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Want to make sure you have the right types of tickets for your in-person event? Very often event organisers will focus all of their energy on trying to set the right price for their standard, or general admissions, ticket. However, if you just have one ticket type then I guarantee you’ll be missing out on (in terms of the people who attend and the money you could be making). Keep on reading to find out about the 2 additional types of ticket to consider for your in-person events.
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2 ADDITIONAL TYPES OF TICKET TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR IN-PERSON EVENT
1. The Early Bird Ticket
There is a common saying that “The early bird catches the worm” which essentially means that the person who takes action quickly, or at the earliest opportunity, gets the best deal. The saying is taken to heart by many people, which is why people will queue up at a ridiculous early time in the morning for Boxing Day sales. They know by being the first in the queue they’ll get to pick from the widest selection of deals and some people just love getting a deal. Now I’m not one to advocate discounting in your business whether it be your services, products or tickets. However, when used strategically discounting can be beneficial to business owners and having an early bird ticket is a great way to offer a discount intentionally.
Why does it make business sense to offer an early bird ticket?
As I mentioned earlier some people love to get a deal. They are born bargain hunters and they thrive off getting a discount. Now most businesses will have a percentage of bargain hunters in their audience. They’ll likely resent paying full-price and may decide if they never see an offer to never buy from you. By offering an early bird ticket (which essentially is cheaper than a standard ticket) you’ll be encouraging them to buy from you and probably maximising ticket sales from that demographic.
You might be thinking “I understand that offering an early bird ticket can result in more sales, but since those tickets are at a cheaper rate surely it will mean the overall revenue generated from the event is less”. Now this might be true and unfortunately this is only something I can answer on a 1-to-1 basis. To answer that question properly it is vital to do some financial modelling to establish how much of a discount you can offer for your early bird ticket and how many early bird tickets you can sell.
When selling your early bird ticket, you can sell it based on their being X number of tickets available or that early bird tickets will only be available until a certain date. In both cases you are making it clear that the ticket type is limited and creating a degree of scarcity or urgency.
Personally, I believe there are two main reasons why, where possible, businesses should offer an early bird ticket.
- It encourages sales early on
Putting on an in-person event usually requires a fairly considerable investment from a business. Financially it can be expensive to hire the venue, speakers, catering, decorations, equipment etc. Also, events don’t magically happen. They need organising, which means using your precious time (or your teams).
Now imagine if you are selling tickets for an in-person event that is happening in 90 days. If your pricing is the same for the whole period and it is unallocated seating, then what incentive is there for people to buy from you today? There isn’t unless the number of tickets is very limited (and people are aware of that) or there is great demand and people believe it will sell out if they don’t buy quickly. Having an early bird ticket is a way to create a sense of urgency, which should result in early sales.
There is nothing worse than being a few weeks out from an event and having super low tickets sales. An early bird ticket should help reduce the possibility of your being in that position and then making drastic actions such as cancelling the event or heavily discounting.
- It can be a way to offer more “accessible” tickets
If you are just having one ticket type (with one price) for your event then you might feel as if you have outpriced some potential buyers. Having an early bird ticket is a great way to have a cheaper or more “accessible” ticket price without devaluing your brand.
- It allows you to discount in an intentional way
When it comes to discounting most business owners will discount their tickets close to when the event is due to happen if ticket sales aren’t where they expected them to be. They’ll be in panic mode and think by dropping the price they’ll make more money. Now it might solve the problem, but it might not. If you are a week away, drop your price and see no increase in ticket sales then you are in a very tricky position. What do you do now? Maybe your drop it again and some ticket sales in. It might solve the problem for this one event, but it may have possibly taught your audience and followers to wait until the last minute as you’ll most likely get a deal. This is not a lesson you want to teach potential buyers if you are intending on running numerous in-person events.
By offering an early bird ticket you are discounting intentionally. You are doing it early on and teaching potential buyers that if they want the best price, they have to take action fast as the price will be the cheapest in the beginning and then increase. This is a lesson that people are used to because of dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing is often used in the travel and leisure industry. You can pay a different price for a same seat on a plane or the same type of hotel room depending on when you book. In most cases the earlier you book the cheaper it is.
Not sure where to start with pricing your tickets and maximising your potential revenue? Worried about putting your event on sales and not making enough sales? If so, a strategy day is perfect for you. I’ll help you to set the ticket types and prices for your event, as well as creating the marketing plan to take you from onsale to event day. Book a Strategy Day here.
