Evergreen Event Marketing Strategy for Lasting ROI

Most events die the day after. Or maybe a week after that LinkedIn post which trends for a few days and then fade from the timelines.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Over the years, both attending and organising events, I’ve learnt that the difference between an average event and an evergreen one is strategy.

In this article, I’ll share lessons from organising different kinds of events and how to ensure your event becomes a long-term growth engine, not just a one-day show.

The Missed Opportunity in Event Marketing

Events are often treated like one-day shows. And that is fine if it’s something like a wedding, right? But not when you’re spending significant money and resources on a business goal. 

Events can be powerful pipelines, thought-leadership platforms, and SEO drivers that keep working for years. The difference lies in how you plan and market them before, during, and after.

Picking the right partners. Picking the right dates. Spreading the word correctly way before the actual date. Immersing attendees into the event so that they want to talk about it later. Targeting the right people for it. It doesn’t even matter if only ten people come if they are the right people for your goal.

I have seen people fill a room to no end, just for the optics. Then after that, it dies down. Then they have to spend an arm and a leg again for the next edition. What follows are last minute invites and discounts to everyone because people didn’t buy tickets or RSVP to the thing.

Evergreen Event Marketing (Full-Cycle)

Pre-Event: Plant the Seeds

Most of us know all about this part, even from running personal events. Your event is a success when you invite people and they show up. And why do they show up? 

1. You invited them.
2. You invited them in good time.
3. You defined the event goal clearly — they know what to expect.
4. You shared the location and it is accessible to them.
5. They know you or know someone who knows you.

So how do you ensure these very basic points are hit from a business perspective?

Your event starts long before the doors open. The groundwork you lay here determines everything that follows. Five key pillars guide this stage:

1. Audience – Who is your target audience? Who are you inviting or who would buy that ticket? Where do they usually hang out online and offline?

These questions are key to crafting your invite and determining which channels you will use to spread the word.

2. Timing – When is the right time to hold the event for this audience? Does your event clash with another? Or could it ride on the sidelines of a bigger one your audience is already attending? Will there be a national holiday that will prevent them from showing up? How long a notice should you give them for proper planning?

You sure don’t want to create an event that clashes with another one that your audience would be attending. It would make sense to have an event on the sidelines of a major one. Your audience will be around for it. Indeed, if you are targeting a larger global audience, plan around the time there is another event. This way, they can pack more weight into their schedule as they book flights and visas.

3. Goal – What are you selling? Lead generation, thought leadership, partnerships,  a mix? 

Everything that the event will be — from the program, to the speakers to the activities — should show this.

4. Location – Physical, virtual, or hybrid? Is it convenient and accessible for your audience? Will guests be flying in from somewhere else? How expensive is the venue?

I’ll admit: I think twice about attending events outside Nairobi’s Westlands hub unless there’s strong motivation. Many of your attendees feel the same about convenience.

5. Brand awareness – Does your audience already know and trust you? If not, whose trust can you leverage through partnerships, media, or influencers?

Partnering with the right brands or people will be key in building this evergreen pipeline. 

Answering these questions clearly can even lead you to postpone if the conditions aren’t right. And that’s better than going ahead with an underwhelming event that hurts your credibility.

During the Event: Reap the Harvest

When the rubber meets the road, everything from your pre-event planning shows up here. Four pillars matter most:

1. Attendee experience – A good chunk of our target audience has hopefully morphed into attendees. Is the program engaging? Are attendees connecting with content and each other? 
2. Goal achievement – Is what you are selling clear to the attendees right from the get-go? Are leads being captured? Are attendees signing up for trials or asking the right questions?
3. Logistics – Is the venue easy to navigate? Are food, drink, and amenities smooth and stress-free?
4. Content capture – My personal favourite. Do you have the right photographers, videographers, media partners, and in-house team to ensure your event is well documented? These assets are the foundation of evergreen amplification. 

Post-Event: Keep the Fire Burning

This is where most events stop. Evergreen events shine from here.

Content & SEO – How fast can you publish photos and videos? How soon can you share the first pics with attendees? Can you turn sessions into blog posts or thought-leadership articles? SEO-driven recap content can keep drawing your audience for years. 

Lead nurturing – How are you following up with leads and attendees from the event? Do you have a pipeline to follow up with attendees? Segment them by engagement level and nurture with personalised outreach.

Feedback & improvement – How are you collecting feedback from attendees, organisers and partners to improve future events? What worked, what didn’t, and how can you optimise?

Measuring ROI – How are you measuring it beyond the event, beyond immediate sales? Track leads, backlinks, brand mentions, and press coverage attributed to the event. 

Done right, this stage ensures your event continues to deliver impact long after the last chair is stacked.

Now let’s see how these steps play out in real life. 

Case Study Snapshot: ETHSafari

Google Ethereum in Africa. What do you see? (Apart from the price ticker, of course)

That’s right. The ETHSafari website. 

Launched in 2022, ETHSafari has now held three editions and remains one of the most recognisable African Web3 events. Yet, its beginnings were far from glamorous. (This is how I ended up in Kilifi here btw.)

When I started working on its marketing, sponsorships were uncertain and budgets tiny. Indeed, even in following years, sponsorships would often come a few weeks to the event. 

While I bowed out of the organising team in 2024, ETHSafari remains a brand to reckon with in the web3 space. Google has shown you this. 

How did we do it?

Utilising all the free marketing tools that are almost always available to anyone with an internet connection and a laptop. 

• Notion for project management. 
• Telegram for communications (Google Meet for the weekly catchups). 
• Canva for design (yes, I was the comms designer. This was my lifeline and remains to be in my other works since 2014.)
• Mailchimp for email marketing.

• Medium for content syndication when the website CMS wasn’t enough.

And above all: The Website

Our most important marketing asset. Lightweight, mobile-friendly, visually strong, and optimised for SEO with various aspects of social proof like partner logos and links. Every other tool — social, email, content — ultimately drove people back to the site. That’s what kept ETHSafari ranking in Google searches for years.

A big shoutout to the tech bros on the team. They worked on the website through the years. Their efforts ensured these very important optimisations happened.

Indeed, the website would never have stood out, nor would word of mouth have snowballed, without the work of our photography team. Beautiful, professional images gave attendees something to share, gave media outlets visuals to publish, and gave the site lasting credibility. In many ways, photography turned ETHSafari from “just another meetup” into a brand people wanted to be associated with.

Video Brings the Experience Even Closer

We didn’t just record panels and talks, I edited some into watchable clips and uploaded them on YouTube. I then would share highlights across social channels. This gave ETHSafari content that lived far beyond the baobabs, creating an inside look for new audiences who hadn’t attended.

Additionally, partnerships and networks fueled our efforts. Outlets like BitKE and CoinTelegraph gave us backlinks that boosted credibility. When the media and any other authoritative partners publish your event, they link back to your website. A major stamp of authority. 

Event listings on platforms like CoinMarketCap and itez expanded reach. I look at it as an extra way to build backlinks yourself by actively filling these online forms.

And, most importantly, word of mouth snowballed after attendees began writing about their ETHSafari experience.

The result? A brand that became “legit” in the global Web3 community, spawning spin-off ETH events in other countries. And all on a shoestring budget.

Key Results:

• Built an unshakable global brand despite many challenges
• Expanded global attendee base year after year
• Created lasting authority in the African Web3 ecosystem

Events shouldn’t fade into silence. They should be evergreen, delivering value and visibility long after the last guest leaves.

This is the first part of a series I’m writing on evergreen event marketing strategies. Stay tuned!