Recession-Proof Your 2023 Event

Whether or not we enter a full-blown recession next year, your event should be selling advanced tickets.

Rising inflation, high gas prices and a slowing housing market and a potential recession have been dominating the headlines recently–but what could that mean for you? A major way your fair, festival or event can hedge against a possible recession hurting ticket sales is by putting tickets on sale earlier! Why wait?! 

Advanced tickets sales are trending 

Fairs, festivals, events and concerts have been pushing ticket sales earlier and earlier. Buying a ticket to a concert that’s over a year out doesn’t seem so unreasonable anymore! Many attendees look online for early-bird deals or want to ensure they have a spot reserved by the time their favorite event rolls around. 

Why sell in advance?

Offering tickets in advance, potential recession or not, is a worthwhile effort for your event. Here are our top five reasons to start selling earlier

  1. It’s money in the bank: Every ticket sold before the gate opens puts money in your account. This can help with your budget or expensenses even before a single guest arrives! 
  2. Data, data and more data: There is so much data that can be collected from early ticket sales–valuable data you can use to create a marketing campaign that resonates with your target audience.  
  3. Spread out the paycheck: A major reason event-goers purchase their tickets in advance actually has to do with budgeting. When folks are looking at their entertainment budget before coming to your event, they don’t really consider money spent in advance as part of what they will spend once they are at your event. 
  4. Breakage: As we all know, not everyone who purchases a ticket to your event is actually going to redeem that ticket. But that’s still extra money in your account! The earlier tickets are put on sale, the higher your breakage will be. 
  5. Better planning: Knowing in advance how many people are planning to attend your event, you can make better revenue projections and ensure you have enough volunteers or staff on hand.  

Sell Advance Tickets Successfully!

When posting tickets in advance, there are a few key steps you can take to ensure you’re getting the most revenue from your efforts. It’s important to make advance tickets desirable so people actually make purchases. 

One way is by offering discounted prices for tickets that are purchased in advance and online. Even after realizing advance sales discounts, you can essentially have much of your event paid for before an attendee walks through the gate. Offering group or family packages is another great way to offer value to guests, getting them into the event ready to purchase food, beverages and shows. And don’t forget to highlight the biggest advantage of advance purchasing: skipping the line at the box office or gates! 

With so many creative solutions for maximizing revenue from your ticket sales, our top recommendation is always selling tickets early and online!