Category Archives: Marketing

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Event Production & Marketing

Memorial Day is the unofficial kickoff to Summer, which means summer parties are likely on the front of your mind. While event marketing can be cumbersome, but it can also dictate the success of of your event (and your business). From booking talent to getting people in the door, there’s a lot of steps you need to take to ensure a profitable event. Below are some insights and proven strategies that will help you achieve success in all areas of your event from front to back.

1. Know your audience

Your event needs to be relevant to your customers or a specific segment of your customers. Without first identifying your audience, you will have a hard time deciding what type of party it is you need to throw. Identify who it is you’re throwing the party for, what they expect from an event, and deliver based on those expectations. You can even plan different events for different days of the week to capture as much of the market share as possible. Thursdays can be live entertainment while Fridays are EDM DJs. Themed events such as neon or paint parties often speak to a larger audience. Whatever you decide, just make sure the event you put on aligns with the customers that attend. This translates to a good experience and increased customer spending.

2. Do your research

Scroll through your rolodex of past events and identify what made them successful or why they failed. Take an honest look at the information and you will see what brought you success or where you fell short. If this is your first time, then take a look at your competitors. Talk to people who went to their events to get a sense of what they liked and what they thought went wrong. Use this information to your advantage to set the foundation of your own event.

3. Hire the right talent

People come to your event for the party, and your talent is a big part of setting the tone of that party. Know what DJ your target audience would die to hear, or at least what type of music they want to dance to, and hire accordingly. Also, make sure to set up ample lighting and audio to exemplify your talent’s sound.

When it comes down to hiring your talent, follow the steps outlined in the Nightclub & Bar article, Talent Booking Tips for Your Nightlife Venue. Look for talent that’s in your area, and get in touch with the book agencies or managers. If it’s a big name that you’re going after, which typically comes with a big price tag, then pull the trigger and book them. As the article states, you’ll see the rewards as a result of the act just by the type of crowd it draws. And if the booking doesn’t’ feel right, then don’t force it. Everything should feel like it falls in line naturally. You can always wait until your next booking opportunity to go after that gig.

4. Put the right people in place

Always manage and stay on top of your responsibilities. This may include designating an event producer to make sure all your ducks are in a row. The event producer organizes all aspects of an event, including making sure the talent gets hired, booking decorations, adding the necessary sound and lighting equipment, and ensuring all hospitality needs are met. Put all the right people in the right place, and make sure everyone knows their exact responsibilities. Clarity is what will make everyone operate fully in their role and will avoid any confusion between different parties.

5. Price your event accordingly

It’s critical to understand what your customers will pay in return for an event like yours while still covering all your costs. If you brought in a big name DJ, your pricing will look different than a DJ from down the street simply due to the demand. If you price yourself too high, then people might shy away from attending; too low, and people might perceive the event as cheap. Do your research and set a competitive price.

6. Get your ticketing system in place

The ticketing system you use translates to the amount of money your event makes. Moreover, doing pre-sale tickets — whether it’s admission tickets to your event or pre-selling tables for VIP bottle service clients — generate revenue that will pay for your event before the event even happens. Look for a ticketing provider like Vēmos that fully integrates into your operations so you can track not only your ticket sales before the event, but your sales through the entire night of your event. This type of solution gives you a full 360-degree look at how your venue is performing. Shy away from ticketing companies that 1) don’t give you access to your own customers/data, 2) doesn’t automatically send your money directly through your own bank, and 3) takes a fee out of your revenue.

7. Spread the word

Once you have your event planned and your systems in place, you’re ready to spread the word and get people buying tickets. Use a multi-channel strategy to get the word out, such as a combination of text-message marketing, printed collateral, media partnerships, email updates, and social media. One of the most successful marketing tactics you can do is hyper-targeted Facebook ads using Power Editor to direct ads to your exact target audience. If you have a cRM system in place, use filters to segment your customers into specific targeted audiences (such as 25-30 year old females who spend at least $100 in your venue on Friday nights) and send email and text messages directly to them. This type of marketing means each audience gets messages that are 100% relevant to their habits. Just make sure your event delivers on the promise of your messaging. That’s powerful marketing, and that’s what drives the right guests to your events.


