r/marketing • u/MobilityTweezer • 3d ago
Question Growing an established event
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/phuckoph8 2d ago
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.