How Marketing Strategy Can Affect Ticket Sales

If you’ve ever marketed a show, you know the feeling: you’ve got limited budget, an act that you may not know yourself, a decent venue newsletter subscriptions, a solid social following, and maybe even some solid early buzz. But ticket sales just… aren’t moving.

So you do what most people do: Ask the Artist for some support, have your marketing person or team outline what they've done, and you likely put up your last social media spends hoping for the best.

Sound familiar?

Here’s the truth no one wants to hear— marketing isn’t magic. And just throwing budget at a campaign without the right strategy behind it is the fastest way to burn through dollars without selling tickets. The overall strategy matters and all things add to the ecosystem of ticket sales. Many venues and promoters are boosting posts on Meta rather than running strategic paid advertising and far too many are relying on their email list to move the dial.

The Hard Truth About Live Event Marketing

There are countless factors that can impact sales—some within your control, many that aren’t:

• 🎤 Artist history in the market

• 📆 Day of the week

• 🌧️ Weather

• 🚗 Venue parking

• 😬 Competing events

• 🫤 Local sentiment or saturation

And while we can’t control those variables, what we can control is how we show up in the market. That’s where a strong strategy becomes a game-changer.

Strategy That Actually Works

When one client came to us with underwhelming early sales, we didn’t just “boost some posts.” We got to work.

➡️ We redefined the target audience based on ticket buyer behavior and real market data.

➡️ We researched and defined what the issues was - awareness, pricing, sentiment or something else?

➡️ We optimized creative, tweaked copy, and tested placements based on our data and research.

The result? A 873% increase in sales. And a very enthusiastic, compliment from the Artists management team:

“I don’t know what you f*ckin’ did, but holy sh!t!”

Why It Worked

We strategized a plan, based on real data. We worked with the venue, who we discovered was very green to help strengthen their approach. We carefully put together both a paid and organic plan. It was decades of experience and deep understanding of audience behavior applied to a challenging market, an inexperienced local team, and an over-confidence that a few posts and email sends would sell the tickets.

Most importantly, it we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. Sales aren't guaranteed, and you can't expect Meta to sell your tickets for you. It's a great example that when overall marketing is done right, it doesn’t just help—it transforms the trajectory of a show.

Ready to See What Strategic Marketing Can Do?

If you’re tired of guessing, hoping, and throwing money at ads that don’t move the needle, let’s talk. At Lanai Marketing, we bring intentionality, data, and care to every campaign.

Because your marketing should work as hard as you do.

And when it does—you’ll say the same thing that client did.

Let’s sell some tickets 👉 www.lanaimarketing.com