After paying nearly 7 dollars for a dozen eggs this weekend (no, they weren’t even organic), there’s literally no question that inflation is wreaking havoc on our lives and businesses. Now, what happens after inflation at this level? A recession. We’ve gotten so many questions from clients over the past few months about how they can prepare their event pricing strategies and marketing strategies for a potential recession.
Events are one of the top revenue-generating marketing activities a business can offer in its portfolio. Don’t let the impending recession scare you into cutting your marketing and event budgets. In fact, Harvard Business Review shares that companies that bounce back the quickest from a recession typically do not cut marketing spend, and in many cases, they actually increase it.
The key is to make sure that that spend is planned strategically for the greatest impact. That comes down to a lot of things like content and marketing strategy, which all tie back to your event pricing strategies. Today, we’re going to share three ways you can tackle event pricing strategies to ensure attendance regardless of external factors like a recession. Ready for some actionable tips?
Increase the Perceived Value of Your Virtual, Hybrid, and Live Events
The biggest concerns during a recession for individuals or businesses are cutting expenses and protecting investments. So, what are you doing that ensures that your event is a foolproof investment? What value are you providing?
Value and pricing go hand in hand. If you’re charging $2,500 for an on-site VIP event experience, but all they get is a front-row seat at your keynote, not a meet-and-greet with your CEO and board members, the value isn’t there to support the attendee’s investment.
The easiest way to increase your perceived and actual event value is to create a list of all of your event properties and activities that you will be including (just like you’d do for sponsorship kits!).
Then, take that list and put a financial value on each item (even if it can be perceived as invaluable).
From there, price your tickets. Don’t do a cart before the horse deal, and try to price your tickets before you even know what you can offer because that leaves room for not only disappointment from attendees (who then won’t return in the future). But it also reduces the likelihood of event ticket sales.
Offer Tiered Pricing & Affordable Virtual Attendance Options
Now, tiered pricing structures for your event are something we always recommend, regardless of world events. It’s a simple and effective way to increase your event revenues with upgrades, upsells, and irresistible VIP experiences. But during a recession, they’re more important than ever.
Offering a free or $10 virtual attendance component to your hybrid event will allow you to extend your reach and increase lead generation. For individuals who want to attend an event, it’s much easier to pitch a $10 ticket to their employer than a $1,000 investment for on-site attendance.
It’s just important that with this tiered pricing, hybrid event model, you’re ensuring that the actual value for on-site is much greater, as we mentioned above. Here are a few tips for how to increase the value for live events and for hybrid events. Shoot us a DM at @eventistrybyalecia if you have any questions about these strategies and methods!
Create Bundle Pricing & Discounts for Teams
Beyond tiered pricing, create bundle pricing for teams so they can feel good about savings while sending multiple team members to your event.
So, for example, if your tickets are $500 per attendee, provide a 10% discount for up to 5 team members or a 25% discount for up to 10. So, for 5 attendees, they’d get a price of $450, and if they send 10, it’ll be $375. Perhaps even throw in a bonus like a private VIP event for their team only if they send 10 or more attendees.
You’ll want to make sure your costs support these discounts but based on the above methodology, many teams would go for greater numbers for higher savings. Especially if the value is there!
Need Help Creating Recession-Proof Event Pricing Strategies?
Does this feel like a lot? Especially on top of all the other recession-proofing, you’re working through for your business or clients right now? We get it. We’ve been there. Let us help you create recession-proof event pricing strategies for every event you’re hosting in 2023. Just book a 20-minute complimentary strategy call, and we can get to work!
