Owing to the convenience and numerous benefits, more and more events now are moving to the hybrid events format. While this is substantially reducing the expenses of organizers, the revenues have also dropped dramatically. Moreover, most organizers until now were relying primarily on the traditional ways of revenue generation. As a result, organizers today are compelled to seek new and innovative ways to make money through their hybrid events .
By catering to a wider audience ( live as well as remote), hybrid events offer diverse ways to build revenue. Here is a list of the top 6 ways in which organisers can make money through their hybrid events.
Selling tickets is one of the easiest ways of generating revenue through these events. But organisers can go a step further by limiting free access to the event and encouraging attendees to purchase a ticket to watch the entire event. This provides a level of exclusivity to the content of your event and helps in driving higher attendance.
Organisers can also establish several ticket packages at different prices. This tiered pricing strategy can offer attendees greater flexibility to attend the event. It can boost the chances of selling more tickets by enabling people to attend specific portions / days instead of the entire event. The tiered ticketing strategy can consist of various categories such as:
- Early Bird Tickets
- Single-day or Multiple-day Passes
- VIP / Membership Access
- Group Registrations
Sponsorship is a widely used method by organisers to monetise their hybrid events . Corporations, enterprises and major businesses are always willing to offer sponsorships to events that provide value to their target audience. In today’s tough times, sponsors are on the lookout for innovative ideas to engage with their prospects and hybrid events seem to be the best way to do that.
Organisers can choose sponsors that are relevant to their event and build sponsor visibility through online exhibit halls, ad banners, etc. This is mutually beneficial as the sponsor gets to connect with its target audience while organisers get to generate revenue. Sponsor integration can also be carried out through logo placements, video spots, speaker slots, etc in both the digital as well as in-person environments.
Scheduling or time zone conflicts may prevent certain attendees from participating in your hybrid events . This can make you lose out on serving a section of your target audience which can ultimately affect your revenue generation efforts. On-demand sessions enable organisers to sell recordings of event sessions to people who couldn’t attend your event. This way, organisers can make money even after the event has concluded.
The content or information you offer during a hybrid event is extremely valuable. So, recording the event sessions and selling these recordings can be a great way to make money. These recordings can be offered in audio as well as video format. Selling on-demand content can also be quite useful in capturing a new set of qualified audience that can be targeted for your next event.
Advertising is an excellent medium for businesses to promote their offerings to a wider audience. hybrid events , with a large number of attendees, can thus be one of the best places for businesses to display their advertisements. Selling advertising spaces can thus be a great way for organisers to monetise their hybrid events .
Organisers need to make sure that they offer advertising spaces to the right businesses so that attendees don’t find the ads irrelevant. Advertising spaces at the live event as well as the virtual environment can be sold to such relevant businesses. This can be one of the most effective strategies to monetise hybrid events as advertising, especially via the digital medium, is the modern marketing imperative.
Affiliates are a common way of generating higher revenue through your hybrid events. This is achieved by promoting products, tutorials, software, etc at your event and earning commissions on every sale. However, this requires you to first become the affiliate partner of a company, preferably someone that’s relevant to the offerings of your hybrid events .
During your hybrid event, you can promote affiliate products or services through pop-up links as well as banners. If an attendee purchases a product through your affiliate link or registers for a free trial at your event, you get a commission. Thus, the more the sales happen through your hybrid event, higher is your revenue generation in the form of commissions.
Networking is one of the most valuable parts of every event. It enables attendees to connect with industry experts and find new partnership possibilities for their businesses. Networking opportunity is the main reason that incentivises people to register for or attend any type of an event. Organisers can capitalise on this aspect to successfully make money through their hybrid events .
This can be done by conducting paid, private networking sessions. Attendees can pay a certain amount to access these networking sessions and connect with other attendees. Such a private networking session can improve the value proposition of your hybrid events . Participants, especially remote attendees, can also be charged for having two-way video chats or sending direct messages to other attendees.
As long as organisers think unique and stay true to their event offerings, the opportunities to generate revenue through hybrid events are endless. The 6 strategies mentioned above are the most reliable ways to monetise your hybrid events . Incorporate these methods into your hybrid events and start receiving substantial earnings now.
