Growing an established event

[u/MobilityTweezer]

Anyone have experience with companies like McCabe Group, Frame House, or AC Entertainment? These types of marketing companies would promote music events, festivals, etc. I work for a mid sized music festival that I feel is ready for whatever the next step is. We’re unsure what the next step is. Presently, marketing is Facebook heavy, insta, X, magazine ads(seems like a dead end), YouTube, visitors bureaus, some direct mail, partnerships with other venues (giveaways),billboards, some radio etc. and lots of free tickets to fund raiser events(local). It’s all done in house. Everything we do feels like guesses with not enough trackable data and decisions based on that. Word of mouth is our strong suit. The festival has been around for decades. Our marketing budget is small compared to big festivals, but for contemplations sake, let’s say it’s $50,000, which might not be enough for much I do realize. Any general advice about which way to steer this very established ship? If we never promoted it again it would probably be fine, just no real growth. I’m traveling right now, so I might not reply to any responses I may get, but I promise I’ll try. Thank you in advance.

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[u/cuteman]

50k doesn't get you anywhere exciting.

Maybe CTV, Display, Social Display, Pause Ads, Native, Pre Roll.

Track direct sales and match back offline for ROI.

[u/phuckoph8]

Tbh as someone who's worked with music festivals, tracking marketing roi is crucial. One approach that worked well was creating unique landing pages/promo codes for each marketing channel to actually see what drives ticket sales.

[u/phuckoph8]

Focus 60% budget on core audience retention (email/sms/retargeting) and 40% on new acquisition. Use unique promo codes per channel to track ROI and make data-driven decisions vs guesswork.

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[u/elijha]

Rapid growth will likely require outside investment or another similar deal. You’ll be selling out pretty literally.

I’m guessing that success to you does not look like doubling attendance Y/Y but totally losing the soul of the festival in the process. So what does it look like to you? Impossible to say what your next move should be without knowing the game you want to play.

[u/MobilityTweezer → u/elijha]

Interesting perspective. We’re not there yet, but I feel that a crossroads will come where selling out or holding onto that special something will be the two choices. And honestly, I don’t know what we’ll take.

[u/phuckoph8]

Tbh tracking and data analysis sounds like your biggest pain point rn. When i worked with similar sized festivals, we found splitting the marketing budget 70/30 between digital (trackable) and traditional media made a huge difference. Definitely look into utm codes for all your digital campaigns, including those free ticket promos.

[u/MobilityTweezer → u/phuckoph8]

Thank you

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[u/Out3rWorldz]

Incremental growth is paid and supported with a budget. You have no budget to invest towards this. If you want potential growth you need investors. Otherwise it’s as you say promoting will mean, “no real growth.” Doesn’t matter if you are new or “established.” Steering doesn’t mean anything without wind in the sails / gas in the tank. No pay. No gain.