How To Plan A Christian Concert

By Gary Bradshaw
President |
1st Edition
Compliments of
1
ATTENDSTAR.COM
Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing
Published by AttendStar, LLC
© 2017 AttendStar, LLC
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States

Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced
or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or
retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
AttendStar is a registered trademark
Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents......................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction....................................................................................................................................4
Chapter 1: Pick an Artist............................................................................................................ 5
Chapter 2: Book a Venue.......................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 3: Set Ticket Prices....................................................................................................9
Chapter 4: Develop Pricing Promotions............................................................................12
Chapter 5: Choose a Ticketing Company..........................................................................15
Chapter 6: Promote Your Concert....................................................................................... 19
Chapter 7: Get Help..................................................................................................................23
Chapter 8: Attract Sponsors..................................................................................................25
Chapter 9: Tracking Results...................................................................................................27
Chapter 10: Surveys................................................................................................................. 30
Chapter 11: Create a To Do List.............................................................................................32

Introduction
Music plays such a large part in many peoples’ lives. It can bring
people together and inspire so many emotions. Holding a
Christian concert provides a way for your church to not only
entertain people but also glorify God. Concerts can even be used
to bolster donations that can fund the important activities your
church participates in each year.
However, I don’t want you to jump into organizing a Christian
concert thinking it’s fun and easy. Yes, it certainly can be fun, but
it’s rarely easy. The truth is with so many people involved and
logistics to plan – all while keeping a budget in mind – planning
and promoting a Christian concert can become overwhelming
quickly.
Start by determining what your objectives are for the event.
Is it intended to boost donations? Do you want to reach non-
Christians for evangelical purposes? Is it simply an evening for
entertainment, celebration, and praise? Your objectives for the
concert will greatly affect everything from the venue and artist
you choose to the promotion and personnel you need.
At the heart of everything you do, remember that enthusiasm
matters. The event has a purpose, so approach it with that
purpose in mind. Event planning might not be your profession. In
fact, you might not feel like you’re very good at it at all, but the
church needs someone to make this concert happen. Remember
why you’re organizing the event, and staying enthusiastic
becomes a lot easier.
For everything else – all the how, why, when, and where questions
you have about organizing a Christian concert – don’t worry. This
succinct yet comprehensive ebook gives you all of the
information you need to successfully organize a Christian concert
that will help you meet your ministry’s objectives.

Chapter
Pick an Artist
1
The performer you choose for your Christian concert will be the focus of your
event, so you need to choose wisely. The artist should match your objectives
and be capable of drawing your selected target audience. In addition, the
artist needs to be able to draw enough ticket buyers to cover your costs (and
possibly more if you’re trying to generate money for your church from the
event).
Equally important is how much the artist will charge you to appear at your
event. Do the math and make sure you can afford the artist’s fee in addition to
all of the other charges you’ll incur before you sign any contracts!
Research Artists
Your first step is to do your research and find an artist who is relevant to
your objectives and target audience. Are they popular in your area? Do
they play on local radio stations? Will people want to buy tickets to see the
artist? Whatever you do, don’t just pick an artist you like. That artist might
be completely wrong for your event objectives! Your ability to pick popular
musical acts will set your event apart from others people could attend on
the same date.
You can talk to your congregation to learn which artists they like. Also, call
local radio stations and ask which artists are popular right now. If possible,
try to see a performance by the artist before booking, and talk to event
organizers who have booked the artist previously to learn about their
experiences.

Booking an Artist
Many artists are booked by booking agents. Some artists may be booked
by a manager or even book themselves for events. Whoever is booking
the event, they want you to make money for the artist, so that needs to
be your goal, too – even if the event is primarily a ministry event. After all,
you want to be able to do it again, right?
It’s important to consider that the price you pay for the artist’s
performance is not the only cost directly associated with the artist that
you’ll incur. Almost all artists require additional expenses like hotels, food,
or sound equipment. Some require that you cover their travel expenses,
too. Those costs can add up quickly, particularly for artists who have
entire teams that travel with them to support their shows.
When you call an artist’s agent, they’ll quote you a price or a price range.
This is the time to negotiate and try to bring the price down. An agent
might be willing to lower his cost if the concert will be on a weeknight
or if the artist needs to fill a date during a tour. For example, an artist
headed from St. Louis to Columbus, Ohio might be willing to make a stop
in Indianapolis for a Thursday night show, which means it’s likely you can
get a discount if you take that date. Of course, you might attract fewer
attendees on a Thursday night, so be sure to balance artist discounts with
attendance projections.
!
Warning!
Beware of the contract rider! Contract riders indicate

who is responsible for things like sound, lighting, and
stage setup, and some artists have meticulous re-
quests in their contract riders. For example, some art-
ists have additional booking fees hidden in their riders
that can cost as much as their original artist appear-
ance fee! If a specific stipulation in the rider seems
excessive, don’t be afraid to negotiate

