FLASHBACK TO 2014…. The world was a more innocent place. Back before kids were crushin’ Tide Pods for lunch, when Dumb Starbucks was making waves, and Cambridge Analytica was just opening its doors. The nascent data company started scraping user information from Facebook to later sell to the Trump organization and Russian operatives. It was a bold move, morally questionable, and...
A quick pricing strategy tip: Don’t discount your tickets! I often see underperforming festivals resort to slashing their ticket prices. It makes sense at first…if sales are sluggish, why not try to lower the price just to get people in the gates? Then at least you can collect ancillary revenue when they arrive on site (bar, food, parking, etc). This is a terrible idea. For one, you...
One crucial concept in an effective festival advertising strategy is nailing down a proper media mix. Your media mix is the careful balance of advertising across ALL channels — social, TV, PPC, Radio, Print, etc This is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT aspects to your festival’s campaign. Why? Stickiness/penetration doesn’t just come from repetition. People ignore ads constantly, which means TONS of...
Display sometimes gets a bad rap, but with a little strategy, you could see some really great results. Here are 8 high performing ideas I’ve used on nearly every festival I’ve worked on: CONVERSION ADS AKA How to Use Display to sell tickets. Connecting your Google Adwords account with your Google Analytics account will allow you some powerful targeting options: Highly interest...
Here’s how I got a 50% e-mail open rate, clicks & sales without breaking a sweat. It’s one of the quickest & easiest email tips I’ve used to consistently deliver a high ROI: Set up a “welcome series” for any new e-mail subscribers. It’s simple, but often overlooked. You can do this in just a few hours using content you already have. Remember, new...
How do you think not just like a marketer, but like a promoter? Look to legendary manager Shep Gordon. When he was promoting Alice Cooper’s 1972 album “School’s Out” he set out to make a big impact. So he had each vinyl record wrapped in a pair of cheap paper panties. Separately, he ordered a small amount of highly flammable paper panties, knowing these would be considered a hazard and cause a...
Below are excerpts from a Reddit AMA I did 6 years ago that I recently stumbled upon. Back then I was working for a management company where I was booking the tours and doing the marketing for 5 bands. Looking back at it, many of my answers still apply today! Getting into the industry Q: I am extremely interested in the business side of the music industry. Both from the artist side and the...
Meta note: The following was publish Dec 9th, 2011 on my old blog. I was working in artist management at the time and was responding to a friend about how to get attention from record labels. Reading back on it, I thought it was pretty sound advice, so wanted to republish it for your reading pleasure. From: Zach Subject: Record label submissions Hey Mike, Hope you’re doing well. Quick...