Word Of Mouth Marketing: Don’t Be Too Nice?

The internet has truly become a word of mouth marketing haven.  There are tons of social network sites, review sites, and product theme sites that offer free word of mouth opportunities.  If you make an effort to search the internet carefully, you will find an entire marketing campaign available to you.  But as with anything that’s free, there can be issues.  Here is a true story that just happened last week.

My daughter’s drum teacher Kevin has a nice small business going. He has built his business strictly on word of mouth. He is a great drum teacher!  As with any business, he would like to continue building his business so he looked to the internet. 

There is a website for reviews called Yelp. They have become a leading review site in cities throughout the U.S. and the world.  They promote the site as “real people, real reviews”.  While I have never added a review to the site, I have used the site to see what other people think of a business.  For example, I read Yelp reviews for the casino boat company I worked with.  It gave me a pulse of what our customers thought of the product.

Kevin decided to use Yelp to help with his word of mouth marketing.  He asked all his clients to write a review on the site.  Yes, he was taking a chance that someone might say something bad but that is what web 2.0 is all about.  After just a few days, about a dozen of his clients had already written reviews.  All of which were good reviews. 

Yelp decided that too many good reviews were coming in for Kevin and shut him down.  They even sent emails to some of the reviewers accusing them of being fake.  A ironic twist on this is that one of the “supposed fakers” was a potential advertising client of Yelp.  Do you think Yelp is going to get any of the marketing budget now?

Does Yelp want only bad reviews?  No, I don’t think so.  However, if they are going to be in the review space they need to have a better system.  They need to except the fact that businesses are going to use them as a word of mouth marketing tool, especially if they have a good product.

Do It Right, Hire An Expert

If you are not in the event or entertainment business and you are looking to produce an event, do yourself a favor and hire an expert. 

I can always tell when an event is not done by experts.  How many times have you been to an event and seen the problems and chaos that are results of poor planning and execution.  Like any other profession there are things that happen at all stages of planning and execution that only an expert will know.  Don’t get me wrong, shit happens when experts are involved too.  However, they usually have the expertise to fix the problems as they happen.  Your chances of a successful event increase 10 fold when you have people who know what they are doing.

I am always excited when someone tells me of their idea for an event.  As you know, I always preach that we need more events out there.  But just because you have the idea doesn’t mean you can make it happen. 

People are always calling me for event planning advice.  As usual I end up talking to them for 45 minutes and give out some free advice. I also see they are in serious need of expert planning and implementing.  This does mean spending some money.  You are not going to build your event by just asking for free advice.

Many of the daily readers of this blog are event & entertainment experts.  They understand what I am talking about.  Some of these readers are looking for new and exciting events to plan (myself included).  However, it takes money to make money.  If you have an idea for event, hire an expert consultant to help you.

Twitter Is Finally Cool With The Younger Gen

I read an Associated Press story today about how Twitter is finally catching on with the younger generation. 

Since Twitter started, it seemed to be a social site for older generations.  The article discussed how the young generation was staying away from Twitter like a plague.  The group that you would think would be on top of all new technology stayed away. 

The social network world has gone through some interesting transitions over the last few years.  It was not that long ago the MySpace was number one.  Now I find very few who actually still use it unless they are in the music business.  MySpace has become a great site for bands and music lovers to show off their stuff.  My teenage son was on Facebook before I was.  Today, it seems everyone from pre-teens to senior citizens have a Facebook page. 

My theory of why the younger generation is moving to Twitter has to do with the following statistic.  The article states that the median age on Facebook is 33 years of age and Twitter is 31.  If MySpace is not the place, and Facebook has been taken over by geezers, then maybe there is a place for the young on Twitter?

If the young are taking over Twitter, is it just a matter of time before AARP starts marketing their own social site?

No matter where generation groups go, the bottom line is that everyone is getting into social networking.  Marketing our shows and events on these sites are very important.  When I first started discussing social network marketing over a year ago, I said you didn’t need marketing budget for it.  Today, you still don’t need to spend money but is that the right decision?  Don’t we want our marketing dollars going where the customers are?

Feedback Friday

Feedback from posts

From: “More Lessons from the Big Screen” posted October 26

You make a valid point about those outrageous high-priced live concert tickets.

