3 Key Reasons to Incentivise your Event
Incentives are used to generally encourage people to take a required action. They work best when there is a time factor / "expiration" date tied to them to encourage timely take up of that action.
As it relates to events, incentives can be used to encourage early attendance, early registration, as part of your event marketing initiatives. It can be in the form of:
Discounts
Door Prizes
Complimentary upgrade with purchase
Sweepstakes and Raffles
Promotional items (free gifts)
Here are 3 ways incentives can be used for your event initiatives:
1. To encourage early registration and/or attendance
One of the greatest assets in planning your event is knowing your numbers. Guest numbers drive almost every detail of your event. (We gave some tips to help with this process in another blog post that you can check out here.) To help get these confirmations in early, an incentive can be applied for those who do so early eg. discounted tickets, limited time package rates. Some planners also simply say "RSVPs will not be accepted after *insert day and time here*". Not wanting to run the risk of not being able to attend your event, seems like a great enough incentive to us!!
Getting your guests to confirm attendance is one thing, sometimes getting them to arrive on time is another! Yea we know. Offer a reward to persons who arrive within the first 30 mins of your event. Plan one of your wow factors to happen at the start of your event and advertise it (yes, what's the one thing you know your guests will NOT want to miss? Consider putting it very early on in the programme)
2. To encourage completion of your post event survey
Was your hard work well received and enjoyed? Want to issue a survey to your guests to get their feedback? Consider attaching a reward as a thank you for taking the time out to complete. Discount off your next event/service, gift cards etc.
3. To encourage sales
To our readers involved in retail, this one is for you! Event marketing leverages in person engagement. Instant rewards are great incentives to support your event marketing activities. You've planned an event activity for your retail space. Your marketing team has done a great job in getting them into the door, it's all on your team now to covert the sale. Engaging your customers and following up with a reward is a great formula to encourage sales. A promotional item, discount off their next purchase, access an event you may be hosting.
What is that one thing you need persons to do in advance for your event?
Is there something you need persons to do at your event?
Want to ensure you get a particular result from your event?
Consider attaching an incentive to any of these actions!
Need help working on this? Send us an 'sos' here and we will help you thrash this one out!
What are some incentives you have used? Share with us in the comments below.
