# Promoting your event: 12 channels that actually work [Home](https://mijnevent.nl/en) / [Blog](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog) / Promoting your event: 12 channels that actually work marketing organisers # Promoting your event: 12 channels that actually work You don't need a big advertising budget to fill a room. These twelve channels do the work, ranked from least effort for most return to the ones that cost time or money. [Jasper Koers](https://mijnevent.nl/en/author/jasper-koers) · 9 September 2026 · 6 min read ![](https://regify-mijnevent.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/blog/covers/promote-your-event-channels-that-work.webp) Photo: [daniel mironov](https://unsplash.com/@cheesy_daniel?utm_source=MijnEvent&utm_medium=referral) / [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=MijnEvent&utm_medium=referral) In short - Start with the channels you already own: your mailing list is still the highest-converting one, followed by your returning visitors and the people on your line-up. - An early bird — a lower price during the first week of sales — rewards fast decision-makers and buys you both cash flow and social proof. - Only turn on paid social once the organic base is in place, and target your own region and people who watch comparable events. - MijnEvent runs no tracking pixels on event pages; you measure campaigns on your own website with the embed widget and a custom thank-you URL per event. - Measure the sales spike after each action; within two editions you know which three channels do the work for your audience. **Short answer:** promoting an event doesn't start with advertising, it starts with the channels you already own — your mailing list, the visitors from your previous edition, and the networks of the artists, speakers and partners on your bill. The order that works best in practice: announce the event to your existing audience first with an early-bird offer (that gives you immediate sales *and* social proof), then activate the people on the poster — artists and speakers sharing their own slot reach exactly the right audience — and only then buy reach to fill the gaps. A sales page without distractions does the rest: visitors who have to hunt for the buy button drop out. Below are twelve channels, ranked from little effort and big effect to the ones that cost real time or money, with what each one gets you. # First: get the basics right Before you post a single message, make sure your sales page holds up. One clear page with the date, venue, programme and a direct buy button — [your own subdomain](/en/own-subdomain) on MijnEvent, for instance — converts better than a trail of redirects. Every promo link should point straight at that page. If your website is where your audience already lands, run it the other way around: [embed the ticket shop on your own site](/en/blog/connect-ticketing-to-your-website) so the buyer never leaves your domain. That has a second benefit we come back to at the end — it's the only place where you can measure your ad campaigns properly. # The twelve channels 1. **Your mailing list** — still the highest-converting channel there is. Visitors from previous editions are your warmest audience. Watch the GDPR: for marketing e-mail you need [consent](/en/blog/gdpr-visitor-data-events) on top of the contract you have with a ticket buyer. If you keep your list in Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, Laposta, ActiveCampaign or Kit, you can [collect opt-ins straight at checkout](/en/blog/connect-your-newsletter-at-checkout) — that integration is free and there is no fee on it. 2. **Early birds** — a lower price during the first week of sales rewards fast decision-makers and gives you cash flow plus proof the event is alive. You don't need to sit at your keyboard at midnight for this: [price periods run automatically](/en/blog/early-bird-price-periods-automatic), so the price flips over on its own at the moment you set. See [early-bird tickets](/en/early-bird-tickets) for how the windows work. 3. **The line-up itself** — artists, speakers and participants who share their own slot. Make it easy for them with ready-made images and one short link. 4. **WhatsApp and group chats** — for clubs, associations and local events this is often *the* channel. One message with the link does more than a week of posting. 5. **The QR poster** — put it in the right physical place (sports canteen, library, supermarket) and you reach an audience you miss online. Any QR generator will do; what matters is that the code points at your event page and not at a homepage the reader then has to search. 6. **Local press and free local papers** — they are looking for copy. A short press release with a decent photo gets printed surprisingly often. 7. **Municipal event calendars and what's-on agendas** — free listings that also help your visibility in Google. 8. **Partnerships and sponsors** — let sponsors share the event with their own audience, and give them visibility in return. You can [put their logo on the ticket PDF](/en/blog/sponsors-on-your-tickets) (up to four sponsors per ticket) or hand them tickets from the [guest list](/en/guest-list) — free tickets carry no platform fee, so that costs you nothing extra. 9. **Organic social media** — works best around moments: line-up reveal, "almost sold out", behind the scenes. Consistency beats frequency. 10. **Paid social ads** — only once the organic base is in place. Target your own region and viewers of comparable events; start small and double down on what works. Read the last section before you spend anything. 