Five Fab Ways to Cost Your Event Appropriately

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With cost of living increasing and more being cautious with their spending. Event managers need to get the pricing right more than ever as it can have a dramatic effect on profitability.  Charging too much may alienate your target audience, especially so in the scenarios where events are held in oversea locations for sports and science conventions.

Event managers must be cautious however charging too little can cause detrimental impacts of an event as you lose the exclusivity factor and on many occasions are unable to break even, this can cause much concern to small upcoming businesses that are already struggling. Helping you on the business and financial side are five strategies to implement to cost your event at a fair price whilst also making a profit.

Research Competitors – Reason 5

It’s important to understand who your competitors are in the market, their price points for similar services and whether their events are going to overlap with yours. The reason why an attendee may not go to your event is that they are already scheduled to go elsewhere. Before planning the date of your venue research on ticketing sites such as Eventbrite to determine if similar events are being run, the one perk of research is that as an events organiser you can determine what gaps are in the market and incorporate them into your event making your event superior to other competitors through outstanding performances that will result in a deep relationship. 

Budgeting Plan – Reason 4

In the lead-up to fashion week and other notable events, some businesses will try to outdo themselves and beat their competitors by investing more into the budget of the showcase by hiring industry-standard entertainment and notable figures. This may be a good avenue for getting press exposure however it will cost a small fortune. For any events organiser a budgeting plan is a must and it should be kept to, through an appropriate plan overheads can be calculated and ticket sale prices can be estimated to break even. Decide what return on capital employed is acceptable to you, and keep this in mind when setting ticket prices.   

Being Realistic With A Zero Based Budget – Reason 3

Zero based budget is not necessarily starting on zilch, but not comparing past overheads to future event costs. Please do not add an additional 10% discrepancy year to year to cater for inflation as some prices go up and down depending on varying factors, instead look at every cost point individually. Unrealistic budgets, especially in staffing, can create low morale and a lack of work effort. This is incredibly severe if attendees are able to see and feel the bad energy in a room. This negative side effect could result in refunds and complaints if attendees believe they have been treated with a lack of care and overpaid for simply poor service.

 Bargaining – Reason 2

Now more than ever establishments, entertainers, and caterers are in need of work. When going into a service agreement consider negotiating with them over the price. When negotiating, consider strategy and go in with the mindset of an approachable individual with the goal of getting a fair and realistic price.

If you have notable figures attending your event, consider bringing their names into the discussion; venues may give a discount if they believe they will achieve good exposure and press coverage from your function. Bargaining can be applied to ticket sales if selling away days to office staff, everybody likes a discount and if one is given, satisfaction can be raised, this is great to do as consumers will be in a positive mindset before even the event starts.

Reduce Staff Overheads – Reason 1

Save costs by cutting staff overheads, consider employing agency workers for a reduction of the price or consider taking on university interns in exchange for offering them industry experience. If you do go down this right, you must make sure that it is ethical and not against any legislation that could end up in a court dispute or negative press later on as was with P&O Ferries. Further to this approach goes back to reason 3, at all times make sure customers are satisfied with service.

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