Marketing for events

Typical bottlenecks and solutions

1. Tickets are only bought shortly before the date

Why: For concerts and public events, there is often a rush when advance sales open, then a long flat phase, and demand only picks up again shortly before the date. By then, venue hire, fees and production have long been paid, without any certainty that the venue will be full. Anyone who doesn't sell in the middle phase ends up resorting to discounts.

Solution (Performance Marketing): We plan advance sales in phases: announcement, early bird, main phase, final push. Each phase has its own campaigns on Meta, TikTok and Google, with retargeting of visitors to the ticket page. Your ticket shop is connected via tracking, so we shift budget daily by cost per ticket sold, not by clicks.

2. Prospects hesitate until the last day

Why: Many sign up for information, put tickets in their basket or attended the previous year, and then miss the date. For trade fairs, trade visitors also need approval for travel and ticket. Without clear deadlines, the decision is put off until the early bird price has expired or the hotel is fully booked.

Solution (Email Marketing): We build countdown flows in your email system: a reminder before the next price tier, abandoned basket, programme highlights, information on travel and hotels, a last chance before sales close. Previous years' visitors get their own sequence. Every email has a date as its occasion, and we measure revenue per email directly in the ticket shop.

3. Exhibition space fills up too slowly

Why: For trade fair organisers, stand sales are the second business alongside tickets. Exhibitors decide well in advance, often with the previous year's marketing budget, and compare several fairs. Acquisition usually runs via the project team on the phone and existing contacts, and new companies from adjacent segments are hardly reached.

Solution (Performance Marketing): We run LinkedIn and Google campaigns targeting marketing and sales managers in your target industries, with a landing page for exhibitor documents, hall plan and call-back. Contacts are pre-qualified by company size and preferred stand and go into an email sequence with visitor numbers from your last edition, registration deadlines and an appointment offer from your project team.

Reference: Achema 2022

• 30,000 tickets sold
• 1,000% ROAS
• 120% of target achieved
• €3 cost per lead

For Achema 2022, the trade fair for the process industries, we supported ticket sales with performance campaigns. The result: 30,000 tickets sold, 1,000% ROAS and 120% of target achieved at €3 per lead. The concert promoter Konzert Hofner is also one of our clients in the events sector.

Service mix

• Performance Marketing: Ticket campaigns on Meta, TikTok and Google, planned by advance sales phase and steered daily by cost per ticket.
• Email Marketing: Countdown flows for price tiers, abandoned baskets and close of sales, plus a separate sequence for previous years' visitors.
• Tracking with Tracyn (partner Atmos): Connecting your ticket shop, so every seat sold is attributed to a campaign and budget decisions are based on revenue.
• Funnels & landing pages (part of Performance Marketing): Exhibitor pages with documents, hall plan and a call-back option that pre-qualify enquiries by stand size and budget.

What we steer by (KPIs)

• Cost per ticket sold: The direct measure of whether a campaign fills the venue economically.
• ROAS per advance sales phase: Shows whether early bird, main phase or final push turns budget into revenue best.
• Ticket sales vs. target curve: We compare sales with the plan every day, so we can adjust early.
• Cost per exhibitor enquiry: A stand sale brings a lot of revenue per deal, so every qualified enquiry counts.

Timing: Depending on the format, advance sales start six to twelve months before the date, and for many events most purchases fall in the last few weeks. Exhibitor acquisition for trade fairs starts much earlier, often right after the last edition.

FAQ

When should we start ticket campaigns? With the announcement, not just in the final push. In the early phase we collect low-cost contacts and retargeting audiences that later convert at a higher purchase rate. We calculate the budget curve across all phases upfront, based on your capacity, your ticket prices and the previous year's sales.

How much does ticket marketing with Minotaurus cost? Performance Marketing starts at €1,500 net per month per platform, and each additional platform costs €900. Countdown flows and email marketing are available from €3,000 net per month. On top of that comes ad budget, which usually makes sense from €5,000 per month. The one-month contract term fits the hot sales phase well.

Does this work with our ticketing provider? We check that in the intro call. What matters is whether purchases can be transmitted via pixel, interface or export. Without purchase data, campaigns only optimise for clicks, which is why connecting your ticketing is always the first step.

Do you also work for concerts and smaller events? Yes. As well as trade fairs such as Achema, we also work for concert promoters such as Konzert Hofner. What matters is less the size than the calculation: ticket price, capacity and ad budget have to fit together. We work this through openly with you before launch.