Emails – Still a Great Marketing Channel

By Jan Yerzik

Email is still a great form of communication. Do not discount the ability to communicate to your target audience via email. In a recent marketing survey by Hubspot, 67% of marketers say Email is more important today than in the past. 67.3% said that email metrics became more important this year, up from 56.1% in the previous year’s survey.

For Entertainment and events emails, the average open rate is 17.09%; average click thru rate is 2.98%.

Use emails to connect and engage with your audience. There are a number of different types of emails you can send:

1. Announcements, Alerts, and Reminders

Every event, announcement or new venture should have an email associated with it. The marketing wisdom still applies, “Tell them its coming, tell them what it is, and then tell them again”. Think of it this way:
a. Give your audience a heads-up as to when your event will go on sale
b. Tell them when it is on sale
c. Remind them before it’s over or expires

2. Helpful, Educational Content

These are the most underused by marketers. You’ll develop greater customer loyalty and engagement when you weave content emails in between them. Is there big news about a show coming you can share prior to the shows arrival? Are there any game highlights or stats your audience would find insightful prior to their attendance? Think about what your audience might like to know and then provide them the information.

3. Triggered up-sell and down-sell offers

You know who is attending your events. Think about what offers you can email to enhance their experience. Are there any special promotions you can do with a sponsor? Can you up-sell anything to them or provide any special merchandise offers they can redeem at the event? Can they buy parking or a package deal prior to the event?

Measuring Your Success

The other very important side of email marketing is measurement.

This chart shows the metrics email marketers use to track the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Tickets.com email solution can report on all of these metrics. The new social media plug-ins makes the inclusion of social media a breeze.

Tickets.com has started the RAVE ‘Real Advice for Venue & Event’ marketing to share best practices and help you with your online marketing. If you’d like to join the program, email us at RAVE@tickets.com

Please feel free to comment or share ideas on what you’ve just read.

Tickets.com - 2011 Virtual Summit

Tomorrow kicks off the 2011 Virtual Summit. Join us for an online conference with various topics scheduled over the course of the next two days - presented in a convenient online format at no cost!

Session highlights include:

• Welcome Address & Company Update presented by John Walker, President & CEO
• Tuning Your Marketing Channels: Maximizing your online efforts
• NEW System Features: Hear the latest improvements and functionality releases in both the ProVenue® & ProVenueMax ticketing platforms

A lot of great things are happening in ticketing these days so let us share with you some of the innovative things we are doing!

Register Now!

Questions? Email Chaeli Walker at cwalker@tickets.com.

Tickets.com Flyers Ride in Support of British Heart Foundation

The London/Brighton cycle ride is an annual charity event staged to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. The Tickets.com UK office, otherwise known as Tdc Flyers for this event, is off and riding!

The British Heart Foundation is the nation's heart charity and every day they save lives, through pioneering research, providing vital information to help people reduce their own heart health risks, campaigning for change and supporting and caring for heart patients.

Their vision, could not be more ambitious:
'A world where people no longer die prematurely from heart disease’

To deliver on their vision they need our support!

The London to Brighton Bike Ride is the flagship fundraising event and takes place on Sunday, June 19, 2011.

Everyone from seasoned cyclists to leisure riders converge on Clapham Common for a day of laughing, pedalling and SERIOUS fundraising.

We’re hoping to raise a massive £4 million to help fund heart research and to provide ongoing support to heart patients and their families in need.

So please, sponsor the TDC Flyers and do your bit to help us, help them to beat heart disease.

http://www.justgiving.com/tdcflyers

A big THANK YOU from the Tickets.com UK office riders - Andy, Rich, Will, Ryan, Kamal, Haydn, Dave, Paul and Matt – the TDC Flyers

Join Tickets.com at the 2011 S.E.A.T Consortium

The 2011 S.E.A.T Consortium (Sports & Entertainment Alliance in Technology) presents a one-of-a kind conference and tradeshow dedicated to the decision makers across the International community of the sports and entertainment industry.

This year's conference, in conjunction with A.L.S.D, will be the 5th Annual meeting dedicated to technology executives, venue operations executives, marketing executives and sales executives.

For information on this year's program visit: http://www.seatconsortium.com

Hope to see you all there!

If you are a Tickets.com client interested in attending, email Chaeli Walker at cwalker@tickets.com for a special discount code.

