Factors to Consider when Pricing Event and Concert Tickets

Image Credit: Marketing91.com

I work in the Marketing Department. My coworker and I have a joke about everyone being a marketing expert. We get all sorts of unsolicited advice from people of all backgrounds and expertise. They have all been marketed to throughout their lives so they have now become marketing experts. After these experts give their advice and walk away we crack jokes about the 4 Ps marketing mix. If you don’t know the 4 Ps you don’t know diddly about marketing.

Neil Borden, the president of the American Marketing Association invented the term “marketing mix” back in 1953. The marketing mix is also known as the 4 Ps of Marketing, which stands for Product, Price, Place (think distribution), and Promotion. Decisions about these factors are made to develop and execute marketing plans. The approach has changed over time, and some modern day marketing professionals find this concept outdated, but I don’t! I find even today the 4 Ps are very helpful and that if you are good at marketing you can adapt them to the Internet Age and be successful.

I think of the 4 Ps as the foundation. If you don’t have the 4 Ps figured out, you don’t have a good basis for a marketing strategy. Today let’s focus on Price out of the 4 Ps. Pricing is one of the most important elements in the marketing mix. It is the only element that doesn’t have a cost associated, so essentially it holds up the other 3 Ps because they are associated with expenses. Pricing isn’t always easy to figure out. It must reflect supply and demand, and take into consideration the marketplace. If you choose the wrong price it could be catastrophic to your organization and cause a loss of sales.

Here are the main factors I consider when pricing my event and concert tickets:

1. Costs – Fixed and variable costs are important when determining a pricing strategy. I usually consider the breakeven formula and then think about margins I’d like to see. Concert tickets used to be considered “loss leaders” for most casinos, but we don’t consider it that way at my company.

2. Competition – What is my competition doing? Am I competing with other events and concerts at the same time for ticket buyers? Are we competing for customers with limited purchasing power?

3. Positioning – What is my position in the market place? Am I trying to be the best price? What will the market bear for the product and the quality I’m offering? Can I use price for differentiation? Is my quality so high I can charge more?

4. Customers – Are my customers willing to pay the price? If they pay the price will they still come and spend money at the casino or in the restaurants? If I price the tickets too high, they won’t buy tickets, or they will buy tickets and nothing else. We really want to encourage people to gamble and eat at our restaurants so we don’t want to price our customers out of the market.

5. Company – What is our company trying to do with this event? If it is an event for Casino VIPs and there are very few retail tickets I will consider that in my pricing decisions. When it comes to special events and concerts Casino VIPs are the most important factor. Are there other benefits that might encourage those customers to patronize our casino? For example, if they could use their player rewards card points to buy concert tickets, would that help the company? How many points equal a decent price that we could also charge retail?

It is important to look at all the factors. Price is a reflection of the value of your product, in my case special event and concert tickets. Next time you purchase a special event or concert ticket take a minute and think about the factors that may have gone into the price for the ticket. It will really open your eyes to a new level of marketing strategy.

Additional Reading:
Internet Age Approach: Rewrite the Ps of marketing – The five Ps of marketing

Communication – It Isn’t About You!

Image Credit: Toronto MBA Journal

I recently learned a valuable lesson from Chris Howard, the Value Creation professor for the University of Nevada MBA program. He taught me a new way of looking at communication styles. The biggest lesson that he really drove home was that communication isn’t about your style of communication; it is about the other person’s style of communication. Let me repeat that in a very direct way…Communication-it isn’t about you! It should be about the person you are trying to communicate with, not your style of communication.

There are four types of communication styles:
1. Driver
2. Analytical
3. Expressive
4. Amiable

Image Credit: GoToQuiz.com results

There is no style better than another, they are just different. Since learning about these communication styles I have changed some of my communication techniques. I took a test to determine my style. At the end of this post are links to two different quizzes to help you determine your style. There are dozens of quizzes online to help you determine your style. The two highest scores I received were 76% expressive and 64% driver. I wasn’t surprised by the results because as the instructor explained the characteristics in class I knew I was either an expressive or a driver.

