Maintaining Contact with Live Audience

The small time promoter has to work hard and on a shoestring to get an audience of a few hundred people to fill a venue. Flyers, word-of-mouth and social networks are just some of the tools promoters use to fill small venues or club nights. It is not easy building up a loyal following from scratch. Considering the amount of effort that can be required to fill even the smallest of venues it is surprising that very few promoters capitalise on their efforts and use the actual event to maximise the opportunity to encourage further audience contact.

With a little thought and small outlay online surveys can be used to provide the promoter with valuable feedback and the opportunity to engage in further contact with the audience. Using online Survey Software a promoter can now quickly and easily create an online survey.

With an online survey a promoter can find out exactly:-

• who attended;
• what persuaded them;
• what they thought of the event;
• would they expect to attend again;
• would they recommend future events to their friends.

A way to ensure a good response is to have a number of business sized cards that are marked clearly with words like “Feedback”, “Your opinion counts”, “Tell us what you thought”. On each card a web address will point either directly to the survey or to a website where a link to the survey can be placed. Cards can be issued at the door with the tickets, or handed out among the crowd and if they are made the size of business cards they will be small enough to be slipped into a pocket, purse or wallet. A small incentive may improve the response rate, perhaps the chance to win a free guest pass for a future event, a signed CD or T shirt.

Using the results from online surveys the promoter is able to:

• Obtain a profile of the audience
• Gauge the overall success of the event;
• Measure the effectiveness of different promotion;
• Receive feedback on the venue and facilities;
• Receive feedback on the act;
• Promote on a one on one basis;
• Build a targeted database for future events;
• Build a loyal audience;
• Link to merchandise and other promotions.

It takes considering effort to promote an event and only a little extra effort to use online surveys to encourage further contact and reap a number of short and long term benefits that contact will bring.

The following sample survey shows the feedback that could be used for a breaking band. Not only does it gather valuable feedback, but continues to promote the band, their recorded music and establishes the opportunity to encourage further contact.

Sample Feedback Survey

To view the summary results of the survey: Sample Survey Results