Tickets.com Enables Red Carpet Rewards Program Integration in Partnership with the Washington Nationals and FortressGB

Just before the start of the 2011 season, the Washington Nationals announced the launch of the revamped Red Carpet Rewards Program, a new online platform powered by Fortress, the premier loyalty management and virtual ticketing provider in Europe. The Fortress integration with Tickets.com’s MyTickets™ season ticket holder account management tool, re-branded My Nationals Tickets for the club’s fans, gives members the ability to access, track, share and redeem loyalty points using a single point of entry for additional benefits and convenience.

In a recent press release, Nationals Chief Operating Officer Andrew C. Feffer reflected on the impact: “The Nationals are proud to be the first Major League club to offer our fans this unique system. We are always looking for different ways to enhance the experience for Nats fans through innovative technologies, and this is just the beginning. In the future this platform will evolve to be used at concession stands, retail stores and to gain entrance to games. The possibilities are endless.”

With a single point of entry through the My Nationals Tickets account, Red Carpet Rewards members will find it easier than ever to share points with friends, family and seat partners. The Fortress platform also allows members to monitor available sections for specific games and then combine points to purchase high point items like seats in the Washington Suites and Party Suites or premium parking options near Nationals Park. For added convenience, print-at-home tickets are utilized.

With the launch of the Red Carpet Rewards Program, the Nationals became the first baseball club to bring this advanced online platform to the United States.

For more information on the Nationals Red Carpet Rewards program, visit nationals.com/rewards.

Tickets.com's Dan Wu Wins Man of the Year

Dan Wu, CFO here at Tickets.com, has been very involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) since his wife Anita passed away in February, 2010, from complications due to Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. Tickets.com joined Dan in supporting LLS last summer leading up to the annual LLS Light the Night Walk in September, where the employees raised over $20,000 based solely on individual contributions. Tickets.com was one of the top fundraising teams and won "Rookie of the Year" for the 2010 Light the Night event.

Dan was nominated to participate in the 2011 Man of the Year campaign. The funds raised from this campaign will help fund research for the LLS and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. Dan’s goal was to raise $50,000 in order to have the opportunity to name an LLS research project in Anita’s memory. Dan received over 350 contributions, including donations from Tickets.com and many of its employees. Dan is very grateful to everyone who donated to this cause.

We are thrilled to announce that Dan was selected the 2011 Man of the Year for the Orange County/Inland Empire LLS Chapter after raising a total of $78,452, well in excess of his $50,000 goal.

Tickets.com congratulates Dan on this remarkable achievement and reaching his personal goal to honor his wife.

If you’d like to join Dan Wu’s effort and donate to this cause, click here.

Tickets.com Relocates Asia-Pacific Operations to University of Wollongong’s Innovation Campus

Tickets.com's Asia-Pacific offices will be relocating to The University of Wollongong’s research and commercial precinct, Innovation Campus, and will be become the newest tenant at its iC Enterprise 1 commercial building.

The move will take our HQ from the southern Sydney suburb of Miranda to the Innovation Campus in mid-2011. The move will add 16 jobs to the Illawarra economy immediately and further jobs over the next three years.

Scheduled for completion in mid-2011, iC Enterprise 1 is a $40 million A Grade commercial building featuring a 4.5 Star NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) rating, state-of-the-art design and large floor plates of up to 2,600sqm.

David Borg, Tickets.com’s General Manager for Asia Pacific, selected the Innovation Campus following an extensive search for new premises covering south-west and southern Sydney and the Illawarra regions.

Tickets.com supports a large range of sports and entertainment clients across Australia and Asia-Pacific so access to high-speed data links was critical in our search for new premises. The Innovation Campus offers the ideal combination of quality commercial space, excellent IT infrastructure, value for money, and the unique opportunity to collaborate with the University of Wollongong on technology and recruitment initiatives.

Significantly, Tickets.com is the first Sydney-based company to relocate to the Innovation Campus.

About Innovation Campus
The University of Wollongong’s Innovation Campus is a 33 hectare research and commercial precinct in North Wollongong. Innovation Campus aims to drive partnerships and collaboration between the research and business communities by co-locating commercial and research organisations in state-of-the-art facilities. It currently houses the Sydney Business School, Australian Institute of Innovative Materials, Institute of Transnational and Maritime Security, the University of Wollongong’s Digital Media Facility, and a number of commercial tenants. Wollongong is Australia’s eighth largest city, located 80km south of the Sydney CBD and one hour from Sydney International Airport. www.innovationcampus.com.au