A few days ago I wrote a post about the concert industry being in recession. I probably should have said ticketed events in general, because the emails I received shortly afterward certainly would indicate that the current economic climate is impacting more than music shows. Museums, comedy clubs, theatres – the impact is universal across the board.

It’s pretty common behavior. Times get uncertain and people start cutting back on expenditures. Dining out, live entertainment, the movies- these are pretty much seen as expendable line items on personal budgets once the belts tighten. Recessionary times don’t have to mean that business grinds to a halt though. You can still fill the house and invest in your club’s marketing during down times, as long as you spend wisely. The secret is to choose techniques that will create fans of your club or promotion, not just the performer or entertainer who happens to be there. Here are a few tips:

  1. Get social. If you don’t have a Facebook page, get one. Offer incentives to locals who become fans on Facebook. Print your facebook profile address on your tickets and link to it from your website. Once fans sign up via Facebook, you have a fast, easy, and free way to connect with them (and for them to connect with others). Here is an app which will allow you to create an easy to remember facebook profile address. Also consider signing up for a Twitter account.
  2. Get charitable. Consider hosting a free concert or event with the price of admission being donations to a local charity. A friend of ours named David Oblas recently held an MMA fight in Georgia where the only price of admission was a toy for Toys for Tots. It was a raging success, and several people attended the fight who had never been to a fight before. And of course the press loved it. So let’s see- Dave got new fans, great press, and tons of community goodwill. How much is that worth to you?
  3. Get data. Roy Englebrecht has sold out fights in southern California for over 20 years, yet barely invests in advertising at all. How does he do it? At each event, Roy has contests for cash prizes. In order to win, all you have to do is fill out a form with your name, address, and email. At each fight Roy gets about 1000 of these forms. So while the contest may cost Roy 100 or 200 dollars, he gets the contact info of 1000 fight fans in the local area in exchange, and is able to communicate directly (and freely) with them in advance of his next fight. Consider this: if you are NOT capturing your customers contact info, you are leaving money on the table. Your online ticketing software should be able to capture this for you. If not, it may be time to find one that will.

Do you have any tips for weathering economic tempests? If so, weigh in in the comments section.