Marketing 101 - Matt Felts

Do you have any season ticket holders?

sorry this is so late. It took me a little more time with the broken arms Vito gave me.lol

I’ve heard it said that the goal of a successful group is to make fans. Wrong. The goal is to make die hard, sold out, life long fans. Here’s a great analogy that makes it clearer.
I have a friend who is not much of a sports fan. After numerous invitations, I convinced him to go to a baseball game with me. He didn’t want to spend a lot on the tickets because he was sure he wouldn’t like it so we sat up in the nose bleed section. As expected he wasn’t very excited until late in the game around the sixth inning, a guy from our team hit a three run homerun to give us the lead. The crowd went crazy. All of a sudden, my friend was excited. Now he was noticing how fun this was. The sounds, the mascot and the crowd were all somehow more colorful and vibrant. The next week I invited him again. This time we bought better tickets about half way down. Luckily, it was another exciting game. On our third trip to the ballpark, my friend insisted we get tickets down front. About halfway through the game he returned from the souvenir stand with a t-shirt and ball cap. Long story short my friend is now a season ticket holder and a die hard fan.

Many artists don’t look at building a fan base this way. Most people will not become life long fans the first time they see you but you do have a chance to "excite" them enough to come back again. You need to ask yourself this question "Is there anything exciting about my performance?" What is it that makes you worth coming back to see over and over? These things can be built into your concerts. The first way to build these types of relationships is to be genuine. Drop all of the Southern Gospel cliché’s and stupid jokes that EVERYONE has heard a hundred times. Speak from the heart. People can spot the real deal. When you get real with people, you connect. When you connect with them, they remember you. If you don’t have anything to say, then sit down and let some who does have the microphone. You’d be surprised at how five minutes talking to someone during sound check may make a life long fan. It did for me. When I think back to the artists that I love it’s not the best singers that always come to my mind. It’s the ones who were unique. They weren’t just another cookie cutter Southern Gospel artist.

If you notice, sports teams have a way of making the fan feel like they are one of the team. They have jerseys, pennants, hats, shirts, bobble heads, etc. all designed to bond the fan with their team. I’m not just a baseball fan, I’m a cardinals fan. Years from now when all the players have changed, I’ll still be a Cardinals fan. That works in Gospel music as well. Find ways to make the audience not just a fan of Gospel music but rather your fans. As guys come and go (as they always do) you will still have a strong fan base. Your job is to take them from the nose bleed seats and get them on the front row. Take a look at Signature Sound right now. They are proving this point. Their fans are connected. They have forums, pod casts, emails, newsletters, etc. They keep their fans feeling like "one of the guys". As a result, they have a strong fan base. Why is it so important to make these kinds of fans? These fans will not just come to your concert when you are in your home town, they will drive all over the country to see you. They will bring friends, organize busses and will have you over for dinner. They call promoters and radio stations. They will buy everything you have on your table and most importantly they will keep you in constant prayer. They will do more for your marketing than any full page advertisement ever could.

Making season ticket holders doesn’t happen by accident. It takes work and focused efforts. It involves every part of your ministry from your time on stage to the time you spend around the church dinner table. If you make the most of each opportunity, you will develop loyal fans that will last a lifetime. To learn more about this type of marketing, go to my companies website at http://www.beyondmeasuremarketing.com

Matt Felts
Beyond Measure Marketing
http://www.beyondmeasuremarketing.com