| Advertising should alert the community to the great
event but should also aim to bring in people from elsewhere. I can't
imagine restricting the event to local folks only, though inevitably
it will be those who come. The advertising should, however, point
out that it is a local event - you're not organising a rock concert
for people from miles around, it should be rooted in the community
wherever possible. |
|
 Money Makers |
Paying on the door is one useful source of revenue as well as a
way to check on attendance numbers - handy for next time. Give an
informative printed programme as they come in. |
| Another good wheeze is to sell raffle tickets or a lucky draw beforehand.
Our current favourite is to pay a pound for a chance of winning a
cling-film-wrapped wheel barrow full of about £100 worth of
drinks - beer, spirits, wine etc. It's a very appealing bargain for
£1 and the prize can be wheeled around to attract customers
instead of waiting for them to reach a stall. Just choose someone
very outgoing to do the wheeling. |
|
| There are also more elaborate schemes such as "guess the number
plate" where the winner can win a car. These are organised by
car sales teams and are underwritten by insurers. Such schemes allow
you to bring in money before the event (adding to your float), are
money spinners in themselves and they provide a dramatic moment for
The Feast which keeps people there until the draw has taken place.
Our Feast is typically on a Sunday from 12 to 6 and we hold the draw
at about 5pm. Make sure that the form filling doesn't become too time
consuming or administratively difficult. |
Other events leading up to the Feast provide advertising in themselves
and again allow you to sell tickets in advance. Tickets in advance
mean money in advance and spread the load in order to limit failure
due to bad weather on the day of The Feast itself. |
| Decorating the surrounding area with bunting, flags etc or erecting
a marquee several days ahead of time raises people's awareness of
the event and sends a message of activity to passers by. Photographs,
a stage or other attractions provide local media with good copy and
the publicity generates yet more interest. If you have a theme, a
message or a good cause - any angle which catches the attention, this
will boost your morale and bring in the punters! |
A local personality to open the Feast is another attraction which
generates its own publicity. Often they donate their fee to charity
- so everyone gains! |
| Programmes |
|
| Programmes can give a rough timetable of events, advertisements
for sponsors and background information about performers, local news
or whatever. There should be a balance between adverts (which raise
money or are a form of payment for services rendered) and readable
content. We now require any local organisation who receives money
from us to write a paragraph explaining their needs and their activities,
which is then published in the programme the following year. |
Selling programmes can be profitable |
Buying a programme can also be in effect purchasing
a voluntary ticket to enter the event itself - and this circumvents
local regulations about access to public spaces.
A Programme can raise a lot of money for you. Costs
(design, production and printing) versus income (purchase price
plus payment bydvertisers) might be 50p production cost per programme
set against £1 purchase price plus a total advertising income
of maybe £1,000 - valuable because it is raised before the
event and can provide a float. Our last Programme was 64 pages long
and took many unpaid hours to produce, but it generated substantial
funds for us and now sells at £1.50. |
for 1000 programmes:
cost @ 50p = £500
sales @ £1= £1000
advertising= £1000
Profit = £1500 |
| Selling the programmes and raffle tickets up to a month ahead helped
advertise the events and raised more advance money. The programme
acts as a psychological reassurance that customers have got something
after paying to come in. If it's interesting in itself (a balance
of interest and advertising) they will be happy to read it and to
buy again next year. Don't be tempted just to cram in as many adverts
as possible - a balance of advertising and editorial will satisfy
both advertisers and punters, as actually reading the programme brings
the reader face to face with the advert. Consider how much space an
ad will take up on a page and how much the advertiser will pay. You
might be able to offer 2 quarter page ads plus a half page of editorial
- which is more likely to be read than a page of four ads. |
One year, six programmes were printed with a special additional
sentence hidden within the pages and the "lucky programme"
winner was given a bottle of wine. Now we offer a "free"
raffle ticket with every programme plus extra purchasable raffle tickets. |
| Tickets |
|
| Tickets are ways of raising money before an event and regulating
access to an event. Pricing is a matter of judgment but do a quick
calculation of the capacity of your venue, the cost of the entertainment
to you and make a stab at a price which will make a profit. Don't
over-estimate numbers of customers - you may think it's the best thing
around but people may have other views. |
Also make sure the information on the ticket is totally accurate.
Don't laugh - it's an easy mistake to make when you're printing tickets
in advance of an event. Have a central agreed list of critical information
- then everyone must refer to that (posters, press coverage, adverts,
tickets ...) |
| Consider different prices for "concessions" such as OAPs,
the unemployed and children. Decide on what age defines a child and
whether you will require proof for concessions. It might be easier
to have one standard price for all .... |
Tickets should of course be difficult to forge. Coloured card and
unusual fonts or graphics can help. |
The best form of advertising and money raising before the event
is sponsorship. Any shops, businesses, connections
in your local area - get them to sponsor you. They could sponsor
an event, a stall, an activity or anything. We've got to the stage
that a helpful local business doesn't just get an advertisement
in the programme - they sponsor one night - the Rhythm and Blues
Night, the Jazz night, the Ceilidh, or the marquee, the sausages
- whatever, for which they get repeated publicity on the night or
at that event, a free advertisement in the programme and a double
ticket for Feast events. It's a partnership with mutual benefits.
This way the business gets considerable advertising in all our
publicity and we get cash in advance to fund our enterprise. |
Any money raised in advance is a great reassurance
- especially if the weather can be unreliable. You know it will offset
your costs, move you towards being in credit - and you know people
have paid even if they don't turn up! |
