Regional Theaters Struggle to Recover: But Change is Hard!
#161
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To the Tickets!
I. The Big Story: Regional Theatres Struggle to Recover:
Costs are up. Attendance is down. Around the world.
The Big Idea: Venues of all sizes are suffering due to inflation, recovery, and changing attitudes.
What Does This Mean?: The old playbook doesn’t work. But a new playbook has risks.
Regional theatres are struggling across America:
La Jolla in San Diego sees single ticket purchases down.
Alliance in Atlanta has seen a 40% drop in subscriptions.
Change, but How?:
Start with your research. Your audience has changed. It takes on average 66 days for a new habit to develop. A lot of your guests were away for a year or more before you could even think about opening the doors again. This has created new wants, needs, and desires.
What do your guests want and need now? Remember my conversation with Ruth Hartt about “Jobs to Be Done” theory? You aren’t your customer so don’t try to sell yourself, sell your customer.
Remember that the best way to grow your subscription base is to grow your single-ticket buyers. To do this, you need to raise awareness of your brand across your market using top-of-funnel, brand building activities that connect to your audience emotionally. That’s going to be different in each market, but the idea of building your brand and doing things that raise awareness of you and your productions is the same in every market.
Action Items:
Survey your audience. You might use the NPS survey I’ve run over the last month as an example to survey your current audience. Offer a reward for filling it out like a free drink or special performance. Don’t offer a discount. You don’t want to seem desperate. Give a free pair of tickets to a winner or something. (Again, this is cheap and simple. By asking for an explanation…you’ll give qualitative and quantitative feedback.)
Talk to your guests. Maybe invite a few random guests to a roundtable discussion about the future of the organization.
Look at your marketing and sales offers from the POV of the customer. Does your marketing address their needs? Or, is it just like what everyone else is doing?
Again:
This stuff applies to you no matter what market you are in.
This isn’t dependent on large markets or venues.
An NPS survey can be set up in Google docs.
Google can help you do some secondary research.
A focus group can cost you a couple of bottles of champagne and some snacks, but you have to shut up and listen to your audience.
II. Tools: The Residency: Adele sets up in Vegas…
32 shows = 137,000 fans. 0 unwanted stops.
Residencies are hip: Harry Styles did 15 shows at the Garden this year. Billy Joel has sold out 82 straight shows at MSG.
These aren’t tired affairs.
Why does this matter? The economics work. An artist doesn’t have to incur the costs of touring so profits are better. Marketing costs are streamlined. Fans will travel to see their favorite artists look at the Dead, Pearl Jam, BTS, and Taylor Swift.
For you: Can you create a rhythm for your building with a local artist or a consistent format?
There are a limited number of acts that can command the attention of Adele.
That doesn’t mean the idea can be adapted to smaller artists or venues.
You might be able to create a theme for your building like a “Rock” night. Or, “Hip Hop” or “Classical”.
Something that you can put on your calendar and tie a schedule to.
As an example, maybe you have a six-month series of artists reimagining their music in different ways. Or, you can do reimagined versions of theatre performances.
III. Opportunities: Asian B2B ticket market looks set to grow!
New opportunities are out there, but you have to look in new areas.
The Big Idea: Friends of mine are searching for new investors in the B2B ticket company based in Asia.
Big wins:
Huge presence in Hong Kong.
Expansion in Singapore.
Phillipines.
Advantages:
Data: real data.
Return from the pandemic.
Ticketing as a revenue stream for organizations that never thought of tickets that way.
Ask: Investors. Looking to raise a few million dollars in new investment to support developer time and marketing and sales functions.
More information…email me and I will put you in touch.
IV. Image: The Loneliness Epidemic in Visual Form:
Check out this chart and consider how you can use your events and venues to create a stronger community.
Or, eliminate loneliness.
As an example, I know a 72-year-old man that goes to the gym every day around 2 PM.
I run into him many days.
We chat a little bit about whatever.
You can do something that brings people together using your venues as well…yeah? I’m guessing there is money there.
V. Links:
The Titans could get the most public money ever for a stadium:
🤷
Tottenham works with the Ambassador Theatre Group to bring culture to North London.
Great effort of bringing the arts to a new area using sport.
FEAT wants to outlaw above face value resale in Europe:
Other markets can take a stronger stance on resale because there is more competition to sell tickets in their markets.
In the US, we need the secondary market a lot of time because the secondary market provides the distribution, promotion, and brand awareness that venues and organizations might not get if they stick to a strictly primary and mono-distribution philosophy.
Shania Twain teaches us that product is the most important p:
I have done a bit of client work on 3 different projects over the last 2 years and I’ve seen the reluctance to change the product makeup pop up in some form many times.
The research I’ve conducted with clients has clearly pointed to shaking up the product as a wise decision.
My suggestion: look at your product and ask if you can mix it up or need to change it.
Linktree: Find everything I’m up to.
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Customers are buying refund protection at rates 2x higher than before the pandemic.
Offering your customers refund protection:
Gives customers certainty in their purchase.
Gives you a new revenue stream.
Improves your customer service.
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