Today, I'm going to rant a little on the importance of delivering an extraordinary experience at your event.
There seems to be a gap between advertising promises and attendee expectations when it comes to event marketing. The result is event attendees who open their wallets, spend their hard-earned money, and leave an event disappointed.
Yes, I'm a big proponent of using hype and persuasion (ethically) in your event's marketing. But you can't over promise and under deliver.
Before you send out your next advertising or marketing campaign, do an objective review of your event marketing.
Is your event marketing over-promising on the experience your event can deliver?
If you're holding an event during a global pandemic, what are you doing to reassure your event attendees of their safety and expectations?
Spend some time thinking through the previous questions. Look at your advertising and event from an attendee's perspective.
If someone were to read your advertising and attend your event – are you going to be able to deliver on all your advertising promises?
If not, or even maybe not, take those points out of your advertising. I've seen first hand the problems associated with promising too much in event advertising. It isn't pretty and is quickly followed by a slew of refund requests.
Another avenue event promoters go down is using psychological persuasion in their event marketing.
Think advance Jedi persuasion skills. Be sure to check out Dr. Robert Cialdini's book "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion."
In the book, Dr. Cialdini outlines his six "Weapons of Influence." One of Cialdini's weapons of influence is scarcity.
Using scarcity is a surefire way to get people to buy event tickets in advance. As tickets are sold, you update the number of remaining tickets on your website. As the available ticket supply counts down, ticket demand goes up.
Unfortunately, some event organizers see fit to abuse scarcity.
In 2009, a local beer festival sold out all their VIP in a flash. To generate even more revenue, the event organizer opened a new block of VIP tickets. Word got out about "previously SOLD OUT tickets" being on sale again. That aggravated lot of people who already purchased tickets.
It is a bad idea to tell people tickets are sold out and then put them back on sale again. Next time, event attendees are going to be skeptical about buying tickets.
People are going to think, "they say tickets are going to sell out, but they'll put more on sale – just like last time!"
Like Peter Parker's Uncle Ben said "With great power there must also come — great responsibility!" (Amazing Fantasy (1962) #15, a.k.a Spider-Man's introduction)
The value your event delivers to attendees must far exceed the hype used in your event marketing. This mindset is critical if you have a recurring event.
People are going to come back to an event if they feel scammed or unsafe. When you boil it down, it's pretty simple. Don't claim something in your advertising or marketing that your event can't deliver.
Want to get more event experience advice? Check out the links below:
- Leading People to Provide Event Feedback
- This Event Crashed & "Burned" ... Badly
- Turn Your Event Into an Experience
- A Great Customer Service Example
- You Don't Want Your Event in the News for THIS ...
- Create a Better Event with Patron Feedback
- Collecting Real Time Feedback on Your Event