Navigating Digital Marketing
Panelists:
Aaron Bare, Etix
Victoria Cappelli, AEG Presents
David Goldhahn, Marbaloo Marketing
Billy Philhower, Gupta Media
Vary Creative & Copy by Platform
“The target audience for each social platform is completely different right now,” David Goldhahn began. “Both creative and copy have to be adapted based on the platform. If you’re targeting Gen Z, you’re going to TikTok with something that feels more authentic. The content can be unpolished and organic.” Goldhahn noted that TikTok has a different algorithm and that it “can be a doom scroll for an hour.” On Facebook, he recommends something that feels more traditional because Facebook is an older crowd. “The Facebook crowd won’t understand the jokes on TikTok,” he said. “Twitter is somewhere in the middle. People go there for news and humor. It’s a very weird these days.”
Victoria Cappelli added, “From the paid end, for a tour, we like to keep it awareness-based at the front and we like animated ad mats. As we’re leading into the backend – reminding people to buy tickets and garnering excitement for the tour – live footage works really great.”
“Don’t spend a lot of time trying to create the perfect message,” offered Aaron Bare. “Inside your ad sets, you can give the algorithm options and let it do its job. If you have a couple of photos and a couple of different lines of copy, play around and see what the algorithm likes.” Cappelli agreed, “Stuff might surprise you. Sometimes video works great but other times I’ll do an A/B test with a static photo or ad mat and video. And the ad mat performs better when I least expect it.”
On the paid front with festivals, panelists mix the copy and creative substantially based on who they are talking to. The first push is the announce & line-up, to generate excitement. “Some people will buy immediately but some people need to be messaged a lot – about food & beverage, vendors, sponsors, etc.,” said Philhower. “If someone has added to their cart but doesn’t buy, we can speak to them about the payment plan. Being thoughtful is strategic.”
Email is the Workhorse
At the beginning of the tour, Cappelli will email past buyers and all similar artists. Closer to the show, or if there’s another heat moment, she will narrow the list to the people who opened that last email but didn’t buy and change the message just a little. “I’ve been seeing really great results with open rates over 80% which is insane,” she said.
Goldhahn has had success across the creative platforms comparing an artist to a larger-known artist, like “if you listen to Maren Morris, you will like this person.” Cappelli is beginning to try post-show emails suggesting similar artists, “People are on such a high from the experience. It’s the perfect time to message them. We’ll say ‘Hey, hope you enjoyed the show. Here are a couple of shows coming up that are super similar.’”
Working with iOS 14
With iPhone software iOS 14, Apple instituted a number of new privacy measures that wall off its users from prying eyes, especially internet ad companies that live on device data to target and measure ads. iOS 14 cut off the ability to use Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers, or IDFA, which is a unique code that makes it simple to record every step of someone’s journey on the iPhone. Without IDFA, ad tech companies have relied on reading IP addresses to target consumers.
Apple also implemented “App Tracking Transparency,” which lets users opt-out of tracking. With the update, if a consumer declines to be tracked, then an app cannot utilize device data that in the past was used to improve services and run personalized ads. “Surveys vary but upward of 95% of folks are routinely asking apps not to track them,” said Bare. “This is mostly talked about around Facebook, but the rules apply to everyone. If you are Facebook advertising, you may have noticed that some of the targeting that was there 1 year or 2 years ago may not be there now. We’ve learned to zoom out a little bit and focus more on the funnel. We have top of funnel advertising which is trying to reach folks who may not know who you are. We have mid-funnel folks who are on our email lists and maybe some retargeting audiences. Further down the funnel are people more familiar with you. So it’s just working the funnel more, being okay setting wide targeting, and letting the algorithm to its thing. If you give an algorithm a couple of weeks, especially on the Facebook and Google sides, it can really start to hone an audience. Maybe you’re not selling a ticket every time. Maybe you’re just getting someone to your website or to enter a contest to grab an email address.”
“Our company really put a focus on our first-party data and invested in data analytics,” said Cappelli. “We can target these people but learn from them too. How does one tour’s audience relate to another tour’s? We’ve learned that you can be really surprised. You could see that there’s a huge buyer overlap between Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. Venues and promoters have so much data to work with and fuel your prospecting and awareness ads.”
