Article written in collaboration with Yurplan, ticketing system.
Organizing, filling and making a profit from a festival can quickly become a real challenge. Since covid, the cultural sector has seen a 30 to 40% rise in costs (artist fees, materials, security...), and the changing purchasing habits of festival-goers are adding yet another black mark to the picture. To fill your event and optimize your festival's sales, it's essential to collect your data in order to trigger the right actions, control your image and your various strategies.
Put your brand image first
Convey your identity by personalizing all your media with your image only (ticketing, tickets, website...) to create a seamless experience for your audience.
White-label ticketing allows you to better connect with your audience and manage ticket sales more efficiently, thus boosting your profitability. Taking charge of your ticket sales so that everything is aligned with the event's graphic charter guarantees a seamless, consistent purchasing experience. So your attendees' experience is never interrupted.
Developing an effective marketing strategy
Most of your revenue comes from ticket sales, which is why you need to choose an online ticketing service. This will enable you to centralize all your actions on a single platform, while keeping an eye on the evolution of your sales. You'll also find it easier to manage your different strategies for filling your festival and making it profitable.
Customized marketing
You need to study your participants and discern different profiles that emerge. This will enable you to develop a more precise marketing strategy, tailored to each segment of your audience. You'll be able to propose the most appropriate rates to boost your sales:
- Dynamic pricing: adjust prices reasonably according to your different marketing periods to boost revenue without holding back sales
- Package deals: offer combinations of festival + camping or festival + transport + camping to add value to your ancillary services and increase the average value of the basket.
- Time-based promotions: launch flash sales with a limited ticket quota or limited promo codes to stimulate advance purchase and smooth out your cash flow.
Multiplying sales channels
- Multiplyingyour points of sale enables you to reach a much wider audience and capture buyers wherever they are. To do this, you need to exploit all available channels, whether online or physical, to offer a seamless shopping experience.
- Distribute your tickets via several digital channels: integrate your ticketing service into your website and distribute the link to your ticketing service on social networks to guarantee optimum visibility and centralize all cash flows.
- Install points of sale in physical stores: set up ticketing counters in busy locations (cafés, cultural boutiques, tourist offices) to offer a quick purchase path.
Include your partners in your filling
Your partners have their own community: mobilize it to energize your filling. Create a collaborative ecosystem where each partner becomes an ambassador for your festival, so you can reach their own networks, customers and audiences.
This is where giving them the option of sending invitations comes into its own. They' ll appreciate the privilege, and will be able to invite people they'd like to see at your festival as close friends and family.
When setting up your event, you can create a space for each of your partners in just a few clicks on a ticketing system that allows this. This will enable them to invite their community and track their own statistics independently, to see who came and who didn't.
Optimize your revenues with cross-selling
Cross-selling increases the value of each basket by proposing complementary offers as soon as a ticket is purchased.
Prices with special offers
You can justify a higher ticket price on the basis of the product or service offered. Here are a few examples:
- Camping access/ VIP area: dedicated pitch for pitching your tent nearby, with water points, sanitary facilities and basic lighting. Premium" access with a place to rest, with a private bar and VIP access.
- Backstage visits and artist encounters: guided immersion backstage followed by a privileged exchange with one or more artists, punctuated by a signed photo for example.
- Merchandising pack: personalized boxed set in collaboration with local designers, comprising a tote-bag, a t-shirt and an eco-cup bearing the festival logo.
Additional services
Complementary services add real value to your organization, while bringing benefits to your attendees, which can encourage their loyalty. These are services you can add directly from your online ticketing software:
- Cancellation insurance: this insurance offers peace of mind to participants, which translates into increased ticket sales. By delegating refunds you free up time to concentrate on other aspects of organizing your festival.
- Ticket resellers: you secure resale between individuals, which can remove a disincentive to buy tickets. You keep control of your secondary market data (who actually comes to my event, how many people are on the waiting list...)
- Accommodation and transport: integrate hotel reservation and carpooling modules in partnership with specialized platforms to ensure a trouble-free visit to your festival.
- Cashless payment solution: offer your customers a smooth, fast and secure experience thanks to a practical payment and access solution adapted to all uses.
Choose a hydride cashless system
Visit cashless is a solution that profoundly transforms the way your festival operates, bringing tangible benefits for both the organization and the audience. It's an excellent way to boost your profitability.
Some event organizers opt for a 100% cashless system with wristbands or prepaid cards. Others prefer a more hybrid approach, accepting credit cards directly at the bar. Both have their advantages, you just have to choose according to your audience, your budget and your organization.
Make the most of your event data
Every event organizer needs access to a valuable and often underestimated resource: the data generated by their online ticketing software. Collecting and analyzing this data gives you the keys to adjusting your offer, optimizing your strategies and maximizing your profitability. Ensuring control of your information guarantees confidentiality and exclusivity of your database without external exploitation. Here's how to collect and analyze your data:
- Personalized forms: collect the right information as soon as you register, for fine-tuned segmentation and targeted follow-up. Ask strategic questions such as preferred music genre, favorite drink, most popular services... to understand your community and what can motivate/favor a purchase.
- Behavioral analysis: measure average time-to-purchase, frequency of purchase, average basket by segment and geographic location to adapt your marketing strategy.
- Analysis of your acquisition through tracking: Analyze which acquisition channels are driving your sales, so you can adjust your investments and optimize the strategies that pay off.
Direct communication with your participants
Maintaining a personalized link with your prospects and customers creates a real sense of belonging and optimizes your chances of converting interest into purchase, while cultivating loyalty for future editions.
- Multi-channel campaigns: send your own communication campaigns (emails, sms, wallets...) from the CRM integrated into your ticketing system.
- Tailor your messages: exploit the data collected (demographic profile, purchase history and geographic location) to send each contact a personalized message to maximize engagement and conversion.
By combining these strategic marketing levers, you can significantly increase the profitability of your festival while offering a memorable experience to your festival-goers!
