Eat, Drink, And Be Social

Yesterday I spent the first half of the day at the Eat, Drink, And Be Social marketing event in Cambridge.  Even though this was for the culinary industry, almost everything discussed was of interest to the event & entertainment marketing community. These parallels are why I am re-tooling to market culinary entertainment.

The first panel included two very important chefs here in the Boston area.  Jody Adams and Barbara Lynch are both very successful owner chefs with 30 years each in the biz.  Here are some comments they made that you might find interesting:

1) Service vs. Hospitality – “Hospitality is the whole shebang”.  Service is just going through the motions.  We should all strive for everything plus the extras. 

2) People are more adventurous today – While they we discussing customers and food, this also applies to our industry.  Our customers want to try new experiences.  Let’s give it to them.

3) Tourist dollars – Someone asked if they go after the tourist dollars.  They both said they want everyone’s business.  Don’t you?

The next speaker was Justin Levy who spoke on his social marketing case study.  He is co-owner of an Argentinean steakhouse in Western Mass.  He used social media to help turn around his business.  Here are a few key points:

1) “Listen to your customer” – They read what the customer was saying on the social sites and made changes.

2) “Don’t get hung up on technology, get hung up on what it can do” – Use it as part of your total marketing mix. Don’t let it be your business.

3) “Create a video blog” – Show off your product.  Our customers like to see visuals.

Does all of this sound familiar?

More Then Just: Name, Date, Place

Advertising in the live event industry has a reputation of being boring, predictable, and unimaginable.  For the most part, this is true.  But does it have to be?

You would think people in the live entertainment business would have unique creative advertising ideas to move tickets.  The answer is that most of us do.  But for some reason many of these ideas never see the light of day.  In this industry we have been stuck in a formula.  We are taught on day one to make sure all advertising has: Name, Date, and Place.  Because of this, we form all of our advertising around those three things. Those three words seem to suck the creative juices from our brains.

I am not suggesting you advertise your show without name, date, and place.  I am suggesting we re-think how we use them.  Here are two ideas:

1. Use name, date, & place like the secret ingredients on Iron Chef America.  Come up with spectacular, innovative creative that the judges will drool over.
2. Or go the other way.  Come up with advertising creative ideas that don’t involve name, date, & place.  Once you have exciting ideas ready to go, add the three ingredients back in.

Whatever you do with your advertising, remember you are trying to get your customers to buy tickets.  You need to think of each advertising piece as a closer.  You may have only one shot to close the sale.  Every drop of advertising needs to reflect this. Get your customers mesmerized and excited about going to your show or event.

Let’s show the rest of the marketing world that we are not a one trick pony.

Don’t Beat Around The Bush

Did you ever wonder how much business would get done if people just asked for what they wanted?  Why don’t we do this?  One of the first things I learned when I entered the business world was: “ask”.  The worse thing someone will say is “no”. 

The art of the deal sometimes feels like some kind of animal mating ritual.  The song & dance, and the process of just trying to get a deal signed is such a waste of time.  Did you ever think about this process?  You decide who you’re going to pitch; communicate with them; get a meeting; send them a proposal; answer follow-up; wait; answer more questions; re-negotiate; wait; wash/rinse/repeat. 

All of us who pitch deals can help speed up this system.  Why not tell them what they want to know at the first meeting?  Don’t bull-shit them!  Don’t drag it out.  If they ask a question, give them the answer.  If you don’t know the answer, find out that day and answer them. Find out what they want and give it to them. 

Today’s business world moves really fast.  People like things that are easy and can be checked off the “to do” list quickly.  If your opportunity is an effort to them, then you will move to the bottom of the list. 

Sometimes we pitch deals like a used-car salesman. We see if the person across the table will take a “lesser” deal.  We do this even though we can close the deal now. You have a deal in your pocket that works for all.  The sad thing is we have conditioned people to expect this game.  So when we give them our best offer, they don’t believe it.

The next time you pitch a deal, see if you can speed up the process.  At the meeting, don’t beat around the bush. Get the decision makers at the meeting. Do all your homework in advance. Tell them what they want to hear. Close the deal at the first meeting.

What If The Promotion Is Up In The Air?

