The results are coming out now on how retailers did through November including the big Thanksgiving weekend. As we all know Black Friday did pretty well and was up from 2007. However, the numbers have been dropping ever since. The reason of course is the deals. Consumers are buying for the holidays but they are going for the deals. Deep discounts, promotions with teeth, this is what is working. As marketers in the event and entertainment business we should be looking at this current trend and adjusting our marketing plans accordingly.
While we may or may not be able to offer deep discounts we can offer promotions with teeth. If you are going to put together a ticket package or promotion around the holiday period or to counter the recession don’t just do it to do it. Create a promotion or package that will make an impact. A good quality promotion should create some buzz, get to your demo, and move tickets.
Use all the marketing tools you have to create the buzz. Some of these don’t really cost much. Spread the buzz on the social networks. Go deep into these sites to find groups that are your true demo. Try it, they are really there. Go to where the customer is. If you are a sports team, go where the fans are. If you are family show, where are the moms and kids hanging out? These are your “low hanging fruit”. Make your promotion fun. Remember, you are selling fun. With consumers in a bad mood, they are looking for an escape. Show them you are that escape. If you can lower your price without losing your shirt or cheapening the product, do it. This is no time to be greedy.
Consumers are buying holiday gifts. They just want a REALLY good deal. Let’s get them thinking that event, sports, and entertainment tickets are a really GOOD deal.
Practice What I Preach
Since I have been writing for the past few weeks about using tickets as great holiday gifts, I thought I should help the sports and entertainment business by purchasing some tickets for gifts. Today I am trying three different ways to get tickets. I am buying tickets for one event at a box office, purchasing tickets online for an event, and I am trying to win tickets for another event via a mobile marketing promotion. I will report back on the experience I had with all of these methods.
