Spring Break season is right around the corner, with students around the nation looking for an escape and a reason to let loose. Here’s how your venue can get ready for the influx of partiers and be seen as the go-to destination.
1. Start Promoting
Since spring break tends to pull in a lot of travelers, it’s important for them to easily find out about your venue or party. These aren’t regulars who already know you exist. They’re newcomers who are looking for the best way to spend their time. Get your event page up on your website. Start pre-selling cover, tickets, or VIP tables. Get staff and promoters involved to spread the word. Run digital marketing campaigns, including working with local travel and spring break event listing sites to get your event included — and make sure you use trackable link for each unique digital campaign so you know what brings in traffic. People are starting to plan their spring break, so now’s the time to start building your hype.
2. Sell Drink Packages
Pre-sale inventory guarantees revenue. It also helps you gauge the number of guests you’ll have so you can staff and provide inventory accordingly. It’s common for venues to pre-sell tickets, cover charges, or VIP tables. Another great option is pre-selling drink packages. This helps to guarantee bar revenue, and also increases the perceived value for a guest pre-buying their ticket. This also reduces the need to slash prices on drinks as promotions to drive people into your venue. If you loop a drink package in with a pre-sale ticket, people are likely to upgrade to that ticket price and continue buying drinks beyond what’s included in the package.
3. Monitor your Ratios
It’s important to create the right balance between males and females in your venue. If your ratio is skewed toward too much of one gender, then people end up leaving. The sweet spot is a 60/40 ratio in favor of women. The best way to monitor this is by watching your pre-sale metrics and using a general admission system at the door to track the number of guys & girls that walk up. Systems like Vēmos aggregate all door entry data into real-time analytics, so you can always monitor how many guys and girls are in your venue at a given time and what your balance looks like to help you make better on-the-spot decisions.
4. Upsell to VIP
As ticket sales roll in and as guests start lining up at your door, identify the opportunities to upgrade a group to a VIP table. This strengthens their experience and increases their likelihood of spending even more at your venue. If your line is long, ask a group standing together if they’d like to skip the line and upgrade to a table. If you see a large group buy individual tickets, reach out and ask if they’d like to upgrade. Watching your trends will help you make these decisions to provide a great party and boost your bottom line.