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io or fill out the form below.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Creating the Right Crowd

People come to your venue for your party. People return to your venue based on that party’s experience. And that experience is heavily dependent on having the right crowd. But getting the right crowd is easier said than done since there’s no one true formula to ensure the right balance. Creating the right mix is a challenge that requires continuous effort and having the right promotions, staff, and influencers in place.

Fortunately, there are some tools available to help you bring in the right crowd to and achieve the right balance. Here’s how you can track your performance to bring in the best people.

1. Put the right tools in place

Technology may not seem like the first place to start, but there are platforms that integrate all areas of your bar into one centralized system so you can get an accurate understanding of how you’re performing. Having this system allows you to collect:

  • The number of guys and girls that walk through your door
  • Which promotions or events are bringing them in
  • What type of drinks they’re consuming

While the technology isn’t responsible for bringing the guest into your door, it gives you the insight you need to determine whether a night was successful and how to recreate it time and again.

2. Choose the right promotions

Promotions and events are a big part of bringing people into your venue. Certain type of events or themes draw a certain crowd. Make sure you know your audience – or at least the audience you want to have – and know what they’re looking for. Nightclub & Bar has a 2015 calendar full of promotional ideas to inspire you.

3. Improve marketing efforts

With the right tools and promotions in place, you’re ready to market to the right audience. Look for a technology platform that has a built in customer relationship management (CRM) system. The CRM system will track important customer activity, which means you’re able to send more targeted, personal and relevant messages to individual guests. Use filters to segment your customers into specific targeted audiences to send messages that are 100% relevant to their habits. That’s powerful marketing, and that’s what continues to drive the right guests into your venue.


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io or fill out the form below.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Getting Ready for Summer Parties

Summer is right around the corner. If you haven’t started yet, now’s the time to start planning and putting the right vendors (including the right event ticketing partner) in place to make sure you host the best parties all summer long while getting top dollar for your events.


Here are 6 steps to set yourself up for the most successful Summer season you’ve ever hosted.

1. Hire the right talent

People come to your event for the party, and your talent is a big part of setting the tone of that party. Know what DJ your target audience would die to hear, or at least what type of music they want to dance to, and hire accordingly. Also make sure to set up ample lighting and audio to exemplify your talent’s sound. Know who your audience is and what type of party they’re looking for and provide based on those expecttions.

2. Price your event accordingly

When it comes to a good party, it’s the experience – not the deal – that attracts guests. It’s critical to understand what your customers will pay in return for a good party. Make sure you don’t sell yourself short and maximize your revenue when at all possible. People understand and have been programmed to pay top dollar for major events, within reason. Take note, not advantage, of these opportunities if you seek long-term success.

3. Put the right tools in place to pre-sell tickets

Make sure you have full control of your events and get access to all of your data before, during, and after the event. There are technology platforms, like Vēmos, that incorporate ticketing into the rest of your efforts, giving you that full 360-degree look at how your event as a whole will and is performing. With this type of solution, you’re able to:

  • Create and manage an online event page without promotions from competing venues
  • Sell tickets to consumers right through the page via an e-commerce system
  • Get access to a white-labeled widget so your online ticketing page looks identical to the rest of your website
  • Integrate the event with a mobile app for promoters to sell tickets directly from their devices
  • Track ticket sales and results along the way

This type of platform syncs all promoters and marketing efforts together to maximize ticket sales and revenue before the night of your event.

4. Make sure the money goes directly into your bank

Another aspect of a ticketing platform to consider is that of payment. Most ticketing sites collect your customers’ payments in their own banks and hold it until after the event is over. Once the day of your event has passed, they’ll cut you a check for what you earned, but not until they’ve made sure to take any fees they deem themselves worthy to collect. Then, it takes a few business days after the remaining money to appear in your account, meaning you may not actually get your money until a week after the event has happened (and weeks since your guests even purchased a ticket).