I run a small live music festival production firm. Two things are becoming apparent: 1. The public does indeed want affordable escapes from reality.  2. Ticket prices/cover charges must be a max. of $10.00 for local music talent or they won’t sell. They’d rather host friends in their homes, listen to free radio, rent movies and buy beverages from the supermarket. 

In fact, guests at one of my shows this weekend complained about a $5 cover charge to see two local veteran classic rock bands in a lovely, unique full-service bar and grill situated on the relaxing Sacramento River. I was forced to allow some in for free or risk losing future fans and possibly potential gig referrals. In this economy, it has become more important to me (and the bands) to gain exposure and build a fan base in hope they can charge higher cover in the future when the market can bear it. Until then, my work, and theirs is a labor of love!

By the way, I agree with you that combining local comfort food/wine/brewpub with music makes for a more attractive, fun show/festival/concert.

Seth Godin endorses the practice of selling season tickets for entertainment. I might give this try for my 2010 festivals, if I can get local venues on board.  

Thanks for sharing your wisdom,

Jenn Hill, Jenn Hill Productions

From: “What is a Freemium and Will it Work for Us? posted September 21, 2009

One of the things that could be done on this subject is for the Marketing Director/Manager of the building to approach other companies about getting something with the purchase of a ticket.  Marketers are always looking for something out of the box to do to break through with their product.  How about 2 free hours of play at Chuck E Cheese with every purchase of a family show…or how about a gift certificate to a grocery or drug store for the same $ figure they paid for their ticket?  Put the store all over your advertising……they will get a bump and so will the family show..imagine Pay $20 for a ticket to see the Joe Lewi family show and then get a $20 gift certificate to spend at Kroger or CVS!!! Wow what a value!  Do something different and see if it works….if you can’t figure it out hire me and I will do one for you and show you that it works.

 Steve Brodsky

I think that freemium will be a powerful tool in the future, yet I am not sure that free seats can be considered freemium. I would make a difference between free samples and freemium. With free samples it is piece of apple you can taste, a limited time where you can use something or a few free tickets to a show. With freemium the free part can be valuable for ever in and of itself. Like the free version of skype, wordpress or even the free videos from common craft.

Usually these free services are something that can be duplicated on the internet at virtually no cost. Making freemium ideal for companies with a large scope. As I understand it, you are only located in a single location, which would make freemium less ideal and free samples a better match.

Peter, www.freemium.org

Joe,
It has worked for me as an audience member.
While Goldstar’s tickets are generally 25 – 50% off sometimes they have a number of free tickets for an event.
I’ve been lured to an event with the free ticket offer sometimes I’ve opted to pay for better seats, other times I’ve gone to the free event and told others. Also, if the free seats are gone it raises the event’s ranking within Goldstar so it’s a hotter event.
Seems like it’s working for everyone.

Annie Uzdavinis

Feedback Questions

The other day I asked two questions for today’s feedback:

1. Do you think the merger of Live Nation/Ticketmaster will happen (why or why not)?
2. How do you think H1N1 will affect ticket sales in the upcoming months?

I only received one reply and his answers were:

1)    Yes, too much money at stake

2)    No, money in people’s pockets and strength of value in consumer’s mind will determine ticket sales

Since I didn’t get any other feedback on those questions, I will take the silence as “you don’t care” and move on.

 People in the biz updates 

Bob Collins, Chairman of the Board of Circus Sarasota (and formerly with WWE, Ice Capades, and Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey) is currently teaching a marketing class in his hometown, Sarasota, Florida. The  course, entitled “Creative Marketing Tactics for Small Businesses,” is designed to coach local business owners and managers to use many of the same marketing concepts that we use to promote family shows:  particularly low-cost/high impact grass-roots marketing tools. Ultimately, Collins and colleagues hope to “take the show on-the-road” and offer the course in other cities as a day-long seminar to inspire business-owners to conduct their marketing with “show-business” creativity and flair.

Brandon Lucus of Carbonhouse  wrote in: “Joe, you know I wouldn’t miss opportunity to talk about our excitement on current projects. We just launched: 

www.accfootballcharlotte.com

www.landmarktheater.net,

 www.charlotteconventionctr.com.

