Outdoor Events & Advance Ticket Sales

During these difficult times, several local restaurant owners have either shut down or severely restricted in-person dining.

While listening to the local news on the radio today, a restaurant owner indicated they are temporarily closing their restaurant due to COVID.

At the end of the short interview, the owner encouraged radio listeners to "check our Facebook page" for updates on reopening. On its face, the owner's statement above seems perfectly reasonable.

Any guesses on how you could significantly increase marketing impact?

Yes, Facebook is a great marketing tool. But merely posting to Facebook (without a comprehensive plan) is not a marketing strategy.

More importantly, Facebook suffers from a tremendous amount of messaging noise. If it's not a continuous feed of posts about family and friends, or politics, it's an advertisement for a website you recently visited.

If you're going to keep your loyal fans and customers up to date, send them to your website.

Because when they're on your website, you control 100% of the message with zero distractions! Last but not least, you own the data.

Click below and dive on in a short 5-Part Social Media Series:

1. Putting Your Social Media Mindset Ahead of Theirs
   
   
2. Focusing Too Much on Likes & Followers
   
   
3. Trying to Engage on Too Many Social Media Platforms
   
   
4. Avoiding Paid Social Media Advertising
   
   
5. Not Measuring the Results of Your Hard Work

Back in 2016, a client kept receiving numerous online questions and telephone calls about a night event. People were inquiring how to purchase tickets for the event at night. There was one problem, the night event happened in 2015, and there was no night event happening in 2016.

How could that happen? It’s good ole Google!

Next time you have a moment, make sure to do the following.

Pay the Google search engine a visit and type in "site:yourdomainname.com" (with no quotes) and with your domain name replacing the words "yourdomainname.com" After that’s in the search engine box, hit enter or the search button.

The "site:" command is a search operator to Google meant to return a specific result. In this case, a list of pages from your website indexed in Google’s search engine.

Why is this important?

Because the chances are that you have old web site pages in Google that aren’t helpful to a website visitor. In some cases, those old pages could be detrimental.

How so?

Suppose you have old information about your event that is no longer relative to your current event. Just this week, a client found hundreds of old pages in Google. A few years ago, an event organizer found over one thousand pages in Google.

Run the command above and let me know what you find. Chances are, you’ll find a lot of old pages with irrelevant content. If so, let your website developer know and get them cleaned up. That said, make sure you don’t block essential pages on your website.

By cleaning up your Google listings, you’ll get the right information to the right people while reducing customer service issues due to old outdated info.

Want to get more event search engine optimization advice? Check out the articles below:

• Why Create High Quality Content?
• Using Relevant Linking Throughout Your Web Site
• The SERP That Really Counts
• Are You Targeting The Correct Search Keywords?
• Why Invest In Search Engine Optimization?
• Getting Listed In Search Engines
• The Importance of Organic Search

Here's a relatively quick tidbit for today ...

During a recent review of event websites, there was a noticeable trend in websites with prominent event cancellation notices. Obviously, if your event has been canceled, you want people to know. You might also want to consider keeping the event cancellation notice for a week or two after your scheduled event.

That said, if your event was canceled weeks or months ago, please take off the cancellation notice.

During a review of dozens of event websites, numerous sites still had their 2020 cancellation notices in place. Those same sites neglected to put a year with their previous cancellation notice. How is that bad? Because those same event organizers are planning on having an event in 2021.

In other words, how are people supposed to know if the next planned event is canceled or not? Without an associated year, this is unclear.

Your best bet is to focus on your next event. If you're unsure of your next event, given the circumstances, just tell people. Here's an overly simplistic example, "Thanks for your interest; we're not sure when XYZ event is going to happen. Once we know something, we'll let you know. Check back here for details! (DATE)"

Stay positive and keep trucking forward. Just be sure not to confuse people in the process.

Want more event promotion info? Check out the links below:

• P.T. Barnum on Advertising
• Online Marketing Like P.T. Barnum (Part I)
• Online Marketing Like P.T. Barnum (Part II)
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early
• Turn Your Event Into an Experience

During a client data mining project, the following gem came to light.

A client was conducting a customer loyalty assessment. In short, how many customers return to an annual event over five years.

If you have never run a loyalty assessment, I strongly encourage you to do so!

During the data mining process, the client organized their customer data year by year. One of the cross-checks to verify the integrity of data involves gross revenue. You add up all the individual customer transactions and compare them with the reported gross income.

By now, you might be thinking, "come on, Eugene, you mean to tell me events don't have a firm grasp on their own customer data?"

Unfortunately, they do not. And what's worse is it's a chronic problem.

In the case above, almost $500,000 USD of customer data went missing. Yet, every year the client insisted that their data was properly backed up. In this case, it was nowhere to be found.

My goal isn't to rag on clients here. It is to emphasize the point that your customer data is precious and needs to be securely guarded with vigilance.

Fortunately, there is a silver lining to the story. Thanks to NDAs and such, I had a secure backup of the client's missing data and provided them with a copy.

So, I ask you – "Is all your customer data really backed up? And are you absolutely sure?"

