Saffire Blog

Prepping Your Online Marketing Before Your Big Event!

We all know the pressure rises as time starts to tick away getting closer to the “BIG DAY.” Of course we’d love to schedule every little feature and post long in advance of our event, but we don’t always have that luxury or organization (procrastinators raise your hands). So we’ve come up with a few … Continue reading “Prepping Your Online Marketing Before Your Big Event!”

We all know the pressure rises as time starts to tick away getting closer to the “BIG DAY.” Of course we’d love to schedule every little feature and post long in advance of our event, but we don’t always have that luxury or organization (procrastinators raise your hands). So we’ve come up with a few things we think are a must for you to tweak to refresh your online marketing and give your customers something new and exciting to look at while keeping your key ingredients in the mix.

Homepage Update

Imagery: Who wants to look at the same old info and same old photos day in and day out, year-round? No one! We know it can take some effort to locate images or files that are worthy of your homepage, but it will be SO worth it! The likelihood of an image getting clicked on (taking your customer further into your website – thus, closer to making a purchase or deciding to attend) is much greater than just a link or a page in your drop down menu. What does that tell us? We need to have fresh and inviting photography on our homepage. Make the effort to find images from recent events that are action-packed or evoke a personal emotion and put those pictures on your homepage to get your customers clicking!

Dates/Hours/Times: One way to really drive home your customer loyalty and comfort with your website is to make the dates of your event incredibly clear on your website (for fun, you may even want to include a countdown). Be sure that your dates are in a legible font, very large, and if you can, put them in the header of your website so that they are on every page. Then be sure your customer has access to your specific hours of operation so they know how early they can show up and how late they can leave. We know that during your event you don’t have time to answer the phone, and your website is your first line of defense against the #1 question asked: “What are your hours?” So save yourself some time and put that information in an accessible (dare I say obvious) place on your website. Your customers will feel confidence and enjoy their experience on your website if they know exactly when they should attend.

Email

We can’t say it enough, email marketing is not dead. At about two months before your event, you should start pinging your customers and letting them know you’re getting geared up for your event and that they should jump on board with the excitement. A trickle of announcements can be the best way to peak interest and keep them coming back for more. We recommend that EVERY day of your event you remind folks what’s going on at your facility so they can be prepared as they make plans. Things like parking, ticket prices at the gate, and major performances will always encourage attendance and turn those last minute decision makers into buying customers.

Ecommerce

Are you selling your tickets in advance online? What about carnival items like wristbands and tokens or sponsorships and vendor registrations? Collecting money through your website is one sure-fire way to guarantee money in the bank before your event starts and put a little bit of cushion in your pockets. However, be sure that you’ve got all of your prices in order well in advance. Scheduling a ticket for sale for your early bird specials is a great way to increase traffic to your website AND ease your own anxieties about revenue.

Social Media

It’s how people stay connected, why not keep them connected to your brand by beginning to engage them weeks before your event? Lucky for you, social media is available on mobile and your customers are starting to spend more and more time on their cell phones and tablets rather than their computers. Drive traffic to your website through exciting posts (again with imagery), contests, and promotions on discounted tickets or sale items! If you’re not catching your customers on mobile, you might be missing them altogether. Do yourself a favor and start to really focus your efforts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even YouTube–let’s get that name recognition growing!

Creating Photography That Pops, Part II

In our last Dirt we shared some tips on Creating Photography That Pops, with suggestions for tricks to use when taking pictures. This week we wanted to share some of our favorite online tools for editing those pictures to help take them to the next level of interest and intrigue. Check out these tools to … Continue reading “Creating Photography That Pops, Part II”

In our last Dirt we shared some tips on Creating Photography That Pops, with suggestions for tricks to use when taking pictures. This week we wanted to share some of our favorite online tools for editing those pictures to help take them to the next level of interest and intrigue. Check out these tools to easily add filters & text to any photo, and to size them appropriately for social media posts.