Chapter
Book a Venue
2
Selecting a venue for your Christian concert is a critical decision. Not only
does it need to be accessible for the audience, but it also needs to be large
enough to accommodate enough people based on your projected ticket sales.
Sometimes an artist will have specific technical requirements that rule out
some venues entirely. For example, a performer might need an especially large
stage or an elaborate configuration of sound and lighting.
Timing plays a factor in the venue as well. Some venues cost more on specific
days. People are usually less willing to drive a long distance to a concert on a
weeknight than a weekend. Also, people are more likely to attend an event at
a venue they’re already familiar with than one they’ve never been to before.
With that said, here is a list of factors to consider before you book a venue for
your concert:
Location
Price (and does the price include volunteers/workers)
Size of the performance space
Number of seats
Acoustics
Electrical capacity
Lighting and sound capabilities
Parking
Setup access time
Dressing rooms
Facilities such as restrooms, concessions, disabled access,
security, etc.

In addition to the physical needs of the venue, there is also an emotional
component that should impact your decision. The venue should be large
enough to accommodate the expected crowd but not so large that there
are a lot of empty seats.
Artists and attendees prefer shows that are sold out or almost sold out. That’s
because the energy in the room is much higher when 90% of the seats are
filled. If you’ve ever been to a concert where there are only 300 people in a
1,000-seat room, you know it’s not as much fun.
TIP
Always do a complete walkthrough of any

venue you consider booking for your event
before you sign a contract.

Chapter
SeT Ticket Prices
3
Setting ticket prices for your concert can be tricky. You need to cover your
costs, and you might even want to generate a profit to use toward future
ministry activities.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a single formula to calculate the perfect ticket prices
for every event. There are simply too many variables that are unique to
different events like location, time of year, weather, performers, venue,
competition, and so on.
That means you need to find the sweet spot between making the ticket price
affordable and making it profitable while keeping in mind that people equate
quality (or popularity) with price.
With that said, here are some steps you should take to find the average ticket
price point for your concert.
1 . DETERMINE YOUR BREAK-EVEN POINT

Before you do anything else, you need to add up all of the expenses you’ll
incur to hold your concert. This is your break-even point. If you don’t make
this amount of money on ticket sales, you’ll lose money on the event.
Make sure you include your marketing budget, because skimping on your
marketing budget to reduce your ticket costs will likely cause you to sell
fewer tickets. In simplest terms, you can’t have it cheap and well-advertised!
2 . IDENTIFY A REALISTIC TICKET SALES QUANTITY

Next, you need to determine a realistic number of tickets you can sell. If
your venue holds 500 people, is it realistic that you could fill the venue with
people who want to attend the concert? Finding this quantity will take a
bit of work on your part to determine if you have a large enough audience
to actually sell the number of tickets you hope to sell. Remember, being
realistic is critical at this point.

Once you identify the number of tickets you think you can sell, it’s time to
get out your calculator. Divide your break-even point from Step 1 by your
forecasted ticket sales quantity. The result is the lowest price you can sell
tickets for in order to break even.
Next, determine how much profit you’d like to make on the event. Add
that to your break-even point and divide the sum by your forecasted ticket
sales quantity. This is the minimum ticket price you’d need to charge in
order to hit your desired profits. Once you have these two numbers, you
can determine how you want to set your ticket prices. However, you need
to do some research first!
3 . RESEARCH SIMILAR EVENTS

What do tickets to similar events cost? Be sure to research events that are
actually well-attended. It doesn’t matter what the price of a ticket was if
no one went to the event! Look for events with similar venues, performers,
and so on.
You’re trying to compare apples to apples at this point. Are the ticket prices
you came up with in Step 2 appropriate based on similar events? You might
have to make some adjustments if your pricing isn’t realistic.
4 . RESEARCH COMPETITOR EVENTS

Next, you need to research competitor events. This includes not just events
like yours but also other events and activities that people could choose
to do or spend their money on rather than your event. For example, ask
yourself what else is going on in your town that could compete with your
concert.
People need to believe that the price of the ticket is less than or equal to
the benefits they think they’ll receive by taking time out of their days and
money out of their wallets to attend the event rather than doing something
else at that time.
5 . EVALUATE
Based on your calculations and research, could the perceived value of your
event (if you promote it appropriately) exceed other activities people could
decide to do rather than attending your concert? Is your event less than or
equal to those other events in perceived value?
Your price should be lower, the same, or higher than the prices of those
other events based on that honest evaluation. Use this pricing information
along with your minimum ticket price calculation results to set your base
ticket prices.

!
Warning!
Cheap tickets aren’t enough to sell out your event! I

once did a test and sold $5.00 tickets for a concert
in several markets. Then, I sold $15.00 tickets for the
same concert in other markets. In every case, the
$15.00 markets sold more tickets.

Chapter
Develop Pricing Promotions
4
In order to organize a successful Christian concert, you need to get people to
attend! There are a number of extremely effective pricing tactics that you can
use to increase ticket sales.
Most importantly, you want to sell as many tickets as you can as early as
possible, so you hit your break-even point sooner rather than later. Moreover,
the longer people have tickets in hand, the more time they have to tell other
people about the event, which can lead to more ticket sales!
Early Bird Discounts

Early bird pricing works. Lower your ticket price well before your event and
offer that low price as a limited time offer.
The key is making the discount big enough to boost early ticket sales
while still generating a comfortable return but not so big that consumers’
evaluations of the deal create negative perceptions. In other words, the
discount needs to be convenient for consumers to get and big enough –
but not too big.
I recommend having a $5.00 spread between advance tickets and at the

gate tickets for a $20 at-the-gate ticket event. For example, AttendStar’s
number one selling air show of all time had an advance ticket price of $15
including all fees, and the event organizers made a fortune on food sales.
In other words, they kept the ticket price low and made up for any lost
revenues on ticket sales with ancillary sales (i.e., food). This is something
you can do at your concert, too!
Timed-Batch Pricing
With timed-batch ticket pricing, you release batches of tickets on specific
dates (or at specific milestones) with increasing prices as the event gets
closer. This helps to boost early ticket sales and creates a sense of urgency
well in advance of your event.

If you use this pricing strategy, keep the psychological principle called
Weber’s Law in mind, which tells us a just noticeable difference (JND)
between two stimuli is directly proportional to the magnitude of the stimuli.
In other words, a change in your ticket sales will be affected by how much
the price was before the increase. Weber’s Law shows that customers are
usually motivated to respond when the price increase is an average of 10%.
Bundled Pricing
People love bundles where they feel like they’re getting more for their
money. In fact, research has even shown that people prefer getting extra
things added into their purchases for the same price (e.g., buy one get one
free) over getting a price discount!
You can offer bundled pricing by adding extras like a VIP experience,
parking, food, and so on to some or all of your ticket prices. Think about
what matters to your worshippers and create bundles that appeal to them.
Partitioned Pricing
Should you include the fees in your ticket prices or not? The answer to this
question depends on whether or not you’re selling tickets through different
distribution points. For example, if you’re selling tickets online, offline, and
at the door, it’s important to keep all ticket prices the same so more people
are encouraged to purchase tickets online.
If you sell tickets at a lower price offline, then you’ll lose online sales. That
means you also lose the chance to collect buyers’ email addresses for
future communications, and you won’t be able to create the same level
of motivation to buy tickets in advance, which can hurt your ability to put
your event in the black as soon as possible.
Things are a bit different if you’re only selling tickets online. Based on the
partitioned pricing strategy, you should keep fees separate (think of airlines,
which have spent years and millions of dollars finding the best ways to
present their fees) and advertise your prices without the fees included.
Why does partitioned pricing work? The reason is because people use that
advertised price for comparison shopping. Also, once they’ve made the
decision to buy a ticket, they’re less likely to abandon the purchase when
they see the fees added later (unless the fees are excessive).

Tiered Pricing
Price anchoring is a pricing strategy that says you should display the product
you want to sell at the price you want to sell it next to similar products at
different price points in order to increase sales of the first product. The
reason is because people rely more heavily on the first piece of information
given to them when they make decisions. That means a $10 ticket is more
likely to sell if it’s seen next to a $100 ticket because of cognitive bias.
However, don’t offer too many pricing tiers, or consumers will become
confused and not buy at all. Of course, each tier should offer the right
perceived value to match the price tag as you learned in the previous
chapter.
Research has shown that if you’re offering three tiers, the ticket price you
want to sell the most (e.g., the ticket price that will enable you to hit your
profit goals) should be the middle price to provide the best price anchors.
TIP
When discounting ticket prices, be sure to follow the

Rule of 100, which says size matters. In other words,
bigger numbers are perceived as having a higher value,
even if they’re not actually bigger discounts. Therefore,
for any ticket prices under $100, show the discount as
a percentage, but for ticket prices over $100, show the
discount as a dollar amount. For example, show a 20%
discount on a $20 ticket as 20% which is perceived as
larger than $4, but show a 20% discount on a $200
ticket as $40, which is perceived as larger than 20%.

Chapter
5 Choose a Ticketing Company
Who is going to help you sell your tickets online, offline, and at the door? Will
you be selling tickets in all three places? How will you get tickets to buyers?
Do you need to print tickets? How will refunds be handled? How will tickets be
verified and tracked at the door?
These are just some of the questions that you need to consider when you
choose a ticketing company for your Christian concert. There is a lot that goes
on behind the scenes to ensure attendees can purchase tickets and enter your
concert without any problems, so choosing a ticketing company is a critical
decision.
Most importantly, don’t just pick a ticketing company because you’ve heard
of them before or know they handle ticketing for a lot of events. Those events
might not be anything like your concert. The truth is you need a ticketing
company that understands not just concerts but also the needs of Christian
audiences.
The best ticketing company for a Christian concert is one that offers not just a
ticketing tool but also full support so you can focus on your ministry. After all,
most Christian concert organizers aren’t professional event planners. It’s quite
possible that you’re volunteering your time and/or have another job that takes
up most of your time!
When choosing a ticketing company, look for the criteria introduced below.
Ticket Sales Management

Your ticketing company should provide complete online ticket sales
management including:
Your own mobile-friendly ticket sales page with your own branding,
images, videos, description, FAQs, and sponsor logos
No monthly fees, commitments, or contracts

Tiered pricing, bundled pricing, group discounts, early bird pricing,
and other pricing discounts based on a percent or dollar amount
Opt-in form
Social media integration
Email marketing integration
Advertising and retargeting integration
Google Analytics integration
If you plan to sell tickets offline or at the door, your ticketing company should
also offer custom printed tickets and a complete box office solution (preferably
at no extra charge).
Support
You’ll need support from your ticketing company every step of the way, so they
need to be highly accessible. Choose a ticketing company that offers:
Support by email, phone, and chat for extended hours, 7 days per
week for both you and your ticket buyers
Online knowledge base
Dedicated account manager
Self-service or complete set up at no extra charge
Support beyond ticket sales such as marketing, parking, and
security expertise
Payment
When you’re trying to break even or generate a profit from your Christian
concert, you need to know that you’ll receive your payments on a consistent,
timely basis. Your ticketing company should provide:
Daily deposits to your bank account
Option to include ticket processing and credit card fees in ticket
prices for increased sales
Way to connect your own merchant account
Competitive payment processing fees

Promotion
If a ticketing company doesn’t offer promotional tools to help you sell tickets to
your concert, don’t use that company! Here are some marketing tools that your
ticketing company should offer at no extra charge:
Social media integration for easy sharing of your event
Email marketing integration and automation to automatically send
updates and information to ticket buyers and prospective ticket
buyers
Text alerts for ticket buyers
Discount and promotion codes
Facebook comments on your ticket sales page
Retargeting to turn more prospects into buyers with advertising
Buyer data download for direct mail and other direct marketing
campaigns
Marketing resource library and strategic support
Ticket Buyer Data

Did you know that some ticketing companies can use your ticket buyer data for
their own purposes? For example, they might send emails or make phone calls
to your ticket buyers in an effort to sell their own services or promote other
events. They might even sell your ticket buyer data to other companies, so
those other companies can market to your ticket buyers! This is all covered in
the fine print when you agree to use their tool to sell your tickets.
Therefore, it’s essential that you work with a ticketing company that doesn’t do
this! Here are some of the criteria you should look for in a ticketing company
related to ticket buyer data:
You own your data and no one else can use it for any reason
Ability to collect ticket buyer information as tickets are sold
Easy download of ticket buyer information into a .csv file
Reporting to the ticket buyer level
Ability to collect both buyer data and prospective buyer data

Onsite Event Presence
Some event ticketing companies will support you through the entire event
planning process – through the actual day of the event and beyond. Look for a
ticketing company that supports you past the last ticket sale by offering:
Onsite presence at your event
iOS and Android apps for ticket scanning
High-speed ticket scanners with built-in credit card swipe readers
Event Command Center active specifically for your concert on the
day of your event
Reports AND SURVEYS

It’s important to track ticket sales and the marketing efforts leading up to
your event so you can tweak your marketing plan and maximize sales. It’s also
important to analyze your concert afterwards to see how you can improve your
efforts for your next event. Make sure your event ticketing company provides:
Ticket sales reports by day, ticket type, discount code, and all
aspects of your event
Page view and other ticket sales page reports
Comparative reports that compare up to 100 days before event
dates for two events
Integration with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager
Downloadable reports in .csv format
Did You Know?

If you choose AttendStar as your ticketing company, sales,
marketing, and onsite support is just a phone call away – at no
extra charge? Not only that, but also, Christian concerts are
one of our specialities!

Chapter
6 Promote Your Concert
Creating an event marketing plan can be overwhelming. After all, if you don’t
spread the word about your event, you’ll have no chance of selling tickets.
Marketing matters – a lot!
However, the most important thing you need to do happens before you start
promoting your concert. In order to sell more tickets to your event, you have
to create an awesome ticket sales page for online ticket sales (as well as for
information gathering if you’ll be selling tickets offline, too).
If your ticket sales page uses low quality images or poorly written copy, then
you’ll lose sales immediately. Take the time to ensure your ticket sales page is
as good as it can be before you start promoting your event.
With that said, here are some event marketing opportunities that don’t have to
cost a lot but can drive ticket sales for you.
Email Marketing
You should send email messages to your congregation and any subscriber
lists you have letting them know about your upcoming concert, but don’t
stop there. You need to make people aware of your event and then convince
them to attend. This doesn’t always happen with a single message, so plan
to email your lists on a weekly basis at a minimum.
Facebook Sharing
Where do most people find out about products, services, and even events
these days? Facebook. That’s where people spend a lot of their time every
day, and your event needs to be there, too. Set up a Facebook Page if you
don’t already have one, add your event to it, and start inviting people to
like it.

Next, publish content that is meaningful to your audience and sprinkle in
some posts about your concert, too. Upload images and video to generate
excitement about your event so people will buy tickets and spread the
word about the concert. Research shows that video and image content
is more likely to get shared on Facebook than text content, which means
more word-of-mouth marketing for your concert!
Advertising
Advertising in local newspapers, publications, billboards, radio stations, and
more can quickly make large audiences aware of your concert. However,
advertising can get expensive, so don’t be afraid to negotiate prices. For
example, pick a popular Christian radio station in the area, and tell them
they can be a presenting sponsor in return for a great advertising deal.
You can also place ads directly on local websites and Christian blogs.
Google AdWords, and Facebook are great options for online advertising.
In fact, Facebook ads can work very well for event advertising. The key is to
publish the right kind of ad and make sure the right people see it. To that
end, use Facebook’s unpublished post ad type and select highly targeted
audiences to show your ad to using the Facebook Ads Manager tool.
Importantly, your ads need to look good. Always use high quality images
and messages or no one will click on your ads!
Retargeting
Retargeting is a form of advertising where people who have already visited
a specific page (such as your ticket sales page) are shown your ad. You
can set up retargeting with Facebook ads, Google AdWords, and AdRoll to
name a few.
The process is very easy. Here’s an incredibly simplified explanation. You

just insert some code into your ticket sales page (for Facebook, this is
called a Facebook pixel), and Facebook, Google AdWords, or AdRoll will
show your ad to people who visit your ticket sales page when they return to
Facebook or a website displaying AdSense or AdRoll ads. They’ve already
visited your ticket sales page, so they’re clearly interested in your event. It
might just take another view of your ad to convince them to buy tickets!
Twitter Posts

Start publishing posts to your Twitter feed long before the event and even
before tickets go on sale. Here are some tweet ideas to get you started:
Early bird registration has started or is ending
Special discounts are starting or ending
Event countdown (# days until the event – get your tickets
before it’s too late)
Tips for attendees (e.g., no coolers, parking information,
weather updates, and so on)
Shout outs to thank sponsors
Updates about performers
Links to any articles or blog posts published online about the
event
Quotes and testimonials
Thank you to anyone who shares your event on their Twitter
profiles
A typical tweet has a lifespan of just 18 minutes (meaning nearly all of the views
of a tweet happen within the first 18 minutes after it’s published), so tweeting
once is not enough.
Outreach
You can send email messages, Facebook messages, tweets on Twitter, or
even call your local newspaper, radio stations, Christian bloggers, local
events websites, and so on to get your concert on their radar screens. You
never know who might decide to share your event to their audiences or
write about it on their blog or in their magazine or newspaper, but they
might not hear about your event if you don’t tell them.
Outreach doesn’t have to be limited to the media. You can get creative! For
example, create a video promoting your concert and play it at churches in
your area. You can even pass out flyers about your concert at other events
leading up to your concert. And don’t forget to reach out to local Christian-
owned businesses inviting them to get involved and spread the word.

Reminders
Did you know that 40% of visits to a ticket sales page do not result in a
sale? That’s because most people don’t buy a ticket on the first visit. They
hear about your event and want to learn more about it before they actually
buy. For this reason, it’s extremely important to remind them about your
event! But how do you get their email addresses if they haven’t bought a
ticket from you yet?
Fortunately, there are some tools available that make this very easy for you.
AttendStar’s Remind Me feature is an example. When a person visits your
ticket sales page they can sign up to be reminded about the event using a
form right on the sales page. Within the AttendStar system, you can set up
six emails every ten days and automatically send them to people who join
your reminder list.
Each Remind Me email includes details about the event time and location,
and you can include a link to content that will make them want to attend
and motivate them to buy a ticket such as a video by the performer. It’s the
perfect way to convince more of those people who don’t buy on their first
visits to your sales page to get their tickets!
TIP
Did you know there are websites that feature lists of local events
for people looking for fun activities in their area? You can add
your Christian concert to some of these sites for free!
Here are five to start with:
1. Eventful.com
2. Yelp.com
3. Eventcrazy.com
4. Youreventfree.com
5. Eventseeker.com

Chapter
7 Get Help
Depending on your budget, you might be able to hire some workers or you
might have to find volunteers to help you plan your Christian concert and be
onsite on the day of the event to take tickets, supervise parking, handle crowd
control, sell concessions, and so on.
Either way, you need to make sure you have written roles and responsibilities
for each worker or volunteer. Document deadlines and make it clear who they
should contact if they have a problem or need help.
Finding Volunteers
To find workers or volunteers, start by asking your congregation. Next, post
calls for volunteers on your social media profiles and pages, and consider
posting opportunities on sites like your local Craigslist or Christian websites.
Ask family, friends, and your congregation to do the same.
You can also approach local schools and businesses to ask for volunteers.
In addition, when you post your volunteer needs on VolunteerMatch.org,
they’ll automatically be shared to LinkedIn’s Volunteer Marketplace where
they’ll be accessible to over 10 million LinkedIn users!
Be sure to show volunteers the descriptions of their roles and responsibilities

so they know what they’re signing up for. This will reduce the number of
dropouts you get as the event gets closer.

Giving Incentives
It’s very possible that you’ll need to offer incentives to get enough
volunteers. You can offer free tickets, free food, a meet and greet with
the performer, or any other creative item or experience that would entice
people to volunteer their time. For example, many young people are actively
looking for ways to add to their resumes, so you could offer to write letters
of recommendation for volunteers to attract them.
Did You Know?

Many companies have Employee Volunteer Programs where
volunteering is encouraged. Reach out to the companies in your
area to see if there is a company with such a program that you
can partner with for your concert and possibly future events,
too.

Chapter
8 Attract Sponsors
One of the best ways to offset the cost of your Christian concert is to bring on
sponsors that pay you to advertise in some way to your ticket buyers and to
have their names associated with your concert. For example, a sponsor might
have its logo displayed on your tickets and advertising materials as well as
shown prominently at the event. Another sponsor might pay to send an email
message to all of your ticket buyers or to hand out materials at your event.
The key to organizing a successful Christian concert with sponsors is to make

sure you bring on the right sponsors – sponsors that are appropriate, relevant,
and meaningful to your audience.
Determine Sponsorship Opportunities

