much bigger opportunity is to think about everyone around your event who isn't a participant yet.
On event day, you might have two or three times as many people supporting participants, watching the event or simply passing by as a local.
These people are already experiencing your event. They're seeing the atmosphere, watching people have fun and getting a feel for what your events are all about.
Yet they might not be on your marketing list.
That makes them a huge, often untapped, opportunity.
Don't ask for too much, too soon
Of course, you want these people to become participants. But asking someone to sign up for an event there and then can be a big commitment.
Instead, give them a much easier next step:
Ask them to join your mailing list.
They don't need to choose an event, pick a date or make a payment. They simply need to say, “I'd like to hear more about this.”
And there's a good reason they might say yes. They've just seen your event first-hand. They've seen people enjoying themselves and may already be thinking about getting involved next time.
Turn spectators into future participants
Imagine you have 1,000 participants at an event. If there are two or three times as many supporters, spectators and other people around the event, that's potentially 2,000–3,000 additional people experiencing your brand.
If you can turn even a proportion of them into subscribers, you've dramatically increased the number of people you can market to.
For every 1 opt-in from an existing participant, you could potentially gain 1 or 2 more from people who were previously outside your reach.
Those subscribers could become future participants, supporters, volunteers or advocates who share your events with others.
The important thing is that they're now within your reach.
Make it easy to subscribe
To take advantage of this opportunity, make sure you have the basics in place.
Add a subscriber form to your website: Give people who haven't registered for an event a simple way to join your mailing list.
Capture event-day interest: Consider displaying a QR code around your event that takes spectators directly to your subscriber form. Use it on signage, posters, screens, social posts or anywhere else your audience will see it.
Here’s an example of a Poster Template - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Sr8VudZx8sV3jYtX_30vFJAd86KquXaN/edit
The principle is simple:
They're already there. They're already interested. Make it easy for them to stay connected.
Start thinking bigger than your participant database
Your existing participants will always be an important part of your marketing audience, but they shouldn't be the limit of it.
Every event brings together a much larger community than the people actually taking part.
So next time you're planning an event, don't just ask:
“How many people are taking part?”
Also ask:
“How many people will be around our event — and how many of them are on our marketing list?”
That could be where your next wave of participants comes from.