Instead, look to companies that ensure payment goes directly through your merchant services provider and into your bank account right from the get-go. That way, a guest purchasing a ticket to your event is the same process as that guest buying a drink inside your venue. There’s no point in collecting pre-sales to help pay for your event before it happens if you’re not going to get your money from those sales until weeks after the event is over.

5. Get the word out to the right people

It’s important to first define your audience before you start marketing your event. After all, it’s much easier to market and promote your party when you know exactly whom you’re trying to reach and what you want them to do with the information.

The best strategy is to always keep your customers informed while maintaining a clear and consistent message in all your efforts. Use a multi-channel strategy to get the word out, such as a combination of text-message marketing, printed collateral, media partnerships, email updates, and social media. If you have a CRM system in place, use filters to segment your customers into specific targeted audiences, which in turn means each audience gets messages that are 100% relevant to their habits. That’s powerful marketing, and that’s what continues to drive guests to your events.

6. Analyze results to increase revenue for the next event

Getting access to your data gives you the opportunity to truly understand how your venue and events are performing. If you get on board with the aforementioned platform, your life will be significantly easier since it will all be in one spot – not to mention the data will be broken down by individual guests and staff members to truly identify areas of strength and weakness. Once you know how well you did, you’re able to better set yourself up for success for your next event. Optimization is key to long-term success.


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io or fill out the form below.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Putting on a Successful St. Patrick’s Day Party

St. Patrick’s Day is big business in the nightclub & bar scene. In 2014, 45% of 25-34 year olds attended a party at a bar or restaurant, and St. Paddy’s spending as a whole grew to $4.8 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. If you haven’t started yet, nows the time to start planning and putting the right vendors in place to make sure you get a chunk of the spending.


Follow these 5 tips to get your St. Paddy’s day on the right track.

1. Get Creative

Green beer and special St. Patrick’s Day cocktails are always a must, but every bar in your vicinity is going to offer that. Differentiate yourself by thinking outside the box. After all, St. Patrick’s celebrants simply follow the party. Some promotional ideas include:

  • Hiring Irish bands as live music entertainment
  • Drinking games, such as beer pong or Irish quarters, against a “lucky leprechaun” (to make even more revenue, offer this option at a buy-in rate only)
  • Being a part of a St. Paddy’s day pub crawl to draw a new crowd
  • Creating drink bundles, like a flight of Irish beer or a series of Irish whiskey-based cocktails, to increase spending
  • Taking the party outside by hosting a patio party or even a block party. You can also couple this with a scavenger hunt to find the hidden treasure.

The best way to know if your St. Patrick’s Day theme will work is if it’s in line with your audience’s wants. Know your demographic and your target audience to determine if an over-the-top Irish affair or a low-key celebration is the route to go.

2. Don’t Forget the Food

A big part of Irish culture is the food, which also happens to be a big part of drinking holidays. If you don’t offer food, your customers are likely to leave at some point to grab some grub somewhere else. There are a number of Irish items you can add to your menu, which should always be governed by how equipped your kitchen is. Perhaps simple finger food or appetizers is all your bar can handle. Or maybe you have a full kitchen to offer corned beef, Irish stew, and shepherds pie. Try to stick to traditional or well-known Irish food to appease your customer’s appetites and the theme of the day.

3. Hire the Right Talent

Once you’ve identified your promotional theme, it’s time to start hiring. Are you bringing in live talent? A DJ? A leprechaun character? Whatever it is, make sure you hire your talent and put enough staff members in place in all areas of your venue to handle the influx of guests. Nothing is a showstopper more than having a great turnout but being unable to handle the party. Great customer service in tandem with a great party keeps guests spending all night long.