Here are some additional articles on event marketing and promotion:

• Your valuable customer data is dying!
• The Importance of Market Research in Planning Your Event
• An Extremely Dangerous Event Planning Mistake
• Event Planning: The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• You Don't Want Your Event in the News for THIS ...

In the fall of 2020, an event organizer reached out to their 10K+ Facebook followers and database of over 30,000 supporters. At the time, the idea was, "since we're not having an event, let's try to raise scholarship funds online." That previous thought seems perfectly logical.

During a "normal" year, youth programs and scholarships are almost wholly funded by an annual event. Obviously, with a global pandemic, that was not possible.

After a few days of the online scholarship drive, the event organizer had raised a few hundred dollars. Unfortunately, the final result wasn't much better and horribly short of the scholarship fund.

What you've just read happens far too often. You might have had a similar experience.

With just a few exceptions, an event that's financially well managed is the best fundraiser for any cause.

Think of your event as a conduit to raising funds.

Asking people to give to a good cause rarely works. Juxtapose that against an event that people can't stop talking about and will provide you with their hard-earned money.

If you want to give mountains of money to a good cause, a phenomenal event is the way to go.

Want to get more event promotion advice? Check out the articles below:

• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why People Really Attend Fundraisers
• Leveraging Your Sponsor's Digital Resources

In 1736, this well-known polymath said the following:

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" -Benjamin Franklin

Ben said the quote above regarding the fires in Philadelphia (USA) some 285 years ago.

Fast forward to 2021, and too many events are in serious trouble. The reasons are far-reaching. If you're local, provincial, or federal government won't allow you to have an event, there's not much you can do.

With that said, here's a simple question for today:

"If you can't hold an event, how is your organization generating revenue?"

Yes, every event should have a substantial cash reserve. In some cases, depending on where you are in the world, there is government assistance.

But if all your options for assistance are exhausted, where does that leave you and your event?

Alternative revenue sources are your "ounce of prevention!"

If you don't have alternative revenue options, now is a great time to start! There is a multitude of avenues, from collecting donations to online paid events. Those revenue options should be explored now and in place for the next global catastrophe.

Want to get more event marketing advice? Check out the articles below:

• Where should you focus to increase event revenue and attendance?
• Do you want 1MM or 20K people worth of event promotion?
• Why People Really Attend Fundraisers
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Turn Your Event Into an Experience

If you have a Netflix account, I recommend watching "The Queen's Gambit." The Queen's Gambit is a look into the world of competitive chess combined with the struggles of drugs and alcohol. The series was just awarded two Golden Globes—one award for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie and another award for Best Limited TV Series.

What's even more fascinating is the series creators' ability to turn chess, a game that's not easy to understand, into compelling entertainment for non-chess players.

After the series premiered in 2020, there was a notable increase in people's interest in chess. Then yesterday, you add in a few awards, and the Internet goes abuzz about chess, yet again.

"Netflix wins big at Golden Globes as 'Queen's Gambit' keeps fueling chess sales: Monday Wake-Up Call"

Source: https://adage.com/article/news/netflix-wins-big-golden-globes-queens-gambit-keeps-fueling-chess-sales-monday-wake-call/2317636

"What does a TV series about chess have to do with my event?"

Quite a lot. The Queen's Gambit highlights the power of compelling storytelling. Specifically, how to take something foreign to most people (chess) and get them hooked. This is similar to the process of getting new attendees to your event.

Is there a story you can tell, as part of your advertising and marketing process, that gets people to say, "I want to see/do that"?

Even better, is there a story your event attendees can tell their family and friends that makes it difficult for people not to attend your event?

If you can provide a compelling story that goes along with the questions above, it's almost impossible not to succeed with your event.

Related Event Marketing Advice:

• Great Story of Bottles and Your Event Promotion
• Turn Your Event Into an Experience
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail

Here's a bite-size nugget for today ...

During these difficult times, several local restaurant owners have either shut down or severely restricted in-person dining.

While listening to the local news on the radio today, a restaurant owner indicated they are temporarily closing their restaurant due to COVID.

At the end of the short interview, the owner encouraged radio listeners to "check our Facebook page" for updates on reopening.
On its face, the owner's statement above seems perfectly reasonable.

Any guesses on how you could significantly increase marketing impact?

Yes, Facebook is a great marketing tool. But merely posting to Facebook (without a comprehensive plan) is not a marketing strategy.

More importantly, Facebook suffers from a tremendous amount of messaging noise. If it's not a continuous feed of posts about family and friends, or politics, it's an advertisement for a website you recently visited.

If you're going to keep your loyal fans and customers up to date, send them to your website.

Because when they're on your website, you control 100% of the message with zero distractions! Last but not least, you own the data.

Playing the Game Differently
If you want to leverage social media, you have to play the game differently. What follows are the most common social media marketing mistakes to avoid and simple corrections you can use. The suggestions apply to any social media platform.

Click below and dive on in a short 5-Part Social Media Series:

1. Putting Your Social Media Mindset Ahead of Theirs
   
   
2. Focusing Too Much on Likes & Followers
   
   
3. Trying to Engage on Too Many Social Media Platforms
   
   
4. Avoiding Paid Social Media Advertising
   
   
5. Not Measuring the Results of Your Hard Work