Arts Marketing 101 - Discount Pricing

Price is always a tricky issue when it comes to the live, professional, performing arts.  This is particularly true when discussing whether to discount your admission price for some reason.  I've had a little success when it comes to effective discounting so here are a few tips:

1.  Defined purpose - Never, ever, do anything with your price until you know exactly why you are doing it.  Don't panic and lower your prices, don't get greedy and automatically raise them . . . make sure you think it through.

Are you discounting hoping that you sell an increased volume of tickets?

Are you discounting to attract a particular audience?

Don't do anything until your purpose is clear.

2.  Defined window - I've found that discounting is more effective when you use a short, defined window for your discount.  For the current season at my day job, I have been offering discounted tickets for about a week.  This creates a sense of urgency.

3.  Deep - You want your discount to be deep enough that it's worth using.  10-20% off your tickets isn't that great.  Get to 50% off and now we are talking.  Basically, you want a discount that makes people say "wow, I have to get in on this."  Combine a deep discount with a clearly defined window and you can have some serious success.

Comments

[Amy]

What about discount pricing for subscription packages? In your experience, does using 5, 10 or 15% off of the full-price make any impact on whether the audience will buy a subscription? Or, would the audience buy the subscription anyway because they are interested in your product?

[Adam]

I try to avoid discounting subscriptions, mostly because it negatively impacts the renewal rate and a subscription already represents a discount on the single ticket price.

I'd be more likely to try and advocate for an across the board subscription price drop then for a temporary discount