Running a successful venue isn’t as easy as joining the party, but it sets the foundation for hosting events worth coming back for.
Unleashing your venue’s full potential requires identifying and capitalizing on opportunities often overlooked in the event industry, like maximizing weekday bookings. This strategy boosts profitability and presents your venue as the most dependable event space, but how can you land weekday clients when weekends book the most events, often at the highest prices?
In this guide, we explore how weekday events increase venue revenue and share seven strategies for gaining the financial benefits.
How can weekday events increase venue revenue?
Diversifying your booking calendar to welcome weekday events can significantly increase venue revenue in the following ways.
Reduced competition
Most big events, like weddings, are hosted on weekends, significantly limiting the number of venue options planners can choose. However, weddings are not the only type of event venues are booked for. Your venue can also accommodate corporate planners’ need for reliable event space and become the go-to location for companies in need of weekday availability.
Positioning yourself as the leader in this underleveraged market sector will fill your booking calendar and allow you to tap into a market of corporate clients who prefer or require more immediate or flexible scheduling options.
Strong client base and relationships
Since so few venues cater to weekday needs, your venue will attract a variety of events, including:
- Training sessions
- Corporate meetings
- Company celebrations
- Educational workshops
- Birthday and anniversary parties
Many of these events, like meetings and workshops, will likely occur regularly and require a consistent event space. Hosting just one successful event can build clients' confidence in your venue, creating the perfect opportunity to form ongoing relationships with corporate event planners. This confidence encourages brand loyalty, and routine events will eventually transition to large-scale events, like weekday conferences, company retreats, and product launches.
Enhanced reputation
With existing corporate clients singing your venue's praises and a track record of successfully hosting various weekday events, your venue will develop a positive reputation that transcends industries. This reputation establishes your venue as a reliable option during high-demand times—which is advantageous year-round—and will help attract more corporate planners searching for a versatile and capable event space.
Bonus benefit: A reputable venue can charge premium rates, even on weekdays. Many planners will pay higher prices for a sought-after event space and unmatched service.
Operational efficiencies
Distributing events throughout the week rather than concentrating them on weekends allows for more efficient management of your staff and resources, and a better experience for corporate planners and attendees. This distribution helps avoid the common industry pitfall of back-to-back weekend events, which often leads to rushed preparations, staff overtime, and potential declines in service quality.
7 Strategies to market weekday bookings and increase venue revenue
1. Prioritize virtual tours
Offering virtual tours is the perfect chance to cater to busy corporate planners, saving them the time of traveling from venue to venue for in-person tours. Corporate planners often need to make quick, informed decisions, and high-quality panoramic photos and video walk-throughs can facilitate this process.
To attract corporate clients, highlight critical amenities like conference rooms, breakout spaces, and AV setups. Include a clickable feature that provides additional information about spaces tailored for corporate events, like room capacities and availability of business-related equipment.
Pro tip: When sharing about recent successful events, include the link to your virtual venue tour in email newsletters and social media descriptions.
2. Provide technology solutions
Corporate planners need venues equipped with the latest technology to ensure their events run smoothly. Virtual tours are a great first indicator that your venue understands the importance of advanced technology, and marketing the additional technology your venue offers is a sure way to seal the deal. Essential technology solutions include:
- High-speed Wi-Fi
- Video conferencing tools
- Live streaming technology
- Top-of-the-line sound and lighting setups
- 3D projectors and interactive whiteboards
Ensure your venue’s website and marketing materials spotlight your technology capabilities as a primary feature to best appeal to corporate planners. Also, consider offering virtual technology demonstrations. With your venue’s extensive list of innovative technology and willingness to provide support, corporations will quickly become repeat clients for their weekday events.
3. Highlight accessibility and convenience
Corporate planners must accommodate tight schedules and be mindful of traffic conditions to maximize attendance. This means emphasizing your venue’s logistical advantages is a huge selling point when marketing your venue for weekday bookings.
Logistical advantages to emphasize include:
- Well-maintained ramps and elevators. Accessibility features such as ramps and elevators ensure that all attendees can comfortably access your venue.
- Central location to main highways. Your venue’s proximity to major highways and public transportation hubs can reduce travel time.
- Large parking lot or garage. Ample parking space ensures that attendees can park easily without the stress of finding parking in busy areas.
