These are things you can't put a price on...
Learn everyone's name:
Sounds kind of stupid but remember this, people really feel special when you know their name...especially when you just met them or when you've only met them once. Everyone likes to feel important and knowing people's name makes them feel important. It's not always easy to remember everyone's name when you meet them (especially if you've been doing a lot of partying that night) but try your best to work at this...it'll only benefit you.
Treat all the people on your list as a VIP:
Don't just take care of your friends or people that are deemed "cool". Try to take care of everyone that comes to your party or to the club on your list, as a VIP...and there are a million little things you can do to make people feel like a VIP. Get them drinks on your tab. Introduce them to other people (especially those of the opposite sex). Let them into your "VIP section" or bring them to your personal table to party... anything you can do to show that you appreciate their business will go along way in making them feel VIP, and that will make them extremely loyal to you.
Remember having loyal customers is a huge part of this business and it's the key factor in separating the fly-by-night promoters, and the serious people that are in it to make the big money.
Hire A Photographer:
When you have a photographer going around your party, it makes people think it's a more VIP party. They see people getting their picture taken and they associate it with paparazzi and famous people...so they feel more VIP and that makes them want to tell their friends and come to your next party. (try it out and see for yourself)
If you have a blog or website, post those pictures. People love to see pictures of themselves and their friends online. When their picture is posted on a website, people almost feel "famous". Having lots of pictures on your site will allow you to get lots of traffic to your site just by people wanting to see the pictures from that night before. While they are there, they can sign up for your guest list, learn about your other parties or buy tickets to your next upcoming events.
Have the photographer hand out cards to the people saying "if you want to view the pictures from tonight, go to abcwebsite". This way people have a way to find their pictures (and your site) easily.
It's a win-win!
If you want to take it a step further to help keep things exciting and people coming back each week, you can give away prizes (t-shirts, food, drinks) based on in-game contests such as the "box-game", "last man standing pools", final scores, etc.
If you're interested in learning more about many other tips and tricks to becoming a successful promoter, check out the "How To" Guide to
Becoming a Party Promoter Guide. This This book is specifically designed for all those people out there that are looking to break into this business, but either don't know how to get started or don't know anyone in the business that can teach them. The
Party Promoter Guide will give you an advantage over 90% of the promoters that are already out there!