Agile Ticketing Solutions

New Year, New Marketing Strategy

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New Year, New Marketing Strategy

Here are a few of our recommendations for continuing to grow your business even in a global pandemic.

Streaming Services

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If you haven’t already added a streaming service to your options of ways your patrons can still support your theater while closed, now may be a great time to do so. Your organization may want to offer a variety of films both new and old for your streaming options for your patrons to enjoy from the comfort of their home. More specifically, Indie films are great to advertise that you have these types of films available to be streamed on social media to help reach even more potential business outside your local area. Maybe even offer a Member-Only Streaming Event to increase membership sales.

Consider Curbside Pickup of Concessions

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Is your theater currently offering streaming services? Complement your feature film with a bag of popcorn or theater candy available for curbside pickup at your theater. You can even offer discounts on merchandise when they are there or hand out coupons inviting them to their next film for a discount. 

Have You Thought of Renting out Your Theater for Special Events?

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With theatres being closed for a majority of 2020, not only have people had to find other things to do than to go to the movies, but they really are missing that genuine theatre experience. Advertise that your theater can be rented out for a small gathering or special event such as a proposal, anniversary dinner, or birthday celebration with a limited number of guests to make sure that you are staying compliant to CDC and Government recommendations of social distancing.

Rent Out the Naming Rights and Community Announcements with Marquee

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Rent out your Marquee to local and small businesses to help them advertise their business. You can charge anywhere from $200 to $500 dollars a day!

Social Media Targeted Advertising

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Social media has forever changed the way we market our buisnesses. Targeted Advertising on social media allows your organization to reach thousands of people and bring awareness to your campaigns in minutes. 

Have any other ideas or questions? Feel free to reach us at support@agiletix.com

Social Media Marketing Strategy in 2021 For Theaters and Venues

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Social Media Trends in 2021 

Social media has allowed organizations and businesses across the world to reach more potential clients than any targeted marketing strategy in decades past. This is why we want to share some of our insights into the social media marketing world. It’s no surprise that due to the pandemic there has been an unprecedented change in social media usage, along with many changes in consumer behavior. Below are some of our recommendations to optimize your social media strategy in 2021.

Think of Instagram as The New Microblogging Platform.

On the Instagram social media platform, we have seen microblogging become one of the most common trends in 2020, and we think it’s going to blow up even more in 2021. The question is: how can you utilize micro bloggers to reach more clients and grow your business? That may require you to think outside the box, but here are a few of our ideas. If you’re a theater or venue, you can reach out to local micro bloggers and invite them to shoot at your venue in exchange for a tag in a social post and for them to talk to their audience about your business. This not only will help increase exposure, it might even make your venue the next popular or trending place to take photos in your city.

Pro Tip: Long captions are all the rage for Instagram and many creators use the platform to share their stories, and even with brands authenticity is key.

Utilize Instagram E-Commerce Tools

Have you tried to set up a Facebook and Instagram marketplace that will allow your organization to sell merch and tickets via ever-popular social media platforms? If not, maybe now is the time. Here at Agile Ticketing Solutions, we have a Facebook Integration that allows you to sell your tickets right from a Facebook event page.

Short-form Videos

Short-form videos will take social media by storm in 2021. We see this with the growing social media platform TikTok and Instagram’s new feature “IG Reels”. Create short 15-30 second clips showing off what your venue has to offer. This will catch the eye of many and can lead to increased sales.

Instagram Carousel Posts and Memes Will Continue to Go Viral.

They are the perfect growth hack on Instagram, and with Instagram likes disappearing we see that more savable content will become even more popular in 2021. In the boutique theatre industry, you could create a campaign around date night. Add to your caption “Save this post for a great date night in (your) city”. Romance and movies will always be a great way to pull new clients in to visit your theater, as couples are always looking for new and fun date night ideas.

