How to Scale Your Festival: Insights From Fast-Growing Events

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Looking to double ticket sales or scale your festival to multiple cities?

Kick start your festival growth with this 10-step action plan that borrows tactics from some of the fastest-growing events in the nation. From a multi-city bacon and beer festival to an art festival in its 45th year, you’ll learn about rapid growth across festivals of all types.

Check out this research to access proven approaches for growth, including:

  • Creative marketing strategies that sell more tickets
  • Analytical event management techniques to increase revenue
  • Core branding principles to help your festival stand out

PREVIEW

The festival business is booming, and consumers are hungry for live experiences. In a recent study, Eventbrite found that more than 75% of Millennials and 59% of Baby Boomers value experiences over possessions.

With this trend comes new opportunities — and new challenges — for event directors. Growing in an increasingly crowded space is hard work. This is even more true if you’re already running a large, successful event.

So how can you continue to scale your festival, year after year? Is it even possible?

The answer is: yes. To help you move fast and scale up, we analyzed some of the fastest-growing events in the industry. In this Britepaper, we discuss practical, ROI-driven growth strategies with four smash-hit event directors.

Ready to scale your festival? Keep reading for your 10-step action plan toward exponential growth.

1. Know your brand promise — and deliver.

You don’t have to throw the flashiest or most innovative event to grow every year. High-growth event directors report that brand identity is the biggest factor in their strategic decisions. “A brand is something that happens in your customer’s mind every time they hear your name. It is the expectation or mental shortcut that is triggered,” says Eventbrite’s former Chief Marketing Officer, Jaleh Bisharat.

According to BottleRock co-founder Dave Graham, “Delivering a brand and a promise is an art and a science. It’s finding that anchor in your business, and aligning your business to that anchor.”

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2. Start selling early.

Top event directors agree: more time equals more ticket sales. “Start selling as soon as possible,” says Cynthia Murga, head of PR and Account Executive for Bayou City Art Festival.

To master early ticket sales, follow these steps:

Nail down your venue: As soon as the festival is over, the Bayou City Art Festival organizers immediately works with the city of Houston to determine dates for the next event. The moment dates are nailed down, they open up early bird ticket sales.

Give the early bird the worm: Early bird tickets incentivize buying early, while helping kickstart your sales. The incentive doesn’t always have to be a discount — it can be a free drink, event swag, or access to a VIP experience. An added benefit: the earlier you publish event details, the easier it is for attendees to commit.

Sell on-site: Some large festivals and events sell tickets for their next event on-site. This tactic capitalizes on your fans’ enthusiasm, and helps build early buzz.

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