Local marketing strategy

It is time to get people excited for your celebration and get the word out! You should already have your location page content updated. Our website is promoted as the go-to resource to find information about all of our celebrations around the world. Please be sure your location page is always up to date and utilize our website as a way to promote your celebration locally and beyond.

In this document, we provide some tips and advice on promoting your celebration in your community and while ensuring your marketing content keep accessibility in mind. This guidance is based on the average size of a celebration in years past and may vary based on what you have planned for your day.

Create a marketing strategy

It is important to have a plan in place before you and your team begin to promote your celebration. Do research to determine upcoming events in your location and think about where potential attendees may congregate. Local meetups, conferences, social gatherings, and coworking spaces are a good place to start.

Having a marketing strategy in place not only helps your team communicate a consistent message, it can also help you plan ways to measure your marketing efforts to see what works and what does not. Including a way to measure the success of your strategy will help you better understand where you may need to make adjustments.

People who architect information come from many professions and all walks of life. You never know where you will meet a prospective attendee. It is always a good idea to have your marketing materials on hand if possible.

Generate buzz

There are different ways to get the community excited about your celebration. All of them revolve around getting a conversation going. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Focus on what your celebration has to offer:

• An opportunity to meet smart people willing to share knowledge and help shape the future of information architecture.

• A welcoming environment that is inclusive, diverse and community-minded.

• Awesome giveaways from global sponsors.

Understand why people in your community attend similar events:

• A safe place to explore new skills and practice techniques regardless of experience level.

• Practical take-aways and exposure to new ideas that can be immediately applied to aid in solving real problems.

• Forge new professional relationships that can lead to opportunities in the future.

Promote the success of previous celebrations or your program for the upcoming celebration.

• Share links to content from past celebrations in your location or from other celebrations around the world.

• Talk about past attendance and how quickly registration fills up. Or generate excitement about attending the first ever World IA Day in your location.

• Promote your presenters and share links to articles relevant to our global theme.

“I have had real shifts in my thinking from attending World IA Day. It is a big deal when people say ‘see you next year’. It is awesome to feel like you are part of a community.” Anonymous quote from a World IA Day attendee.

Leverage social media channels.

In most locations, the best way to spread the word about a celebration is through existing networks online. At the global level, we have found Twitter to be the most efficient way to spread information about events, as our community seems to be most active there.

Any social media channel, of course, can help you promote your celebration and we encourage you to find potential attendees wherever you think they may be “gathering” online. We also encourage you to engage with other locations.

If you use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or other service that supports hashtags, make sure to tag #WIAD or #WIAD18 and/or @worldiaday so the global team and other locations can spread the word about your celebration too!

TIP: Keep your posts and email messages accessible. As you promote your celebration on social media and through email, we suggest reading an article written by our very own Whitney Quesenbery available on the Rosenfeld Media website: A (WIAD) Event for Everyone – Email and Social Media.

Plan local outreach initiatives.

In addition to digital outreach, get creative about local outreach as well. Consider ways that you can get your celebration in front of people in-person. Here are a few ideas:

• Post flyers/posters on event boards around town

• Hand out stickers. There is a great template in our Resources folder (thanks WIAD Zurich!)

• Through other local organizations (ASIS&T, UXPA, IxDA, etc)

  • Announce at their events, on their listservs, slack channel or meetup wall (with their permission of course!)

  • Attend events and spread the word (i.e. attend a networking event and hand out information about World IA Day rather than a personal business card)

Publish an article or blog post about your celebration.

Our global themes are usually broad enough to write informative stories about information architecture. These stories can be used to generate interest around a particular facet of your celebration or to evoke a discussion around concept or theory related to information architecture.

Whatever your topic may be, it is important to remember that good articles give readers new insights and ideas or useful knowledge about the topic. The more practical the ideas, tips or techniques you share are, the better.