Let’s start with some good news: People are attending live events in record numbers. In fact, according to 2018 poll, 78% of Americans attended a live event the year prior. Whether for a concert or lecture, ballet or theater dinner, people are excited to get out and have new, amazing experiences like never before.
Even so, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Or something like that. Better to the point, you can plan and execute an incredible event, but that doesn’t guarantee you’ll be able to sell out your event.
Fueling the buzz that gets people excited to buy tickets takes a little bit of strategy, a lot of testing, and a good measure of resilience. Learn to test new ideas and make tweaks to your marketing efforts, and you’ll soon develop a fool-proof template for many events to come.
When you build that strategy with well-researched tactics, you’ll have a strong foundation to get your marketing campaign started. Here are some of the best to get you started.
Tactic #1: Expand Your E-Commerce Options
Of course, your website is the first place you should start selling tickets to your premium event. (Just make sure your website is fully optimized!)
Don’t limit yourself to your own website, though. Use distribution sites like Facebook Events, Yelp Events and of course Eventsburgh.com where other people help promote your event for you. These all expand your reach and allow people just one more way to find your event.
Get your event published on these sites as soon as possible, and cross-promote each. In email newsletters, you can mention that more details about the event can be found on your website and that folks should check your Eventsburgh event page for more frequent updates.
Tactic #2: Use Your Data From Past Years
Every time someone attends your events, you should be collecting data. Which pages on your website garnered the most attention, where people eventually purchased tickets, and which outside sources you used for marketing, like radio, display ads, or collaborations with local sponsors.
Tapping into this data can give you a head start in deciding which marketing efforts to pursue for future events. While you should constantly be trying new methods (and testing every step of the way), beginning with what worked in the past can get your campaign off to a strong start.
Tactic #3: Tap Into Display Advertising
Display ads are those banners you see on the top of websites or YouTube videos. You can use them to pinpoint exactly who you’re trying to reach with multiple points of data.
Are the people who attend your events typically men between the ages of 18 and 25 who love rock and the TV show Rick and Morty? Display ads can find them. Are you expecting mostly women ages 35 – 45 who spend their time gardening and drinking sangria? With display ads, you can show your event to exactly these women on both video and text-based websites.
Tactic #4: Collaborate With Event Sponsors
Event sponsors are, in a word, great. Top five reasons to collaborate with them:
Event sponsors rock. Not only do they help make your event even more spectacular through donated swag and immersive experiences, but they can also help with your marketing by broadcasting your event to their own (often much larger) audiences. That reach can easily increase your attendees by hundreds or thousands of people.
Tactic #5: Make Buying Easy!
Sometimes in trying to make websites cooler or the offer more tempting, we can actually turn customers off.
For example – taxes and fees. Nobody likes them, but somebody’s got to pay them. Event coordinators who are upfront about these fees are more likely to have customers complete ticket-purchasing transactions compared to event coordinators who surprise their customers with fees at the end of a transaction.
Asking for a ton of information, too, could lose you customers. Just get the basics from them, so they can buy tickets and be on their way. If a customer has to spend ten minutes filling out a form, they just might choose not to.
2019 is the year for amazing events. You’ve got those events lined up, and you have a large customer base waiting to be tapped. Use these simple tactics to improve your reach and your transactions completed, and you’ll have sold-out shows time and again.