Overcoming Obstacles to Ticket Sales 

Let’s face it….Selling tickets is not always easy and definitely can get you out of your comfort zone! At Afton Shows, one of our main goals is to help artists overcome ticket sale slumps with some simple strategies! Here are some of the main roadblocks we hear, and suggestions on how to approach your fans in each scenario.

1. Why is no one responding to my outreach?

Identify why fans are not buying. If you’re blasting and texting and posting the online ticket link and no one’s buying, think about a new approach, don’t keep doing something that isn’t working. For example, direct message your fans and ask for an actionable response such as “Can I count on you to go to the show? Yes or No?” Fans cannot ignore you if you are directly engaging with them 1on1 with a specific question.

Create value in your fan’s mind and tell them how awesome your live shows are, how much fun they are, why they need to go to the show, etc. Do something special at your show, add incentives, explain how they will help your career, talk up the venue or other artists. This is very much like a sales position, you have a product and you are the only one that can truly shine light on the value of your music and live performance.

2. Fans say they aren’t sure they can attend. 

Explain how their early commitment HELPS you get more perks, pay, better time slot etc. Treat it like a special party that they don’t want to miss and is important to you. 

3. Fans say they will come out to the next one. 

Explain that every show you play is important because it’s building your career and your fanbase. More opportunities will open up for you if you get people engage and attending all your shows! 

4. Fans keep saying they’ll buy tickets but they have not yet.

Call them out. Physically pull out a ticket for them to buy… Have tickets on you at all times so they never have an excuse. 

5. As the artist, I can’t control my fans behavior or I can’t get them to buy tickets

Change your attitude, think positively. Mindset becomes action, so try approaching your fans in a different way that brings value and excitement to your show. 

6. Fans say they will buy at the door. 

No, they won’t. Explain to them why that doesn’t help you and stresses you out. 

7. Fans don’t have the money for a ticket.

Offer incentives for them… Put together a “street team” that gives out a free ticket to any fans who sell 3 tickets to people they know in their network. Add value to the purchase with merch, music downloads, afterparty etc. 

8. Fans can’t drive to meet you for a cash ticket and they don’t want to pay online service fees.

Tell them to PayPal/Venmo/CashApp you the money and you can validate their cash ticket in your MyAfton account and put their name on the will call list. 

9. As the artist, you don’t know that many people in the area

Make a list of your 2-5 closest friends/co-workers/relatives and ask for their help in bringing people they know out to the show. Talk to them honestly and let them know they can have a huge impact on your career if they help you build a fan base. 

10. As the artist, nobody else in your group is willing to help you sell tickets.

Insist that everyone must do their part in order to perform. Working as a group is way easier than doing it alone. Create a requirement that each member must sell 5 tickets minimum in order to be part of the show. If you want to have featured artists during your set, ask that they get the word out about the show and sell tickets in exchange for the exposure. 

As you can see, there is alway an answer or work around for any obstacle you encounter. Comment below if we missed some excuses your fans have given you and what you did to overcome them! 

Other Resources

How Your Unsigned Band is Like a Startup

Believe In Yourself

Local Shows In Your City

The post Overcoming Obstacles to Ticket Sales appeared first on Afton.

Putting it All Together

In the last 4 articles we went over all of the promo plan steps for various benchmarks leading up to your show. In this article we will go over extra tips that we have for you.

Breaking It Down – Decide On Weekly Ticket Goals

If you wait until the last minute to sell tickets, trust me, you’re going to find yourself 24-48 hours out from the show with 0 pre-sales! You’ll end up super stressed out, feeling like nobody wants to come watch you perform, and you’ll wonder how you’re going to sell 20 Tickets in 1-2 days. It’s my job to help you AVOID this situation. 

Instead, each week make sure all of your group members are actively helping you hit small, achievable ticket sales goals. The sooner you have 5 sold, then 10 sold, then 15 sold, etc. the sooner you’re going to see how easy it is to get everyone you know out to this show. Don’t wait. Even getting 2-3 sold immediately will help get your promotion machine primed and ready to go. 

Is Each Member Actively Helping Promote?

Don’t let your group members rely solely on you to sell all of the tickets! That’s not fair, and it will severely cripple your maximum draw potential. It’s important that you and your members each agree on small, easily achievable ticket sales goal.

