I always felt some sort of mental connection with the event industry. All these pre- and post- parties, networking stuff, a feeling of being a part of the creation of something new, a consciousness that all that you do matters and helps others. The feeling of usefulness and spending time in the right way. That`s. My. Wonderland! 🙂
Hopefully, we are speaking the same language here. The event industry inspires you, as it inspires me. Market and competitor analysis, placement on the market, positioning, pricing, etc. All these challenges create my favorite whimsical playground. That`s a “How to Conquer Your Attendees” game.
Does your vision include selling event tickets like hot cakes? Well, duh, obviously. Â Does it appear so difficult? Yes, it does. I feel your pain and I see your point too. I already passed through all these stages and I’m happy to share some useful info and tips.
Types of advertising for the event
Well, there are many ways to advertise your event. It could be any number of things:
- Online Advertising
- Newspaper Ads
- Radio Advertising
- Television
- Public Speaking
- Door Hangers and Flyers
- Event Sponsorship
- Word-of-Mouth
Where you can sell your event tickets
Event ticket resale sites
Spoiler Alert. It rocks! While selling event tickets the first place that you have to pay attention at is resale sites. StubHub, Seatwave, Viagogo, and others are places are basically a secondary ticket marketplace. Meaning people resell its` event tickets that they’ve previously purchased from a primary seller.
Benefits. Huge traffic. Many people can be found “surfing” such websites.
Nota bene. Don’t forget to pick up your ticket`s criteria to chose the most suitable resale site. Check out the laws and specific policies.
Other online marketplaces
There are many general run-of-the-mill, buy-and-sell websites. eBay is a good example of one. You can use this website as an option to sell tickets for events. The most interesting thing here is an auction mechanic. Therefore, potentially you can sell event tickets online and at higher prices.
Social media and online forums
Well, we write SEO articles for a living. One of the keywords is “sell tickets online for my event”. With that said, I believe you might be interested in the DIY (do it yourself) option. Social media and forums are perfect in terms of it. Find some ideas below:
- Create a Facebook event and promote it. Add payment instructions in the description
- Write selling posts in LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook etc.
- Hashtags. They’re a complementary addition to your posts
- Paste the event link in forums (you might be the topic starter or just paste the link into a comment box)
Own your online presence
It`s not the easiest thing, of course. However, if you already have your own blog/website/artist page – that`s a total must! The more places you’re turning into a marketplace, the higher the chances to cross a sold out border.
Start to promote your event, instead of asking yourself “How to sell tickets for an event?”.
Traditional ticketing agents
Traditional ticketing agents (e.g. Ticketmaster) can do the dirty work for you: promotion, sales, and distribution. If you’re already a big name or you’re a large conferences organizer, it might be your go-to choice.
Keep in mind, if you need small-and-medium-sized-events solutions, such agents most likely will be overqualified for you. Therefore, IMAO, you’re better off not wasting your time and money.
Self-service ticketing sites
That`s GEVME! Even online registration for large conferences is not a challenge for us (a special advertising section =Ń€).
Let’s do this step-by-step. Self-service ticketing sites make the process of event creation so much easier. Indeed, It`s actually very easy! You’ll need only minutes to register, create an event and/or ticket and start selling. It’s just like 3-2-1-GO!
Such platforms will help you handle a routine job: payments accepted, tickets issuing, keeping of guest statistics, tracking of sales, etc. It might be as useful as your right hand.
How to set up advertising campaigns
Achtung(baby)! Advertising campaigns are very useful, but do your homework before you  start (a universal approach):
- Plan it
- Define your advertising budget
- Define affordable advertising options
- Know your target audience (create target personas), explore its preferences
- Setup ads
- Test your hypothesis (everything is about testing, be smart and stay passionate and patient)
Step #5 is a tricky one, I’ll grant you that. You have to be aware of all the iterations for each channel (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) separately. A small hint is coming. I’ll fill you in on it later.
Conclusions
There’s a huge difference between “doing things right” and “doing right things”. The true strategist will choose the last one. Be the true strategist. Don’t waste your precious time. Think first – then act.
I do hope this blog post will help you choose the right options and you’ll get your dream event sold out. GEVME Email marketing is there to upgrade your ticketing strategy to the pro-level.