The Event Marketing Playbook

:elliot: Elliot Matthews - Technology director at Crowdsauce

🎧 Listen to the audio of this playbook

A straightforward guide to selling more tickets.

Selling tickets to an event is tough. You're not just selling a product; you're selling an experience. Many things are out of your control, like the weather, public transport strikes, or even a surprise announcement from a competing event. The events industry is a harsh, unforgiving, and competitive place.

But your marketing is something you can control. A good marketing strategy can be the difference between the euphoric rush of a sold-out show and the despair of a financial loss. It’s the one factor you can steer to increase your chances of success.

This playbook gives you the fundamentals. It's a summary of proven methods to help you plan your campaign, reach the right people, and sell more tickets. There's no fluff or hype here. Just practical, straightforward advice that has been tested and shown to work in the real world. Think of it as your manual for turning interest into attendance.

The Foundation - Your Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is your roadmap. It keeps you organised, focused, and ensures you don't miss important steps along the way. Without a plan, you're just guessing, and that’s a risky way to run a business. A good plan helps you map out your campaign from start to finish. You can prepare for challenges, have backup strategies ready, and it gives you a clear, week-by-week checklist of what needs to be done.

A comprehensive marketing plan should include:

A timeline of key announcements. This isn't just the event date. It includes your event announcement, the start of your presale registration, ticket release dates, price increases, and any guest, performer, or venue reveals. Smartly timing these announcements around paydays can lead to significant sales spikes.
A weekly activity schedule. What are you doing each week to push the event forward? This should detail your organic social media posts, email newsletters, SMS or WhatsApp broadcasts, and any competitions you plan to run.
A detailed budget breakdown. Know how much you'll spend on ads each week and on which platforms. A good rule is to allocate a significant portion of your budget to the launch phase to build momentum, with another large chunk reserved for the final two weeks to capture last-minute buyers.
Your chosen marketing channels. You can't be everywhere at once. Decide where you will focus your efforts. For most events, a combination of Instagram, Facebook, and email marketing is a solid foundation.
A detailed audience breakdown. Who are you trying to reach? Be specific. Think about their age, location, interests, and online behaviours. The more you know about your ideal attendee, the better you can target them with your ads.
The story of your event. How will you build excitement over time? Plan how you will introduce different concepts and selling points to keep your audience engaged throughout the entire campaign.
Your ticketing structure. Detail your ticket tiers, prices, and the number of tickets available in each tier. This helps you manage sales effectively and creates a natural sense of urgency as tiers sell out.
Collaboration opportunities. Identify potential partners, such as guests, venues, or even other brands. Plan for collaborative social media posts, shared mailing list announcements, and advertiser access for running ads to their audiences.

To keep all of this organised, consider using a project management tool like Trello, Asana, or even a simple Google Sheet. This will help you track tasks, deadlines, and ensure everyone on your team is on the same page.