Proven Marketing Tips to Boost Ticket Sales for Your Beer Fest

Putting together a beer fest is an exciting adventure, but packing the house requires some savvy promotion. Check out these tips to help you sell more tickets and get people buzzing about your beer fest.
1. Create a Facebook Event and Link to Your Ticket Site
Start by creating a dedicated Facebook event page. This allows potential attendees to RSVP on Facebook, giving you the ability to market directly to them all the way up to the day of the fest. Your Facebook event listing should include the following:
- Date, time, and location
- A captivating event description & banner
- List of participating breweries
- Link to purchase tickets directly from your ticketing site as the "tickets url"
Why Facebook Events? They’re free and incredibly effective!
To maximize engagement, frequently post content to the Discussion tab. Share updates about the event, spotlight participating breweries, and post fun facts or trivia about craft beer. Use the @everyone tag to notify all those interested or going about these updates. This ensures that your content reaches a highly interested audience, making it a bit like fishing in a barrel—you're promoting directly to those already excited about your event.
Tip: Add your collaborative partners, such as participating breweries, as 'co-hosts' to your Facebook event. This way, you’ll reach their followers as well, spreading the word organically and tapping into a larger audience.
Encourage people to share the event on their profiles and in relevant Facebook groups.
2. Email Past Ticket Buyers
Leverage your existing customer base by sending out email campaigns to past ticket buyers. Highlight the new breweries, special features, and any early bird discounts. Personalize the emails to make them feel valued and excited to return.
Recommendation: Use Mailchimp for your email marketing campaigns. You can sign up for their service for the duration of your beer fest and pause billing until the next campaign. Mailchimp offers robust targeting tools to connect with your audience, including the ability to re-email subscribers who didn't open the original campaigns, maximizing your reach and effectiveness.
3. Collaborate with Participating Breweries
Partnering with the breweries involved in your fest can significantly boost your event’s visibility. Here are effective ways to get breweries to help promote the beer fest:
- Yard Signs and Flyers: Provide yard signs and flyers for breweries to display. Place yard signs in high-traffic areas and hang flyers in their taprooms to attract local beer enthusiasts.
- Social Media and Email Graphics: Create eye-catching graphics that breweries can easily share on their social media platforms and include in their email newsletters.
- Shared Resources Folder: Set up a shared folder on Google Drive with all promotional materials. This way, breweries can easily access, download, and share these resources.
- Tagging on Social Media: Make sure to tag the breweries in your social media posts to increase engagement and reach a wider audience.
- Promotion Requirement: If you’re purchasing beer from the breweries, consider making it a requirement that they share a certain number of posts about the event to receive payment. This ensures a win-win situation where both parties benefit from increased promotion.
By collaborating closely with participating breweries, you can leverage their existing customer base and social media followers to spread the word about your beer fest.
4. Run Facebook Ads with Facebook Ads Manager
Don't waste money boosting posts on Facebook. Instead, use Facebook Ads Manager for highly targeted ad campaigns. Here’s how:
- Geographic Targeting: Focus on your local regions where you're likely to attract actual ticket buyers and folks interested in your beer fest.
- Interest Targeting: Target users interested in craft beer, breweries, and similar events.
- Retargeting Ads: Show ads to people who have visited your event website but haven’t purchased tickets. These gentle reminders can nudge them to complete their purchase.
- Custom Audiences: Upload your email list to create a custom audience of past attendees.
- Lookalike Audiences: Create lookalike audiences based on your custom audience to reach new potential attendees with similar interests.
Ad Campaign Tips:
- Campaign Objective: Use the sales campaign objective in Facebook Ads Manager. This objective is designed to drive actual ticket purchases, making it the best way to target potential ticket buyers.
- Ad Types:
- Video Ad: A short, engaging video showcasing highlights from past events.
- Carousel Ad: Multiple images of different breweries participating in the fest.
- Event Response Ad: Promote your Facebook event to get more RSVPs and shares.
Using Facebook Ads Manager over boosting posts gives you access to a broader range of targeting options and the ability to set specific campaign objectives, leading to more effective and efficient advertising.
5. Collaborations with Influencers
Partner with local influencers and bloggers to spread the word. Their endorsement can add credibility and reach a broader audience. Here’s how to do it effectively:
When working with influencers, it’s crucial to ensure that both parties benefit. Instead of offering payment or comp tickets upfront, propose a performance-based model. Influencers should drive a specific amount of sales or bring a certain number of attendees to your event to earn their compensation. This ensures that your resources are well-spent and the influencer is genuinely motivated to promote your event effectively.
Guidelines for Working with Influencers:
- Set Clear Expectations: Make sure influencers understand that the partnership is mutually beneficial. They should deliver measurable results, such as ticket sales or attendee numbers, in exchange for their compensation.
- Track ROI: Monitor the influencer’s impact by providing them with unique referral links or discount codes. This allows you to track sales directly attributable to their efforts.
- Support Your Influencers: Provide them with all the necessary information and promotional materials about your event. No one knows your product better than you, so be actively involved in the marketing process.
- Value Your Product: Ensure that influencers value your event as much as you do. A good influencer will understand the importance of delivering results and will be motivated to meet your expectations.
By following these guidelines, you’ll create a win-win situation where both you and the influencer benefit, and your event gets the promotion it deserves.
6. List with State Tourism Event Calendars
Visibility is key. Submit your beer fest to state and local tourism event calendars. These listings are usually free and help you reach a wider audience, including travelers looking for things to do. It's an essential strategy for increasing your event's visibility.
Example: We're based in Connecticut, and we frequently use ctvisit.com to list and promote our beer fests. This website is a go-to resource for tourists and locals alike, looking for events and attractions in the state.
Every state typically has a similar tourism website, so be sure to find and utilize the one relevant to your location. By listing your event on their calendar, you're tapping into a broader audience who may be specifically seeking unique experiences like your beer fest.
7. Add Your Beer Fest to BeerFests.com
Don’t forget to list your beer fest on BeerFests.com. We specialize in promoting beer fests and attract thousands of visitors each month who are specifically looking for these events. There’s no cost to list, and you can update your listing annually to keep reaching beer lovers who are thirsty for the next great fest.
By listing your event on BeerFests.com, you're ensuring it gets in front of an audience that's actively searching for beer fests, making it a key part of your promotional strategy.
Conclusion
With these strategies in place, you’ll be well on your way to a successful and sold-out beer fest. Remember, the key to effective promotion is consistency and leveraging multiple channels to reach your audience. Happy planning!
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At BeerFests.com, we are a full-service ticketing company dedicated to bringing brewers and beer-loving people together at exceptional beer fests. With over a decade of experience, we're passionate about crafting unforgettable experiences. Let's see what we can brew together!
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