- Offer Surprises
The holiday season is a time to be festive and there is no better time than to offer up surprises to event goers. Whether it is a reward to loyal customers who have supported you all year or a special treat for first time attendees, think of how you can surprise your customers this season. For example, if your events are evening painting courses, perhaps you can allow regular customers to bring a friend to a class this December. This approach shows that you value your customers’ business and it helps you tap potentially new customers. Or perhaps you want to offer champagne to a class of newbies, to help sell the experience and encourage them to return in 2019.
- Share Live Video on Social Media
Facebook Live has changed the face of events. People now have the potential to broadcast live from your event using the device they are carrying in their pocket. Encourage attendees to broadcast from your event to help reach new audiences. Perhaps you have a booth at your conference where speakers can do live interviews from the event. Or you may encourage conference attendees to live stream their walk on your showroom floor and highlight the advertisers present at your event. Experiment with this technology to see what makes sense for your business.
- Embrace Giveaways
A giveaway is a motivating reason for people to come to an event, so offer something enticing to lure people to your party. Whether you are launching a new restaurant or hosting a business networking event, consider giving away a prize to the first 10 people to arrive. You might giveaway a gift certificate, an iPad or a free pass to your next event. Make sure that the giveaway is something that people want, a gift to enjoy themselves or share with friends and family. Tis the season for giving and customers will feel rewarded when they bring a gift home from an event.
- Run a Sweepstakes
A sweepstakes is a great way to promote your holiday event and make people feel that they can win free tickets. If you are running a holiday concert series, create a sweepstakes and give away a pair of tickets to each night’s show. Build a landing page for people to enter to win the sweepstakes and use this as a chance to collect data. Ask for their name, email address and mobile phone number, which can be used to market to the audience next year. Also encourage winners to share their news on social media and be sure to photograph the winners and share the photo on social media to help promote the concerts.
- Send Reminder Emails
People are busy during the holiday season and they don’t always remember what they have signed up for. If someone signed up or bought tickets to attend your event, they did so because they want to go. Make it easier on customers by sending reminder emails about the event. These teasers can help build buzz and highlight what attendees have to look forward to and will also ensure that they won’t forget to attend. Add a feature that lets people add these events to their calendars, as well as to share with friends. Whether it is forward-to-a-friend buttons that they’d like to invite personally or share-to-social media buttons to broadcast plans, including social cues will help you reach new audiences and increase potential ticket sales.
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