One thing directors and coaches are good at is doing it all yourself. Chief cook and bottle washer! But in order to bring your program to the next level, you need to learn how to lean on your village. If you are a professional theatre or team, you have paid employees that are there for this reason! If you are a school or non-profit, you have an army of volunteers just waiting to be given a task.
Every once in a while, you find an employee or volunteer that jumps up and takes on a task without any prompting. But that’s usually not the case. Most people love to feel valued, and many times this value comes from being asked to do something specific. It may feel like you’re shirking your responsibilities, but I guarantee you, you’re not. Your job is to make sure everything gets done, gets done well, and gets done in a cohesive way. In order to do this, you must delegate. Even if you are your primary organization admin on your online ticketing account, it doesn’t mean you have to do it all! At BookTix, there are unlimited admin spots, so be sure to delegate all of the tasks that you do not have time for!
PROBLEM: You’ve created the event, now what?
SOLUTION: Find someone tech savvy to set up your online ticketing & marketing platform!
By tasking one of your team members with online ticketing and marketing, you’re not only taking something off of your plate, but possibly giving someone a task to run with that will find new heights beyond what you’ve always done with ticketing! Fresh eyes often find unique ways of doing things that can bring a renewed energy to your marketing. This new org admin has less on their plate than you do, so they can take the time to peruse the knowledge base and reach out to customer support to solve the issues you’ve been facing for many seasons. Having trouble figuring out reserved seating? Task someone with that and they will emerge with a beautiful customized seat map! Never used your point-of-sale tool before? Task someone with that and you might find an additional source of revenue! Unsure about scanning tickets at the door and training your team of ushers? Find a Front-of-House manager that can ensure all of these roles are filled and trained in your system.
PROBLEM: Your community has a huge social media presence, but you’ve never been comfortable promoting there.
SOLUTION: Poll your team members for someone who knows the ins & outs of Facebook, Instagram and whatever other platforms you’d like to use, and put them in charge of promoting the event.
Your online ticketing platform should be mobile friendly and easy to promote on social media. The link should be short and memorable! Make it easy for people to click from your posts to your ticket sales page. A social media savvy team member will know the difference between a group and an event on Facebook. They will know what will help you trend on Tik Tok. They will understand how to promote your ticketing page across all platforms, where some allow links and some don’t. This person will be able to take your ticketing site and use all of its resources to go viral in your local community. They will also be the primary source of all of your social pages, allowing you to link from your ticketing site to those pages. Make sure you have them listed within your portal and your events!
PROBLEM: You had a great audience at the last show, but ticket sales are a bit slower this time around.
SOLUTION: Task a team member with creating an email marketing campaign!
Send emails right from your online ticketing platform and target anyone that has purchased tickets in the last 3 years. They are most likely still local, they love theatre, and they already have a connection to your organization! Make sure to utilize all of the customizable templates and create an engaging, visually appealing email that will draw attention to your upcoming production.
One email might be enough, but you may want to consider a 3-part approach! Send one email now introducing them to the event. Then send another midway through with a special 2-day-only deal. Finally, send a last minute call-out for advanced sales, but be sure to mention if tickets will also be available at the door for those true procrastinators.
PROBLEM: It’s opening night, but there’s no one in the first 3 rows! The cast will feel like they are performing to an empty auditorium.
SOLUTION: Have any analytical folks on your team? Give them the job of tracking ticket sales!
Within your online ticketing platform, you can track sales in real time. This admin can provide you with daily or weekly updates on how sales are going and help the team decide when and how to use discount codes to draw audiences. Create a multi-use code to send to the local chamber of commerce offering all members 10% off tickets! Create a one-time-use code to send to all faculty offering them a free ticket if they reserve by Friday. Front rows looking empty? Run a report to see who has purchased tickets to at least 3 shows in the past 10 years, and offer them a buy one, get one free ticket valid for just the VIP section of seating! You and your team can get creative when coming up with promotions. Theme them around the show or perhaps an upcoming holiday!
BookTix offers many different marketing tools right within your dashboard to help you sell out all of your future events!