For example, if you make it a goal for all 4 members in your group to sell 3 tickets each per week, you’ll easily have 48 tickets sold in 4 weeks. It’s easy to draw a lot of people if each member is committed to your promo goals. Remind group members, effective promotion is just as important as your rehearsals.

We hope that our all our tips that we have gone through will be a great help for you! If you are booking a show with us (Afton) be sure to also reach out to your booking with questions. They are there to help you succeed!

Other Resources

Afton Promo Plan: 30 Days Our From Your Show

Afton Promo Plan: The Week Of Your Show!

Local Shows In Your City

The post MyAfton Promo Plan: Extra Tips appeared first on Afton.

A New Series

Our last article we continued our MyAfton Promo Plan where we walked you through the promotional process for your show. For this article we will continue from there but focus more on the week of your show.

Your Time To Shine

Your show is now less than a week away. You’ve been rehearsing for weeks, preparing, thinking about everything from promotion to transportation to your set list. You have a lot going on. This close to the show is it too late to get more tickets sold?

No. It’s not too late! You’ve already made ticket sales to the easy fans (haven’t you)? You’ve already split up the promo workload amongst all members, and broken down your ticket sales goals each week in small chunks. right?

Now is the most crucial time to make your ticket sales double, triple, quadruple, etc.

What About The ‘Maybes’

You probably have a bunch of “maybe’s,” “I don’t know’s,” and “Don’t worry I’ll pay the higher door price night of!” fans who have not bought a ticket yet. IF you let those people go, if you don’t follow up, if you don’t get them to buy a ticket and commit – then they are going to bail. After over 10,000 concerts, our data has shown time and time again that fans who have not bought a ticket are more than 80% likely to never show up. So now’s the time to get those friends to commit.

The Final Plan

So here’s what you do. From now until show time, have all members do an all out promo blitz. Use that list you made of every person that you and your group members personally know.

Text, Facebook message, and email anyone who has not given you a hard no over the next few days. Tell them why they should come see you play, tell them about your incentives if they bring friends, tell them why it would mean so much to see them out in the crowd. Give them a CALL TO ACTION. Literally ask them to reply back if they are going to skip it or buy a ticket. Ask them to not leave you hanging. Remember, if they say they can’t go – you can ask them to tell their friends about the show and it’s one less person you have to follow up with. When someone says they are going to buy a ticket, politely ask them to tell you once they purchase so you can note that on your promo checklist.

Next, you can go through your list of people who have already bought tickets and ask them to bring friends. Click the Ticket Sales link in your MyAfton.com account to see the list of people who have bought tickets online. We provide you with their email address. Tell them about your INCENTIVES and what they get if they bring 1, 2, 3+ new friends to your show. They want to help you, and they like you and your music, otherwise they wouldn’t even be coming to your show! Don’t be shy to politely ask them for a favor!

It All Comes Together

Everyone has worked hard to make this show a success. Don’t let this last week of promo opportunities slip by. If you keep focused on the end goal here (getting AS MANY people as possible to your show), then I am confident you will be surprised by how many tickets you can get sold by show time.

I want you to envision what your show looks like this week if you have only 5 fans scattered in the crowd and how that will feel. Then envision what it will feel like when you have 25, 50, 100+ fans specifically waiting to see you, all piled up against the front of the stage. Let’s make this show awesome and something your fans talk about for months to come.

Thanks reading our article about promoting the week of your show! That is it for the MyAfton Promo Plan series. Keep an eye on our blog for more tips!

Other Resources

What Temperature Are Your Fans?

Maximize Promo Codes to Get Fans to Buy Tickets Now!

Local Shows In Your City

The post MyAfton Promo Plan: The Week Of Your Show! appeared first on Afton.

A New Series

Our last article we continued our MyAfton Promo Plan where we walked you through the promotional process for your show. For this article we will continue from there but focus more on 14+ days out from the show.

Promotion Can Be Hard

For a lot of artists, self promotion is hard, or it’s uncomfortable, or it just feels weird. But if you really think about it, who is in the best position to promote your music and to make long lasting connections to your soon to be fan base? You are.

Nobody else in the world cares as much about your songs, your music, or the art you’ve created. Nobody else in the world will ever care as much as you do. So that’s why it is crucial that you learn to be an effective, self promoting machine.