 Check out these websites.  The guys at Carbonhouse do good stuff!

 Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween (my favorite holiday)!

Feedback: Maybe A Blogs Most Important Tool

People like to read daily blogs as part of their online reading. But do they realize they can comment?  Did you know you can be a part of the discussion?  

Most blogs are written in first person.  You can use “I”.  It is the writer’s opinion. This lends itself well for starting a discussion.  Think of it as a hybrid “letter to the editor”.  I believe you do a disservice to your readers when you don’t allow feedback.  Many bloggers don’t post feedback.

People like to read what other people have to say on an issue. Bob Lefsetz makes a great effort to post feedback from his readers.  Sometimes this feedback is more popular then his original post on the topic. Depending on how controversial the topic is will dictate the amount of feedback. 

Feedback is really the most important element of blogging.  Think of blogs as online discussions. Allow feedback and you can take the pulse of an industry.

With feedback in mind I pose two questions today:

1. Do you think the merger of Live Nation/Ticketmaster will happen and why or why not?
2. How do you think H1N1 will affect ticket sales in the upcoming months?

Send me back your answers and I will post them on Friday. 

People in the biz reminder

Don’t forget that I will also post updates on what people in our industry are up to this Friday.  Please email me your updates.  As I mentioned last week, I will post these updates every Friday. This is a great chance for your fellow event & entertainment marketers to hear what you are doing or your business is doing.  We can all learn from this.

More Lessons From The Big Screen

We continue to learn and see success from the non-live side of the entertainment business.  Check out these interesting statistics from the Paramount Pictures movie “Paranormal”:

• Cost of  film to produce: $15,000
• Paramount purchased film for: $300,000
• Cost of national marketing campaign: less then $10 million
• Gross of movie to date: $62 million
• How Hollywood has been handling the recession: Priceless

I have written a few blog posts over the past year about how the movie industry has been successful during this recession.  One fact that has been proven during every recession and the great depression is that people buy movie tickets.

When I was in college, I took a U.S. history class.  Of course the depression was part of this class.  We learned that Hollywood flourished during the depression because movies were inexpensive to see and they were an escape from the real problems of the outside world. The same is true today. You might think movie tickets are expensive at $10.00 a ticket but based on other discretionary dollar expenditures they are not.  The public wants entertainment.  They want to escape for a few hours.  If the movie industry can provide this, why can’t all of us in live entertainment? Why are our fans not buying tickets for live entertainment with the same enthusiasm?

Do we really need to charge $150 a ticket for a 90 minute live show?  Is it possible we could provide the same event for $75 a ticket? Are we still charging these high numbers for a good reason?   The price of a ticket from initial production of the show until it comes to the end-user (customer) is mind-blowing.   One theory I heard was that if we lower our prices now, it will be hard to get back to the “big” money later.  Based on history, does anybody really believe that?

People In The Biz: Here Is Your Chance to Share

Starting today, I would like to post a Friday blog about people in our business.  This can be anybody that works in the event, entertainment, or sports business.  All of us are doing some pretty cool stuff out there.  Send me updates on what you are working on and I will post them.  Don’t be shy; we all like to discuss our work and projects when we get together, now you have the opportunity to let people know on a weekly basis.

Here is this week’s People In The Biz:

My long time friend Doak Turner (the man behind the Nashville Muse website and Nashville Muse Newsletter) recently went home to Charleston West Virginia.  While there, the local newspaper did a feature story on Doak.  I mention this because if you read it, you not only get Doak’s life story (really interesting) but you read about a person who has and still believes in following his dream when it comes to his career.  Even though he is not a celebrity, his name is very well known in the song writing community of Nashville.  Did you know his online newsletter is read by 10,000 people weekly?

Gary Kane, who recently left AEG ThemeSTAR has started GSK Marketing & Consulting.  Gary is taking his creative and extensive knowledge of entertainment marketing out to the rest of the world.  He just signed on with BODIES: The Exhibition playing at South Street Seaport in New York. Of course he is looking for more clients (as we all are).

