Promoting an Event
Pre-event publicity not only helps you attract an audience, it builds awareness of your department or program.
CAS Communications can offer guidance to optimize promotion of high-profile events by working with you to develop an effective publicity plan and create promotional materials.
The standard elements we can help with are posters, digital signs, press release or news story, webpage and/or online calendar text, HTML emails, and social media graphics. However, each event is unique. The sooner you include us in the process, the more helpful we can be. The amount of assistance we can provide is directly proportional to the amount of advance notice you provide.
As a general rule, we are available to assist each unit with one major event per year. There is no charge to CAS units for assistance, but costs incurred outside of CAS support, such as printing of posters, is the responsibility of the sponsoring unit.
Self-help tools
- Event Marketing checklist to guide you through planning and marketing options.
- D-I-Y publicity channels that can and should be used to promote on-campus events.
Things to keep in mind
- Event & promotion planning should begin at least 8 weeks in advance; focused publicity should begin 3-4 weeks in advance.
- No single promotional channel or tool is 100% effective—you’ll get better results using a variety of channels.
- The larger and more significant the event, the earlier you should start planning and publicizing, and the more diverse your promotional channels should be.
- Consult the WSU Calendar as early as possible to avoid scheduling conflicts. Post your event info as soon as possible and update when/if needed.
- For large events, CAS Communications can help with promotion planning and execution; most smaller and special-interest events can be adequately promoted via online calendars, WSU Announcements, and other free, DIY channels.