Your company's business objectives must be achieved whether you conduct an event in person or online.
It's crucial that your sponsors and exhibitors appreciate the importance of attending your event and that the ROI (return on investment) demonstrates to them its success. This provides further confidence for anyone looking to invest in events you will hold in the future.
The good news is that with virtual events, it's now possible to duplicate the financial opportunities of an in-person event. An online environment offers a larger creative scope for experimenting with different monetization strategies, and all metrics have trackable results.
There are still a load of untapped opportunities for maximising the value of online events.
The question then arises of how to make money from virtual events. In this blog we will discuss tips on how to make money from virtual events that you can incorporate into your next event.
So, let’s get started.
How to Make Money from Virtual Events
Here are some tips to implement so that you know how to make money from virtual events.
Utilize Paid Registration
Giving guests a small amount of free access to the event and pushing them to buy an All-Access Pass to view the complete event is one of the easiest ways savvy organisers can make money hosting virtual events.
When preparing a virtual event, creating a unique selling proposition (USP) is essential to motivating and persuading the target audience.
Determine what makes an event special, what events to host to make money, and what sets it apart from others is critical in order to sell it effectively.
This event method aids in helping your prospective attendees comprehend the worth of the event and the reasons they ought to sign up.
Offer Multiple Ticket Pricing Tiers
A tier-based ticketing system is an excellent way to increase registration since it allows guests a variety of ticket options to select from depending on their needs and budget.
The best aspect is that you can easily add on different incentives as the price rises and limit access to the virtual event components for those who obtain a free ticket.
Additionally, you can provide discounts based on when a ticket is purchased, how many tickets are being purchased, or how early a ticket is purchased.
Some of the most typical ticket categories are listed below:
- Regular tickets: Free tickets or tickets that cost a small fee in exchange for a limited access to the event.
- Early registration discounts: These are included in the price of early bird tickets. Exclusive early access to event content or limited edition event swag can be an additional incentive for attendees to purchase tickets sooner.
- VIP access tickets: For a higher price, these tickets provide privileged access to specific areas of the online event. For instance, VIP participants can network in exclusive virtual lounges that are hidden from regular ticket holders.
- Single-day passes: Tickets that are valid for multiple-day events but only grant entrance to a single day of the event.
- Multi-day passes: Tickets available for events lasting more than one day that grant entrance on multiple days.
- Group passes: Provides a reduced ticket cost for large purchases.
You can attract the suitable audience and boost sales of paid tickets by deliberately establishing a differentiated ticketing system.
This also enables you to gather attendance information related to a given category, allowing you to send targeted follow-up emails.
Generate Income from Advertisements
Another possibility of how to make money from virtual events is the advertisements you agree to put up.
Similar to sponsor packages, you can also sell ad spaces to make money as your registration page and event website will likely see a lot of traffic.
Running the ads that are most appropriate for your event is the greatest way to profit from ad income.
Use an advanced tracking tool that enables you to keep track of your efforts to determine which of your online marketing initiatives is bringing the most visitors to your company's and event website.
Make Use of Event Sponsorship
Virtual events offer a number of options to earn money through sponsorships, just like physical events do.
Marketers should think creatively and go above and beyond typical sponsor packages that include mentions on the event website and registration page.
There are several methods to increase exposure for your sponsors and help them achieve their ROI objectives.
In order to do that, you must evaluate the various options that your virtual event platform can offer and then tailor your sponsorship agreements accordingly.
Provide your partners with the following sponsorship opportunities:
- Sponsored sessions: Increase visibility of sponsors by branding the agenda page, the area around the live session, playing the sponsor's video during ongoing sessions and breaks, requesting call-outs from the event host, ensuring that all speakers use branded presentations, inviting your sponsors to speak about thought leadership topics, and sharing sponsored documents for specific sessions.
- Virtual booths: List sponsors in virtual booths. Provide customers with a range of booth size options so they may utilize their designated virtual space to display specialized information such as product photographs and videos, contact information, links to apps and websites, digital coupons or discounts, etc. Additionally, permit 1:1 conversation, 1:1 meetings, and business interactions between the brand and attendees.
- Online breakout rooms: Allow sponsors to utilize these spaces for demos and interacting with attendees in general. Create coded breakout rooms or ones that are only accessible to certain ticket holders to offer sponsored workshops, games, and activities in private spaces.
- Networking areas: Assign virtual lounge tables to various sponsors to encourage open dialogue and the resolution of questions between guests and sponsors.
- Gamification: Create branded games on your online event platform, such as quizzes, competitions, and raffles. Include the sponsors' names in all pertinent marketing materials (emails, event feed, and push notifications). Integrate gamification activities at the event with sponsor involvement. Ask your partners to sponsor prizes.
- Mentions in notifications and posts: Post sponsored content on the event stream on a regular basis, and pin the post about your headline sponsor to the top of the feed to give them more exposure. Promote your sponsors and exhibitors via push notifications and encourage visitors to stop by their booths.
Sell Data
The data on attendees that are used to gauge an event's performance is not only useful for the event’s organizers.
Selling this information to sponsors is another way that you can profit. You can accomplish this by asking participants if they consent to hearing from event sponsors after the event.
Sell Merchandise and Event Swag
Through a virtual trade fair, which is an online store that lets participants make hassle-free purchases, you can sell event swag and branded goods.
Allow guests to browse products without leaving the event by easily integrating your current online store into the presentations.
This can be done by connecting your virtual event to your e-commerce website and enabling participants to purchase branded goods as well as tangible and digital mementos.
This will increase profits for your event, raise brand exposure, and foster a sense of community among your attendees.
Select a Suitable Virtual Event Platform
When choosing between several event tech partners, go with one that is adaptable and can take into account your creative ideas for developing and monetizing events.
Choose a platform that offers you a variety of ways to monetize and track ROI. The platform you pick is a major part of how to make money from virtual events.
Check in particular to see if they offer elements like tickets, display ads, virtual booths, AI-powered matchmaking, etc. and what options are already available that will support your sponsorship objectives.
Oreed is a single-platform event management system for managing your event workforce, communicating for event management and marketing, and maintaining event data.
The process of hosting events to make money is made much simpler by having a centralised platform for all the components that go into coordinating and executing a virtual event.
Oreed aims to provide top-notch virtual events for all audiences.
Final Thoughts
Virtual events will continue to exist. You must assess the business environment as you prepare for event season to make sure you are not losing out on opportunities to connect with clients.
Knowing how to host a successful event includes understanding how to make money from virtual events.
These tips are only a place to begin. Understanding hosting events to make money will enable you to know exactly what is required to hold your next event successfully in every way.
