Unit D.1.3 Promoting your workshop to the public
Promoting your workshop to the public
Promoting your workshop to the public
Promoting your workshop to the public
What is promotion and why is it so important?
Think back to the workshops and events that you attended in the past. How did you learn about them? Was it through a friend, social media, or were you invited by email? In each of these cases, news about the event was spread to a target audience through promotion.
But what is promotion and why is it so important?
Promotion consists of the tools, techniques, and methods that will help you attract, create interest, and spread information about a product, service, or in your case, your workshop.
To start understanding promotion, this text from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) https://www.cim.co.uk/media/4772/7ps.pdf gives a good overview and outlines a process on how to create a promotions/marketing plans. Integral to making a marketing plan are the 4Ps – a tool that identifies the most important aspects of it – which are:
1. Product – the workshop offering that you have, its Unique Value Proposition – what the target audience can learn and what sets it apart.
2. Place – where the workshop will be offered, online or rather at a physical venue. Also, the circumstances surrounding the workshop dates, the context – for example, is it during a time where what you are offering is a skill underrepresented in the job market or something that could help people during a pandemic?
3. Promotion – how will your workshop be communicated to the target audience and via which social media channels.
1. First read page 2-7 of the CIM document on the 4Ps of marketing.
2. Then create the Unique Value Proposition of your workshop – one sentence that summarises what sets your workshop apart and what attendees can learn.
3. Afterwards, quickly identify the 4Ps of your workshop to help you in planning, strategising, writing, and designing graphics around your promotions. You can use your personal notebook  
  to document your answer.
How to create a promotions plan
Creating a promotions plan is crucial, so you can spend your efforts only on what would give you the best results. Here are a few strategies to consider before you begin to post about your workshop:
1. Channels – there are a lot of online channels to choose from, the online space is crowded. Because of this, it is recommended to use appropriate websites and social media platforms that are aligned with your objectives. Consider creating event pages on Eventbrite, Facebook, and LinkedIn and sharing your event page/posts in groups on Facebook and communities such as CouchSurfing. We will go in detail on the specific tactics you can use for each.
2. Timing – there are many ways to plan for timing. First, it refers to when you should schedule your posts or how detailed/advanced your posts should be. Starting ahead is safe to give you enough time to generate interest and create momentum – ideally a month before your workshop. Second, timing may also be the environment of when you will be promoting and having your workshop. Think about the context – what season will you have your workshop in? Is there a national issue you should consider? Are there important holidays during that time?
3. Communication – what sort of information is needed to promote your event? What should you write in the event page? What tone and language should you use to best speak to your target audience?
Social media is a powerful tool to reach your audience, to create pre-promotion and buzz around your workshop. Here are various channels and specific tactics:
Graphics
After learning about the big picture strategy and much more defined social media tactics, you can now progress to learning more about the specifics – creating your posts. The primary objective of all social media posts is to catch attention and a fantastic graphic will help you do that.
If you have prior experience in working with design softwares such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe InDesign, you may use this. In Unit 1.1, we recommended Canva as a simple online website to help you create visually stunning graphics. It comes with pre-designed templates, design element resources and a rich font bank.
Here are some samples of what kind of graphics you can create for your workshop using Canva.
Another idea would be to create a video. You can check Animoto as a simple online video editing tool. It also comes with pre-designed templates and various options of how to create and animate your video.
1. Get creative and start playing with the different templates in Canva to create at least two options for your workshop graphic.
2. Go to the Promote your workshop to the public forum
3. Create a topic and post your template using “Insert/Edit Image” button”, and ask for feedback.
4. Revise based on this. Have fun!
Copy
Once you have your graphics prepared, you are now ready to create the accompanying text. The goal of writing any social media copy is communication, but primarily it needs to attract attention, appeal to your target audience, and speak to what is important to them. Your first sentence is crucial because this is the magnet that would keep them reading – around 2-3 seconds at the maximum.
However, it’s not only about transferring information – it should also be engaging and contain a call to action. For a workshop there are various call to action options, for example to sign-up to your event page or visit a website. We also recommend that you create a personalised hashtag for your workshop and use popular hashtags to increase visibility. Below are some examples you can refer to.
Tips: In the beginning we recommend using writing or editing apps:
1) Writer: https://writer.com/product/overview/Â
2) Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com/
Create your own post copy from the samples given in the above unit.
Posting
Start by posting through your personal account and you may also ask your social networks to share it for you. You can also search for groups in the different social media platforms and post your workshop information there. A simple message and link can generate interest if seen by the right people.
Once you have posted, interact with comments and share additional information as necessary. Check how effective your posts are hours or a day after it has been shared then adjust your graphic or message for your next posts if needed.
Ideally, the frequency of the posts should be once to three times per week, sharing different information per post.
This marks the end of Unit 1, where you learned about the principles and practice of promotions, networking, visibility, and publicity. The focus of this whole unit is on developing your skills to be able to promote your workshop to the public, be it professional networks, host organisations, or target groups. Think back and reflect on what your most striking learnings were and share with your peers on e-Velp before you proceed to Unit 2.
In the next unit, we will then bring the focus from the workshop to yourself. The whole exercise in Unit 1 introduced you to a wider network of people, some whom you may have just met. As you have learned, first impressions last in communication. Whether they be pleasant or otherwise, there is always room to improve and mould a professional image for yourself now that you are gaining more visibility. It is then time to learn more about how you can build your image and speak in a way that gains you an advantage in the professional market – a subject called personal branding.