Create an Organic Social Media Trust Funnel

We are seeing more and more how everyone is turning to social media for reviews and opinions on products and businesses. Most people these days believe that customer ratings are #1. Your social media marketing strategy in 2021 must invest in relationships with employees, customers, and influencers to ensure your brand messages are backed up by the voices your customers value the most. 

When planning your 2021 social media marketing strategy, be sure to keep these trends in mind. Remember that social media is also about having fun and expressing your brand, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box and let loose! This unexpected year is coming to a close. 2020 presented organizations like yours with professional and personal challenges that you handled with both grace and skill. We’re looking forward to a new year full of continued success, well-being and growth. If you have any questions feel free to reach us at support@agiletix.com.

Ticketing and Reports

October 27, 2020 No Comments

It is known that there is power in numbers and here at Agile Ticketing Solutions we also believe that is true, especially when it comes

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Ticketing and Reports

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It is known that there is power in numbers and here at Agile Ticketing Solutions we also believe that is true, especially when it comes to reporting. The analytics you can find in our reporting features will help you better understand your ticketing operations as well as where your organization stands financially. The Agile Ticketing Solutions web-based reporting module covers every department of your organization. From box office and concessions to membership and merchandising, our accounting and reporting feature delivers a comprehensive view of an organization’s health, all from one central location and all in real time.

Auto-Syndicate Reporting

Our reporting module has the necessary tools to provide leadership with accurate, up-to-date information at any given moment. With our auto-syndicate feature, ticketing specialists can choose the reports that matter most to their organization’s leadership and automatically send those reports to individuals or groups.

Agile Ticketing Solutions is an all-in-one ticketing system that changes the game for organizations like your own. Since reporting is a key element to better understand your ticketing operations, we wanted to share a few of our favorite reports in our system.

  • Daily Audit (Accounting) – This report allows you to keep track of all sales daily, including memberships, ticket sales, donations and concessions/merchandise.
  • Organization Audit (Accounting) – This report gives you a deeper look into your sales summary which includes details on sales channels and buyer types. 
  • Membership Usage Analysis (Memberships) – This report will give you an inside look at the who, what, where, when and how often your patrons are using their memberships. It will also show you what level or type of membership each patron has.
  • Top Ticket Buyers (Events) – This report is one of our favorites because it allows you to see who has bought tickets to your events. This information could let you know who to thank for their support each time they visit your venue. It’s important to remember that the patrons who frequent your theater often are great supporters and could be willing to donate.
  • Sales by State, City, MSA (Sales) – See where your customers live. This is a really cool report especially if you are using the AgileLINK streaming service, to see if people outside your local area are supporting your theater. 

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Social Distance Seating

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Agile Ticketing Solutions New Feature: Social Distance Seating

You are one step closer to reopening with the Agile Ticketing Solutions Social Distance Seating feature. This feature, announced in our latest software update on July 21st allows theaters to follow CDC recommendations of social distancing. The social distance seating feature allows you to sell tickets with peace of mind knowing you’re keeping staff and patrons safe. Once a ticket is sold, the Agile Ticketing Solutions Software will automatically block off the surrounding seats.

How does it work?

With this new feature, when customers or sales agents select seats for purchase the system will automatically place the surrounding seats in a defined hold group. This makes sure there is adequate space around all groups of customers so that they can follow social distancing guidelines.This feature works with manually picked seats and auto-assignment.

How do we use the social distance seating feature?

Now, we know what you are wondering: this is a great tool, but how do we set up in the Agile Ticketing Solutions Software?

First, you will need to build out your reserved seating chart and create your templates. To learn how to build a reserved seating chart, click HERE to access the tutorial in our knowledge base. Once you have built your seating chart, you will need to determine what the spacing between seats needs to be to ensure proper social distancing. Once you have determined what your social distancing requirements are, you will need to add these rules to your reserved seating chart.  Click HERE to access the instructions on how to set up your social distancing rules.

