Invitations, RSVPs and response rates
Module 9: Marketing & Promotion · 15 min
Timing, wording, digital vs print, reminders, and how to get RSVPs back on time.
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Module 9: Marketing & Promotion
Invitations and RSVPs, ticketing, social media, sponsorship, PR.
Marketing & Promotion is part of the free Event Planner Academy. It has 6 lessons, about 1.5 hours of study in total, and every lesson comes with a narrated video, a printable worksheet and a short quiz.
How to work through it
- Watch the narrated video at the top of each lesson, then read the lesson itself. The video covers the key points; the page has the tables, examples and checklists.
- Complete the worksheet for your own event, or for the running Harbour Gala example.
- Take the quiz and mark the lesson complete. Your progress is saved in this browser.
- Finish all twelve core modules and pass the final exam to print your free certificate.
Ticketing and pricing
Module 9: Marketing & Promotion · 15 min
Platforms, fees, tiers, early-bird, comps, and the math that makes a ticketed event break even.
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Social media and content for events
Module 9: Marketing & Promotion · 15 min
Pre-event teasers, a hashtag that works, live coverage, and the post-event content that sells next year.
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Sponsorship: packages that get signed
Module 9: Marketing & Promotion · 15 min
What sponsors buy (access, data, visibility), tiered packages, activation ideas and the deck template.
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PR and media for GTA events
Module 9: Marketing & Promotion · 15 min
Which outlets cover events in Toronto, how to pitch, media passes, and what makes a story.
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Module 9 workshop: launch plan
Module 9: Marketing & Promotion · 15 min
A full promotion plan for a 400-ticket fundraiser: invitations, ticket tiers, social calendar, sponsorship deck and media list.
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Marketing and Promotion is for anyone whose event depends on people choosing to come. That includes fundraisers, ticketed concerts and festivals, conferences, community events and open houses, as well as private events where response rates matter. Corporate planners will find the sponsorship and invitation lessons most useful; community and non-profit organisers will lean on ticketing, social media and press. You do not need a marketing background, but it helps to have completed the budgeting and discovery modules, because promotion plans are built on the goals and numbers set there.
What you will be able to do
- Plan invitation timing and reminders that produce reliable RSVP numbers for catering and seating.
- Set ticket prices and tiers that cover costs, and work out the break-even point including platform fees and HST.
- Write a simple social media calendar for the weeks before, during and after the event.
- Build a sponsorship package with clear tiers and benefits a sponsor can measure.
- Write a short media pitch and know when to send it.
How the lessons build
The module moves from the people you already know to the people you need to reach. Invitations come first because every event has a guest list. Ticketing follows, adding pricing and revenue. Social media and press then widen the audience, and sponsorship shows how to bring in money and partners. The workshop combines all of it into a launch plan for a fundraiser with a specific ticket target, using the sponsorship deck template as one of its outputs.
Time, privacy and connections
Expect to spend two or three sessions on the lessons and longer on the workshop if you complete it for your own event. Throughout, keep Canadian privacy and anti-spam rules in mind: collect only the contact information you need, and send promotional email only to people who have agreed to receive it. The module connects back to budgeting for ticket math and forward to After the Event, where you measure whether the promotion worked. The fundraiser track goes deeper on table sales and donor stewardship.