Canva: One of our favorite new tools to use this year has been Canva. It provides several options for different types of layout templates for you to choose to start from. Whether you’re creating social posts, blog article graphics or presentations, Canva allows you to choose from a variety of free or very low cost layout templates, that are already sized appropriately for the type of project you’re working on. From there, you upload your photo, and then have fun changing text, backgrounds, borders, shapes and colors. It’s a great way to take an ordinary image and turn it into a call to action in your social posts. Check it out here: https://www.canva.com/

Pixlr: For a more advanced option you can check out Pixlr, for tools very similar to Photoshop. This is a great resource for resizing images, eliminating red eye, correcting blemishes in the photo, adding text and many other items. If you have some experience with Photoshop but no longer have access to Photoshop, you’ll feel very comfortable navigating around this tool. But beware, it’s not quite as sophisticated as Photoshop so adding many layers to the image can start to make the image look a bit distorted. Check it out here: http://pixlr.com/

For mobile photo editing, we’ve bit the bullet and spent that coveted $0.99 on a few great apps, but there are some Free options as well.

Afterlight ($0.99): We used this great tool in a recent campaign as we counted down the days to Opening Day of the Fair. With their easy-to-use overlay options we were able to spark a fun series of posts for social media. Check it out in the iTunes App Store.

Pic Stitch (Free): This app helps you build fun collages of pictures helping to add a little interest to normal snapshots. We like to use this app as we’re visiting our clients to capture the feel of the whole day. Check it out in the iTunes App Store.

A Beautiful Mess ($0.99): For a hand drawn touch, this app allows you to add doodles, borders and fun phrases to your images that are hand-drawn by Elsie and Emma, creators of the award-winning lifestyle blog, “A Beautiful Mess.” We like to use this tool for adding a personal touch to some of our “behind-the-scenes of Saffire” photos. Check it out in the iTunes App Store.

Key Elements of a Daily Highlights Email

Do you email your customers? If you don’t, but want a simple “how to” to get you started, just follow the example of our very first Saffire client, Rodeo Austin. Rodeo Austin sends out emails before their event (which of course, we highly recommend!), but this example is a “daily highlights” email. It has 5 … Continue reading “Key Elements of a Daily Highlights Email”

Do you email your customers? If you don’t, but want a simple “how to” to get you started, just follow the example of our very first Saffire client, Rodeo Austin.

Rodeo Austin sends out emails before their event (which of course, we highly recommend!), but this example is a “daily highlights” email. It has 5 key elements, which we outline below.

The good news? You can schedule these emails months in advance to go out during your event! So put it on your calendar, and we promise you’ll see your revenue and attendance increase!

Creating Photography That Pops!

The popularity of sharing photos on the web makes photography one of your most important online marketing tools. But, if you’ve ever been to an event or venue, you might have noticed that shooting photos can be tricky because there is so much going on that you want to capture it all! Fortunately, there are … Continue reading “Creating Photography That Pops!”

The popularity of sharing photos on the web makes photography one of your most important online marketing tools. But, if you’ve ever been to an event or venue, you might have noticed that shooting photos can be tricky because there is so much going on that you want to capture it all! Fortunately, there are simple things you can do that will allow you to capture all of the excitement without sacrificing the quality of your photos. Here are some of our favorite tips and tricks to help you take photos that pop:

Rule of Thirds. Picture a tic-tac-toe board on the lens of your camera and then put the subject of your shot along those lines. This is especially true when you’re shooting with one singular subject such as a person, a monument, or a skyline. This is a basic composition tip that will make your photos look more visually appealing than when your subject is dead center.

Keep it simple. A common photography mistake is trying to capture too many things in the lens at once. Unless you’re going for a shot of the landscape, you should focus on one major element because too many elements can be distracting from the main point of your photo. If you can find a cute kid or a cute animal and capture just that, you’ll be off to a great start!

Light it up. Pay attention to the lighting around you before you take a shot, because bad lighting can make your photos look grainy or blurry. Unless you’re going for a silhouette effect, it’s usually best to shoot your subject with the sun behind you (the photographer). The sun emphasizes shadows, and this can help to create some really awesome dramatic effects to your photos!

