Keeping an eye on your ticket sales and regularly recording them will help you monitor trends in sales.

Some events by their nature are ‘late sellers’ and a record of sales will help you decide if extra promotion, competitions for free tickets in the press or on you website ad even a change of venue may be required. Being prepared and having contingency plans is extremely important in promoting.

There will typically be an initial rush of sales followed by a potential lull if the event isn’t a guaranteed sell-out and then another rush in the couple of weeks leading up to the event. Try your best to calculate what the potential ‘walk up’ is on the evening.

Ticket Printing and Distribution

• In smaller venues ready bought 'raffle' tickets or photocopied tickets, even a hand stamp will suffice as a record of ticket sales on the door.

• Larger venues need more sophisticated ticketing and advance booking systems- sometimes the venue will have their own generic ticket system.

Online ticket outlets

You may want to use online ticket sales outlets such as See Tickets, Ticket web and We Got Tickets.

It is relatively easy to create an account with any of these online box office services but make sure that you’re aware of the varying system of such outlets and the booking and admin fees that they will charge your customers.

For example, some ticket agencies are implementing anti-touting measures such as e-mailing unique booking references to customers and asking for this and photographic ID on the night as opposed to posting hard copies of tickets out.

Also- bear in mind that you receive the money from these outlets typically one week after the event so you will need to factor this into your cash flow for the event.

If hiring a venue that offers generic tickets, there are no reasons why you can't still have your own tickets printed and distribute them to the outlets you wish to use. This way you can keep a personal check on the ticket sales.

Monitoring of Ticket Sales

It always pays to do twice weekly ticket checks for your event. The most common days are Friday and Monday to call up records stores, the venue box office and anywhere else that you have put physical tickets on-sale. This way you can see how many tickets are being sold midweek and how many are being sold at the weekend.

This is important because if tickets are initially slow it will give you a head start to improve your levels of promotions.

A good idea is to always start your sales campaign with a sheet that shows clear dates for ticket checks.

With time this will help you compare trends and tell you if a particular event is selling quickly or slowly. Obviously if an event is selling slowly you may have to cancel it. No one wants to cancel an event but the earlier you realise that the show is not going to work you will save money.

For example it always pays to not sign a contract until the last possible moment. This means that you may have not yet paid a deposit for the artist. It may be that in your marketing schedule you were due to pay for further adverts so you can avoid making that cost.

Similarly if an event is selling fast you may not need to pay for additional advertising or further posters and flyers such as fly posters etc.

Different areas / towns / cities can be very different in terms of when an audience will buy tickets. For example, some cities may have an audience that buys tickets late / just before the gig. Having this knowledge may save a cancellation of what could have been a successful gig.

Always remember that a lot of promoting is about instinct until you have built up your sales profiles.

The Last Word

Once your venue or promotions set up is established, you need to continually take stock of how things are going and come up with new creative ideas and improvements. In a sense, the real work begins once you’ve had some success, you need to build upon this and consolidate a strong, regular audience.

Review how you are getting on. Are you meeting your targets? Do you need to adapt your plans? Do you think about making any improvements to your venue? Is your publicity effective?

The next stages should then be;

Develop You Profile

You can’t afford to be idle at any point. Continue to build on your strengths and rectify any weaknesses. Are you receiving any local media attention? If not, why not?

Develop Your Audience

Continue to find creative ways to target your audience and keep them coming back. If your events started off busy and then trailed off you need to identify why this is. Don't be afraid to ask questions. If you started off slowly and now your event is becoming a success then also determine why this is. Was it perseverance, a new poster / flyer design or an interview in the local press? Was there a springboard to this or was it a result of diligence and individuality?

Ensure that you are financially secure and tap into any funding opportunities.

Explore new funding avenues if you are looking to expand. These could include;

Arts Grants

Arts Council regional offices and many local councils have Grants Officers who can offer free advice. They will send you a copy of the Grants for Individuals and Organisations application form and guidance notes.

Other avenues to pursue include:-

• Business sponsorship. Develop a sponsor’s pack that offers a variety of options and benefits for sponsors

• Trusts and Foundations

• Breweries and other private sector businesses for sponsorship.

If you're a small promoter you may simply decide to concentrate on further promotional and audience development work.

And Finally......

Here's a quick review of points to remember.

1. From the very beginning, structure your finances so you are clear about how you will be paid and, how you will pay the bands and everyone else.
2. Always be absolutely clear about what deal you are offering a band(s) or DJ(s), the Venue and what you are expecting from your staff and suppliers.
3. Be clear about dates, times and logistics. Use a venue contract or confirmation letter.
4. Constantly look at how you can develop the profile of you venues.
5. Invest time and energy in promotional work. Never leave publicity to the last minute.

Always look at ways you can improve the look of your publicity material and ways of increasing and diversifying your publicity.