Wouldn’t it be nice if once you set up your event, allocated tickets to your favourite independent box office (that’s us, naturally) and watched as your glorious-looking event page goes on sale, you could just sit back and relax?
Unfortunately, that’s not always possible, and this is often where the hard work actually starts. Sure, you have tickets on sale online, but how do your potential customers know where to get them? Knowing how to promote and market your event can be difficult, and reaching the right people even more so, but affiliate partnerships can go some way to reliving this burden. Here’s how, starting with a bit of an explanation…
What is an affiliate?
Affiliate marketing is “an arrangement by which an online retailer pays commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals”. Thanks Google. In order to do this, the two sites must share data, and in this case we’re specifically talking about event data. Some ticketing sites set up affiliate partnerships with prominent listings sites (such as Ents24 and Bandsintown), and provide them with access to their event feeds. This means that they automatically share information about the events that are currently on sale (artist, venue, date, times etc), and the listing sites can then use this to populate their listings. How else did you think listings sites kept up to date? Without having access to the xml or rss feeds, it would be one hell of an arduous task.
That’s great. But how does that help me?
Listing sites are a great way for customers to see what’s coming up near them, saving them the hassle of having to scan the seemingly endless array of ticket sites out there just to find the one gig or band they are interested in. Listing sites group the data into tours, artists, venues or towns, so customers have all the ticket info they need in one place; as well as the links to buy them.
Affiliate partnerships therefore let customers who are interested in your event come to you. If your ticket agent has affiliate partnerships with prominent listing sites, then adding your event for sale will also mean it is listed on those sites too, increasing the event reach and, as a result, sales. Most sales come through direct referrals; the more referrals, the more sales. If your event is not listed on an affiliate site, then you are missing out on sales. Simple as that, really.
How many sales are we talking about?
In April alone, Songkick (that’s just one of many of our affiliate sites) was responsible for 2,500 ticket sales on WeGotTickets, referring customers directly to our events pages to make these purchases.
Does it work if I literally do nothing?
Yep, you can sit back and relax – so long as your ticket partner is doing their bit. It’s worth noting that some sites don’t have these partnerships, and others (often without a customer facing site) can’t share this data in the same way. It should be an important factor when choosing your ticketing partner. Many affiliate sites have their own newsletters and alert functionality too, so they even go the extra mile for you, without you lifting a finger.
That’s ace! But which affiliate sites does WeGotTickets work with?
We have literally hundreds of affiliate partnerships, from small regional online publications to genre-specific sites and gargantuan event-listing behemoths. Bandsintown, Ents24, Songkick and Timeout are some of the big boys, and then we have comedy ones like Chortle or music publications like London in Stereo and Louder Than War, oh and regional listing sites like Leeds Gig Tickets and Manchester Wire. The list is growing all the time… it’s hard to keep up with to be honest.
Interested in signing up or becoming an affiliate? Here’s where to go.
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