Get close to the action. Elbow your way in if you have to, but try and get up close and personal with the subject of your shot. You don’t want to miss out on awesome photo opportunities by accidentally capturing distracting elements in your shot because you were too far away. Putting in a little extra effort to get closer can open up the possibility of getting an unbelievable photo!

Consider using angles. Think outside of the box when it comes to the angle that you’re shooting from. Choosing a different point of view can help add an interesting perspective or extra drama to the subject of your shot. But of course, use discretion with this tip because the beauty of it is that it’s not used too often—consider it your smoking gun!

Maximizing the quality of your photos is a major way that you can improve your online presence, and these five tips can help to get you on the right track. People are always going to be sharing photos on the web and on social media, so you definitely want those photos to represent your event in the best way possible!

Web Design-on-a-Dime

We all know the importance of having a great online presence, but now with so many websites and apps out there it’s easy to get lost in all the online “noise.” The good news is you can break through the clutter with standout design, and there are so many inexpensive ways to create unique images … Continue reading “Web Design-on-a-Dime”

We all know the importance of having a great online presence, but now with so many websites and apps out there it’s easy to get lost in all the online “noise.”

The good news is you can break through the clutter with standout design, and there are so many inexpensive ways to create unique images and looks that will make your site pop. Here are some of our favorite tools for designing on a dime.

Try Canva. Www.canva.com is a new, free online tool that we love! You can create anything from online graphics to posters to business cards using their library of graphics and fonts. They make it easy to turn a blank canvas into something awesome. It’s easy to be bogged down with complicated software like Photoshop or Illustrator, but Canva has simplified graphic design in a way that makes it really fun.
Good photography goes a long way. One of the most important parts of your online marketing is photography. You definitely don’t have to hire a professional (although we’d never argue against it), but there are simple things you can do to make your pictures pop. Using the rule of thirds and making sure you have good lighting can make a huge difference in the quality of your photos. After all, sharing photos is one of the most popular activities on social media, so it’s best to provide great photos!
Use Designspiration. Www.designspiration.net is a great place to help you find and share design ideas. You can create an account and save your favorite illustrations, typography, graphics, and anything that inspires you so that you can reference it later. Another cool feature of this site is that you can pick up to five specific colors and Designspiration will filter its archive so that you can see how other people have used those colors in their own designs.
Find a standout color palette. Www.colourlovers.com is an online resource that offers over a million different color palettes and all of their details. Using the right colors in your designs is important because they can actually effect how people think of your brand. You don’t want to turn people off by having colors that clash or send the wrong message, and COLOURlovers offers you a way to find palettes that just work together. (Hint: this is a great tool to use when you’re about to create something on Canva.)
Just say “no” to clipart. Yes, it’s free, but it’s a thing of the past. Clipart has a way of making a website look generic and outdated, which is the opposite of what you want visitors to think of when they come to your site.

Getting inspired and finding easy, free online tools can really change designing graphics from a daunting task into something fun and rewarding. You don’t have to be an artist or a designer to be able to create something awesome for you site, but trying out these five things can help you feel like a pro!

Social & Email: They Go Together Like Peanut Butter & Jelly

Have you noticed a drop in your customer’s engagement on social media over the past few months? Are fewer people seeing your event or venue’s posts than ever before? Whether you’ve realized it or not, the unfortunate reality is your business Facebook page is likely suffering from both of these issues. In December, many brands … Continue reading “Social & Email: They Go Together Like Peanut Butter & Jelly”

Have you noticed a drop in your customer’s engagement on social media over the past few months? Are fewer people seeing your event or venue’s posts than ever before? Whether you’ve realized it or not, the unfortunate reality is your business Facebook page is likely suffering from both of these issues. In December, many brands saw an average 44% decrease in organic reach to their content and engaged users dropped over 35% from 16% to 3%.

Regardless of how many fans have “Liked” your business page, Facebook has implemented an algorithm to determine how many of those fans will actually ever see an individual post from your event or venue in their news feed. They test whether it’s a “good” post by showing it in a small fraction of your fans’ news feeds and see what their engagement is. If the post receives lots of likes, shares and comments, then they’ll increase the number of people who can see that post by continuing to place it in other fans’ news feeds. The more engagement it receives the larger the audience it will reach.