- Proximity to public transportation. Being close to public transportation hubs makes travel more convenient for attendees who prefer or need to use public transit.
- Walking distance from major offices. If your venue is within walking distance of corporate offices, it becomes a prime choice for business meetings and events.
- Partnerships with local transportation services. Collaborating with local transportation providers can offer additional convenience, such as shuttle services or discounted rates for attendees.
After a long day, the last thing people want to do is worry about logistics. Marketing your venue as an easily accessible and highly convenient event space makes weekday events more enjoyable and businesses more likely to book with you.
4. Create corporate membership and loyalty programs
To attract corporate planners, develop membership programs specifically for corporate clients who regularly host events. Offer tiered membership levels with unique perks tailored to corporate needs. For example, the lowest tier could offer discounted booking rates for regular meetings, the middle tier could provide priority booking for quarterly corporate retreats, and the highest tier could grant access to exclusive event spaces and features ideal for high-profile corporate events. These programs will incentivize corporate planners to choose your venue repeatedly.
Another option is loyalty programs, which work especially well for smaller businesses that primarily book your venue for company parties and business luncheons. This program can implement a points system, where a certain amount of money spent earns a set number of points, which can be redeemed for special offers like discounts on future bookings or event space upgrades.
With membership and loyalty programs, your venue encourages repeat bookings and fosters long-term relationships with corporate clients.
Pro tip: Incentivize loyalty program members to book your venue on a weekday by offering double points for weekday events.
5. Launch targeted advertising campaigns
To reach even more corporate and weekday clients, capitalize on targeted advertising campaigns. Utilize platforms like LinkedIn for corporate clients and Facebook or Instagram for social events, then leverage data-driven insights to tailor your ads to specific interests, industries, and geographic locations.
Advertising data can also be used to develop retargeting strategies, which allows your venue to continue reaching visitors who engaged with your online content but did not book your venue. Consistent exposure to your venue will more likely convert potential clients into repeat business.
6. Leverage local business partnerships
Taking advantage of online capabilities is essential for business growth, and fostering in-person interactions to build local business partnerships also spurs growth potential. These partnerships are invaluable for both parties, with the primary financial benefits being:
- Access to a partner’s customer base.
- New referrals from an increased client base.
- Improved community credibility, which generates new leads.
Another key benefit is broadening your service offerings and providing your clients with the best in the business. Your corporate client may need a variety of cuisines for their Friday night charity gala. Don’t worry—you have the most extensive list of catering partners in the city. Another client might need intricate floral centerpieces for her parents' 50th-anniversary luncheon. Perfect—you partner with the most esteemed florist in town. Offering the most comprehensive vendor options will make your venue the most in-demand event space in your area.
7. Host themed weekday events
Another strategy to market weekday bookings and increase venue revenue is by hosting your own themed weekday events. With your local business partners, an appealing venue, and a well-defined plan, you can create exceptional events catering to your target client.
Types of themed weekday events you might host include:
- Mission Monday. Host a charity event demonstrating your venue’s commitment to supporting local and global causes. This event is geared toward nonprofits, local community leaders, and established donors looking to use your venue for their awareness events and fundraisers. Highlight your venue's capabilities to support their events, like high-quality sound systems for speeches, digital screens for projecting live fund tracker updates, and event spaces catering to every guest count.
- Tech Tuesday. Host a technology showcase where corporate event planners and tech startups can explore your event spaces, engage with the technology your venue offers, and learn why your venue is the best option for their next company event. Direct guests to sign in at digital kiosks, bring guest speakers to demonstrate how well your advanced audio-visual systems perform, and have screens displaying interactive virtual tours of your event spaces.
- Eco-friendly Friday. Host a sustainability-based event that emphasizes your venue's dedication to environmentally conscious business practices, designed for eco-conscious planners and green organizations. Display your green certifications, partner with local caterers that serve organic, seasonal dishes with vegetarian and vegan options, and host live demonstrations of how your virtual tours and event planning software reduce paper waste.
Make the most of the weekday and increase venue revenue
Running a successful venue requires effort and a commitment to keep trying. By understanding the advantages of weekday events and implementing the marketing strategies to benefit from them, increased venue revenue is well within reach.
