The season of not-giving?
This may seem a counterintuitive smack dab in the middle of the season of giving, but it’s not always a great idea to give things away – specifically comp tickets.
Lest you think I have become a total Grinch, I don’t mean that there can’t be any comp tickets, just that you need to be thoughtful about your goals and select a strategy that best meets them.
Before we talk about when it is best to use comps and when you should consider a different approach, you should first understand what’s currently going on. If you’ve been following my blog or know me at all, you know that I often start with data.
So, if you’re not already, find a way to track what kind of comp tickets are being used. Categorizing them into groups like the ones described below can help you analyze exactly who is using them, and what percentage of your total tickets used are comps. As long as you’re gathering data, I would also recommend looking at how many of the comps issued actually attended.
Once you’ve gathered that data, the next step is determining your goals. This list covers some of the most common ones, but you could have others.
There are a few standard and near-universally-agreed-upon groups who receive comps. These are generally focused on building relationships. The benefit of giving these free tickets clearly outweighs the cost. These groups are:
Your team: staff, cast, creative team, technicians, overhire, etc.
Press: especially critics, but also possibly feature writers, editors, and publishers. Influencers can also fall into this category, but with a caveat – be sure you’re not spending too much time chasing influencers who aren’t likely to come and more importantly, whose followers aren’t likely to come. Be sure to consider the value of your time as much as the value of the tickets.
Community leaders: comps can be part of a strategy to build relationships with government leaders, business leaders, educators, your local arts community, and the local non-profit community. Your strategy might call for all of these folks to be invited to every show or spreading them out over the course of a season.
The two other most common reasons to issue free tickets are to fill the house and to spread the word about the show. This is when things get more complicated, and more thought should be put into a strategy that meets your goals in both the short and long term.
If your short-term goal is to “get the word out” about a show, comping may or may not be the right answer. Ask yourself who you are getting these tickets to – are they likely to tell people about the show – and will they tell people who will be interested in attending and interested in paying for a ticket? Is it early in the run and is your run long enough for the word of mouth to be effective? Would they have paid for a ticket instead – even at a discounted rate – if they received the right offer and message? Are there other options besides just giving away tickets for nothing?
Then there is the “filling the house” motivation – the most complicated of all – where you are generally pitting very short-term goals against long-term ones.
The decision could be an easy one. If you have an important guest or reviewer coming and it is critically important to you that the house is full, this could be a no-brainer.
Papering on a regular basis is trickier. Admittedly, having a full house sends the impression that the show and/or the organization is successful, and a full house can make the audience experience better. A full house makes everyone feel good. Short term goal accomplished!
But what about farther down the line? Putting aside the revenue you’re not earning by giving tickets away, there is also an impact on your ability to sell tickets in the future. An over-reliance on comps trains an audience to wait for the free tickets – or even the deeply discounted ones, instead of buying them early and at full price. You’re devaluing your experience, ultimately making it harder to sell tickets. In the future you’ll have to give more and more tickets away for free to fill the house and that’s not sustainable.
Perhaps in some situations, the short-term is more important. Especially as some organizations struggle to regain their footing post-pandemic. There won’t be a long-term goal if they can’t get through the short-term. The equation will be different for everyone, and this blog post can’t lay out a single solution for each specific case, but hopefully it can encourage everyone to think about what is gained and what is lost with each comp ticket issued.
One final thought - generally, there is a higher no-show rate among people who didn’t pay for their ticket. Issuing comps to folks who aren’t going to attend not only doesn’t meet any of your goals, but also ties up a ticket that could have been sold, so check that data!
*If you want some help thinking through the pros and cons, or a need hand developing a comprehensive strategy for filling the house in the short and long term, let me know. I’m ready to help.