Outdoor Events & Advance Ticket Sales

Do you have an event that is still months or weeks away?  It’s never too early to start selling tickets for your event. Always look for opportunities to sell advance sale tickets.  The holiday season is an excellent opportunity.  Below I’ve included some simple ideas that you easily integrate into a holiday ticket campaign.

Offer a Deep Discount
Most event organizers don’t want to discount their tickets. Based on experience, you need to discount your ticket price to about 50% to get people to buy months or weeks in advance. Such a discount isn’t feasible if don’t have a decent profit margin built into your ticket price. If there is little or no margin in your ticket price you’re leaving yourself in a bad financial position.  No margins leave you with zero room for discounts. When you have a large yet fair profit margin, you can offer deep discounts without worry.  Always make sure you have a decent profit margin build into every single ticket you sell.

Discount by Raising Your Ticket Price
If you’re considering raising ticket prices from one year to the next, offer your target market an opportunity to pay the previous year’s price. “Our ticket prices are going up in 2009, but you can still buy at 2008 prices. This special offer is only good until the end of this year.” It’s a limited time offer that gives your target market the opportunity buy early.

Partner with Sponsors
It isn’t enough to let your target market know it’s a holiday special.  Is there something else you can do to add value to people buying a ticket early? Could you cross promote with one of your sponsors and have the sponsor include holiday coupon? Always look for unique opportunities.  The cross promotion needs to resonate with your target market. See if you can get one of your sponsors to market your tickets to their list. You can’t just add something because you think your target market will enjoy it. Look for cross promotions that will get your target market to act promptly.

Engage Them Over Email
Do you have an email list of previous buyers? Provided you met or exceeded their expectations, your list is the single best resource for future ticket sales.  Send a specific email to all the people who previously purchased tickets for your event and make them a great offer.  Integrate some of the ideas above into your offer.

You can combine holiday offers so many different ways. Try a few and see what works.

Your Ideas
Do you have ideas for advance sale tickets during the holidays?
Leave a comment and share your ideas below.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Turn Your Event Into an Experience
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early
• Leveraging Your Sponsor's Digital Resources

• The Event Promotion System
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