Business.com
According to the Content Marketing Institute, both B2C and B2B marketers report in-person events are the most effective when it comes to reaching business goals. Sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? Just grab some punch, cake and a microphone; that should be enough, right?
When you begin to dig deeper, you’ll quickly discover that holding an in-person event is hard work. Who is invited to your event, and how will you inform them? What is the incentive or key reason to attend? How will you make attending your event worth it for guests? Promote like a Fortune 500 company by using three time-tested strategies to get people in the door.
3 Strategies You Need to Steal
For any in-person event to be successful, there are many tasks that must be completed well in advance and behind the scenes.
Incorporate the following pre-event strategies to maximize attendance:
Create partnerships with local organizations.
From non-profits to local niche communities, partnering with nearby organizations helps spread the news about your event while increasing trust. Particularly for young companies, attaching a brand to a larger, well-trusted figure can improve the public’s view of trustworthiness by association and pique interest.
Diversify promotion channels and tactics.
Long before launch date, set up a landing page, create an event-related hashtag (e.g. #MyBrandEvent2015), and build anticipation via communication with an event email list. Additionally, use content surrounding your event to reach new markets. For example, if your event is in a prime location, create content that discusses the area to get attendees motivated and to bring in local web traffic.
Use an online vendor to simplify ticket sales.
Getting tickets to your event should be super simple for your guests. Instead of a lengthy registration process, consider using an online ticket vendor to distribute tickets. Many companies, like Ticketbis, take care of the delivery process so you can focus on getting the word out about your event. Furthermore, offering “rounds” of tickets can promote anticipation about your event and increased sales.
Combining these three strategies will ensure news of your event is widely distributed, maximizing potential attendance. If in doubt, check out how a couple of these methods benefitted Brooklyn Beta.
Record-Breaking Ticket Sales: A Case Study
In addition to using smart pre-event strategies, veering from the norm can be helpful when trying to sell out your event. Brooklyn Beta, launched in 2010, was able to sell out tickets in 2 minutes using a combination of the techniques mentioned above. Here’s what happened:
- About. A group of designers and coders, Brooklyn Beta was launched in 2010 with the goal of getting smart people in a room together to watch what played out.
- Pre-launch. Prior to the group’s first event, Brooklyn Beta published a landing page with an opt-in form and a bit of intriguing text. The team helped spread the word through Twitter, and implemented two rounds of ticket sales.
- Results. The first round of ticket sales resulted in 175 registrants to the event, while the second round of tickets sold out in less than 2 minutes. The total number of attendees was 375, and for a startup event with virtually no following, this was impressive.
Though not the only in-person success story, Brooklyn Beta is significant in that it shows even smaller, unfamiliar organizations have achieved positive results when using the aforementioned strategies.
Say Hello to Ticket Sales
Maximize exposure and achieve key business goals by holding a strategically marketed in-person event using a combination of savvy pre-event tactics. When executed properly, an in-person event boosts lead generation, provides a bank of reusable content, and increases sales.
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