So what’s a business to do? Here are some tips for this new world:

Mimic what your audience is already talking about. If your fans are talking about the Super Bowl, mention your favorite ad. If there’s a new development in your city or county, get involved in the conversation. Having a lot of content is good, but these days, context is king. Your fans will be more engaged if you’re talking about the same things they’re talking about.
Share “jabs,” non-direct to what you sell. Aim to hit an emotion so hard that the customer wants to share it because it will say as much about them as your event. We think of jabs as continuous ongoing blurbs to stay relevant in your fans’ news feeds, so when you deliver the “punch” of an actual marketing message, they’re already used to seeing your event or venue’s brand, and are more open to hearing what you have to say.
Be a real person, like a friend. Share things that will make them laugh as well as useful information they can utilize. Leverage pop-culture by sharing the music you’re listening to and the shows you’re watching. These can easily transition to the artists performing at your events.
Advertise. In today’s new world of Facebook, it is becoming a necessity to pay to have your posts seen. There are lots of options for boosting your posts, be it individual posts or every post. We strongly suggest you consider devoting a small budget a day to increase the number of people seeing your posts to increase the chances of engagement. Even $3/day to boost all posts could go a long way.

So how does email fit in the picture? Unlike social media, you own your email lists. Facebook will continue to regulate the type of interaction you can have with your fans in their environment, but via email, you’re able to control your own destiny. You determine how often your most loyal customers hear from you, and what message they will receive. Social media will continue to be a mainstay of your marketing plan, but we don’t want anyone to lose sight of this valuable tool. Checking work and personal email remains the number 1 activity on mobile devices, so hit your customers where they are. Cross-promoting between social and email is also crucial. Include an email sign-up option on your Facebook page, and link your emails to your social sites. Increasing awareness between the two will continue to boost your fans engagement.

Increase Revenue with Online Ticket Sales & Registrations

We all know that we should be selling online, and if we already are, we know it could be better. We’ve come up with the 3 key places you need to post your tickets and registration forms on your website to increase incremental and advanced revenue. Let’s kick off this discussion with the #1 most important place to … Continue reading “Increase Revenue with Online Ticket Sales & Registrations”

We all know that we should be selling online, and if we already are, we know it could be better. We’ve come up with the 3 key places you need to post your tickets and registration forms on your website to increase incremental and advanced revenue.

Let’s kick off this discussion with the #1 most important place to let people know you have something for sale-your HOMEPAGE:

A BUY NOW button on your homepage is the #1 way to get those hot leads to add a ticket to their shopping cart when they first land on your website! Don’t let a customer who is your strongest lead in the sales cycle get lost because they can’t purchase the first thing they like. For example, you can hover over any of the Delaware State Fair’s off season “Get It Now!” items to “Buy Now!”

A Ticket Mall on your website is another great way to capture those strong leads that know they’re ready to purchase and attend but aren’t quite sure what event or date they want to buy just yet. A call-to-action link or icon on your homepage to access every item available for sale online is the best way to capture someone who brought their pocket book to your virtual front door. For example, Greeley Stampede has 1 rollover but 2 call-to-action links to get customers to click to their ticket gateway!

An image on your homepage that links to a more detailed page of the item you’re selling. (Saffire Tip: Putting plenty of clickable features on your homepage will allow your customer to get more comfortable with your site. Getting them to click anything once increases their likelihood of purchasing!) If your customer is set on attending a specific event, or wants to purchase a specific piece of merchandise that they see on your homepage, then let them get the details by clicking that image.

An interactive EVENT SCHEDULE is the next best place to make your items for sale, because one of the top reasons customers come to your website is actually to find out “what’s going on, when is it going on, and how can I be a part of it?”

A place on your schedule where every event has a BUY NOW button is a great way to secure your customers cash early. Don’t let them get lost in your list of events happening, or space available for rent. Instead, make it easy for them to be confident in the purchase they’re making. Black Hills Stock Show has really put their best foot forward as far as their events schedule goes, and it’s easy for their customers to get what they want from an expanded view of events

Have too much going on? Have a ROLLOVER on events with items for sale. If your customer is interested in the name of an event or item, they’ll get more information as well as the chance to purchase right from your schedule.

