The top 15 event marketing tools

CRM systems

CRM systems can track interactions with attendees, sponsors and vendors. They can also help marketers glean insights into attendee behavior and preferences.

HubSpot

HubSpot’s CRM system offers a suite of tools for marketing, customer service and content management (CM).

Its key components include the following:

• Marketing Hub. Tools for email marketing, social media management and CM.
• Sales Hub. Features for sales pipeline management, customer interaction tracking and schedule management.
• Service Hub. Tools for customer feedback management and knowledge base creation.
• CMS Hub. A content management system (CMS) to create and manage websites.

Marketing Hub can track event registrations, send automated reminders to attendees and analyze event performance. Brands can also use CMS Hub to create websites for their events.

Users can integrate HubSpot with third-party tools, such as Eventbrite for additional registration features or Zoom to facilitate virtual events. HubSpot also offers AI for advanced automation.

HubSpot’s basic CRM software plan is free, with additional costs to add on any of the Hubs. Pricing for the Marketing Hub Starter tier and Starter Customer Platform is $15 per user monthly. The Professional tier is $800 and Enterprise is $3,600, both monthly. The vendor also offers a free plan for up to two users.

Salesforce

Salesforce’s CRM system breaks its functionality into different Clouds, which include the following:

• Sales Cloud. Tools for lead management and customer interaction tracking.
• Service Cloud. Customer service capabilities to manage cases and support tickets.
• Marketing Cloud. Features for email personalization, social media campaign automation and customer journey management.
• Commerce Cloud. Tools that support e-commerce operations, such as inventory and order management.
• Tableau Cloud. Tools for customer data analytics and visualization.

For events, Marketing Cloud, Sales Cloud and Tableau Cloud offer the most relevant capabilities, including event registration, attendee management, and event analytics. The vendor also offers a conversational AI assistant and a no-code prompt builder to automate tasks and workflows.

Pricing for the Marketing Cloud’s Starter Suite is $25 per user monthly, and the Growth Edition costs $1,500 per organization monthly. The Advanced Edition is $3,250 per organization monthly. Support options include online resources, community forums and professional services.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM includes CM capabilities to organize customer information, sales pipeline management to track sales opportunities and marketing automation to streamline campaigns and track performance.

The platform’s event management capabilities include tools to manage registrations, track attendees, send automated email invitations and follow up after the event. It offers AI capabilities for lead scoring and advanced workflow automation tools.

Pricing for its Standard plan is $14, Pro is $23, Enterprise is $40 and Ultimate is $52, all per user monthly. Zoho CRM also offers a free trial version and a free plan for small businesses.

Marketing automation platforms

Marketing automation systems let event organizers automate campaigns and maintain consistent engagement with potential attendees.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign offers features to automate email campaigns, create visual customer journey maps and score leads. Its event management capabilities include features like automatic text reminders, automated customer service responses and personalized discounts. It also offers the ability to split-test up to five emails simultaneously.

Pricing for the Starter plan is $15, Plus is $49, Pro is $79 and Enterprise is $145, all monthly. ActiveCampaign also offers a free 14-day trial.

Mailchimp

Intuit’s Mailchimp is a marketing automation platform that lets users manage omnichannel campaigns. Key features include customizable email templates, customer segmentation capabilities and campaign analytics tools. Mailchimp also integrates with social media platforms and Google Ads to help users manage campaigns across platforms.

Event organizers can use the platform’s segmentation capabilities to automate personalized outreach, such as event reminders and early bird coupons, to audiences. Mailchimp also lets users create landing pages and registration forms to advertise their events, sell tickets and collect customer data.

Pricing for Mailchimp’s Essentials plan is $13, Standard is $20 and Premium is $350, all monthly for 500 contacts. The Essentials and Standard plans come with free 14-day trials, and the vendor offers a free plan with a limit of 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly email sends.

Marketo Engage

Adobe’s Marketo Engage, formerly Marketo, is a cloud-based marketing automation platform that measures audience engagement.

Its main components include the following:

• A lead database that integrates with CRM systems.
• A design studio to create and manage marketing assets, such as emails and landing pages.
• Smart campaign features for automation and personalization.

Its event management capabilities include integration with third-party event platforms to help manage registrations, reminders and follow-ups. It also offers AI capabilities for analytics and personalization.

Pricing for each tier — Growth, Select, Prime and Ultimate — is available upon request.

Social media management tools

Social media management tools support real-time interaction with attendees and help marketers distribute content across various social media platforms.

Buffer

Buffer is a tool that lets users manage different social media accounts from a central dashboard. Its main features include content scheduling and analytics tools. It also offers audience engagement features that let users respond to comments and messages directly on the platform.

For event management, users can schedule posts in advance, track event engagement and analyze event-related content performance. Users can also integrate the platform with editing tools, such as Canva, to design graphics and videos for social media directly in Buffer.

Pricing for Buffer’s Essentials tier is $5 and the Team tier is $10, both monthly and for one channel. The Agency tier is $100 monthly for 10 channels. Buffer also offers a free trial and a free plan with limited scheduling and analytics features.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is another social media management platform that lets users publish content across multiple social media networks from a central hub. Its main components include content scheduling, monitoring to track mentions and keywords, and analytics to measure the performance of posts.

