During the State of the Wedding and Events Industry webinar, we asked our panel of event professionals to share some of the ways they've seen others diversify their revenue streams during the COVID-19 crisis.
Here are five ideas they shared with us:
Keep being creative
You started your business out of a passion to express your creativity. So keep being creative. If you're a florist with some dried out flowers, do dry bouquets. If you have a knack for drawing, offer sketches of event designs to former clients. If you can find a local charity or hospital that needs catering, go out of your way to create something that will wow them.
Productize your service
Think of how you can turn your usual services into an easy product. For example, photographers can teach photography classes to newly homeschooled kids using mom's iphone, florists can sell DIY flower crown kits using leftover flowers, and caterers can offer online cooking classes or do drop off DIY kits with the food that is still in the pantry.
Leverage how people are gathering
Everyone has suddenly become Zoom meeting experts. Tap into their use of technology to do business. For example, if they're hosting virtual birthday parties, find out who locally will be in attendance and deliver cake to everyone so they can all share in the meal. You could also organize a virtual karaoke DJ with clients who may be bored at home.
Leverage affiliate marketing opportunities
If there is a tool you love to use in your business, now is the time to share it with all of your friends, particularly if they offer an affiliate marketing program of some sorts. This does three things:
- Helps the company that you love so much that may also be struggling during this time,
- Helps your friends find a great tool that could make a huge impact on their business, and
- Helps you with some extra cash.
On a related note: the CurateShares program will give you $100 for each friend that signs up.
Be willing to try anything
What do you have to lose? Ask your team for their craziest ideas of how to generate revenue during this time. Maybe one of them has an idea they've had on their mind for a while but haven't had time to execute on it or never thought it would be worth the effort. Now is the time to throw all the spaghetti against the wall and see what will stick.
Final Thoughts
The best thing about the diversification of revenue streams was best stated by Natalie Franke-Hayes, of Honeybook and the Rising Tide Society:
"The businesses that went into this situation with one revenue stream and come out with two or three revenue streams will never be subjected to what's going on right now ever again. They will forever have built more of a bullet-proof business model where they have these revenue streams that can be turned on and off... In fact, they may find out that one of these newly created revenue streams will turn out to be more profitable than their original one."
We hope that by finding alternative revenue streams during this time, you and your business will come out stronger than before to prove the resilience of this industry.
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Want to hear more from the State of the Wedding and Events Industry webinar? Watch the replay now!
