Before setting out to organise a pop-up event, you’ll need to think strategically about several aspects, including the experience on offer, ticket prices, the communication policy, attendee capacity, profitability objectives, and so on. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that works for every pop-up event. So, here are our tips for stacking the odds in your favour.
Summary
- Design a unique experience
- Use social media to stimulate demand
- Convey a sense of urgency and exclusivity
- Set profitability targets
1. Design a unique experience
Pop-up events generally attract attendees who are prepared to pay more for a one-of-a-kind event. However, your event will still need to be outstanding for the target audience to accept the price you’ve set.
If you’re organising a cooking-themed event, your attendees might pay double what they would expect to pay at a local restaurant, but only if the dinner for your pop-up event is prepared by today’s star chef.
To attract people who are willing to spend large amounts of money, first concentrate your efforts on preparing an experience they’ll never experience again.
A few things will help you justify a higher price:
- A location usually closed to the public and where no event has ever taken place;
- An innovative set menu with a rare recipe and ingredients;
- A meeting with a star chef, a local celebrity, or other distinguished guest;
- Limited-edition products available exclusively at your event.
2. Use social media to stimulate demand
The law of supply and demand requires you to know how many other events like yours exist, and whether there will be an audience interested in it. You’ll need to stimulate demand for your event if you want to propose the highest prices possible. You might have limited capacity, but if you can increase the demand for tickets, you’ll be able to raise their price.
The exclusive and unique nature of pop-up events makes them ideal for content shared on social media to stimulate demand. People like sharing insider secrets and inviting friends to exclusive events. Use these channels effectively to create intrigue, excitement and a sense of urgency around your ticket sales.
Pop-up events also tend to provide attendees with the perfect setting for their Instagram photos. This allows you to keep selling tickets during the event and prepare potential future events in other cities. By striving to make your attendees want to share their favourite moments on social media, you’ll quickly reach your maximum capacity, whatever your ticket pricing.
3. Convey a sense of urgency and exclusivity
Attendees value pop-up events more than recurring events, as they make them feel like trend spotters, and therefore more out of the ordinary.
The sale of a ‘limited number’ of tickets helps create this feeling of exclusivity. It also creates a sense of urgency, saying: If you don’t buy your tickets now, you might miss your chance. You can also use time-limited flash sales to give potential visitors a reason to buy now rather than put it off until later, in which case they may forget and never come to your event.
Creating urgency around your event is an excellent way to strengthen perceived value and excite potential attendees. In the end, you’ll sell more tickets and increase your profits.
4. Set profitability targets
If all goes well, your event will be both a qualitative and quantitative success. But the reality is that not all pop-up events immediately bring in enough money to cover their costs. Set specific, measurable, achievable and realistic goals before even launching your event.
In your case, you might not have the communication impact you need for your first event to be visible and sell a large number of tickets. Alternatively, you might misjudge your budget and get carried away with buying unnecessary products or services. One of the most common mistakes made by pop-up event organisers is limiting their profits as a result of selling tickets at too low a price.
Attendees are willing to pay a high price for an experience they can’t get elsewhere, so don’t hold back. Make it an exclusive experience and offer discounts if sales don’t meet your goals.
Tiered pricing, discount codes and supply and demand are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to pricing strategies. View our article How to decide on the price of your event’s tickets? to find the optimal price for your ticket, which will allow you to sell the most tickets and make the most profit. Once you’ve decided, our help article will help you create and structure the desired prices.
With these four tips, create the most extraordinary pop-up event possible! To implement everything you need to make it a success — an online ticketing service, access control and cashless payment — discover all of our solutions and their features by clicking on the button below:
