One of the most underused marketing strategies in the events industry is cross-promotion with other organisers. Many organisers view each other as competitors, but in most cases they are actually potential allies. If you run a food festival and another organiser runs a music festival, your audiences likely overlap significantly. Promoting each other costs nothing and expands both of your reaches.
Cross-promotion is built on a simple principle: your audience is valuable to another organiser, and their audience is valuable to you. By sharing access to each other's audiences, both parties benefit without spending a penny on advertising.
Finding the right cross-promotion partners
The ideal cross-promotion partner shares a similar audience demographic but is not a direct competitor. You want complementary events, not competing ones. If you both run jazz nights on Saturdays in the same city, cross-promotion is unlikely to work because you are competing for the same night out. But if you run a jazz night and they run a wine tasting event, your audiences probably overlap in age, interests, and spending habits.
Look for partners whose events take place at different times (so there is no scheduling conflict), in a similar geographic area (so the audience can actually attend both events), and appeal to a similar demographic in terms of age, interests, and budget.
Start by mapping the events in your area and identifying ones whose audiences naturally overlap with yours. Approach organisers whose events you genuinely admire, as authentic enthusiasm makes the partnership feel natural to both audiences.
Types of cross-promotion
Social media content swaps
The simplest form of cross-promotion is sharing each other's content on social media. You post about their event on your channels, and they post about yours. This works best when both parties create custom content rather than simply reposting each other's existing graphics. A personal recommendation ("Our friends at [event] are putting on something brilliant next month") carries more weight than a shared flyer.
Email newsletter mentions
A mention in a partner's email newsletter can be highly effective because email audiences tend to be more engaged than social media followers. A short paragraph recommending the partner's event, placed naturally within the newsletter content, can drive significant traffic and ticket sales. For tips on building your own email audience, see our guide on growing an events newsletter from zero.
Flyer swaps
If either party uses printed materials, include each other's flyers in your distribution. Place their flyers at your event and they place yours at theirs. This is particularly effective because you are reaching people who are already proven event-goers.
Ticket bundle deals
Create a joint offer where buying tickets to both events together comes at a discount. "Buy tickets to [your event] and [partner event] together and save 15%." This gives both audiences a financial incentive to attend both events and creates a stronger promotional hook than either event could offer alone.
Joint competitions
Run a social media competition where the prize includes tickets to both events. "Win a pair of tickets to [your event] and [partner event]. Follow both accounts, like this post, and tag a friend." Joint competitions combine both audiences into a single promotional moment and grow both parties' social media followings.
On-site promotion
At your event, promote your partner's event through stage announcements, banner displays, programme listings, or dedicated stalls. The audience at your event is already in "event mode" and receptive to discovering other events they might enjoy.
Structuring the partnership
For cross-promotion to work, both parties need to feel the arrangement is fair. The easiest way to ensure this is to agree on equivalent activities. If you post three Instagram stories about their event, they post three about yours. If you include their flyer in 500 event goody bags, they include yours in a similar quantity.
Keep things informal for small-scale collaborations. A conversation and a handshake (or a few messages) is sufficient. For larger arrangements involving ticket bundles, joint marketing budgets, or ongoing partnerships, put the terms in writing so both parties have clear expectations.
Set a timeline for the promotional activities. "We will each post about the other's event three times between the 1st and 15th of March" is much more useful than a vague agreement to "support each other." Specific commitments lead to specific actions.
Making cross-promotion feel natural
The most effective cross-promotion does not feel like marketing. It feels like a genuine recommendation from someone whose taste you trust. To achieve this, both parties should write their own promotional content in their own voice, rather than using the partner's pre-written copy.
"I went to [partner event] last year and it was one of the best nights out I have had in ages. They have just announced their 2026 lineup and it looks even better. Highly recommend checking it out." That reads as a personal endorsement. Compare it with "Check out [partner event] on [date]. Tickets available at [link]." The first version is promotion disguised as recommendation. The second is clearly an advert.
Building a cross-promotion network
Rather than approaching cross-promotion as one-off arrangements, think about building an ongoing network of complementary event organisers. Over time, you can develop relationships with five or ten organisers whose events complement yours, creating a web of mutual promotion that benefits everyone involved.
Consider organising an informal meet-up or online group for local event organisers. Sharing experiences, contacts, and promotional support creates a collaborative community that makes the entire local events scene stronger. What benefits the scene benefits everyone in it.
Keep track of which partnerships drive the most ticket sales for your events. Some will be more effective than others, and over time you will identify your most valuable promotional partners. Invest more in those relationships.
When cross-promotion does not work
Cross-promotion is ineffective when the audience overlap is too small. If your audiences are fundamentally different in terms of location, age, or interests, promoting to each other's followers will not generate results.
It also fails when one party does not follow through on their commitments. If you post about their event three times and they forget to mention yours, the arrangement becomes one-sided. Address this early and directly. If the imbalance continues, move on to more reliable partners.
Finally, avoid promoting events that you would not genuinely recommend. If a partner's event is poorly run or does not match your audience's standards, promoting it reflects badly on you. Only partner with events you believe in.
Cross-promotion is one of the few marketing strategies that costs nothing, benefits both parties, and strengthens the broader events community. For complementary strategies, explore our guides on partnership marketing with local businesses and creating an event ambassador programme. Start with one or two natural partnerships, deliver on your commitments, and build from there.