We can call all of your fans and invite them to your show, a venue can email your friends to try and get them to buy tickets, but the fact is the most likely way your fans and friends are going to attend your show is if you invite them personally, face to face. If you connect with them, and if you show them how much you care about your music. No other entity or company can replace that vital and much needed connection that it takes for you to get new fans out to your show.

Practice Makes Perfect

We get it. Self promotion is harder for some artists than it is others. But here’s the good news: Just like with anything else – the more you do it, the more you practice it, and the more you believe in it – the better you get. The question you have to ask yourself is, are you willing to put in the work it takes to play in front of 200+ people? Or to be the local artist in your city that draws more fans than anyone else?

Your music is good. We already know that, you know that. That’s why we booked you for this show. But there are literally tens of thousands of “really great” bands and rappers out there who don’t know how to self promote and who draw 0-10 fans when they play live.

Making The Connection

If you can make that final step, and combine your great music, great live show, and your artistry with the ability to effectively self promote and draw 25, 50, 100+ fans per show? You will STAND OUT from every other band or rapper in your area. You will get booked more. You will even get booked over acts who musically are better than you are.

Many artists are musically as good as you, or even better. And you only have so much control over that. But you have complete control over how quickly you build your fan base. Our goal is to teach all of our artists the importance of self promotion and the importance of advance ticket sales. Because even after the shows you play, those promotion skills and that confidence is going to help you in every single show you ever play.

It All Pays Off!

So think on that for a few days. Keep carrying flyers and physical cash tickets with you everywhere you go. Keep having those interactions, those conversations with friends, fans, and strangers. It will pay off when you are standing in front of a crowd of 50 of your fans, screaming at the front of the stage while all of the other artists, venue staff, and other act’s fans take notice that you are a worthwhile, interesting act with a lot of buzz. THAT is how you make new fans at your show, and that is how you stand out from everybody else.

Thanks reading our article about promoting 14+ days out from your show! Stay Tuned for our Next blog article in our Myafton Promo Plan series!

Other Resources

MyAfton Promo Plan The Week of The Show

Local Shows In Your City

The post MyAfton Promo Plan: 14 Days Out From Your Show! appeared first on Afton.

A New Series

Our last article we introduced you to our new series where we walked you through the promotional process for your show. For this article we will continue from there but focus more on 21+ days out from the show.

Dont Play For An Empty Room

Playing to an empty room sucks. We’ve all been there. It’s awkward. You feel like a loser. If there are 15 people in the crowd you don’t make any fans because you look like a lame artist who has no buzz, no following, etc. why even haul your gear down to a venue to play for nobody? Who wants to spend 15 hours promoting a show and have 5 people show up? We don’t want you to have a bad show. And that’s why we want our artists to really understand this simple concept: The more promotional effort you put into this show, the more you’ll get out of it.

The more tickets you sell, the more you get paid and the bigger the crowd will be. The more tickets the other acts sell will add to the crowd and get you exposure. It’s all symbiotic, and it should be win-win for everyone involved (you, the other artists and the venue) if we all work together to get as many tickets pre-sold as possible.

Sometimes Fans Come Up With Excuses

One of the best ways to ensure a show is amazing, fun, and fulfilling is by having a lot of people show up. So if you’re wondering why we are so into effective promotion, and ticket sales, that is why! There’s no point in us putting on this show, the venue hosting the show, or you performing at this show if nobody is going to show up. 

We’ve all been there. Without any pre sales, there’s no way to know if anybody is even going to show up to see you play. Most of the time fans flake out, which makes perfect sense. Fans have 100 different reasons that come up the day of your show to skip it – something else comes along, they’re tired and decide to stay home, they had a stressful day and just want to stay in, the list goes on.

Our staff members have admitted to skipping a close friend’s Birthday party because of one of the above reasons. Yet none of our staff has missed a concert that they already bought an online ticket for. Once financially committed, your fans officially put your concert on their calendar. It’s what they’re going to do that night, especially since they already paid for it.

You Just Have To Work For It

You just have to ask your band members. Do you want to spend 15 or 20 hours of promotion to end up with a draw of 5-10 fans? Or do you want to effectively utilize your promo time and make that important last step with each fan so they buy a ticket in advance?