Event organizers can use Hootsuite to create event pages, promote events and engage with attendees. The tool’s OwlyWriter feature helps marketers create post captions and hashtags. Hootsuite also offers integrated Canva templates to help marketers design graphics and videos from within the platform.

Pricing for the Professional tier is $99 and the Team tier is $249, both monthly. Pricing for the Enterprise tier is available upon request. The vendor also offers free 30-day trials.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a social media management and intelligence platform that helps users schedule and analyze social media activities across various platforms.

Its main components include the following:

• A smart inbox to manage messages from multiple social media platforms in one place.
• Publishing tools for scheduling posts and creating content calendars.
• Analytics and reporting tools to track campaign and post performances.

For event management, Sprout Social assists with scheduling and promoting events on social media. It helps marketers engage with attendees and offers generative AI support to draft posts.

Pricing for the Standard tier is $199, Professional is $299 and Advanced is $399, all per user monthly. Pricing for the Enterprise tier is available upon request. The vendor offers a 30-day free trial for new users.

Project management tools

Project management tools help organize and manage tasks and deadlines. They also assist with team collaboration and resource management.

Asana

Asana is a work management platform that can help brands manage and streamline workflows.

The platform’s main features include the following:

• Organizes work into shared projects as lists or Kanban boards, which are tools to help users visually track workflows.
• Uses tasks to break projects into smaller tasks with clear owners and deadlines.
• Creates custom fields to track and sort data.

To streamline event management, Asana offers templates for different event types and can track crucial event details. It also includes AI-driven task management features and integrates with third-party tools, such as Zoom, Slack and Eventbright.

Pricing for Asana’s Starter plan is $10.99 and the Advanced plan is $24.99, both per user monthly. The vendor also offers a free plan for small teams.

Monday.com

Monday.com is a work management system that includes boards to organize information, automated workflows and integration with other platforms. For event management, it offers budget planning tools, registration capabilities and project scheduling templates. It also offers customizable workflow templates to improve collaboration and ensure event teams complete tasks on time.

Pricing for the Basic tier is $9, Standard is $12 and Pro is $19, all per user monthly. Pricing for the Enterprise tier is available upon request. Users can sign up for a free 14-day trial, and the vendor also offers a free basic plan.

Trello

Trello is a project management tool that helps teams visualize, organize and track their work.

Its key features include the following:

• Boards to visually represent projects.
• Lists that organize and categorize project stages.
• Cards that represent different tasks or ideas.

Event organizers can use Trello to create boards for each event and use cards to manage specific tasks, such as booking venues or sending invitations. The tool offers a timeline view to visualize tasks over time and syncs with third-party calendars.

Pricing for the Standard plan is $5 and Premium is $10, both per user monthly. The Enterprise tier starts at $17.50 per user monthly for 50 users. Trello also offers a free trial and a free basic plan.

Integration tools

Integration tools consolidate data from different sources and automate processes across multiple platforms. This can help marketers link their systems, such as CRM software, marketing automation tools and project management tools, to streamline event planning.

Eventbrite

Eventbrite is an online event management and ticketing platform that streamlines event planning. As an integration tool, Eventbrite offers API access to let users integrate its event management features with custom applications or websites. Additional features include embedded checkout and integration with calendar tools and CRM systems.

Event organizers can use Eventbrite to automate processes, such as sending reminders, and use real-time analytics to monitor ticket sales. The tools also offer AI to help promote events.

Eventbrite offers a free plan that offers basic event management tools for free, but charges a ticketing fee for paid events. Pricing for paid events in the U.S. is 3.79% of the total ticket price for the event, plus $1.79 per ticket.

The vendor also offers three Pro plans for users who want more advanced marketing and branding options. Pricing for the Pro 2K plan is $15, Pro 6K is $50 and Pro 10K is $100, all monthly. The pro plans are also subject to ticketing fees.

Make

Make, formerly Integromat, is a no-code automation platform that lets users who lack coding knowledge connect apps and services to automate workflows. Its main features include prebuilt automation modules, API integrations and scheduling capabilities. Event organizers can use the tool to automate tasks, such as event registration and attendee communication.

Pricing for the Core plan is $9, Pro is $16 and Teams is $29, all monthly and for 10,000 automation actions. Make also offers a free plan with a limit of 1,000 automation actions monthly.

Zapier

Zapier is a no-code automation tool that connects apps and services. Its main components include Zaps, which are automated workflows that connect two or more apps. It also offers structured data storage and no-code tools to easily design forms, web pages and basic apps.

Event organizers can use Zapier to automate registration, ticketing and promotion workflows. It also offers chatbots to automate customer support tasks and lead generation.

Pricing for the Professional tier is $19.99 and the Team plan is $69, both monthly. Pricing for the Enterprise plan is available upon request. Zapier also offers a free basic plan.

Christine Campbell is a freelance writer specializing in business and B2B technology.