Part 2 of 2

In the last post we learned that your Facebook event listing, while useful, will not be enough to actually get people out to your event. Now we can start to figure out how to leverage your own network and community to start selling tickets

You may be the type of performer that says to yourself “well, I’m not a marketer, I need to practice and don’t have time for this stuff.” We don’t have that luxury in this day and age. EVERYONE is a marketer whether they want to believe it or not.

Its ok, every adult who has ever owned or started a small business has likely experienced the same sinking sensation. Welcome to the despair that comes with competing for other people’s dollar bills.

But there is good news, my guess is 90% of your other artistic colleagues won’t put in the work and the time. They may even scoff at the idea. But, what does that mean for you? It means an opportunity to help you stand out.

In this part we take that magical budget that may or may not exist and figure out how to spend it.

Part 2 - Figure out your audience

Who is going to come to my event. Think about that for awhile, who might actually be willing to spend some money to come see an event like yours. Do you have a local classical music station? Public radio or television? Is your performance at a church or university? Is it nearby a church or university? Figure out who and where these people are and start coming up with a plan so these people see your ad multiple times in different settings. It will take a minimum of three “touch points” for a person to remember the ad in the first place, let alone act on it. But before we come up with a strategy we also need to talk about one other important element - who already knows who you are.

Any marketer will tell you that your personal network is without a doubt your strongest asset when it comes to marketing. Nine times out of ten it is the people that know who you are who are that are the most likely to want to attend. Think about it, how often these days do you try a new restaurant without reading any reviews, or without having the thumbs up from someone who has been there? Chances are you are even checking for reviews for the pair of socks you are buying online. People need some sort of reassurance that they will not be throwing their money away on something they won’t enjoy.

So before we get back to actual marketing I need to say one thing:

Stop giving away all your tickets as comps, just stop it.

“But…so and so doesn’t have any money and…”

NO STOP. Are you trying to make a living as a performer or not? Get out of the mindset that no one wants to pay to hear you play. Was your musical education free? Did you pay for your instrument, or pay for upkeep? Are you paying money to reserve the venue space or renting music to perform? Your friends and family want to hear you perform, but you also deserve to not lose your shirt hoping that invisible people will show up to buy tickets to your concert.

So here is a wild concept to wrap your head around. You are not marketing to people who don’t know you, you are marketing to people that do know you. If you do it right they will be the ones to expand your network. They will invite their friends or recommend you to others looking for something to attend.

“You are not marketing to people who don’t know you, you are marketing to people that do know you.”

Figure out, heck even ask, your friends and family what radio stations they listen to, what places of worship do they attend, where do they shop. You can use this to create a small pocket of marketing spots so that they will constantly be reminded of your performance without you having to directly tell them (you can do that too). Find a public radio or television station that either has a free event calendar listing or you can pay for a handful of spots (don’t waste your money on a single spot that only airs in the middle of the night). If its too expensive, then print some nice looking flyers and ask to hang them up on where your network frequents. Send out an email not just telling people about the concert but pointing to that facebook event we mentioned in my last post where they can learn more. Make them advocates for you.

Remember, the goal is for a person to see your event multiple times in different places. You might be tempted to drop your entire budget on an ad that runs a single time in the weekend paper, I would skip that unless you happen to have enough to run multiple ads in the weeks leading up to the event. Stick to the arts and entertainment section as well, your daily headline browsers probably won’t be the ones likely to jump on your advertisement.

There is a lot of choices to make, and this all takes time. But do yourself the favor and whenever you plan your next performance include this marketing work in your preparation. I have heard interviews with successful artists that are more often than not equally savvy marketers and understand that this work will mean that you get to have another performance down the line, one that is even more successful than the first.

Hey, want to come up with a game plan for marketing your next ticketed event?

Whether its a:

• recital

• poetry slam

• or a community theater production of Seussical

I offer free one-hour consultations where we can cover just that!

Head over to the services page to learn more.

Disclaimer: If you click on an ad or external link in this article and end up purchasing something, I may earn some extra money to help keep this page running. However, any listed advertisement is a product or service I use personally and at my recommendation.