Saffire Blog

New Year’s Resolutions for 2023

Whew – what a year it’s been! The world continued to open up, people re-discovered their love for live events and many of our clients experienced record-breaking numbers. As we finally take a breath and collect ourselves from the whirlwind of 2022, we can look to 2023 as a fresh opportunity full of possibilities.

6 Resolutions for the New Year

Refresh your marketing plan: Now is a great time to review your marketing plan! What worked in the past year and what fell short? What channels worked best? Was your budget stretched too thin? Look back at what was impactful over the last twelve months and what you’d like to carry over to 2023.

Expand your network: This is especially true given the industry we’re in. Whether your event is short staffed, you’re having an on-site emergency or you just need someone to vent to, having these connections can be a lifesaver! Dedicate time to networking, explore industry associations and start working on building those relationships.

Try something new: An excellent resolution both personally and professionally! Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is one of the only guaranteed ways to facilitate growth. So whether it’s using a digital marketing tool you’ve never tried before or implementing something totally out-of-the-box, take the new year as an opportunity to try something new.

Energize your email marketing: Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox, so be sure you’re utilizing it! Have you set up a platform or system to automate emails? Are emails being sent out regularly before and after an event? Now is a great time to set some goals for your email marketing in the next year.

Go mobile-friendly: We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again, mobile matters! Try navigating through your site on a smartphone and see what looks wonky or what issues are appearing, odds are your customers have already noticed. Optimize your website for mobile to improve your ranking with Google and keep your customers happy while they’re shopping.

Be more social: Engaging with your audience online is fundamental not only to marketing your event to the public, but connecting with communities like businesses in your area or other professionals in the industry. Practice writing in your brands voice, try something fun like an Instagram scavenger hunt, start curating content, research emerging trends, choose the platforms best for your business or event, and above all else, start posting!

Another chaotic and magical year of fairs, festivals, and events is in the books! We hope your year was full of fun, we can’t wait to see what 2023 has in store for live events.

Happy New Year!

A Guide to Different Types of Event Tickets

Instead of offering just one kind of ticket for attendees, get the most revenue from your event by offering multiple types of tickets at different price points. Whether it’s a discount that draws an attendee to purchase a ticket or the promise of a VIP experience, drive sales and sell out your event by selling different types of tickets.

General Admission

A general admission (GA) ticket is the most common type of ticket and will be the way most people get into your event. Typically priced the lowest, GA tickets will get attendees through the door without any extras and is a staple for any ticketed event.

VIP

Generate additional income by offering exclusive, VIP tickets. You can include a VIP seating area, extra perks for the guests inside the event, swag bags, and more. Many attendees may choose to splurge and a VIP level may attract new customers and it’s a great way to drive revenue.

Reserved Seating

If you have a seated event, you can offer attendees the chance to choose their own seats. This way, seats on different levels or with different views can be priced accordingly. People who want to be close to the stage are willing to spend a bit more.

Pre-sale tickets

Although these tickets will be offered at a discount, pre-sale tickets sold online will put revenue in the bank before your event even starts! The lower price point and reminder could be the deciding purchase factor for potential attendees–and you will have an easier time planning your event with a more accurate estimate of attendees.

Discounted Tickets

Offering tickets at a discounted rate for students, military members, and seniors is a great way to support your local community and draw in a more diverse crowd. If there are conditions to purchasing the discounted tickets (i.e show student or military ID), don’t forget to include that in the ticket description.

Ticket Packages

Offering ticket bundles can incentivize families or larger groups to attend your event. Create a bundle that includes admission, parking and food vouchers for five people at a discounted rate. Make it clear the savings ones get when they purchase a package over buying each item individually.

Hybrid Option

Although you may be back to holding in-person events, you may want to consider still hosting a hybrid event! Not only will this make your event more accessible, but you may attract people who would not have bought a ticket previously, like out out-of-town family who want to join in the festivities.

You can easily offer multiple types of tickets, packages, and discounts in your current ticketing plan—especially with an integrated ticketing and website platform like Saffire.

Stay Organized with Trello

Are you having trouble staying organized? Is your wall calendar just not keeping up in the digital world? Here at Saffire, we’ve started using Trello to stay organized! Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and … Continue reading “Stay Organized with Trello”

Trello uses “cards” which contain each of your tasks or ideas. In each card, you can add members, labels, checklists, any attachments and even a due date. Each card is filed under a list and can be easily moved from list to list. For example, you can have a “to do” list, “overdue” list and a “completed list” and easily move the cards to their appropriate list. Cards and lists are then housed under boards in order to stay organized and keep your projects separate. You can also add an unlimited number of members to a Trello board in order for multiple people to collaborate.

Trello boards can be extremely effective as both a meeting agenda and task tool. We use trello boards to list out our agenda in cards. Then, we take notes under each agenda item, assign a task to someone and put a due date on that action item.

Another great way to utilize Trello is to place your marketing editorial calendar into a board. You can switch to a calendar view and anyone on your team can see what posts, emails or content is scheduled to be published so your team can plan accordingly, whether that means graphic design or preparing copy for social media.

For our event planners, this can be an extremely powerful tool to help keep your event prep work organized. Tasks can easily be seen by your team such as when tickets go on sale or entertainment announcements are made. As we all know, plans can drastically change and Trello makes changes easy! Simply drag & drop a card onto a new date on the calendar and the due date will update automatically.

There are endless uses for this powerful tool! Let us know if you use Trello and how you use it!