2. The VIP Ticket
The second, of the two, additional types of ticket to consider for your in-person event is a VIP ticket. If you don’t currently have a VIP offer then you should seriously consider adding one. In the same way that some people are born bargain-hunters always ready to sniff out a deal. There are some people who want to buy the best no matter what they are buying and if you don’t have an option for them you are most definitely leaving money on the table.
Often, I come across business owners who think they can’t offer a VIP experience. However, very rarely is that true. A few things you can do, to enable you to offer a VIP ticket, are:
Exclusively offer the front row
Some people want to be at the front and are willing to pay to secure that front row. The front row will naturally be limited so it is a great way to add genuine scarcity whilst also address a genuine desire from some people. If you have a general admission or unallocated seating event, then the bigger the event the more valuable this will be. As your event gets bigger the queue will get longer and people can decide between having to spend their precious time queuing early enough to be at the front or pay to guarantee that experience.
Create a goodie bag
Is there anything additional that you can give in a form of a goodie bag? Do you have company merchandise or is there anything to make the experience of the event last even longer? A goodie bag can be made up of anything but should enhance the experience, be something the attendee would find valuable and an extra bonus if it is something exclusive.
Offer a queue jump
If your event is big enough that people are going to have to queue to get in then you can offer a queue jump. There are some people who hate queuing and will do anything to avoid it. This works nicely with an exclusive front row but could be offered beyond that scope.
Meet & Greet
No matter how small your business is I can guarantee that you’ll have some fans who would love an opportunity to meet you in a more intimate fashion. Now intimate depends on the original scale of your event. If your event is for 100 people then maybe you offer 1-to-1 opportunities afterwards for a few people. Whereas, if you have an event for 1,000 people then you might do an intimate Q&A and photo opportunity afterwards. Think about the ways you can allow them to get closer than they can in the main event.
That’s just a few ideas to get you going but hopefully you can see how easy it can be to create a VIP experience that can be available to those who buy a VIP ticket.
One word of warning – your VIP experience should be the cherry on the top of an already amazing event. You don’t want people who bought a standard ticket to feel as if they’ve been short-changed. You need to ensure that everyone, no matter what ticket they have bought, has a great time and that the VIP elements feel like extra-special things rather than something that should have been offered to everyone.
Why does it make business sense to offer a VIP ticket?
- You can drastically increase the income potential of an event
VIP tickets can have a great impact on your sales revenue. A VIP ticket can demand a much higher price than a standard ticket. This can be really valuable for when you are doing small events. If you feel as if you can’t increase your standard ticket, but the financials just aren’t working out, then a VIP ticket can sometimes help ensure the whole event goes ahead.
- You can provide an extra special experience that creates a superfan or fan-for-life
Technically anyone who comes to an event can become a fan-for-life or a superfan. However, when you give someone an extra special experience, they are more likely to be remember the event positively and this will only improve their relationship with the business or brand. In the long-term you have the opportunity to create more sales from that individual and increase the lifetime customer value.
- You can increase the amount of social media activity around your event
As a business owner you want people posting about your event on social media and by offering a VIP ticket and experience those people are more likely to share their experience on social media. For example, if you offer a photoshoot with yourself then the likelihood of them posting that picture is 10x the likelihood of them posting a picture of you talking on a stage.
There you have it! You now know 2 additional types of ticket to consider for your in-person events.
If you had planned on only offering one ticket type (standard / general admission) then I hope that now you feel inspired to add an early bird ticket, a VIP ticket or both. Adding the ticket type is one thing. Next, you’ll have to work out the pricing, but you can do it (and if you can’t I can help you).
As you’ll have seen adding in more ticket types not only allows you to create an offering that works for different people, but also has the potential to increase the income generated from that one event, as well as the revenue you can generate from a business in the long-term.
In the comments, I would love to know what events you run and what ticket types you offer (or will offer).
WANT HELP PRICING AND MARKETING YOUR IN-PERSON EVENT?
When it comes to pricing and selling tickets I know my stuff. For over a decade I worked in the live entertainment industry and sold millions of tickets. I can help work out the financial viability of your event, choose the ticket types, set the prices and then create a marketing plan that takes you from onsale to sold out.
The fastest way to get this support is via a Strategy Day. You can book a Strategy Day by clicking here.
Don’t think a Strategy Day is right for you and want to work together in a different way? Drop me a message here to discuss other options.
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