Jim Lewi (my brother) tells me plans are going well for the 2010 summer tour of the Great American Food & Music Festival.  It sounds like promoters and venues are getting really excited.  Why wouldn’t they get excited.  The one day festival at Shoreline Amphitheatre last June sold 15,000 tickets.  Food is hot, hot, hot right now and you should jump on this. Go to the festival website and watch the video clip from the Shoreline event.

Have a great weekend!

The “What If’s” On Live Event Season Passes

I read in The Wall Street Journal this morning how Disney is about to market a new technology for on-demand.  This new technology is called “Keychest”.  With this, you will be able to pay a one time price for a movie and play it anytime you want on all your digital devices such as DVD, PC, iPod, and mobile. You will actually own the movie without physically having it.  This article made me think about the discussion and test trials of live event season passes.

The idea of season passes (beyond sports teams) for live events such as concerts is not new and has been discussed frequently over the past year.  This was a major discussion at last year’s Aspen Live Conference.  It has also been discussed in the LiveWorks Newsletter and The Lefsetz Letter.  Live Nation has been experimenting with season passes at some of its smaller venues such as House of Blues.

What if the artist or show was to offer lifetime passes?  Most major music acts have large fan bases with fan clubs. What if the artist was to offer a lifetime pass to these fans?  Would they buy them? Is it feasible?

This might work well for family shows.  What if Feld Entertainment offered a lifetime pass for all their shows?  They play at least two different shows (Ringling Bros. and Disney on Ice) in most markets every year.  How much money could Feld charge?  Would a young family buy into this program if it were a good deal for the years to come? 

What if the larger arena venues offered season passes for all their non-sporting events?  Is it really that far fetched?  They already sell suits and club seats, why not a season seat pass to see every event in a year?

Expanding The Marketing Business

A trend that has been quietly on the rise is sports teams expanding their business.  More team ownerships are taking the power of the team and expanding into other related business ventures. 

Two great examples are right here in Boston.  The Kraft family owns the New England Patriots.  What they have done over the last few years is brilliant.  Not only have they built a winning franchise, but they have built an entertainment complex that matches.  Around the stadium they have built their version of Universal Walk or Downtown Disney.  They call this shopping, food, and entertainment complex “Patriot Place”.  But they have not stopped with just building the place.  They needed to book and market the entertainment playing there.  They created the Kraft Entertainment.  Now that they have created this business, the marketing opportunities are endless.

Today, I read about the Boston Red Sox expanding their business. Fenway Sports Group has cut a deal to sell sponsorships in North America for the English Premier League.  This is a good deal for both groups.  Fenway Sports can use their brand and sports marketing power and tie-in with an international league with similar brand power. 

Both of these are good examples of expanding the business without going into “left field”. So many times we see organizations trying to expand into a business that just doesn’t make sense. 

All of us in the live event, entertainment, and sports business can expand our marketing business.  With less shows traveling, venues can be a little quiet.  Instead of management cutting marketing departments, why not use the marketing expertise to bring in new revenue. Why not use our marketing resources to expand into other event and entertainment projects?

Did You Know Elephants Can Paint?

Ringling Bros. Circus is currently playing in my city.  In case you are not aware, I worked for many years (and several years ago) for them as a promoter.  To this day, I stop what I’m doing when something about the circus pops up on my TV screen.

The reason I bring up Ringling is because I noticed they seem to be getting back to their marketing roots.  They seem to be pulling out some of the old playbook.  I think this is great!  The circus is all about that. 

This morning the local TV news station was showing footage of the elephant salad bar publicity event.  This is an oldie but goodie event.  When half a dozen elephants show up in the middle of the street and start eating salad and bread, you will get media attention.  The elephant walk was just a few days before and it also still attracts the TV and print cameras. You just can’t buy this kind of marketing.

During the news story on the elephant salad bar, they also brought up that one of the elephants had painted a picture which is being auctioned off for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  This made me smile with pride.  You see, 20 years ago I first came up with the elephant painting idea after reading a news story about elephants drawing and painting at a zoo in upstate NY.  When I first brought it up, everybody laughed and said “no way”.  Some of those who laughed are the same people who came up with the elephant poop giveaway idea.  Today, elephant painting is part of the Ringling playbook and they are raising money for good causes.  This is what publicity is all about.

Have a great weekend!