Internet Marketing for Live Events

The challenge is penetrating an ultra-cluttered world,” Nederlander Concerts CEO Adam Friedman said when introducing the panelists for the Internet Marketing For Live Events discussion.

But that’s just one challenge. Other biggies from Friedman included “consummating transactions in a world not designed for selling tickets” and measuring the success of marketing campaigns.

Sponsored by NACPA (Friedman was president in 2008), panelists Ian Rogers of Topspin Media and Jeff Schroeder of Scenario Digital discussed ways to untangle the Web.

Rogers, who gains insight from having a teenage daughter, started Topspin Media to build a template for marketing, effectively doing for the field what Pro Tools did for recording.

He mentioned the continuing shift from Media 1.0 to 2.0, which leaves us in a world chock-full of content but mostly barren of attention.

“The Internet is unique. No one owns it. There are no gatekeepers,” said Rogers, whose concert experience is limited to traveling with the Beastie Boys as “resident nerd.”

With Web sites being accessed the same way and with the same barriers, “Competition is coming from all angles, including from the audience themselves.” He said consumers are just as likely to consume content from their friends as from their favorite artists.

An example Rogers brought up was a “Saturday Night Live” skit, Chris Parnell’s and Adam Sandburg’s rap about “The Chronicles of Narnia.”

He asked a group of schoolchildren where they saw it, and barely a handful actually watched the broadcast, instead hearing about it later and viewing the clip online.

“The only way to reach the audience is to provide real value,” he added. “Don’t sell tickets, throw parties.” He said artists aren’t reaching out to fans enough and that the panel audience shouldn’t fear innovation but should fear a lack of it.

“You don’t need to be an early adopter to be successful,” he said. “You do, however, need people in your company who live and breathe media 2.0 physics.”

And change is coming, he said, with EMI recently enlisting help from Google and Second Life.

He also questioned the lack of an organized concert space on MySpace, with post-concert data like photos, audio and video. That too could change eventually, as SRO Consulting’s Mike McGinley mentioned during the “Finding New Content To Fill Seats” panel.

McGinley said that copyright issues are the main obstacle in providing such content and predicted that within the next three or four years this will change, leaving artists to be compensated through publishing.

Schroeder, formerly with Live Nation, stressed the importance of establishing a direct relationship with the fan. He said to use customer databases to learn about the consumers, learn their likes and dislikes and always encourage Web visitors to register and provide feedback.

“Take ownership of the consumer. Provide the opportunity to register for your list.”

This not only gives the site operator good insight into consumer behavior but makes the audience feel involved and helps spread word-of-mouth.

Facebook applications and other display opportunities allow fans to do the marketing, putting a stamp of approval on an artist or company by enticing other fans to spread the word.

Also important are weekly news-letters, which aren’t always read but are very helpful and welcome when needed.

In learning about the fan, it’s also necessary to learn what drives fans to your site. That’s where Google Analytics and Omniture come in.

However, what’s most important in developing an online strategy is to develop the content early, test it out and then refine it and work from there.

“Don’t just throw something out and hope it works,” as it could flop with not enough time left to recover. Multiple variations are needed during one campaign, and quality is essential.

- Reported by Ryan Borba, Pollstar
- Photos by John Shearer