Once set up, this feature will give customers and box office staff a clear indication of which seats already have people sitting in them and which are unavailable. This will also allow your customers to see how far apart people are sitting in the venue. 

For more information on the social distancing buffer feature and other updates in the Agile Ticketing Solutions Software, please refer to https://bit.ly/3feZokG. 

We are here for you!

Utilize this feature to get your organization one step closer to reopening. We have created a resource blog on our website that can act as a centralized space for your organization to reference when taking the steps to reopen. You can view that blog here: https://bit.ly/2CQaCiE. For more information on setting up the social distancing seating feature or about reopening, please contact us at support@agiletix.com. Agile Ticketing Solutions stands together with your organization and we are honored to be your ticketing solution.  

For more information on Social Distanced Seating ideas, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Virtual Fundraising

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Virtual Fundraising: How to Host a Virtual Fundraising Event during COVID-19

As you may know, fundraising is a huge part of the performing arts world. We understand how important this is for the health of your organization, so we wanted to help by sharing some ideas on how to host a virtual fundraising event during the current pandemic. Although times have changed and we cannot be together directly, there are still many ways for us to come together virtually.

Has your organization thought of hosting a virtual fundraising event? With our new feature AgileLINK, we made it easy for you and your patrons to come together while still adhering to CDC recommendations of social distancing. It’s time to get creative. Here are a few ways you can fundraise from a respectful distance.

All you have to do is ask.

Asking for donations is the first step. Agile Ticketing Solutions has a great Donor Management tool that allows you to pull reports of who has donated to your organization. This is a great place to start. Your organization can personally reach out to each person who has previously donated. You can explain to them how the current climate of COVID-19 and the CDC recommendations of social distancing have unfortunately had a negative impact on your organization. Kindly ask your patrons to donate again and track the results of your efforts. If you choose to use an email management platform such as MailChimp or Emma, these will allow you to track your donation request efforts.

As we have mentioned earlier, this is a great place to start but there is more than one way to increase donations. Get creative. Sometimes just asking for a donation isn’t going to help you reach your fundraising goals. Don’t forget to utilize the tools around you. One of these tools being your community, you can ask local businesses to donate an auction item for you to sell during a virtual fundraising event, or you can team up with a local business for a giveaway to help grow your social media following. Here are a few different events you can hold virtually to help your organization bring in a large amount of donations.

 1. Host a virtual fundraising event utilizing the AgileLINK platform.

During your virtual fundraising event you may want to set up a virtual auction and sell highly desired items via the AgileLINK platform. Creating a “bidding war” between patrons will allow you to easily sell items past market value. Below are some recommendations of auction items that you could add to your checklist.

a. Stage and sell a romantic evening

b. Floral arrangements

c. Food baskets

d. Housecleaning services

e. Handyman services

f. Trips from a local travel agency

g. Dinners for two from local restaurants

h. Desserts or goodies from a local bakery

2. Host an educational webinar for kids.

Right now, a lot of children are out of school, leaving their parents with the responsibility to teach them. You can set up a virtual learning center within your organization and ask the parents for donations in exchange for their child attending your educational webinar. This could be a standard price you set or a “pay what you can” price. Below are a few educational webinars your organization can offer.

a. Your work within your organization

b. History behind your theater

c. History behind cinemas and how they have changed over the years

3. Host a social media fundraising event via Facebook or Instagram Live.

We recommend utilizing your social media channels if you have a large audience. An example of a social media live event is, tour of your facility and talk about the history of your organization. Set up a donation website where people can watch your live stream and donate at the same time!

In summary, there are endless ways your organization can get creative when coming up with ideas for virtual fundraising events in the current world and we are here to help! Fundraising is a huge part of our industry and it’s important to utilize the tools in your community. People want to be able to help in any way they can, so don’t be afraid to ask. If you have any questions on how to get started you can reach us at support@agiletix.com.

For more information on Virtual Fundraising Event ideas, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.