You are planning an event and need to sell tickets to fill the room and more importantly, cover the costs associated with hosting the event.

So how do you sell out and where do you begin to make it happen?

We get asked this question often and the truth is, there is no simple or easy way to sell out. Like most things, it requires a smart strategy and hard work! That said, there are a number of factors to consider which can influence your overall ticket sales.

Communicate all the essentials, efficiently

Keep things clean and simple. Don’t make it challenging for your audience to find basic event information like date, venue, time and ticket price. Having a clean, polished event website can influence the overall perception of your event, thus affecting ticket sales. Check out our previous post about everything your website and event flyers should include to help you get started.

Connect directly with your target audience

If you are trying to reach a certain demographic, focus on promoting your event via channels that will reach them directly. Don’t waste your time on promotions that will not reach the right audience. Take time to develop a strategy that makes sense and focus on using language, imagery and styles that they will understand and connect with.

Make registration a breeze

Registering for your event should be a smooth and easy process. If you are accepting payments online, ensure it is a reliable and credible platform. A glitchy payment processor will result in frustration and therefore negatively impact your ticket sales. Also, minimize the number of pre-registration questions. The less clicks in the way of actually signing up to attend your event, the better.

Focus on the why

A good rule for event promotion is to focus on the benefits of attending. Why should anyone come? What will they learn, gain, experience? Are there any takeaways, certifications, credits, gifts? Perhaps the bigger draw will be the line up of speakers, celebrity attendees or even certain caterers etc. Use these assets to your advantage and create excitement about why people should be attending.

Create FOMO (fear of missing out)

As well as the benefits of attending, let people know what they will be missing if they don’t attend. Share pictures from previous events, including pictures of well-known faces/celebrities and positive testimonials from previous attendees. It’s interesting how people like to do what everyone else is doing. Consider reaching out to social media influencers to help endorse your event and entice people to register.

Limit Attendees

Create a sense of exclusivity and limited availability of tickets. Set a date for ticket sales to go live and explain there is a limited number of spots available. This will also allow you to build urgency by sharing how many tickets are left to sell. Attendees will be inspired to register sooner rather than later.

Was this list helpful? Get in touch and let us know how you get on with your ticket sales.