Music event data can come in many forms. Ticketing software, app creation tools like Appmiral, social media, on-site systems, web analytics and more all have their share of the data collection mix. Typically, all of this data is stored independently of each other. But did you know there are tools to centralize all this data? In a Customer Data Platform, you can bring all your data together and find out who your audience really is. You can build effective customer personas based on actual behavior and preferences instead of anonymized data, and this brings a lot of benefits.
1. Work More Efficiently and Save Time
Probably one of the most obvious reasons, but having siloed, disparate data from different sources is very labor-intensive. If you centralize all that data, you no longer have to switch between all those platforms and you can create personas based on data from different sources. It takes some effort in the beginning, but eventually, you work more efficiently and save time.
2. Not Being Dependent on Third Parties
Many organizers rely on social media for their promotional activities, and while this can be effective it also has a lot of drawbacks. It's very expensive, it requires considerable skill and experience to set up, and it's a crowded marketplace where all the events are competing for the same audience at the same time. But most of all, your data belongs to Mark Zuckenberg instead of you. So, when he decides overnight to shut down the platform or change guidelines that impact your account, you've lost your entire fan base. When owning your data you can communicate 1-on-1, without a middleman.
3. Sell Out Tickets Faster
As you collect data from your previous events, you begin to build your fan base. This mass of data can be segmented by customer profile, behavior, preferred communication channel, and more. This allows you to send targeted promotions and messages that reach your audience at the time they are most receptive and with a message that appeals to them - making them more likely to convert and buy a ticket.
4. Beat the Competition
With a vast number of live acts currently on the road and more competition for live music visitors than ever, events are already challenging to promote effectively, so why to make it hard for yourself. Chances are your competitors send out a general newsletter to their entire audience and perhaps a few social media posts, not very impressive. But with your centralized data, you can create memorable targeted advertising and marketing campaigns that ensure you’re front of mind when consumers decide where to spend their money.
5. Boost Loyalty of Engaged Visitors
With a wealth of customer data stored in your CDP, you can quickly identify your most loyal and engaged fans through profile scores, e.g., based on the amount spent or the number of times they attended. You can then segment these valued customers as VIPs and reward them with offers and discounts to further drive their retention and loyalty.
6. Drive Revenue With Cross-Selling
Increase up-sell opportunities and cross-sell by providing your fans with specific value-added offers, such as a discount for the camping if they stayed their previous year, parking passes if they indicated they are coming by car, vouchers for food and drinks, or discounts for future events.
7. Uncover Seasonal Trends
Data and insights in ticketing are hugely valuable for forecasting. Uncovering seasonal trends and identifying critical periods where you may need to scale up your sales or marketing efforts to drive more sales is crucial for a healthy bottom line. Of course, dealing with busy periods doesn’t always mean you need to draft in more people; you can also use CM.com’s tools to rapidly scale up your customer service offering, for example.
8. Measure the Performance of Promotional Efforts
The opportunities provided by data are limitless but focusing on delivering the best experience for your attendees and ensuring that you learn lessons from the data means you’ll only make the same mistake once. Consistently reviewing and learning from your data is key to gaining a competitive advantage and the best way to do that is to ensure it’s well organized and easily accessible.
9. Improve Next Editions
By analyzing your data, you can also improve subsequent editions. By learning from your data, you will start to see which entertainment, F&B outlets, or performances worked and which were less popular. This way you keep learning and keep improving your event. A simple example is by looking in Appmiral's event app to see which artists were streamed the most, you can adjust your lineup. Or by analyzing your cash register data you can replace certain outlets, optime the inventory, or create a deal with a sponsor that proved popular last time around.
10. Build Your Brand
Stop thinking in editions. Consistency is king when it comes to brand messaging, and with the insights, you have stored in your CDP, you can create relevant year-round campaigns to keep the conversation going and expand your fanbase.
Get in Touch
So now that you are aware of the benefits, the next step is to start centralizing your data. But perhaps it still looks complicated. Luckily, we’re experts in organizing and using data effectively, so why not get in touch to discuss how we can help you use your data to make your business more successful. It doesn’t have to be a headache.
