Grass Roots Still Works

Last Sunday I went to the Patriots game here in Boston.  The guys I go with always park and tailgate outside of the stadium parking lots like thousands of others.  Once you are outside the stadium grounds, it becomes a grass roots marketing haven.

Not five minutes after we setup for tailgating, we were approached by a new natural cereal called Barbara’s.  They came complete with a cart full of free samples.  Not only did they give us all the samples we wanted but they asked if they could take our picture with the pretty “cereal girl”.  My guess is this would be the follow up to post on the web. For a small company trying to market in this big world, this is a good option.  Visiting crowds of people, being able to talk one on one, and offer free samples is real marketing.

Once we left the lot and headed for the stadium, we realized how many different grass root marketers were out and about.  Some were even ambush marketers.  For example, Schick was giving away coupons for free shaving cream and razors.  I’m sure the Gillette Stadium peeps were not all too happy about that.  After the game, Pepsi was giving away free samples of Pepsi Max. This worked well for the walk back to the car.

How much grass roots marketing do you do in your business?  In years past most of our industry limited our grass roots efforts to handing out flyers.  We should take this up to the next level.  What about giving something away?  It could be as simple as a coupon for something free at the venue.  Instead of some kid just handing out flyers, how about using someone who can strike up a conversation about the product.  Remember, that before the internet this is how it was done.

“Put Yourself In My Shoes”

How many times have you used that phrase or something like it? I tend to use it a lot.  Sadly, it seems I use it more and more these days. What if everyone did business with that phrase in mind?

When you sit down to develop the marketing strategy for a show or event, you need to get into your customers head.  What will they think? How will they perceive my message?  What will make them buy?  You have to put on your customers hat.  Remember, you may not be your own customer.  Just because you think they will see your message, doesn’t mean they will.  For example, if you plan to buy out of home advertising, where are the best locations for your customer to see it? I once had a boss who wanted billboards placed along the route he took.  He said his customers take the same route.  Our marketing research did not gel with his thought process.  We saw no increase in sales. Maybe he just wanted to see his own billboards.

The phrase “put yourself in my shoes” gets used the most when it comes to customer service.  I tend to use it all the time with customer “no” service people on the phone.  When you put your policies and procedures together for the customer experience, do you think about how the customer will deal with it?  If you answer “who gives a crap” then you are not putting yourself in their shoes. Just because it looks good on paper doesn’t make it so. Listening to our customers is what sells.  Next time you want to cut something that will affect your customers experience, put yourself in their shoes.

It Takes A Team

 Most people are experts at something.  My son tells me it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something.  But while we may be an expert at something, it doesn’t mean we are experts at everything. 

I have been in the live event business for over 25 years but that doesn’t mean I’m an expert at everything in the business.  For example in the job I have to deal with production, load-ins and load-outs. When I read a rider or speak to the crew I understand it, but I always turn to the experts to insure it is done right! I am not a production expert. 

It can be very annoying and careless to let an ego get in the way.  Don’t pretend you really get it if you don’t. Asking for help is never a sign of weakness or lack of expertise in your field.  

No matter the project, it takes a team to bring it to a complete and successful result.  Trying to be the expert at everything will always cost time and money.  You don’t save money trying to be an expert in too many things.

Follow Me, Follow You

So the good news is that most of us in the event & entertainment business are now using social media to market.  You have joined Twitter and Facebook.  You might have thousands of friends, fans, and followers. But are you following them?

What makes social media different from the old fashion marketing & PR is two-way communication.  Not only can you get your message out but your fans can communicate back to you.  But are you listening?

Having friends, fans, and followers is not a collection.  You should not be gathering them like a kid collecting Pokémon cards.  They are more than a database.  They are real potential customers who want to be a part of your world.

I read an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about how Gatorade has a full time people searching the web for mentions of Gatorade (I bet they just found this blog).  They are looking for what people are saying about them.  They are looking for online conversations to join. They understand this is 21^st century marketing.

On my Twitter page, I have currently have over 1,100 followers and I follow most of them.  I look for people who fit my interests. I do read many of their tweets because I want to know what they are saying.  In my case I’m not looking for them to say things about me but what they are saying that influences the event & entertainment industry and the culinary world.  These are my two passions.

If you’re a venue, why not use social media to help book your events.  Ask your fans, friends, and followers what they would like to see at your venue.  If an event does not sell well, why not ask them why they didn’t buy a ticket?

Communication is a two-way street.  We finally have marketing tools that make it possible.  Make it work for you.

Don’t Forget The Teens

Yesterday I spent the day helping a photographer friend at our kids high school.  He has the contract to take the I.D. / yearbook photos for all 1,300 students.  This was a big job.  While I was there for the day, I had the opportunity to think about the buying power of today’s teens.  Retail is really good at marketing to this group but what about all of us in the live event & entertainment business?

High school teens are the biggest spender of discretionary dollars. Our business is all about the discretionary dollar.  Are we doing a good job marketing to this group?  Based on the marketing I see in our industry I would say not very well.

Today’s teens are the trendsetters.  They not only tell us what is hot now, they are also great predictors of the future.  They love to spend money and will do so in a heartbeat.  Yesterday, the video game NHL 2011 came out.  My son and his friend went right after school to buy it.  Did they really need it that day?  To them, the answer was yes! “They have to have it”!  How do we tap into that way of thinking with our marketing efforts? This week would have been a good week to market NHL tickets to teens and young adults.  Nice cross promotion, don’t you think?

As event marketers, we are good at doing surveys and focus groups.  The problem is we tend to focus these efforts to adults.  Teens are not good subjects for this traditional marketing research.  We need to get into their world and ask them directly.  Maybe this is through the web and social networking?  Maybe we need to work with the schools?  How about dealing with the retailers they buy from?  Live entertainment and fashion always go well together. Forget about just getting retail sponsorship.  How about a good retail promotion?

If we are really trying to put more butts in seats and make money doing it, then we need events that the largest discretionary dollar market will spend their money on. What are you doing to reach them?