There’s no reason this show can’t have 200+ fans in the crowd. If we didn’t believe that, we would not choose to book regional and local unsigned artists. You just need to work for it, and work hard enough to get the results you’re looking for.

Thanks reading our article about promoting 21+ days out from your show! Stay Tuned for our Next blog article in our Myafton Promo Plan series!

Other Resources

MyAfton Promo Plan 14 Days Out From The Show

MyAfton Promo Plan The Week of The Show

Local Shows In Your City

The post MyAfton Promo Plan: 21 Days Out From Your Show! appeared first on Afton.

A New Series

Welcome to our MyAfton Promo Plan blog article. In this series we will be going through our weekly process for promo tips leading up to your next show In this particular article we will be focusing on tips when you are 30+ days out from your show.

Promoting In Advance!

A lot of acts “get the word out” about their show 30+ days in advance, or put up a few flyers. But they never really make any real progress. These acts think it’s fine to wait until the week of (or day of) the show for all of their fans to buy tickets. But the problem is, the longer you WAIT to start getting tickets sold, the longer you perpetuate the sinking feeling, “Will anyone end up coming to my show?” As time goes on you start to lose confidence, and you start to wonder if anyone really cares enough to come see you play.

The good news is, as soon as you start getting actual ticket sales, even if it’s just 2 or 3 or 5 tickets – you start to build momentum in your confidence, your promotion, your commitment, and the word of mouth.

Getting The Ball Rolling

Acts that get 2, 3 or even 5 tickets sold within the 1st week of being booked have a much larger draw on average and are much less likely to end up with 0 pre sales with 24 hours until show time.

My goal is to make this show a success. What does that mean? Largely, that means a lot of tickets sold and 200+ people in the crowd. I don’t want the acts I book to WAIT until last minute to get tickets sold, or find out last minute their promo tactics did not work. Or find out last minute that their group members were lazy when it came to promotion.

We can make the time you spend promoting for this show less stressful, more fun, and more encouraging by breaking down ticket sales goals into small chunks. 

Try it out!

Keeping The Ball Rolling

In the next 2 days make it a goal for each member to sell just 1 ticket. Just 1 each. You can do that in your sleep. Once you do that, every member of your group will see that all it takes to draw 20, 30, 50, or even 100+ fans are the right promo strategies, confidence, and a belief in yourself and in your music. People you know will want to see you perform live. You just have to be excited! Give them a heartfelt invite, and give them a reason to buy a ticket right now.

Extra Tips (For Afton Events)

EXPLAIN TO FANS WHY BUYING A TICKET NOW HELPS YOU – AND THEM:

1. Fan Saves Money… 

• Buying now saves the fan money, advance tickets are cheaper than door.

• PLUS they save even more money by buying right now with your Promo Code discount! 

• If they buy a cash ticket directly from you they can skip the online service fee. 

2. Explain to fans how much they are helping you… 

• “By coming to my show and bringing friends, you help me impress the other act’s fans in the crowd and it shows every person in the venue that I have a buzz.” 

• “By buying now it helps me get more perks, better time slot, more pay, and helps me get booked again for more shows.” 

• “By buying a ticket now, it helps me get other people out that know you. So and so (name a few of their friends) will want to go to the show if you’re there!” 

• “By buying a ticket now you help save me some stress! It sucks never knowing who is going to show up, or if anybody is going to show up. I want to make this show big. It’s important to me. So if you intend to go, and if you want to go, can you get a ticket now for me?” 

3. Fans buying now helps you too… 

• It ensures that they attend and don’t make other plans. 

• It ensures they put you on their calendar and talk about your show for 30+ days to friends. 

• They’re more likely to invite their friends if they’re already going for sure. 

• It helps you get more perks, more pay, better time slot, etc. 

• It ensures you have a crowd at the front of the stage excited to see your act perform. That is how you impress the other artists, the venue, and the other act’s fans! It’s easier to make new fans when you seem to be the biggest and most buzz worthy artist on the show!

Thanks reading and stay Tuned for our Next blog article in our Myafton Promo Plan series!

Other Resources

MyAfton Promo Plan 21 Days Out From The Show

MyAfton Promo Plan 14 Days Out From The Show

MyAfton Promo Plan The Week of The Show

Local Shows In Your City

The post MyAfton Promo Plan: 30+ Days Out From Your Show! appeared first on Afton.