Top 3 Tips for a Sold Out Event
What’s holding you back?
OK, here's a huge misconception that's holding a lot of people back... that event marketing via email is useless because people get soooo many emails that they won't read theirs. Well, they are basing their opinion on how they are reacting to the emails in their inbox.
think like your attendee
You are not your attendee. When you're in business you have to constantly try to think like your customer and trust me, the odds are that your customers think very differently than you do. They don't have the same knowledge, experience, or opinions that you do. Don't get sucked into thinking that they will have the same reaction to stuff that you have. That will kill your event marketing faster than you can believe.
Social donor study
With that being said, I just read a really great study that OneCause created, SOCIAL DONOR STUDY (you can get the study here) and email was right up there with in person and social media marketing.
"Email is the favorite communication channel overall when donors hear directly from nonprofit organizations. As seen in other industry studies, younger generations are more open to a wide variety of communication channels, However, Gen Z is just as likely to prefer communication via social media (specifically Facebook) as they do email." - OneCause Social Donor Study, Page 10
Social media is great but,
I've worked directly with organization to increase their event marketing to produce sold out events and one of the biggest hiccups in the reliance on social media. Social media is great, but combined with no strategy and a misuse of the platform, they have been completely frustrated.
Here are a few tips to increase your marketing efforts:
1. EMAIL:
Don't just email for the sake of emailing. Email allows you to use the platform well in advance of your event. You should be emailing your potential event donors all year and ramp up about 6 months prior to your actual event date. Create a strategy around story telling about who your organization is and what you do, so when you're ready to ask them to buy a ticket and better yet, give, they have a solid understanding of what you do. This prevents having to solely educate your event attendees the day of the event about your mission.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA:
Use social media as a platform to share the content you've created over email. Social media should not be used to blast posts about buying tickets all the time. Donors want to be educated and feel like they are making a difference by giving to your organization. Use social media to help transform your organizations mission across multiple platforms.
3. IN PERSON:
Make it easy for your volunteers to spread the word. So often, volunteers go out into their network with either poorly created documents or nothing at all. Again, don't just focus on the date/time/location use this as an opportunity to share your mission with those who haven't heard about you.
Sharing first
Focus on sharing your mission first, then asking for ticket sales... and the biggest take away of all???? Start much earlier than 6 weeks prior to your event which is where you'll be the most focused on only selling tickets and not sharing your mission.