Goldhahn stressed the importance of using creative messaging in email collection. “Make it feel personal, like they’re joining an exclusive VIP situation. It’s so much better than ‘subscribe.’ I think doing giveaways to get those emails is also important.”
Aaron also likes giveaways and suggests, “Just put it in the marketing budget. I know a giveaway is often just a throw away seat in the balcony but really create an experience that you can’t buy. If you make it an attractive package, you will collect emails through the roof. Data collection outside of ticket sales should be everyone’s first priority. This is the era we’re in now. Facebook and Instagram have worked really well as conversion platforms and they still are, but it’s not the same as it was and we have to be better marketers.” Aaron’s announce emails are often a contest. “A contest gives them an action they can take and you’re not wasting ad dollars. Of course, you must do this 12-24 hours before the on sale. We email ‘Sorry you didn’t win but tickets go on sale at 10 am.’ And that email will blow the doors off in terms of our opens and conversion rates.”
Cappelli also suggests contests during the maintenance period when you don’t know if you want to spend money pushing people to buy tickets because you already know they’re going to buy late. “It’s a great tool to capture interest and collect email addresses so that, in the backend, you can push all those people to buy tickets if they didn’t win the contest.”
Tracking Focus, Emerging Trends, and the Return of the QR Code
Cappelli and AEG are focusing on SMS text message advertising, which is another data collection point, and rethinking email strategy. Personalized, direct messaging is priority. “If this person joins our text message list, how do we provide different value versus being on our email list or just following us on social media? We’re trying different things, including exclusive offers, even after a ticket purchase. We’re thinking about loyalty. We’ve done things like the first ten people who show up at the merch stand get $10 off. A positive experience at the show is as important as buying a ticket,” she said. “We are really strategic about email and SMS database and may only send two emails for a tour. Once we get an unsubscribe or an opt-out, we lose that person forever. It is really hard to get them back.”
Bare agrees that SMS is still a very personal space and added, “You want to be careful. In all marketing, people are looking for something special.” Bare is also concentrating on SMS and mentioned Hive. “They are built for the entertainment industry and have SMS and email built in together so, when you run segments and when you do reporting, you can see it side by side.”
Goldhahn believes creative is moving toward short-term video, especially with the launch of YouTube Shorts. Pastel color palettes and color minimalism are trending too.
Philhower’s panelists are bullish on using QR codes to pull people into the digital world by incorporating these codes into traditional marketing, like out-of-home buys and posters. Bare recommends paying for a professional service to avoid piggy-backing onto your data or spreading malware. Professional services can also use QR codes to send texts, which is a way to pick up phone numbers. Everyone agrees that QR codes on on-site video boards is great for encouraging sign up for SMS lists.
Final Words of Wisdom
Cappelli: Invest in your marketing team. “A lot of people think they know digital marketing or social media because they have their own Instagram. But there’s so much more to it than people realize. Have a team that understands content and that really understands the paid side and targeting. That’s crucial.”
Goldhahn: Be mindful of each platform, each audience and differentiate. “Here’s another thing where we’ve had great success on YouTube: adding the hidden hashtags and use misspellings that people will type in and the video will come up.”
Bare: Don’t try to do everything. “Digital marketing can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have the professional staffing that you need. Work your way down a list and, for me, that list starts with email. Make sure you are retargeting with email. ‘Opened the Email But Didn’t Buy’ is a really hot list for retargeting. I might lump SMS in there as well. Facebook and Instagram are still king among social. We like to look past them but they’re still where a lot of your buyers are going to be. YouTube would be a distant third. There are so silver bullets so we have to do all the things, as well as we can. Start with small bites and you will look back and see how much data you’ve collected. If you’re doing this right, it will get easier over time – not harder.”
Philhower: Make sure paid and organic work together. “Paid can amplify things that are working organically. And organic can set up paid to have the right messaging and brand position. AND be on TikTok!! With the right voice and content.”
“… ONLY with the right content” Cappelli quickly added. “It’s quality over quantity. It’s better to be really good on Instagram than be on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Don’t go on a platform unless you have a solid strategy.”