I’m using this information as I plan special events and when I develop marketing plans. Now I’m analyzing my business contacts, my coworkers, and my customers based on their communication styles. My boss is a driver so I’m trying to be more direct with him, less small-talk, and always be on time or a few minutes early. I think it has helped us communicate better. One of my coworkers is amiable so I make sure to be extra warm and friendly to them, and realize that they appreciate small talk and genuinely getting to know their coworkers. Once I started adapting to their communication styles, I started developing better working relationships.

Knowing my communication style has also helped me see where there is a weakness in my communication methods. If I’m dealing with an analytical person I need to tone down my expressive side. I need to do whatever I can to speak in the analytical person’s preferred communication style to be successful. It makes everything so much easier when you think about communication based on the other persons preferred style.

It isn’t hard to adapt to this mindset, it just takes practice. The first step should be determining your communication style. Then learn the characteristics for all four styles. Once you know the basics you will start to see signs on how to communicate more effectively. You can see signs everywhere! I’ve noticed them in emails, body language, choice of clothing, office decorations, listening skills, in the way people handle change, and risk management. There have been studies that show some people with certain styles tend to drive a certain type of vehicle or buy a certain color of car. I’m not that much of an expert so I won’t go that far, but if you do a quick Google search you can find several lists of these characteristics.

So what is your communication style? Take one of these free non-scientific quizzes online and find out!

Quiz 1: GoToQuiz.com

Quiz 2: NewLineIdeas.com

Want to read more? Check out this blog: Keep Yourself Relevant

Welcome! I’m Lisa Jansen and I’m Mad About Events and Marketing!

I’m a Nevada girl at heart. I’ve got passion, a sense of humor, and enough grit to make the most challenging situations enjoyable and rewarding. Some have even dared to call me “disarmingly charming”, and I’m pretty sure they meant it as a compliment. I drove my parents crazy when I was growing up because I was obsessed with events and party planning. They even bought me a shirt that said “Social Director” because the title fit. Let’s face it: I’ve always been mad about events and marketing.

In college I started taking marketing and business classes. I found the perfect combination to go with my obsession for event planning. There is something so special about marketing. It isn’t just sales, it is helping people meet their needs. I’m one of the fortunate ones that have been able to turn my passion for a hobby into a career. It took a lot of hard work and volunteering, but I was able to turn my hobby into a paying gig.

I plan on using this blog as a tool to share my expertise and to help other event planners on their path. During my career so far, I have produced events varying from small non-profit silent auctions to world class food oriented events that approximately 500,000 people attend over a six day period. My goal is to add more value to your life by helping you improve your business and quality of life through event planning, marketing, customer service, networking, sponsorship relations, and exploring what makes event producers and marketers tick. I will share things I’ve learned through trial and error along the way. I hope reading about both my successes and my mistakes will help others succeed and also avoid some of the landmines in this industry. I will also share my thoughts on the industry, new trends, and some other event producers’ stories as well. These stories will hopefully inspire and amuse you at the same time.

In a way, event planning is an addiction. It is a practice that is both psychologically and physically habit forming and to stop may cause severe trauma. Everyone has a story and most event producers I’ve met share this addiction and are mad about events. Every event is like a roller coaster: you get butterflies, experience big ups and downs, and in the end you are happy with how you lived through it to tell the story and you can’t wait to go on the wild ride again.

Welcome to Mad About Events! Please become an active participant because the more views shared here the more it will help other event planners and newbies to the fascinating field of marketing and producing events. My email address is LisaJansenNV@gmail.com if you’d like to email me. Please leave comments on the blog, tell me what keeps you up at night as an event producer, share other blogs that are of interest, recommend other posts, and share your own story. What is more compelling and inspiring than reading about someone else’s path to success? I encourage and appreciate your feedback.