Events — large or small— are an excellent way to promote your organization and perhaps gaining profit in the process. And if you organize and event, people will surely come. Or will they?
Obviously, without guests, even the most perfectly planned event is doomed to end as a failure. So, whether you are hosting a business conference, introducing a new product or rebranding, how do you promote and refine your event, strategically?
1. Paid Social Media: Targeting With Expertise
And in place of organic reach, the use of social media has now become the “pay to play” model for events. And this is actually good news for you.
Social media platforms, especially Instagram and Facebook, features advanced targeting capabilities with a broader reach. They collect terabytes of information from billions of users, which you can use to reach the right audience for less the expenses.
2. Partner Outreach: Engage With Influencers
Sure, your business can do all the marketing. However, tapping into your existing relationships is an excellent way to get the word out. And while most partners will do, influencer marketing is a hot topic in most marketing channels.
By engaging with thought leaders across social channels and content marketing, ticket sales can go at an unprecedented increase.
You can start by listing out the target influencers that you want to collaborate with on content. There are micro-influencers with a sales size of 1,000 – 10,000 of highly engaged followers. Then there are the “celebrities” with millions of followers.
If you need help to identify and connect with relevant influencers, you can try paid influencer platforms including HYPR and NeoReach. These platforms use algorithms that pool data from social networks, making it easier to find and influencer.
3. Never Forget Email Marketing: Reach The VIPs Directly
Email marketing is still an important thing to add to your event promotion strategies. It is easy, cheap and targets the best possible audience or the people who have already expressed an interest in hearing from you.
If done right, email marketing can help you sell more tickets. Personalized emails drive a higher click-through and opening rate than the industry standard.
However, email can also become annoying and harmful to your business if you are not careful. So make sure that you are tracking important metrics such as unsubscribers, click-to-open rates, and open rates.
4. Special Tickets: Giving Them a Gentle Nudge
Plain old tickets are alright. However, if you wish to boost sales, then consider adding a twist. Here are ideas of “special tickets” that can urge your buyers.
- Group Tickets
Want your guests to bring their friends? Then make it cheaper to buy several tickets as a group. This way, they have the motivation to spread the word as well as inviting someone they know. Free publicity in an instant.
- Early Bird Ticket
A discounted ticket for people who act fast. You can set a limited number of tickets for early purchase and price below the standard tickets.
- VIP Tickets
These have a very different concept than discounted tickets. VIP tickets can cost more, however, it gives them special privileges such as quicker way inside the venue or better seating.
- Ticket Bundles
If you are serving drinks, foods or merchandise at your event, you can bundle these with every ticket purchase. Selling ticket bundles help you get a general idea of how many people are interested in the merchandise and food you are offering.
5. Contests and Gamification: Keeping Them Hyped and Engaged
People like to test their luck. Contests and games are a creative way of leveraging such desire, offering relevant prizes in order to get attendees to contribute and interact with your event.
And while fancy gadgets used to be engaging and exciting, the best prizes nowadays are those that are relevant to your value propositions or topic. These could be:
- Tickets for next year’s events
- Consultation with experts on a particular topic
- Free access to software for 3 – 6 months.