Finally, does your customer still have access to that all encompassing Ticket Mall? Don’t allow them to get lost in the midst of the many events on your schedule, if they’re a medium lead we still want them to have access to a page on your website or a page with every item available on your ticket provider’s website.

#3 would be EVENT DETAILS or REGISTRATION PAGE. We have a lot of ideas of how to “close the sale” when even your weakest of leads (with the lowest tendency to purchase) gets to the last page where they can make a purchase.

Keep the event-specific page clean. You want the content or text of that page to be short and to the point. A brief bio of your performer or the type of tour that you have will keep your customer interested without overwhelming them with too much reading.
Be sure that every type of ticket (or registration) you have for sale is available on this details page.
Use imagery and photography to make the page appealing. Action shots, people looking into the camera, or images of iconic symbols from your event will help your customer maintain their confidence as they go through the purchasing cycle on your website.

Final thoughts:

Whether you’re selling tickets, memberships or registrations directly from your website, or you are using a ticketing or merchant services provider, we believe making a “BUY NOW” button available to your customer is a call to action for purchase! Using the right verbiage can give you a better shot of capturing revenue in advance.
If your customer has to leave your website to complete their purchase, be sure your branding is carried across all the way through the buying process. Also, check that any instructions or directions important to the purchase are clearly stated at the point of sale.
Sell packages in advance of your event. Maybe you can’t offer huge discounts for early buyers, but remember they’re more willing to commit to a larger sale when your event is more than a few weeks out. Use this opportunity to increase incremental revenue as your customer’s ticket cost won’t be spent at the gate.

We believe a quick clean up and audit of how your customer goes through the sales cycle is something every event or venue needs to evaluate each year. Now is the time to get your buttons, schedule(s), and pages in order so that you can focus your marketing efforts on getting your audience back to your website where they can have the confidence to purchase from you online!

5 Trends That Will Shape Online Marketing in 2014

1. Website Optimization For Multi-Screen Use We might be beating a dead horse on this one, but every website needs to be optimized for mobile and tablet use. Nielson reported that 61% of mobile phone users now use smart phones, so having a mobile-friendly site needs to be your top priority. Additionally, 54% of people … Continue reading “5 Trends That Will Shape Online Marketing in 2014”

1. Website Optimization For Multi-Screen Use
We might be beating a dead horse on this one, but every website needs to be optimized for mobile and tablet use. Nielson reported that 61% of mobile phone users now use smart phones, so having a mobile-friendly site needs to be your top priority. Additionally, 54% of people who frequently make purchases online own a tablet, so you can’t afford not to have a site that’s accessible across multiple screens.

2. Image-Based Content Will Dominate
Consumers are hit with a ridiculous amount of ads every day, so your content needs to be quickly and easily digestible in order to break through the clutter. The rapidly growing success of Instagram and Pinterest are a testament to the power of image-centric content. Not to mention, everybody and their mother uses Facebook, and photos get shared at least twice as much as text posts. That’s not to say that written content is dead, but having images to complement it can be beneficial for your online marketing. Infographics are a good example of combining images with text in order to provide important info or data to your customers.

3. Targeted Emails Will Increase Sales
Consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand they feel connected with. Don’t just send out mass emails and hope that someone responds, provide your customers with custom content based on their behavior. Many email marketing platforms allow you to see how customers have interacted with previous email campaigns, such as who opened them, unsubscribed, or clicked provided links. Use this information to your advantage! The more you pay attention to the success of your email campaigns, the more knowledge you gain about consumer behaviors and trends.

4. Video Consumption Will Increase
We all know that video has been around way longer than smart phones, tablets, and social media, but now it’s actually becoming more relevant to online marketing than ever. Whether it’s fun or educational, consumers are looking at video content to learn about your business. It’s also an easy way to create a relationship between you and your customers – hello, video customer service! Not to mention, videos are also shared 12 times more than text or link posts on social media, giving your content a better shot at going viral.