11. **Waiting list and scarcity** — a sold-out ticket type with a [waiting list](/en/blog/enable-waitlist) is promotion in itself. "Early bird sold out" sells the regular tariff. When seats free up, the first people in the queue get an e-mail automatically, in the order they signed up. 12. **The follow-up** — a thank-you mail announcing the next edition turns visitors into returning visitors. You can [mail your attendees straight from the dashboard](/en/blog/email-your-attendees-from-the-dashboard) — free around your own event — and asking [what they thought of it](/en/blog/event-feedback-hear-what-visitors-thought) gives you both material for next year's promotion and a reason to be in their inbox. This is where the promotion of your next event begins. # A word on discount codes Discount codes are not a thirteenth channel, they are a measuring instrument. Give each partner, each ambassador and each campaign [its own code](/en/discount-codes) with a maximum number of uses, and afterwards you can see exactly which partner delivered. The discount you give away is the price of that insight — and it does not lower the platform fee, so factor it into your margin rather than into your fee calculation. # Measuring what works — without tracking pixels Here is where most advice stops with "put your Meta pixel on the ticket page". We don't do that. MijnEvent's event pages and checkout carry no tracking pixels at all — no Meta, no Google Tag Manager, no Google Ads, no TikTok. That is a deliberate choice, and [we explain the reasoning in full elsewhere](/en/blog/tracking-pixels-measuring-conversions-on-your-own-website). It does mean measuring works slightly differently than you may be used to, so here are the three things you do get. **Cookie-free visitor statistics.** Under *Visitors* in your dashboard you see page views and unique visitors of your event pages, per day and per event, over the last 7, 30 or 90 days. Enough to tell whether the newsletter caused a spike and whether the Instagram announcement did its job. **Sales figures per event and per ticket type.** The [statistics screen and CSV export](/en/blog/statistics-and-csv-export) give you revenue and tickets sold per day, per event and per ticket type. Line that up with the dates of your promotional actions and the pattern is usually obvious within a couple of campaigns. **Conversion measurement on your own domain.** If you really want to attribute ad spend, run the ads to your own website with the embed widget — that is your domain, your cookie banner, your tags — and set a custom thank-you URL per event so you can fire your own conversion event after payment. The redirect deliberately carries no order or personal data along: you count a conversion, not a person. # Pick three, drop the rest Twelve channels is a menu, not a to-do list. Track the sales spike after every action and you will see within two editions which three channels genuinely do the work for your audience — and you can let the other nine go with a clear conscience. For most organisers it comes down to the mailing list, the line-up and one physical or local channel; the rest is decoration. Ready to start selling? [Check the rates](/en/pricing) or [create your organisation](/registreer) and your sales page can be live today. Frequently asked questions ## Frequently asked questions ## Which promotion channel works best for an event? Your own mailing list usually converts highest, because visitors from previous editions are your warmest audience. Mind the GDPR though: marketing e-mail needs consent on top of the contract you have with a ticket buyer. ## When should I start running paid social ads? Once your organic base is in place. Target your own region and viewers of comparable events, start small and double down on what works. ## Does giving sponsors free tickets cost extra? No. Free tickets carry no platform fee, so guest-list tickets for sponsors, press or volunteers cost you nothing on top. ## Can I put my Meta pixel on the ticket page to measure my ads? No — MijnEvent deliberately runs no tracking pixels on event pages or in checkout. You measure conversions on your own site instead, using the embed widget and a custom thank-you URL per event. [ Back to blog ](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog) MijnEvent ## Read more [ ![](https://regify-mijnevent.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/blog/covers/choosing-a-ticketing-platform.webp) ticketing platform MijnEvent · 9 September 2026 · 6 min read ## Choosing a ticketing platform: the 8 things that actually matter Flat fee or percentage, who holds your revenue, accessibility, resale, data and support: a level-headed checklist with eight criteria for comparing ticketing platforms fairly. ](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog/choosing-a-ticketing-platform) [ ![](https://regify-mijnevent.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/blog/covers/event-funding-applications-2027-numbers.webp) organisers MijnEvent · 7 September 2026 · 8 min read ## Applying for council funding for your 2027 event? Your numbers weigh more than your story Most Dutch municipalities close their 2027 event funding windows in September and October. The pots are smaller and the applications are not — organisers with hard visitor numbers go to the front of the queue. ](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog/event-funding-applications-2027-numbers) [ ![](https://regify-mijnevent.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/blog/covers/een-cursus-of-product-op-je-eigen-site.webp) integrations Jasper Koers · 4 September 2026 · 3 min read ## One course on your own site, not your whole catalogue The module widget always showed the full storefront. One extra attribute now puts exactly the right offering on the page where it belongs. ](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog/embed-a-single-course-on-your-own-site) MijnEvent ## Ready to get started? Create a free account and sell your first tickets today. [Start free](https://mijnevent.nl/registreer) [Pricing](https://mijnevent.nl/en/pricing)