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A simple idea, but one that makes event notifications easy if the people you want to inform about your event details are following you on Twitter.  A Twitter Mashup called Twitzu allows for inputting your Event information, such as date, time and location, title and description (not necessarily in that order) and blasts it out to your Twitter followers.

Obviously a work in progress (the links on the pages to the ‘About Us’, ‘Contact Us’, etc. pages don’t work), this simple web-app. claims to allow for your followers to RSVP if they will be attending your event.

Since you have to enter your Twitter username and password in order to use this service, proceed with caution, especially since the site seems to be half-finished.

Nye Ohrberg has posted Part II of his Advertising in Tough Economic Times article where he discusses direct mail and other forms of advertising, trumpeting promotional items as the all-time best way to:

• Keep Current Customers Happy and Loyal
• Get more customers
• Get employees to do more with less

He spells out exactly why promotional products work so well and why they provide the most bang for the buck, especially when the economy is tough.  Read the full article at the above link for the full scoop.

Part of planning a successful event is giving away promotional items to the participants. These days, you can find promotional items that are environmentally friendly, what are called Green Gifts. These eco friendly products are sure to please both your event attendees AND the environment.

Check out the full list here:

Top 25 Environmental Gift Ideas

As you can see from the above list, it isn’t just eco friendly backpacks and water bottles that can be given away as ‘green’ products - but remember: if you want your company or organization to remembered long after the event is over, be sure to give away a product with your logo imprinted on it!

OK, I’m going to reveal something here that I don’t think anyone else has thought of yet - how to do event marketing using Entrecards.

What’s Entrecard, you ask? Basically, it is a reciprocal advertising network made up of bloggers that install the Entrecard widget on their blog, and other bloggers earn credits by dropping their ‘card’ onto the Entrecard widget, like a business card is dropped off at an office.

Every time someone ‘drops’ their Entrecard onto another blogger’s Entrecard widget, credit is earned which can then be used to buy advertising on someone’s blog - your ad (which is your Entrecard graphic) appears in the Entrecard widget on the blog you selected to advertise on.

There’s a little more to it than just that, but of course you are asking yourself “How do I use this to market my event?”

Good question…here’s the answer:

1) Create a blog for your event (this is Event Marketing 101 - there is no better way to quickly create a website, get indexed by Google FAST, keep interested parties up to date on what is happening with your event, and get free marketing and publicity for your event).

There are lots of ways to get a blog up and running quickly as your ‘Event Website’ - you can use Blogger.com, Wordpress, Moveable Type, or any number of other hosted blogging platforms that provide simple, easy to use templates and tools to throw a blog together at internet speed.

2) Start posting about your Event - be sure to answer the Who, What, Where, When, Why questions thoroughly. Clearly describe what your event is about, who should attend, what will be happening there, guest speakers (if any) and their credentials - everything.

3) Open an Entrecard account, and create your Entrecard ‘card’ which will function as the ad promoting your event, so make it pretty and effectcive with a ‘Call to Action‘ (you know, ‘Click Here’ or ‘Party ’til you Drop’ - whatever). Direct marketing principals apply here, so make sure your ‘card’ functions like a banner/tile ad in terms of getting clicked. How to create compelling ads is beyond the scope of this post, so I’ll address that in the fuuture - check back here to learn more.

4) Install the Entrecard Widget into your blog - be sure to place it high up for visibility - if people are going to want to advertise on your blog, they are going to want their ad SEEN.

5) Start dropping your ‘card’ off at other blogs. The more you drop, the more credits you earn, and the more credits you earn the more your ‘card’ can be shown on other bloggers’ sites.

6) Once you’ve earned enough credits, find relevant blogs in the Entrecard system to advertise on - the key here is RELEVANCE - if your Event is in San Francisco, advertising on a blog that caters to Singapore is probably not a good idea. If your Event is for Gen. Y people, advertising on ‘Life after 60′ blogs also sounds like a bad choice, no?

Entrecard and Blog Marketing Tips and Strategies:

5 easy ways to build backlinks for you blog

There is lots more to this technique than just what I’ve written above - for example, you could also join in the community on Entrecard.com to generate interest. Be a good ‘citizen’ and converse with like-minded bloggers to build relationships that will help you in ways I couldn’t even begin to enumerate.

Also, be sure to post often on your blog, and encourage those that drop by your Event Blog to tell others about your event. If your event is truly something people would want to attend, it isn’t shameless promoting to get those that are enthusiastic about it to talk it up for you. That’s what Social Marketing is all about!

There are many other ways to do event marketing with Web 2.0 and Social Media sites, but this is one way that will promote your event to the people that would be interested in attending. With a little effort, your event promotion with Entrecards should result in a roaringly successful event.