The best part of planning and hosting a live event is that you’ll have so many opportunities to earn revenue. You can make money on ticket sales, t-shirts and premium swag, books, advanced product sales, and even pre-sale tickets for future events. In addition, you can sell recordings of the event itself to attendees and non-attendees alike.
Making the most of your event’s earning power does take a bit of planning, though.
· Collect Leads – Be sure all your promotions are designed to collect leads. You can do so with online webinars, guest blog posts, free reports and other valuable information.
· Segment Leads – Separate those who bought tickets from those who did not. You can still market to the people who did not attend the event but who signed up for a free webinar or other resource. These people may be interested in many things leading up to the event as well as after, such as sponsorships, event recordings or other products and services.
· Seek Sponsorships – Believe it or not, small and large businesses alike are happy to sponsor a well-planned event. Even smaller events can attract great sponsors. The important thing is to show what you can offer in terms of return on investment. In other words, “what’s in it for them?”
· Event Recordings – Both those who attend the event as well as those who did not will enjoy the ability to purchase audio or video recordings. You can sell them less expensively to those who were present, or offer them as an incentive to purchase tickets early. Afterwards, market the recordings to those who weren’t able to attend live.
· Workshop Recordings – If your event has workshops with limited seating or which run simultaneously, people will miss some of the workshops in person. Selling mini recordings will solve the problem of some attendees not being able to go a particular workshop.
· Checklists, Tools & Premiums – Help attendees and others to get the most out of your event by offering checklists, tools and other additional materials. Even items that just help them remember, such as t-shirts, mugs and pictures sell well.
· Follow Up – Don’t stop when the event is done, send follow ups to everyone including those who did and did not attend. Everyone should be sent immediate notification of future events or products and services related to the event.
Events can keep earning long after the venue is cleaned up and the lights have been turned off. In fact, with event recordings you can earn an income from the event years down the road by repurposing the recordings, products and tools in a variety of ways.