You've built something worth attending. Now you need people to know about it. This chapter covers practical marketing strategies — from free, grassroots tactics to structured campaigns — that work for events of all sizes.

Before you blast the internet with announcements, get clear on who you're trying to reach. Your event page and registration form should already reflect this (Chapters 8 and 10), but your marketing needs to be even more targeted:

Who specifically are you trying to attract? Not "developers" — but "frontend developers in Stockholm interested in AI." Not "innovators" — but "healthcare professionals who've never attended a hackathon."

Where do these people already hang out? Developer communities (local meetups, Slack groups, Discord servers), university departments, professional associations, LinkedIn groups, Reddit communities, Twitter/X circles.

What message resonates with them? A senior engineer wants a different pitch than a first-year student. "Build something meaningful this weekend" hits different from "Win $10,000 building the future of fintech."

LinkedIn — Best for professional audiences, corporate events, and reaching people through their work identity. Create an event page, share it to relevant groups, and ask your speakers/judges/sponsors to share it too. Every share from a credible person is worth more than your own post.

Twitter/X — Good for tech audiences. Establish your event hashtag early and use it consistently. Tag sponsors, speakers, and community leaders. Short, visual posts perform best.

Instagram — Works well for lifestyle-oriented events and younger audiences. Behind-the-scenes content, countdown stories, and past event photos generate engagement.

Facebook — Still useful for event promotion. Create an event page and share it to relevant groups. Particularly effective for local communities.

Reddit — Post in relevant subreddits (r/hackathons, r/learnprogramming, city-specific tech subs, theme-specific communities). Be genuine — Reddit communities smell self-promotion from miles away. Frame it as "here's an opportunity" not "come to our thing."

Email converts better than social media for event registrations. People who give you their email address are already interested.

Build your list: Past event attendees, community members, newsletter subscribers, people who expressed interest. If this is your first event, leverage your personal network and ask partners to share with their lists.

Email cadence:

This is often the most effective channel, especially for first events:

Developer communities: Local meetup groups, coding bootcamps, Slack/Discord communities, tech hubs, co-working spaces. Many will let you post about your event or even present a quick pitch at their meetup.

Universities and bootcamps: Computer science departments, engineering societies, student organisations. Reach out to professors, career services offices, and student leaders. University students are often the most enthusiastic hackathon participants.

Professional associations: Industry groups related to your theme. If you're running a healthcare hackathon, reach out to health tech associations, hospital innovation teams, and medical school programmes.

Past participants: If you've run events before, your alumni are your best marketing channel. They bring friends, share on social media, and lend credibility.

Post your event on hackathon directories and event listing sites. These attract people actively looking for events to attend. BuilderBase's discovery page is one of these — your event page on BuilderBase is already visible to the platform's audience.

For larger events, consider:

If you have budget:

Registration is the beginning, not the end. Keep registered participants engaged and excited:

Get registrants into your Slack or Discord immediately after registration. This serves two purposes: it builds anticipation and familiarity before the event, and it starts team formation early.

Things to post in your community channels pre-event:

Consider hosting one or two sessions before the event:

These sessions dramatically improve the event experience, especially for first-timers. They also reduce the chaos of the first hour on event day.

2–3 months before: Soft launch. Save-the-date emails, social media teasers, early outreach to communities. Start building your audience.

6–8 weeks before: Hard launch. Registration opens. Main push across all channels. Speaker and judge announcements start.

4–6 weeks before: Sustained push. Weekly social posts, community outreach, email reminders, blog content. Share registration milestones ("We've hit 100 registrations!").

2–4 weeks before: Final push. "Spots are limited" messaging. Last-call emails. Sponsor and partner shares. Pre-event sessions.

1 week before: Shift from "register" to "prepare." Focus on making sure registered participants are ready and excited.

Track where your registrations come from (that "How did you hear about us?" field in your registration form). After the event, analyze which channels drove the most registrations and the highest-quality participants. This data is invaluable for your next event.

Common findings:

Key takeaways: