Really, we’re doing very well. We have raised over $8,000 for the Obama campaign through ticket sales for the National Anthem concert.
And yet, it’s quite far from enough. We have cleared 100 tickets, but the hall seats 1,000. So there are lots of seats waiting for you to fill them! And, interestingly, the tickets that are selling the fastest are the expensive ($100) ones. There are lots of seats available at the more affordable ($20 and $50) levels. Really, $20 for a concert as good as this one will be is a steal under any circumstances — and this is for a great cause as well.
So don’t wait! Buy a ticket now, and spread the word. We can’t do this without you!
Please share widely!
in addition to the opera tickets, you’ll also get a postcard in the mail from the Obama campaign. As far as postcards go, it’s quite nice — and way better than a letter which costs more in fuel, paper, and postage than a postcard.
Marketing is far from my expertise and these are just thoughts I’m wondering out loud. I have no idea if these thoughts will be helpful.
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p>Have you done a press release for the event? If not, I’m guessing it’s easy enough to create and distribute to the Globe, the free magazines, etc. Depending on how much time one has, I’m sure the release can be distributed to all the regional outlets, papers, TV, Radio, etc.
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p>Has anyone contacted the local Calendar sections about this? I didn’t see National Anthem in the Boston.com calendar section, so I took the liberty to add it. (I just added it, so it may not show up in the search until after noon time.) I can take it down so someone else can resubmit it and have control over the listing or for any other reason. I just wanted to see if users could submit things.
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p>Here are the events listings contacts for the Globe Sidekick and The Phoenix and for The Weekly Dig it is listings@weeklydig.com.
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p>I think someone else mentioned this, but what about an HTML badge, kind of like the ad for Bob’s Obama book, where people can cut and paste the HTML code and paste it into their blog so that a National Anthem image appears and users can click on it to visit the concert’s page?
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p>Cheap advertising: I know Adam Gaffin of Universal Hub gets a lot of traffic and accepts advertisers, and he also runs a service called Boston Blog Ad Network. This might be a good way to reach the eyeballs of local bloggers and their readers. The network includes UHub, Dan Kennedy, Hub Arts blog, and Pundit Review (ha!). I’m sure it will get eyeballs for the National Anthem site, but I have no idea if those will convert into ticket sales.
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p>Has this been cross-posted at the usual suspects: Kos, MyDD, Blue Hampshire, etc (maybe Blue Hampshire would post a National Anthem badge on the side bar?)?
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p>I think someone mentioned this, too, but has anyone distributed flyers or press releases to local Democratic politicians’ offices? The Senators, US Reps, Menino’s Office, the State House? I bet those places might have people who want to attend and might be willing to pass the word along.
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p>Try to get some NECN airtime and drop a plug.
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p>If all else fails, you can generate some free publicity by lying and saying that Led Zeppelin will be reuniting to perform an electric version of Cavalleria Rusticana.
Another random thought:
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p>I wonder if, since Deval Patrick is a national co-chair on the Obama campaign, and since the Patrick campaign was greatly supported by BMG, if the Deval Patrick Committee might not send out an email blast talking up the concert?
on most of the strategies you describe. Hopefully you’ll see some results within the next week or so. Thanks for the suggestions!
…but I was curious as to why it was so hard to find info about the concert outside of BMG. Here’s to a sell-out crowd!