Just Released: State of Audio - Trends Report

How to Promote and Sell the Best Possible Event

Today, it seems antiquated to walk up to a box office and buy tickets to an event. If you oversee your organization’s ticket sales, the evolving options and fees might seem overwhelming. Here’s what you need to know to promote and sell your extraordinary event.

Do the Math — the REAL Math

Beware of ticketing platforms with low fees for you; they may charge your customers instead, at up to 30 percent of the ticket price. In other words, a $10 ticket could cost your customer up to $13. A $100 ticket could cost $130 – and that starts to pinch.

Indeed, online ticket providers have a menu of complex pricing tactics to make money:

  • Venue Fees: flat fees charged at checkout that are not advertised to the customer in advance.
  • Service Charges: extra fees split between the event host and the ticket seller, but also not advertised to the customer in advance.
  • Platform Fee: fees paid by the event host, typically ranging from 7 to 20 percent of gross profit.
  • Digital Delivery Fee: fees paid by the host or the customer. Snail mail shipping fees might make sense, but when tickets are delivered by an email voucher, why should anyone pay extra?
  • Redemption Fee: per-ticket fees charged to the event host for marking off tickets.

Know in advance what fees are in your share of the ticket sales, and what’s passed along to the customer — then decide if the partnership is worth it.

GA Ain’t the Only Way

General admission (GA) tickets offer a set profit margin. Every ticket sold helps pay for the event and returns perhaps 10 to 20 percent as profit. But your margin can go sky-high with a VIP-level experience that might include perks such as:

  • Access to special parking
  • Access to roped-off or special areas
  • Meet-and-greet opportunities
  • Food and/or drink tickets
  • Swag (T-shirt or other item not available to the general public)
  • Pre- or post-party
  • Better seating sections

Extra Money for Extra Marketing?

Yes, please. About 20 percent of your budget should go to marketing. But what if cash is tight? Look for big targeted marketing opportunities such as Entercom’s Get My PERKS, a lifestyle marketplace where our radio stations sell event tickets, station merchandise, and client-based goods and services to our dedicated listener base.

Using a product such as Get My PERKS is smart, because radio’s built-in megaphone reaches 93 percent of the U.S. population every week. As the country’s #1 reach medium, radio provides a lower-cost and higher-yield solution to market your event.

Consider a program such as PERKS PLUS that allows you to create a marketing budget with every ticket you sell. For example:

If your share of the ticket sale is $22.00, you can take some or all of that (with a 25% bonus) and invest it in additional Entercom marketing.  If you invested half of your share and you sold 500 tickets:

$11.00 x 25% = $13.75

$13.75 x 500 = $6,875 in Audacy marketing

You can increase your margin by increasing the shipping and handling charge to the customer.  Entercom will help you determine the best way to do this according to the low-cost limits we set for our customers and your Entercom marketing expert will also discuss terms for the use of the system and marketing.

Get Your Marketing Perks with Audacy’s Get My PERKS

Your next event can be tied to your favorite radio brand, and we can help you build a marketing budget to make that happen. Here are some capabilities included in all our event marketing packages:

  •  GA tickets
  • Assigned seat selection (at a one-time $250 seat-mapping fee)
  • Group rates
  • On-site redemption
  • On-site and day-of credit card sales

If you want to grow your event, increase your marketing budget, and connect to your best potential audience, contact one of our marketing and event specialists to help solidify your strategy.

Want to talk more about reaching your target audience?

Let´s Talk

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