There isn’t one secret to upping guest attendance—there’s three.
The one thing I never stress out about is having too many people at an event. Why? It means your concept, marketing, and promotion are working better than expected. Yes, the worst case scenario for having a long line out the door at an event might be that your investors or clients arrive late and can’t get in. But even if they turn around and head home, they’re still thinking “damn, those guys are popular.” I’ve seen upset clients and some gigantic event lines, but never at the same time.
A short (or non existent) line is far worse. Are you ready to start throwing events for your brand, agency, or retail space, but are hesitant to turn the key because you’re worried about low attendance? Here’s a three-event hack that will explode your guest list. How do I know it works? I just tried it.
The concept is simple: Instead of spending all your time perfecting a single event in order to prove some metric or announce a new product, throw a series of events ahead of your deadline to learn about your guests, improve the experience, and iterate your approach.
You need three months and three events. In return for your investment, you’ll get loads of very telling data, tailored marketing assets, and a band of influencers that will help you promote.
For each event, you’ll want to measure who visited your event page, who RSVPed, and who attended.
The purpose of the first event is to lay the framework, make some noise, and generate content. Use your sales team to market your small event with a simple promise (think: great music, fun cocktails, a unique performance). Treat it as a stand alone event—your guests don’t need to know you are in active case study mode. Choose an intimate venue. And don’t forget to take photos and make a recap video you can share after.
At Splash, we threw an event called Afterdark at our very own offices. We hired a talented club promoter from Atypical Sounds (her name is Kim and she’s amazing) to find and book us the perfect musician. Then we found a beer sponsor and encouraged our own employees to invite their friends and spread the word.
Now you can start using some of your data. Promote your second event in the series by using the recap video and imagery from Event 1. Then start monitoring how people respond. Your sales team will now have some tangible data to help them pitch the event, too. You can segment attendees of the first event and send them different “insider” messaging.
With our event series we used momentum from our first event as marketing language: “Since our first After Dark event was so insanely popular, we decided to throw an even bigger one.”
Three of something make a trend, and this event is the culminating feather in the cap of the series. By now you should know who your most loyal fans are, who are your biggest influencers, and how exciting your events look to a first-time guest. You’ve also won the trust of your sales team, and nothing’s better at amplifying your products than your own comrades.
Use open rates, RSVP data, and return guest data to create targeted messaging. Craft compelling social media posts with the imagery and video you captured at the first two events. Make the necessary adjustments to voice and tone, and—here’s the scary part—invite way more people than you can fit.
Our third installment of Afterdark garnered 500 RSVPs (in a 70-person space!) Instead of closing the guest list, we opted to stash 200 of those guests on a “waitlist” to keep interest high. We even triggered this waitlist early, to show we were getting traction. The law of scarcity—that urgency encourages action—is your your biggest ally in event marketing.
Over 200 hundred people eventually passed through the doors, but since it was on a rolling basis, we were never over capacity.
Not only did we confirm that our concept was successful, we didn’t have to risk all our investment on a huge single event to do it. We carefully directed our funds over time and proved worth to our sponsors, our clients, and ourselves.
The biggest take away was that we could demonstrate increased interest over time—something that’s very difficult to do with a single event.
Now go forth, borrow these ideas, and prove value on your own home turf.
Ben Hindman is co-founder and CEO of Splash, the country's fastest-growing event marketing platform that helps businesses and brands more effectively market through their events. An event planner turned tech entrepreneur, events are in Ben’s DNA. Prior to starting Splash, Ben was the Director of Events at Thrillist, where he produced large-scale events from concerts to mystery fly-aways.
