It takes colossal efforts to plan, organize, and execute successful events. The last thing event managers need is low ticket sales. Unless target attendees are given easy ways to buy or download tickets, event managers can’t meet their ticket sale goals. The event itself needs to be promoted well enough to garner interest in ticket purchases.
Thankfully, selling event tickets isn’t as complicated as it seems. At Event Always, we list hundreds of successful online, in-person, and hybrid events every year. Here’s the definitive guide on how savvy event managers meet their ticket sale objectives at cost-effective rates –
Creating the Event Ticket
Long before the event tickets are put up for sale, event managers need to design their tickets. Contrary to popular belief, the way a ticket looks plays a key role in its desirability. Modern-day event tickets are more than mere gate passes – they represent the brands behind the events. Hence, event managers must treat their tickets as marketing collateral.
Design them just as well as you’d design your brand’s brochures, flyers, etc. Make sure the tickets clearly display all event-related details, including the time, date, entry fees, and venue of the event. Use editing software to create stunning, personalized tickets. Both online and offline tickets should look equally good.
Creating Urgency
The best way to present event tickets to target audiences is with an extra dose of urgency.
- “Buy now for VIP access.”
- “Only 14 days to book your entry to the event of the year.”
- “Get 2 tickets free on 6 purchases.”
Use marketing statements like this on the event’s website and social media pages. These messages create the illusion of urgency and compel interested attendees to confirm their attendance. One smart trick event managers use to create a sense of urgency among their target audiences is using ticker countdowns.
Ticker countdowns are animations that can be added to event websites, landing pages, or social media pages. They display the number of recently registered attendees. They can also display how many tickets to the left are left. These messages convey a sense of urgency among target attendees.
Using Paid Advertising
Event managers don’t like paid advertising as it’s quite expensive. Small-scale brands can’t afford to publish details about their events in newspapers, magazines, TV ads, etc. For them, investing in online pay-per-view (PPV) advertising programs makes more sense. That’s because, in PPV or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, brands only pay when their events get certified exposure.
Unless your event’s ad isn’t clicked or explored by target audiences, you don’t pay. PPC advertising allows event managers to control their day-to-day expenses. They get to spread the word about their event on relevant blogs, websites, social media pages, etc. Plus, monitoring the views your event’s ads generate is also easier.
- Select relevant keywords and key phrases you want to trigger your ads.
- Set maximum bids on your PPC ad campaigns. It basically refers to how much you’re willing to pay for each click on your event ad.
- The higher the bid, the more chances of your ad securing a top position on Google or any other website.
- Use Google Ads’ tracking tools to monitor your ticket sales campaign. Ensure your PPC advertising campaign is creating new leads.
Using Social Media Platforms
Social media is the single-most potent tool for event managers. Event tickets sell out within hours when promoted properly on social media platforms. The process of using social media platforms to promote your event’s tickets is also frictionless. Brands can gain direct access to target audiences on these platforms. Here’s how event managers use social media platforms like Facebook to sell tickets
- Create a dedicated event page or account.
- Post graphically engaging cover photos and content on these pages.
- Mention all the essential details about the event on the event page.
- Add links to your event website where attendees can buy tickets on the description section of your social media pages.
- On Facebook, event page admins can survey invited guests on whether they’re interested in going or not.
- Use the friend lists of your confirmed attendees to increase the outreach of your even.
- Add interactive maps to your social media platforms so that interested audiences can easily discover your event’s locations.
- Encourage people to discuss their thoughts (positive or negative) about the event on the page/account. For instance, on Facebook, page admins can create “Discussion” tabs to conduct such communications with interested attendees.
Create Dedicated Event Registration Pages
The registration page on your event website needs to be easy to use. Websites continue to be the number one tool for event marketers. Event websites give potential attendees easy access to all the information they need about the event. Adding ticket purchase options to the website only makes the experience better.
- Use simple designs on your event registration page – don’t distract users with irrelevant graphics or information.
- Add FAQ sections on the registration page. Answer every possible query attendees can have about the event in this section.
- Share the URL of the event registration page on email invites, social media pages, etc.
- Share information about event guests and hosts. Reading the names of the people who are attending the event may convince users to hit that purchase button.
- Add links to web pages where ticket cancellation policies are discussed.
Don’t forget – every modern-day event attendee expects to be able to pay for tickets online. Event websites with secure, integrated payment platforms sell more tickets. Plus, online payment processing is less expensive. Streamline the ticket purchasing process by offering attendees flexible payment options.
Remarketing
Many users will check out event websites and leave without buying tickets. Targeting such users is very important as they’re likelier to be persuaded than someone who knows nothing about the event. If you’re using AdWords to advertise your event, here’s how you can retarget users who’ve previously displayed interest
- Open the “Shared Library” section on your AdWords account.
- Open the option, click “Audiences.”
- Select the “Set-up Remarketing” option.
In a few weeks, AdWords will collect the cookies of every user who visits your event website. These users will receive repeated ads about your events.
If you want free exposure for your events, publish them on Event Always – the world’s leading event-listing website. On our distinguished platform, you can find details about the world’s most exciting corporate events, conferences, webinars, etc. Give your events maximum exposure on Event Always and increase your chances of securing ticket sales.