So despite the fact they have watched season ticket sales fall steadily over 10 years just keep doing the same things.
That makes perfect sense. Maybe Carl is right and they are realizing the value of season ticket holders but based on the debacles at XL last year I'll believe it when I see it.
I remember talking about this at length 2-3 years ago. For nearly a decade, Hathaway managed the football program ticket sales for Rentschler, exactly the same way that basketball model was created by Lew Perkins and decade earlier. THe simple facts are that in basketball, we're looking at splitting some 16-20 events or so between two venues that each sit about 10k, 15k respectively. In football, we're looking at 6-8 max events per year at 40k each. In both scenarios - you're looking at two groups of people - season ticket holders, and individual game ticket buyers.
I'm quite sure that Warde Manuel has never managed a basketball program like ours, that splits our home games among different venues, and has basically two entirely separate and distinct ticket buying bases, and there will be a learning curve there as well.
I think the father's day gift idea, with extra tickets to the Towson game, on field passes, is a great idea. I'm pretty sure that exact idea was suggested here, in the past.
I'm concerned as to who the email blast actually went to though.
There are some kinds of rules that go along with waiting beyond certain posted dates to renew your tickets, but I don't know what they are specifically, because I renew in February every year. BUt if it is the case, that I could have waited until now, to renew my seats, and could have waited without penalty of some kind, to buy my tickets, and still be guaranteed the same seats, and now get a couple freebies, what's the incentive to buy early? And therein, lies my concern.
Because the offer itself, I think it's a great marketing ploy, for generating NEW MULTIPLE TICKET sales. This is clearly not a ploy marketed toward returning buyers, and that's why whaler is upset with it, I think.
There are the four categories of ticket buyers - in any sales really.
YOu are either a new buyer or a returning buyer. You can only be a new buyer once. Once you buy once, anytime thereafter, you are a return buyer. and your contact info better be compiled into a list and categorized.
Once you become a buyer, you are either a multiple ticket package buyer, or a single ticket buyer.
Each type (new buyer - multiple or single) or (returning buyer - multiple or single) needs to be marketed to in a specific, individualized way.
This father's day promotion is clearly a ploy at new/multiple buyers. that's a good thing.
The issue, is getting the promotion out into the public. If the email blast is going to exising season buyers, they've missed their mark - it needs to get out into the general public.
And the greater point, I'm saying whaler - is that until the past 2 seasons basically - for both basketball and football, the athletic department has failed to even address these kinds of things in any way. We didn't do promotions like this at all.
It seems the issue now, is that we're doing the promotions, +1 step in the right direction, but are they being targeted to the proper populations? Good question.
THe underlying thing, that pisses me off a bit, is that this is elementary sales 101, and that it shouldn't take years to develop the experience and knowledge to do this kind of thing properly. I don't know who the people are in charge of marketing, who's been around a long time, and who might be new, and what they're respective qualifications and experience are/is, but the learning curve has been on a slow slope, and hopefully will accelerate upward, quickly.
My prediction, is that very soon, after this father's day promotion, will start to see some specific targeted stuff for new multiple buyers around the michigan and maryland games. Mini packages.
THe message has to get out into the general public though, if you're looking at generating new buyers. You can't expect your returning ticket buying base, to spread the word on deals for tickets that they've already purchased.
