Putting on a great event is no guarantee that you’ll pack the house. You need to develop a promotional strategy that generates early interest and maintains momentum until the last ticket or registration is sold. To help you identify where to invest your time, we’ve compiled a list of the best 10 ways to sell out your event.
Tipsheet
10 Best Ways to Sell Out Your Event
#1 Plan for the whole ticket sales lifecycle
Every event has a sales curve that tracks when people buy tickets. For most events, sales spike when tickets first go on sale, because you built up anticipation when you first announced your event. Tickets don’t spike again until the last few days before the event. In between those two periods is a relatively stagnant “maintenance” stage when sales slump.
Something that most event promoters learn the hard way is that timing is critical to selling out an event. You don’t want to flood the market with all of your messages at the same time — but you also don’t want to leave important information too late.
Your audience has different motivations at each stage of your ticketing lifecycle. It’s your job to nurture their ticket-buying intentions along until they’re ready to buy.
If you spend all your ad budget or make all of your big announcements in the initial stage, you may run out of spark (or cash!) to reignite that initial interest. If you spend too much trying to boost sales in the middle when interest slumps, you may not get much bang for buck.
Map out the stages of your campaign and think about when your marketing tools will best serve your objectives.
Here are three examples of planning for the ticketing lifecycle:
- Splitting out your campaign budget to focus 40% on building anticipation and launching sales, 20% in the maintenance period, and another 40% to drive conversions just before your event
- Using promotional codes and discount codes during the ‘maintenance period’ to give people a reason to buy tickets sooner rather than later
- Using urgency to drive last-minute sales ahead of your event, such as “Only 50 tickets remaining, don’t miss out!”
Uncover what the event ticketing lifecycle looks like for different types of events and how to adjust your ad strategy to match with The Ultimate Event Advertising Plan for Busy Event Creators.
#2 Turn email addresses into “yeses”
Despite being in the age of apps and social media, email remains one of the most powerful marketing methods around. But between spam filters and overflowing inboxes, sending an email doesn’t guarantee a sale — or even a click.
Here are five best-practice pointers to help you stand out and drive traffic from your emails to your event listing.
1. Give people a reason to open
Use your subject line as a teaser for the goodies you’re offering inside. Aim for a subject that is descriptive, fewer than 50 characters, and tailored to the target audience.
2. Keep it short
Lead with the single most compelling piece of content and include a clear call-to-action. Use single column, thumb-friendly designs to engage mobile users.
3. Avoid spammy language
People don’t trust emails that use attention-grabbing tactics, like all-caps, dollar signs, too many exclamation marks, or multiple font sizes. It’s important to remain conscious of how your email recipients perceive the legitimacy of your event.
4. Don’t rely on images only
Create a message that is legible with or without images, in case it’s viewed as text. Spam filters are also more likely to block emails with no text, so don’t drop a flyer into the body of an email and call it a day.
5. Use a tool integrated with your event technology
If you’re using Eventbrite, you can email up to 2,000 users a day right from our platform (read a tutorial here). We also offer a MailChimp integration, allowing you even greater flexibility when sending email invitations and follow-up messages. Because MailChimp integrates with Eventbrite’s open platform, you can send emails to attendees from previous events and other contacts stored in your email database or CRM.
Drive more ticket sales with event email templates written with the experts at MailChimp:
7 Email Copy Templates to Sell Out Your Next Event.
#3 Lock down your social media strategy
Your social media strategy should depend on the size and scope of your event. If you’re hosting a one-time gathering of local food trucks without an entry fee, you can probably get away with a simple Facebook business page and a Twitter account. But if you’re looking to expand your reach and build a brand, it’s time to go all-in with a comprehensive social strategy.
Here are a few key ways to make a splash on social.
Create custom content for your event
It’s more time-consuming than simple social media posts, but original videos, blog posts, and how-to guides can far extend your brand reach and visibility. You may consider hiring a freelancer to help create the right content for your audience.
Work with your event partners
Draft a formal agreement with your event’s talent, hosts, and sponsors to cross-promote your event to their networks. Combined, your reach will be much larger than going it alone, and your talent will have an already-engaged audience keen to see them live.
