Survive corona crisis. 10 things you can do as a promoter now.
Cultural and sports businesses are in a difficult and uncertain phase due to the corona crisis. It will be a great test for the entire industry as well as our society. After the federal and state governments adopted comprehensive measures, such as a ban on mass events, from March 16, 2020 to contain the corona virus, it became dark in the once very busy event venues. Without a doubt, it was a very necessary step, but what will come in the next months to theaters and opera houses, sports clubs, artists, freelancers, technicians and employees in the event sector can only be roughly guessed at the moment. However, the fact is, that we are all facing a very difficult time. The whole industry has no choice but to get creative so that the lights don’t go out in the end.
We support you! In this blog post you will find a selection of ideas on what you can do to make the most of your time and get through the Corona crisis in the best possible way.
Collect donations! #hold together
OFFERS THE POSSIBILITY TO DONATE YOUR REFUND.
As a result of the necessary cancellations, many organizers are faced with an high amount of refunds due, which will definitely cause major financial problems. Given that almost every venue depend on ticket revenues to survive, the public’s goodwill is vital to keeping the institutions alive. In times like these, cohesion and mutual support are often very important and have an immense importance. In this respect, broad support from ticket buyers is very likely. So don’t be shy and offer your ticket buyers to donate the ticket price to enable your event location to survive the Corona crisis.
OFFER A CONSIDERATION FOR DONATIONS.
Do not only collect donations, also offer your visitors an equivalent if they do not reclaim the ticket price they have already paid. These could be very different things and your creativity is certainly even greater than ours. So here are just a few suggestions: In return, offer an exclusive question and answer session with your director, your artists, the team or the management. Take the audience backstage, let them participate in exclusive “behind the scenes” sessions, offer them special house tours by your artists or exchange tickets for vouchers with special offers for the post-Corona crisis time.
SELL MEMBERSHIPS.
A good way to get an injection of money is to sell memberships. Through this you can give your audience the opportunity, e.g. to receive particularly popular premier tickets in advance or to get special discounts on tickets. In addition, in connection with membership, you can offer invitations to premieres or special events, or link a membership with a special communication channel, a certain number of bonus points, limited program booklets or other giveaways. Using these options will definitely result in a win-win situation for organizers and customers.
SELL MERCHANDISING ITEMS.
Use the many possibilities that merchandising articles offer and your audience will thank you with sales. Concentrate either on the sale of stocks or set up a special edition with the clearly stated purpose of supporting you during this difficult time of the Corona crisis. Good examples come from sports such as the campaign against COVID-19 from the Dynamo Dresden football club active in the 2nd Bundesliga Germany. Most organizers already have their own online shop and can quickly generate sales. For all others, egocentric Systems offers a ready-made solution that is ready within a short time and can be used for sales. If you are looking for suppliers for items available at short notice, our merchandising team will be happy to help. Just speak to us directly.
P.S.: Our partner egocentric Merchandising will be happy to assist you on the subject of fan article production. From A for autograph card, T for T-shirts to Z for zip bag, the product range offers everything your heart desires. Did you know that the team prints in Germany?
INTERACT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE.
Daily contact with other people is as normal for us as the daily commute to work. So it is not surprising for most of us that the lack of interaction with other people is one of the biggest problems. In addition, the focus of many people is shifting. That is why it is very important to be remembered. Find ways to take action with your audience. Offer interactive content! A number of options for this are online meetings, interactive quiz duels between your artists or employees and the audience, invent new screenplays online or create cool stories.
OFFER SHOWS AND PERFORMANCES ONLINE.
The show must go on! What has long been common for sporting events is now also coming to the cultural sector – the livestream. More and more organizers are broadcasting the latest news, house tours or recorded performances through your channels. This is a very good way to stay in touch with fans and other interested parties. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to market live streams like regular events. But that will change. We are currently developing a way to stream events live and sell tickets. Beyond that, there are additional income opportunities after the theater reopens. Sold-out pieces find additional viewers or fans from far away online, but still have the opportunity to be there live. The Corona crisis can also pave new paths for your future.
OFFER GAME MANUScripts.
Even if your viewers don’t have the opportunity to watch a full play or production, they’re still interested in culture during this Corona crisis. Maybe they even have a lot more free time than in the normal hustle and bustle of everyday life. Offer your audience playback scripts and let them see your world a little more than usual. Of course, this applies not only to scripts, but also to screenplays, theater instructions and general books on the subject.
USE SOCIAL MEDIA.
Social networks are more present than ever before. Use your social media channels to connect artists and viewers. Shout out what your worries and fears are, what ideas you have and what opportunities there are for your audience to support you. At a time when social contacts are rare and only the focus is on the virtual world, social media is a good tool. Use your reach, but there are also great Facebook groups – like the coronavirus group in the UK theater industry – that provide hourly updates on situations and advice. It is more important than ever to make sure that people are not mentally isolated. Therefore, communicate and share in your life!
WORK ON YOUR TO DO LIST AND CREATE NEWSLETTER.
At the moment we all don’t know when things will return to normal. But every break requires a restart. It is therefore extremely important to be prepared for a new beginning. In the best case, use the time and maintain your customer database. Push through the long overdue check for contact duplicates or create the customer group selections that you have long wanted to work through. The planning of the next marketing campaign can now also be processed in peace. Stay in touch with your target group and regularly create newsletters, maybe for the next few months if there is time for it. Don’t forget to offer your customers the opportunity to subscribe to newsletters.
LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD!
Despite the corona crisis – there is light at the end of the tunnel! Everything may look uncertain at the moment, but resilience will only keep the industry going. It is never too early to think about where the light can be found at the end of the tunnel. We all cannot prevent the event venues from being closed at the moment, but we can make the most of the time and are already thinking about restarting. Do tasks that you wanted to do for a long time, deal intensively with preparations for various tasks, e.g. the tender that you had wanted to do for a long time. Use the time to exchange information with other houses online and read into things that you have long wanted to know. Or just use the time to get to know the innovative white label ticketing software from egocentric Systems 😉
And that shouldn’t be enough in these times. We want #together and have created the best entry for you with the soliticket.de project to get through the crisis in the best possible way!
Start with us now!
For more information about great opportunities to advertise your event online, just contact us and get to know us and our software better.