Here's the Ticket: How to create revenue from your event tickets

School districts use tickets for everything from athletic events to school plays.  Most districts use tickets for their high schools and middle schools. 

There's a simple way to bring your tickets in-house so you can earn the revenues from the advertising placed on the ticket backs instead of allowing for an outside company to send you tickets every year and keep the advertising dollars for themselves.

1.)  Assess your inventory -  How many tickets will you need.  The best way to measure this is to look over past gate receipts and/or even look over an old ticket order form if you do use an outside company.

2.) Find out the costs - There are a bunch of ticket companies out there.  Contact them and get a quote.  If you need 100,000 tickets or one million it will be worth your time either way.  This must be done and be accurate.  You need to know the costs before you price your packages (can you imagine selling the ticket backs to an advertiser and then losing money!)  Be very specific and be uniform when you are gathering quotes.  I always recommend getting five (5) quotes or more.  You'll be amazed at the pricing discrepency depending on the quantity of tickets you need.  When I say, specific I mean you let them know what ticket weight you need, do you need color, do you want them in rolls or books, are the tickets all the same, do you want incremental numbering for auditing purposes, etc.  Here are a few company websites that might be of help to get your quotes: 
http://www.admitoneproducts.com/?gclid=CIOpvv29-acCFQat7Qodp1QPrA
http://www.globeticket.com/
http://www.nationalticket.com/
http://www.worldwidetickets.com/

3.)  Create the package - I'm a big believer in the "Hear-See" formula.  When a fan sees a coupon for a restaurant or product on their event ticket, a great way to increase the chance that the fan will use the coupon is to have the person "hear" it as well.  During the game we provide our ticket back advertiser with two (2) PA announcements at football games and we even allowed them to sponsor the game's Coin Toss.
It's also a great way to differentiate yourself as an attractive advertising option.

3.) Pitch to sponsors - This can be the most intimidating part of the whole process.  If you already have companies that work with you, they are a great starting point.  You want to let them know you appreciate that they trust you with their advertising and marketing dollars so this is a great way to do that.  They don't have to sponsor the ticket program and never look at it like you are trying to squeeze more money out of the them.  If sincere about your advertising program then your sponsors will be reaping the benefits of new customer acquisition, increases in the frequency of visits, a jump in customer loyalty, and heightened brand awareness. 

As always, if you have any questions.  Just contact me.  I can help you along and warn you of some pitfalls that are out there as well as offer a few additional short cuts. 

And, if you just need tickets and don't want to get into the ad sales business, this company won't give you money but they may just give you free tickets to use for your events (which still will save your school district some money).

It's Got More Problems Than Wings

I'm going to bet you get approached a lot by companies wanting you to participate in this or that.  They'll tell you it's free and they are doing it "for the kids" but, the truth of the matter is this, these are branded events.

The latest and one of the most stunning examples is the arrogance of Red Bull.  They now host a high school 7-on-7 football tournament.  See here for details:  http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/001242851364517

The funny part of all this is that Red Bull is being "last called" on the sidelines all over because of the health risks.  See here: http://www2.dailyprogress.com/sports/2010/sep/24/energy-drinks-banned-high-school-practices-games-ar-524220/

I mean, come on, really?  Do you think it's wise to chug back a boatload of caffeine before you run sprints up and down the field?  The reason companies like Red Bull get involved in stuff like this isn't because they love football or your kids.  It's because they have total environmental control.  The aforementioned tournament drew almost a 1,000 students in a stadium last year where Red Bull gave out promotional bags, uniforms donning Red Bull, and - you guessed it - a ton of Red Bull. 

This borderlines on irresponsible marketing.  Nonetheless, I'd keep my program far away from it.