Abstract

 In this paper, I intend to study integrated communication strategies as important forms of communication, with a role in event promotion. With the development of communication channels, social networks, and both offline and online communities, the type of events have diversified, and so has the behaviour of participants. Therefore, event organizers have to come up with fresh branding ideas and a unique positioning statement, in order to reach their target audience, deliver messages with a strong impact, create connection points and build communities that would live and engage beyond an activity that is happening once a year, or at a custom interval of time. In this paper, I am bringing into discussion the different types of local tech and entrepreneurship events from Timișoara, in order to observe the type of content used in promotion, the frequency at which they release communication messages, and the communication channels used by each. I will also examine their communication strategies through interviews, analysing event participant behaviour and preferences through an online survey. The final results of the research will give an in-depth overview of the current state of local tech and business events promotion, highlighting a generic integrated marketing communication strategy that can be applied to such events. Therefore, I think this research addresses a present-day and important topic, which brings the integrated marketing communication approach to a new area of public relations, such as events. The integrated marketing communication strategy has been traditionally used mostly by corporate organizations, and now I will explain why and how it can be used by event organizers to attract participants at events and to have a bigger impact on their target audience.