5. Sponsored Social Advertising Will Rise
Thanks to increasingly sophisticated targeting tools, paid social advertising allows you to place relevant content directly in front of your target audience. According to Adroll, Facebook news feed ads are 49 times more likely to be clicked on than right-side ads. The success of right-side and banner ads has been driven into the ground because they are grossly overused—but this has made way for a new type of social advertising. The success of sponsored Facebook posts will only accelerate this trend as other social platforms like Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram jump on the bandwagon.

Top 5 Resolutions to Market your Event Year Around in 2014

Be bigger than yourself: Show people that you care about more than just your own event. Community outreach, supporting good causes, and promoting other events in the area are a great way to get involved and keep your event’s name relevant to the community year-round. Not to mention, this gives you something interesting to … Continue reading “Top 5 Resolutions to Market your Event Year Around in 2014”

Be bigger than yourself: Show people that you care about more than just your own event. Community outreach, supporting good causes, and promoting other events in the area are a great way to get involved and keep your event’s name relevant to the community year-round. Not to mention, this gives you something interesting to add to your emails and social media posts!
Be active on social media: Don’t just be active, be engaging, because the best way to get your content to go viral is to make it highly interactive. For example, creative Facebook contests are a fun way to encourage followers to interact with your posts.
Use teasers to your advantage: Don’t announce all of your event’s entertainment at once. The performers you’ve booked are one of the most exciting aspects of your event, so keep your audience hooked by releasing entertainment announcements once or twice a week. This will encourage event-goers to frequently check their emails and visit your social media sites because they’re always left wanting to know more.
Keep your email marketing alive: With all the social media talk, it’s easy to forget that email marketing isn’t dead. The truth is, it’s inexpensive and can give you some of the fastest results and highest revenue (even above social media). Strategically plan when you send your emails and who you send them to, you may be surprised by the results!
Have promotional giveaways: Everyone loves feeling like they got a good deal, and that’s no different when it comes to your event’s tickets. Have a one-day sale, or give away tickets at some of your outreach efforts. Kids will always need to bring an adult, so you can almost guarantee that if you give away a kid’s ticket for free, it will be matched by one or two paying adults.

Ecommerce Tips For Your Event

It’s no secret that we are BIG proponents of having ecommerce on your event or venue website. It increases opportunities for incremental revenue from your customers, vendors and sponsors; and pre-sold tickets guarantee revenue before your event even starts (regardless of weather conditions). But once you get ecommerce tied to your website, it’s sometimes difficult … Continue reading “Ecommerce Tips For Your Event”

It’s no secret that we are BIG proponents of having ecommerce on your event or venue website. It increases opportunities for incremental revenue from your customers, vendors and sponsors; and pre-sold tickets guarantee revenue before your event even starts (regardless of weather conditions). But once you get ecommerce tied to your website, it’s sometimes difficult to know how to drive traffic to complete a purchase. Here are some tips for increasing your revenue online.

Create Great Packages – Bundling, or grouping items together and offering them at a slightly reduced price will often result in a customer spending more than if they were purchasing items individually. Tickets, parking, concessions and rides are just a few things to consider offering as a bundle pack.

Create a Sense of Urgency – Setting a time limit on discounts is a great way to encourage customers to purchase tickets prior to the event. It’s hard to let a good deal pass by, so customers are inclined to secure their tickets well in advance of the event.

Create a Sense of Exclusivity – Announce special ticket offers via email to your most loyal fans before posting the announcements on Facebook and Twitter. Let them know they are getting first dibs on exclusive offers, and consider offering special promo codes to email fans only. They will feel rewarded for their loyalty and will be more diligent about not missing your next email.

Cover All Media Outlets – Be sure to include your URL on all types of marketing materials to drive traffic to your site, and then repeat your marketing messaging on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. With visual and textual repetition helping to familiarize your audience, customers will feel comfortable going to your site to complete a purchase.

Online sales are on the rise and the event industry is well-positioned to benefit from this trend. By implementing just a few simple tactics, you too can increase revenue for your event or venue.