When you ask businesses, radio stations, and other organizations if they’d
like to sponsor your concert, you need to show them how doing so will
benefit them. In other words, it’s unlikely that they’ll invest their money
into your event unless they know they’ll get something valuable enough in
return. You need to create sponsorship opportunities that meet potential
sponsors’ goals for their investments.
To that end, consider creating a few sponsorship levels such as Gold, Silver,
and Bronze, and offer more benefits for higher prices. The lowest level
might offer inclusion of the sponsor’s logo on marketing materials but
the highest level might include the logo on marketing materials as well as
displaying the sponsor’s banner above the stage, mentioning the sponsor
in radio ads, and passing out information about the sponsor at the gate to
all attendees.
The key to setting sponsorship levels and prices is to determine how much
money you need to hold your event based on your budget as discussed
in Chapter 1. Sponsorships can make up any difference between your
budgeted expenses and your projected ticket sales, or sponsorships can
help you earn a profit for future ministry activities.

Create a Sponsor Flyer
Before you approach potential sponsors to make your pitch, create a
one-sheet sponsorship flyer that includes all of the information that will
matter to them, including:
Date, time, and venue for the event

Expected attendance
Performer’s name (and label and awards if the artist has them)
Details about any similar events in the local area that you’ve
held before (this provides proof that you can actually sell the
number of tickets you’re claiming to sell for this concert)
Sponsorship opportunities and prices
!
Warning!
Speaking with sponsors can be very uncomfortable

because it requires a sales approach, and sales doesn’t
come naturally to many people. If you’re asking smaller
businesses and organizations to sponsor your concert,
sponsoring events might be completely new to them.
You might have to explain the concept to them and
help them understand why sponsorship benefits both
of you. One thing is certain, don’t expect to get a “yes”
the first time you ask. And be prepared to negotiate!

Chapter
9 Tracking Results
Using Google Analytics, you can significantly increase event ticket sales and
your marketing efforts. The best part is Google Analytics is free, but it has to
integrate with your ticket sales page in order for you to get all of the data you
need.
When you combine your Google Analytics data with the reports you get from
your ticketing company (assuming those reports are comprehensive), you can
get a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not in order to improve ticket
sales for your current concert and future events.
There is so much that you can do with the data that’s accessible to you, but don’t
get overwhelmed. This chapter covers a few key things you can do to extract
useful data from the Google Analytics reports related to your ticket sales.
Set Goals
The first step you should take is to make sure the appropriate Google
Analytics tracking code has been added to your event website. Once
Google Analytics is up and running, log into your account and click the
Goals link under the Conversions heading in the sidebar to set up some
goals.
Your goals should be trackable conversions. For example, a ticket purchase

is a perfect goal to set up here! You’ll use this goal as you look at your
visitor sources, page performance, and so on.
From here, you can track acquisitions to see where visitors to your site are
coming from and measure those visits against your goal. If you invested
in Google AdWords to drive traffic and sell tickets, you can determine if
that advertising investment paid off in actual ticket sales. The objective,
of course, is to drive your cost per conversion as low as possible, and this
analysis is extremely helpful.

I recommend that you create a goal funnel to track the
entire check-out purchase funnel. Since prospective
ticket buyers can land on the first step of the checkout
process from many places, such as search engines,
social media, email campaigns, and more, this report
pulls all of the sources together to give you a completely
accurate count.
Identify Your Audience

Google Analytics can also help you understand who your audience is. Who
is visiting your ticket sales page? Are they the right people? In other words,
are your marketing efforts driving people to your ticket sales page who
might actually buy tickets?
Furthermore, you might be surprised to see how many people visit your
ticket sales page from mobile devices. It’s probably more than half, and you
can see this percentage in your Google Analytics account. Bottom-line, if
your ticket sales page isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re probably losing ticket
sales.
Your Google Analytics data can tell you how people arrived on your event
website or ticket sales page. They might have come from an organic search
using a search engine like Google. They might have come from one of
your ads. They might even come from a social media post, blog post, or
elsewhere. Knowing how traffic gets to your site is important to determine
which of your marketing investments are working.
You can combine this data with the goals you set up in Google Analytics
to learn things like how many people buy tickets the first time they visit
your ticket sales page versus how many are returning visitors. Through this
analysis, you might spot opportunities to improve your on-page messaging
or invest in some ad retargeting.

