Last week we discussed retail marketing and retail’s ease at marketing to current trends. Over the weekend I thought about retail and our events. We need to go back to cutting promotional deals with retail.
At one time it was common to have retail promotions for our events. Feld Entertainment was the best at it. Today you don’t see as many of these promotions. When you do, they don’t seem to have the “meat” they once had. One reason I believe retail promotions have dropped off is because we started looking at them as cash sponsors. We decided we rather take the money then the promotion. As we all know, cash sponsors are now harder to get. When the sponsorship dollars are not there, we need to sell even more tickets. I propose we all look again at retail tie-ins as part of our promotional marketing effort.
Just like anything, the retail landscape has changed. Trying to figure out who might be the right retail tie-in is the question. A traditional retail sponsor for family shows had been grocery stores. In the old days you could get lots of promotional mentions from them. This included printed grocery bags, banners hanging in the store, posters in the windows, and coupons stuffed into the bags. At some point the stores stopped offering these promotional opportunities and we stopped asking. Maybe it is time to ask again.
As we look at retail promotions we should look to non-traditional retail promotional partners. As you plan the marketing for your cities take a good look at what you have around you. What is unique to that market? You want the locals to buy your tickets. Go where the locals go.
When you pitch to potential retailers ask for what you want. The worse someone can say is “No”. If you think you can get cash, then ask for it. But remember you may lose promotional opportunities that just might make more for you.