I thought this letter from a reader paired perfectly with my last post on crisis PR.  Below is an example of a promotion that goes wrong. 

Dear Joe – 

I had an experience last weekend that I wanted to share with you and your readers.  I think there is a lesson to be learned here.  At last weeks Harvard Square May Fair one of the features, the hot air balloon Big Max, a RE/MAX sponsored event was scheduled at 3:00PM.  The rides were $10 for kids and $20 for adults benefiting a charity.  My family and I went down a little early to get in line and found that the balloon hadn’t yet arrived.  So we waited.  At about 3:00PM the line was forming and the volunteers, all RE/MAX volunteer salespeople, “the balloon team” started to talk about what was to come.  The balloon was not there yet but he would call when he got close for directions.  They talked about the wind and the risk of such a promotion, as 50% of the time it doesn’t work when the wind is too strong. At 3:00PM, the scheduled starting time, the wind was at 8 knots, just fine for flying.  So we waited.  The line grew and at 3:30PM, they decided to take names so that people wouldn’t have to wait. 

At about 3:45PM, still no balloon, no contact from the driver, one member of the balloon team asked my wife.  “Do you think this reflects poorly on RE/MAX?”   She thought about it and answered yes, not just that it was late but that the driver didn’t have directions and the “stuck in traffic” story they gave early on, didn’t seem to be the truth.  “Yes”, she said.  “It was reflecting badly on RE/MAX.” 

At 4:00PM, the call came in; he was close and getting directions from one of the members of the balloon team.  The wind was picking up, but he should be here soon they said.  Finally at 4:30, the team announces, “The balloon is here!  It should take about 10 minutes to set up.” The driver gets out, a meeting takes place and the driver announces “the wind is too strong, 12 knots; we will not be flying today.”   I couldn’t resist a few questions.  I asked, “Was the wind ok for flying when you were scheduled to be here at 3:00PM?” Yes he said but he wasn’t able to get here at 3:00PM. Upon further questioning, based on his schedule, he would never have been able to be there on time.  No apologies for the delay, wasn’t his fault, wasn’t anyone’s fault but they announced, we will be back in October for the Harvard Square Oktoberfest.  Who else lost here?  The people waiting for the ride?  The agents volunteering their time?  RE/MAX?  The charity?  The Harvard Square Business Association who lost one of their feature attractions.  

So the questions I ask:

1.  If you have a 50% chance of failure (due to the wind), is that a risk worth taking?  
2. Should they have had a back-up plan if the plan did fail?
3. Should the poor planning by RE/MAX in scheduling their balloon reflect poorly on the sponsor? 
4. Should the Harvard Square Business Association allow them back in October after disappointing hundreds of families in an otherwise stellar event?  

 David Goldstein

Director of Business and Concept Development

TeamBonding

http://www.teambonding.com

 I would love to hear from other readers on David’s questions.

Crisis PR Done Right!

Over the past couple of years I have discussed examples of crisis PR done wrong.  One great example was Tiger Woods.  However, this past weekend I witnessed a really good example of crisis PR done right.

Over the weekend the Boston area had a major water main break.  This break has caused 2 million people to go without fresh tap water.  Of course this has been non-stop breaking news here in Boston.  While there are lots of questions to be answered about how this happened to a pipe less then 10 years old, no one should question the communication and crisis response.  The Governor, State officials, water authority, and the media were all in sync.  They handled the crisis smoothly and professionally.  If they were holding anything back, they didn’t seem to show it.  They communicated in an upfront, open dialogue. 

This is exactly what should always happen when it comes to handling a PR crisis.  When you are upfront and tell people like it is, they respect you more.  They may not always agree with your decision.  They may be angry with the crisis.  However, I find they will appreciate that you were upfront with them.  Airlines are notorious for not being upfront with passengers.  I never understood this. 

If you handle PR for your event or venue you should always have a crisis PR plan ready to go.  It is worth your time and effort to sit with all managers in your organization and write out a plan.  The minutes and few hours after a crisis happens are the most critical for how the PR crisis is handled.  You want to set the tone of the message, not the media. In our business there is always a PR crisis on the horizon.  Are you ready to do it right?