4. Put the Right Tools in Place

Having the right tools help you automate your night, which in turns leads to efficiency and increased revenue potential. Do you need to sell tickets to your event? (If so, you should pre-sell them to gain more revenue than just selling them at the door). Do you need to automate your guestlist? What about speeding up the line at your door? Identify which areas you could improve on and find the best tools and systems to help with these processes. There’s a few platforms available that have all this and more integrated together to allow you to handle all functions from one system.

5. Spread the Word

Now’s the time to market and drive people through your doors. The best way to reach your customers is by using the channels they’re already on, such as social media, email, and text messages. You should also always keep your regular guests who stop by your venue before St. Patrick’s day informed of your plans so they have it on their radar. Another option is to do paid advertising to generate even more buzz than organic marketing alone. If you have a CRM system in place, use filters to segment your customers into specific targeted audiences to provide each audience with a message that is 100% relevant to them. Make sure your messaging is consistent across channels and is compelling enough that your customers want to share the news with their friends.


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io or fill out the form below.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Incentivizing Pre-Sale Tickets

Every event or venue benefits from pre-selling tickets. It’s how you’re able to pay for your event before it happens. It’s how you know whether or not your event is going to be a success. And it’s one of the easiest revenue-building things you can do. Unfortunately, most venues don’t know how to incentivize their guests to pre-purchase their tickets, resulting in wasted effort.

Follow these steps to incentivize your guests and earn more pre-sale revenue for your event.

1. Set the price and use a yielding strategy

It’s critical to understand what your customers will pay in return for your type of event. People understand and have been programmed to pay top dollar for major events. They even understand that ticket prices generally go up as it gets closer to the event date due to demand. It’s all about dollars per square foot. This is yielding, and is something you need to use to your advantage. Take this example (for easy math, let’s assume your venue holds 100 people):

  • Tickets are released and priced at $50
  • Once 50 tickets are sold (half your venue), raise the price to $75
  • Once 75 tickets are sold (three-fourths of your venue), raise the price to $100
  • Once 90 tickets are sold, raise the price to $150

This yielding strategy earns you more dollars per square foot per person. It also incentivizes your guests to get their tickets early rather than waiting the night before or the night of the event.

2. Get the right ticketing system

Not all ticketing vendors set you up for success. Many simply provide a place where guests buy their tickets and not a whole lot more. Money doesn’t go directly into your bank account until weeks after the event, you never get to see your customer data, and you don’t get a clear picture of how your event performed.

Instead, look to event ticketing companies, like Vēmos, that puts money directly in your hand and provides you with a full 360-degree look at how your event is performing. This platform enables you to sell tickets from your website and through a mobile app, and automatically calculate your yielding strategy, all while tracking results along the way.

3. Start selling

Marketing and sales go hand-in-hand. While your sales team is out there making transactions, make sure your marketing team is working alongside them with spreading the word. Use a multi-channel strategy to sell your tickets, such as one that consists of online, mobile, and in-person sales. Turn your promoters into mobile box offices by selling tickets to customers directly from their device (contact us to learn how). If you have a CRM system in place, use filters to segment your customers into specific targeted audiences to send information about your event to those that matter most. All the channels working together at once is what drives awareness, buzz, and sales.

4. Strategize your lines

What’s the benefit of a guest pre-buying a ticket if they don’t even get to skip the long line? Do not have just one line at your event. Oftentimes, there are 3 different audiences standing in this one line that you need to consider:

  1. Guests who pre-bought a ticket
  2. Guests who were on the VIP guestlist and did not need to buy a ticket
  3. Guests waiting to buy a ticket at the door

Putting a bit of strategy into how you treat your line can increase your revenue and speed of night, especially when it comes to pre-sale tickets. Use a separate line for different functions and slow down the general admission line just a bit to amplify the speed of the pre-sale line. This entices guests to make behavioral changes to buy a ticket ahead of time, which in turn equates to more money in your pocket before the night of your event.


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io or fill out the form below.

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