Focusing on the Future of Tickets...
179: Change! Change! Change!
Hey y’all!
I’m going to be on holiday until April 4th.
So you’ll probably get a shorter note the next few weeks.
I’ve been updating the way that folks can work with me. So keep an eye on my SHOP.
To the Tickets!
The photo: The Black Keys.
My summer calendar of concerts includes:
The National
LCD Soundsystem
The Cure
And, I’m thinking of how to do something cool for the Dave Matthews Band show at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
They are her favorite.
Don’t even get me started on the sports…
I. Sports is changing, but isn’t everything?
If the business of sports is changing, isn’t everything?
The Big Idea: These 5 examples are interesting examples of approaching the question: “What will the future look like?”
For me, it isn’t just the idea that sports is changing or the business of sports, but life is changing.
This means that we need to look towards elevating the experience to where people need it to be now. Not where we think it needs to be.
Here are a few projections or thoughts for the future:
Focus on Strategy: Strategy before tactics.
As I’ve mentioned over and over, strategy before tactics.
I’m also aware that people will level the assertion:
“That’s not what we do in arts.”
“No one does that.”
How’s the saying, “If your friends were jumping off a bridge…”
Strategy is the starting point of success.
It is about focusing on the future:
What’s success look like?
Who is my target market?
Why will they pick me?
Don’t believe me, but look around at these examples and tell me that a new approach or new thinking isn’t necessary:
RSN businesses failing in sports broadcasting
Decline in season ticket sales
Lower subscription numbers in the arts
Lower real attendance
Revenues are a mask right now because:
A lot of brokers have bought a lot of tickets that are just sitting on the secondary market, unsellable. You get the revenue, but the inability of those tickets to move shows me that your brand is in the dumps.
The TV contracts show a lot of revenue, but it always looked like a bubble. Now we see cracks in the foundation of the business with RSN issues.
The ability to raise prices because brokers were buying so many tickets and customers were floating purchases on their credit cards.
Focus on your strategy…that’s your starting point.
Proper Marketing: Giles Edwards talked about “proper marketing” a while back and we need to revisit it.
Proper Marketing is a process based view of marketing that begins with the customer.
I’ve worked on projects lately where the starting point is:
Look-alike audiences
Previous buyers
Guessing
You do proper marketing in 3 phases:
Diagnosis
Strategy
Tactical delivery
It matters because if you don’t know what people want or value, you can’t give it to them and you are guessing.
Go back and listen to my friend, Ruth Hartt. She talks about the idea of “jobs to be done”.
No matter what business you are in, you are offering a solution to a challenge or issue.
I’m a strategy consultant: I help people create and capture new opportunities.
A gym can solve all kinds of different challenges like helping people get healthy, giving people a place to socialize, or offering the tools to improve your appearance.
In tickets, I’ve sold seats to people that helped start new business relationships, create family memories, reconnected old friends, fulfilled lifelong dreams of seeing a certain stadium, and more.
This is what throws me about the conversation about “tickets are a commodity”.
That’s BS.
If you are doing your job correctly, a ticket isn’t a commodity.
It is the furthest thing from a commodity.
It is magic.
So, focus on the work of Proper Marketing and begin with the customer.
Your Brand Needs Attention: Now that I’m going to teach brand management more frequently, I feel compelled to talk about the topic much more regularly.
Brand management is pretty simple:
Everyone needs a definition of a brand. Mine: A brand is the accumulation of all of the good and bad interactions your market has with you.
You need to know: Who you are targeting?
You have to decide on a position?
Where I see too many people not putting enough attention: you have to use your brand codes on everything so that no one can miss the message that this is you.
Can you answer these questions?
Take Home: Where businesses are heading. What customers need or value. Growth.
These are all the ideas we should be focused on.
It isn’t about solving problems. It is about elevation and improvement.
But I’ve been saying that for a long time now.
II. Dynamic Pricing is everywhere:
You make more money, but it can cost you all the same.
Variable pricing is HOT!
The upsides to Dynamic Pricing:
Higher profits
Ability to change prices to meet market conditions
Don’t have to get price “right”
The downsides:
Customer frustration
Loss of brand equity
Change in customer purchase habits
Pricing is a key topic here at the worldwide HQ.
My take on dynamic pricing isn’t black or white, but gray.
I like dynamic pricing in some situations because price setting is difficult. I dislike dynamic pricing in a lot more situations because I think it makes people sloppy about the way that they price their products and services.
What I consistently see in pricing decisions:
Lack of a clear strategy from the organization
Lack of good market research
Prices made by guess work
Should I use dynamic pricing tools?
Definitely, maybe.
If you want to use dynamic pricing:
Make sure dynamic pricing works for your business by understanding your ambition, your target market, and your value proposition.
Don’t look at it as a “set-it and forget-it” solution.
Limit your usage of the tool so that you can control the buyer experience.
III. A new study from LinkedIn points to the need for growth over loyalty:
“Light” buyers are always a larger share of the market than “heavy” buyers.
What about loyalty? For years, loyalty has been proven to be a function of market size.
The bigger you are, the more loyal folks are to you.
How does this stuff apply to tickets/entertainment/sports?
Focus on your single buyers and smaller ticket package purchases. The death of the season ticket might not be a “death” but a return to the norm of other industries.
Focus on your overall brand building. Your ticket sales might be down or struggling because you aren’t addressing enough of the total market.
Expand your market: look to non-buyers.
IV. Eurovision tickets make it to PMQs:
Another example of how Europe and the rest of the world view the secondary market differently.
The Big Idea: Even if they haven’t had anything to do with it, Viagogo has their name brought into the conversation.
I highlight this because brand associations can be completely out of your control.
More Importantly: In Europe:
It isn’t uncommon for tickets to be cancelled.
Fans to be turned away at the door.
The culture is more attuned to consumer safety and protections than in the US.
V. Links:
Vivid Seats’ ends first year as a public company with 35% revenue growth:
Strong performance against projections.
Jamie Lee Curtis wants matinees?!
You can’t sell booze at lunchtime.
Have you heard of brunch?!
I did my first brand specific podcast with Paul Bailey this week: great stuff!
Linktree: Find everything I’m up to.
Join the ‘Talking Tickets’ Slack Group. Almost 300 people from around the world. Daily jokes, ideas, and news.
Cover Genius will be at the TPC in Birmingham in March.
You’ll be able to find out how refund protection can:
Generate a new revenue stream that can equal over $100,000 a year in new revenue.
Why refund protection helps guests by tickets and gives them peace of mind. 48% uptake should tell you a little bit.
How offering these options improves customer service including a boost to the all-important NPS score. Cover Genius has a 65…better than the 43 of the newsletter!
I’ll be in NYC from 27-31 of March.