Partner with influencers or micro-influencers
Brand ambassadors can be a great way to reach new audiences as you build your brand. To reduce your costs (and up your authenticity), look to local “micro-influencers” who have a smaller, but highly engaged following. Remember to track results so you know who is pulling their weight when it comes to ticket sales.
Find out how to write engaging social media posts that turns followers into ticket buyers with Storytelling Sells: Bring Your Event’s Copy to Life on Social Media.
#4 Sell tickets everywhere
Today, instant gratification is everything. People spend most of their time on only a handful of apps and sites, so it’s critical to make sure they see your events wherever they are — and can buy tickets there too.
This is why the key to selling out an event isn’t by driving more people to your website, but rather selling across the web to reach your audience where they are already browsing.
Let’s face it, Facebook followers don’t always translate into attendees. It’s a common frustration to see people mark themselves as ‘Interested’ in an event, while your ticket sales stall. Often, people are interested in an event when they see it on Facebook, but put off a purchase until the last-minute.
Kevin Mack, Director of Tattoo Expo, says using the native checkout on Facebook solved this issue for his event. “Not only did we see a rise in pre-show sales, we also noticed that more people are buying tickets four weeks out from the event instead of at the last minute,” says Mack. “Instead of thinking ‘I’ll buy a ticket later’, attendees are buying immediately.”
With native ticketing on Facebook, event creators see 20% more paid ticket sales and 2x more registrations for free tickets (based on March 2017 data).It’s not just available on Facebook either, with native checkouts now available on Instagram, Spotify, and more.
Start selling tickets directly on your Facebook page in just two minutes by connecting your Eventbrite account to Facebook.
#5 Master the art of the early on-sale
Whether you’re a one-night pop-up restaurant or a week-long conference, you’re not the only event of your kind. The event space is increasingly crowded across genres, and it’s easier than ever for event-goers to find new, competing events. So how do you get ahead in a saturated market?
Top event directors agree: more time equals more ticket sales. Start selling tickets as soon as possible to make the most of your on-sale period.
To master early ticket sales, follow these steps:
- Nail down your venue. Book your venue and dates as soon as you can — this is the bare minimum you need to start selling.
- Give the early bird the worm. Kickstart your sales by incentivising early bird tickets. You don’t always need to offer a discount — give early birds a free drink, event swag, or access to a VIP experience.
- Launch pre-sales for your next event shortly after your last. Direct email is a great way to capture a loyal fanbase with targeted marketing while the excitement is still fresh in attendees’ minds.
Get started in minutes by creating an event listing for free with Eventbrite.
#6 Optimise your website and ticketing for mobile users
Internet use on mobile devices has far surpassed desktop use in Australia, so optimising your event page and ticketing for mobile isn’t just about experience — it’s also about a wider reach. Here are two reasons why mobile optimisation will skyrocket your sales.
96% of Facebook’s daily active users are on mobile
If you promote your event on Facebook (who doesn’t?), there’s a very good chance people are looking at your event or ad on a mobile device. Which means if they click the link and get taken to a site that looks clunky or doesn’t have mobile-optimised ticketing, it’s going to hurt your sales.
People expect to be able to buy on mobile
As mobile usage increases, so does the expectation that people can do everything they need to on the fly, including last-minute purchases and acting on spur-of-the-moment decisions. Google Research has found that smartphone users are 50% more likely to expect to purchase something immediately while using their smartphone compared to a year ago. Google survey results also revealed that 79% of people say they’re more likely to revisit and/or share a mobile site if it is easy to use.
Learn how simple tweaks to your website and checkout can make sales soar with Essential Guides: Web Conversion for Events.
#7 Get found with Google’s new ‘events in Search’ feature
Did you know that a whopping 89% of event-goers use search when deciding whether or not to attend an event? This makes Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and event discovery in search tools a key way to attract more attendees.
In April 2019, Google released a new search feature to make it easier for Australian users to discover events they weren’t aware of before.
By partnering with a handful of ticketing providers and event listings (including Eventbrite), Google now provides event recommendations for anyone searching for things to do, such as “events near me” or “free concert”.
