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This is the first article in a series where we pick the brains of live entertainment promoters to discover their tips and techniques for staying successful amidst worsening economic times. If you’ve got some good tips you’re willing to share, please email Eric Housh or DM @ticketbiscuit.
While many concert promoters and live entertainment acts are struggling with the fallout of the economic recession, Josh Gair of Impact Entertainment Services in Orlando, Florida, says people are attending events more than ever. The key, he says, is using technology in a smart way to spread the word and reach fans. This approach, he says, helps him fill the house and keep costs down.
Using the Tools
“I use every free tool that I can, anything to help spread the word,” Gair says. “If we book a celebrity for an event, I’ll immediately post it to twitter and facebook, and encourage my network to re-tweet. A lot of times, I will get direct messages back from leads that often turn into business.” Gair is a poster representative of a movement that is rapidly gaining steam amongst live event promoters – acknowledging the importance of internet-based networking tools and using them to find audiences. Gair argues that it’s pretty much a necessity in today’s game. “I think that those who aren’t leveraging these tools are just too busy doing the business to slow down and realize the potential,” he states.
But that oversight may prove costly. In a recent interview with John Gerome, Gary Bongiovanni of Pollstar indicated that though the2008 numbers were good for the live event industry, they don’t necessarily predict a rosy 2009. He indicates that most of the tickets for events in the winter season were actually sold well in advance, before the whole economic picture was understood. So in short, staying profitable in the live entertainment industry in 2009 will require some innovation.
“It’s key to know your audience and figure out how to connect with them;” Gair explains, “our target audience is a content-hungry generation. Our blog gets about 300-400 hits per day, and it is translating into real leads.” He explains that a lot of industry blogs fall short because they are all about self promotion and hold no value to the reader. “I write stuff that I would want to read,” he adds. Good content is only a part of a bigger system, involving cross promotion across several web properties and physical pieces of collateral. “When I publish a blog, I’ll post a notification to twitter and my facebook groups, and start a discussion in the LinkedIn groups I am a part of. The only thing I haven’t done yet is YouTube, but it is in the works. And of course, my web info is on my business card as well.”
But Gair’s approach extends far beyond internet tactics, as he considers PR to be a crucial aspect to a successful event as well. “Never underestimate the value of free press,” he states, “at a recent event we had a celebrity performer do an impromptu unannounced mini-show in the city. It was incredibly effective at generating buzz and free media for our event. Think of tactics that will go viral, that will get people talking.” The only common e-tactic that Impact doesn’t use is email. “It’s just so impersonal, there’s no air of exclusivity to it. It has no personality. People want to feel special, bottom line, and email doesn’t accomplish that.”
With Social Networking and Internet tactics, Gair says it’s key to go into it with the right mindset. “You don’t do it to make money. But after a while, if you keep giving, you will get things in return. That’s our strategy.”
About Impact Entertainment: Impact Entertainment, based in Orlando, Florida, has been enhancing events with premeir talent, top quality entertainers, and celebrity appearances for over a decade.
Selling Tickets in a Tough Economy: NEGOTIATE!
February 6, 2009 in Commentary, best practices, ticket selling tips | Tags: Beatles, CleanBox, concerts, Fab Faux, Killers of Comedy, promoters, Sequoia Slentz, ticket selling tips | by ehoush | Leave a comment
This is the second article in a series where we pick the brains of live entertainment promoters to discover their tips and techniques for staying successful amidst worsening economic times. If you’ve got some good tips you’re willing to share, please email Eric Housh or DM @ticketbiscuit.
I caught up with Sequoia the first time on January 20th, four days before the scheduled Fab Faux show at the Orpheum in Los Angeles. “At this point last year, I had sold this show out- 1400 tickets – without spending a dime on advertising,” he told me, continuing, “this year, I’ve done it all – radio, mailers, you name it, but to no effect.” Four days left until show time, and Sequoia had almost half of the house left to sell.
This tale is all too common lately- promoters struggle to sell tickets in the face of an economy that has forced people to eliminate line items from their budgets. Line items that are typically seen as discretionary, such as concert tickets, are often the first things to go.
The next time I talked to Sequoia was last Thursday, January 29. The Fab Faux show did not sell out, but he did move enough tickets to make money. I asked him to share his secrets for success.
Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate!
The thing about the economy is that it impacts almost everyone, and that includes venues, radio stations, hotels, and many other businesses. This opens up incredible opportunities. “The idea is to spread the deficit around. Radio stations need to sell ads. Hotels need to fill rooms. Venues need shows. We all need each other, we gotta help each other out,” Sequoia states. He advises to negotiate with the venues for discounted rates, and with radio stations for discounted air time or ticket giveaways. “Radio stations have an incredible amount of inventory, and they’re willing to deal to sell them all.”
Working with Hotels was effective for Sequoia as well. As part of his effort to increase sales, Sequoia struck a deal with the Kyoto Grand Hotel to offer discounted tickets to hotel visitors. After the deal was sealed, he was approached by four other hotels wanting to ink similar partnerships. “If these guys have empty rooms, they’re losing money – so again, you can help each other out.” He says to also negotiate for inclusion in email blasts sent from the hotel, venue, or radio stations to their respective customer or fan lists. “It’s free and easy – most of the time they will be glad to.”
Being creative also helps. For this last show, Sequoia approached a Professor of the Music Institute and convinced the professor to give his class extra credit for attending the show and writing a paper on it.
Use the Tech Tools
Sequoia uses email marketing religiously. “I’ll use it to communicate with my lists, and I used promo codes to give folks the opportunity to buy tickets at a discount price.” While promo codes are a very effective way of generating sales and tracking marketing effectiveness, Sequoia cautions against the “double pitch.” “If I send an email out on the on-sale date, and someone buys a ticket at full price, then I send that person another email closer to the date announcing half price tickets, one of two things will happen. Either they will become trained to wait for the discount, or worse, they will get mad and not buy any more tickets at all. Both are bad, obviously.”
He says the way to avoid the double pitch is through careful customer management or third party surplus ticket sellers. “I used a surplus seller for this show and it ended up putting an additional $3k in my pocket at the very last minute. I was very happy with it.” Surplus sellers have opt-in databases of people who agree to be notified when discount tickets become available, so the dangers of discounting are mitigated.
Pay attention to the details
“The littlest mistakes can kill your operation. In 2008, I put the tickets for the Fab Faux show on sale in early October, and the show sold out without me spending a dime in advertising. This year, I put them on sale a month later- in November.” While this may sound harmless to the lay person, Sequoia says it was probably a key factor in the slow sales. “Sure, all of the bad economic news was weighing on people’s minds, but also, in November people are thinking about Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and travel, and mentally budgeting. The entire frame of mind changes.” He advises that promoters pay close attention to on-sale dates and times, and the trends of how the tickets move. “I’ve already put the tickets for the October 2009 Show on sale,” he added.
Stick it out
Business will continue to be tough for promoters, with recent estimates saying that the economic recession will last well into 2010. But while the business is admittedly tougher, Sequoia says it’s actually good for his operation. “We’re learning a lot and having to become better and more creative. Not all promoters will come out of this, but if you can stick it out, you will be positioned securely.”
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