This is a huge boost for event organisers, especially those who struggle with SEO. You don’t have to be an expert at keywords and content marketing to help people find your event. You just have to have an event listed on one of the participating ticketing providers’ sites, such as Eventbrite.
To further boost your chances of being seen across all search engines, check out the cheat sheet to SEO. This simple guide will tell you how to research keywords — and what to do with your findings.
Having an event listed on Eventbrite is the simplest way to boost your SEO. Eventbrite is one of Google’s top 100 most trusted sites — the only ticketing or registration page with a high enough domain authority to rank alongside sites like eBay and TripAdvisor.
#8 Get scientific with your Facebook advertising
Don’t just do the basics to check “Facebook” off your marketing list. Facebook is a powerful platform with high reach, but using it successfully to reach more attendees and sell out an event requires a considered approach.
You don’t have to have the ad budget of an AFL Grand Final to make an impact with a boosted event post. Not even close. In fact, one of Eventbrite’s customers in the US, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, recently spent $50 to boost a post and saw a 61x return on their ad spend. The event sold out in ⅔ of the time it normally would have.
One of the best ways to achieve cut-through without blowing your budget, is to increase your Facebook Relevance Score. When you run an ad, Facebook quickly analyses how well the audience is responding to it by measuring clicks, likes, shares, and comments. Facebook then uses this data as an indicator of how relevant your ad is to your audience, giving it a score of 1-10, with 10 being the highest.
That score determines how much Facebook will charge you to run your ad. A higher score means cheaper ads, which in turn means more ticket sales at a greater ROI.
To check an ad’s relevance score, go to the Facebook Ad Manager and click on “Campaigns.” Then, click on “Ads” and choose “Relevance Score.” Improve your score by testing your ad design with A/B variables like copy and images.
Getting noticed on Facebook can be complex. Increase your sales and ROI with How to Master Facebook Advertising and Sell More Tickets
#9 Strengthen ties with sponsors
The right sponsorships add more than just money in your budget — they can attract attendees and help lead to a sold-out event. When you’re negotiating sponsorships, skip the logo placement and encourage brands to enhance your attendee experience with experiential marketing.
Work with your sponsors to create mini-experiences (in the form of brand activations), adding richness and unexpected elements to your event. In return, brands will see higher engagement and find your event worth partnering with again and again.
Take a cue from Refinery29 who hosts 29Rooms, a collection of 29 different rooms of individually branded and curated experiences. Each room is created through the partnerships of artists and sponsors. When they launched in 2017, the event sold out just days after going on sale and inspired events world-over looking to create fun, immersive experiences.
Say goodbye to transaction-based sponsorships and establish more profitable, long-term partnerships with The DNA of Relationship-Based Event Sponsorship.
#10 Track your marketing efforts
If you’re going to invest in promotion, you need to know what’s working and what’s not. The most efficient way to increase your sales is to identify which channels are driving the most revenue, so you can make sure every dollar is being used wisely.
Here are two ways to track conversions to optimise your marketing spend.
1. Promotional tracking links
Tracking links (also known as ‘affiliate links’) will help you find out where your ticket buyers come from. For example, if you’re using social media influencers, give them each a unique link to use, so you can see how much traffic they’re driving to your event page.
If you’re using Eventbrite, you can set up tracking links for any number of campaigns with a unique URL — including email marketing, social media posts, and any marketing you do with affiliate partners or sponsors.
2. Tracking pixels
Advertising platforms show you how many people saw or clicked your ads. What you really need to see is whether or not those ads are driving event registrations and ticket sales.
To do this, you need to use tracking pixels — a code that lets the advertising platform you’re using know when a web page is accessed by their ad. If the web page being tracked is an order confirmation page, you’ll be able to see every time your ad results in a completed order.
If you’re using Eventbrite, get step-by-step instructions in our Help Centre for setting up Facebook, Twitter, Google AdWords, AdRoll, and simple image pixels.
Learn how to locate your event data and unlock new opportunities with 9 Event Reports to Harness Your Event Data.
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