Track Conversions
There is so much to be learned from people who already bought tickets for
your event, and you can access this data in Google Analytics. Ticket buyer
data can help you determine the best day of the week for sales, identify
traffic spikes or dips over time, and more.
I see ticket sellers use this data often to track marketing investment
performance. By creating and printing out a chart that shows ticket sales
by day, you can draw timelines for your various campaigns directly on the
chart. For example, you can note when specific radio, television, online,
and Facebook ads ran. You can even include social media posts, contests,
outreach efforts, email marketing, and more.
Sales spikes that correspond with specific marketing campaigns most likely
mean that campaign was successful and could warrant a budget increase.
For data dips that correspond with specific marketing campaigns, the
opposite is probably true and budget cuts might be wise.
Did You Know?

You don’t have to worry about all of the reports in Google
Analytics. You only care about a few of them, and if you
choose AttendStar as your ticketing company, some of the
most important analytics features have already been built into
software!

Chapter
10 Surveys
The concert is over and the traffic has cleared, but it’s not over for you yet. For
your team, it’s time to have a “survivor party” where you thank everyone and
ask them to share things they saw that need to be improved for the next event.
Don’t skip this important task!
It’s also time to send an email and thank your guests as well as survey them to
see what they liked and what they didn’t like. If you’ve chosen the right ticketing
company, you’ll be able to send a survey to attendees directly from the ticketing
software, which makes things very easy! In fact, some ticketing companies, like
AttendStar, send a post-event survey out for you automatically, and you get the
results within a few weeks of your event.
Your goal is to find out what worked and what didn’t so you can improve for
future events. With that in mind, here are some important questions that you
should ask in your post-concert survey:
Did you enjoy the event?
Did you like the venue?
Where did you hear about the event?
Was the ticket purchasing experience easy?
Would you recommend the event to other people?
Would you attend a similar event in the future?
Were you satisfied with the ticket price?
Were you satisfied with the food, parking, restrooms, etc.?
Did you experience any problems that negatively affected the
event for you?

When did you purchase your tickets?
Why did you decide to buy tickets and attend this concert?
Did you buy your tickets yourself or did someone else buy them
for you or give them to you?
The key to getting the largest number of people to complete the survey is to
make it easy to complete! That means you have to balance how many questions
you ask with how much information you collect. Use multiple choice and ranking
questions primarily with just a small percentage of open-ended questions that
require people to type text responses.
Sometimes, offering an incentive to encourage people to complete the survey

can increase the response rate. Just make sure the incentive is included as part
of your original budget, is relevant to your audience, and is appropriate for your
church.
!
Warning!
Don’t be surprised if you receive a lot of negative

survey responses. People are more apt to respond
when they’ve had a negative experience than they are
if they’ve had a positive or mediocre experience.

Chapter
11 Create a To Do List
Now that you understand everything you have to do to pull off a successful
Christian concert, the task of planning it can seem completely overwhelming.
Where do you start? What do you do and when?
There are so many moving parts and pieces to planning a Christian concert, but
with a comprehensive event planning checklist, you can smoothly navigate the
process and put on a fantastic event!
1. 6 to 12 Months Ahead of the Concert

A year to six months before your concert, you need to think about budget.
Of course, depending on the size of your event, your budget could vary
greatly. Venue, food, performers, speakers, sound, lights, decorations, and
signage costs – to name a few – will directly affect your budget and the
ticket prices you charge.
At this point, you also need to identify your event sponsorship levels as
well as the amounts and get all of your contracts in order. As you near the
six-month mark, you should be securing sponsors, inviting VIP guests, and
releasing press releases about performers. It’s also time to compile your
mailing lists (both email and regular mail) and start early promotion efforts.
2. 1 Month before the Event

At least one month before your event, you should be finalizing all of
the logistics. This includes transportation, accommodations, security,
equipment deliveries, staffing, and so on. You should meet with all of your
vendors to confirm everything in writing and have backup plans in place.
Furthermore, this is the time to finalize the event timeline and scripts, assign
seats (if necessary), give guest estimates to the concessions company,
finalize decoration plans, and finalize the site plan or room diagram. Also,

you should continue advertising the event, particularly in local publications
and news media.
3. 2 Weeks before the Event

If you need to sell tickets at the door, now is the time to get ready! Consider
using a credit card swipe device to sell tickets at the door. These devices
aren’t expensive and will save you so much time and frustration versus
cash transactions.
Of course, you should still be promoting your event. You still have two
weeks to sell tickets, so make sure you sell as many tickets as possible by
investing in a marketing push during the lead up to the event!
4. 1 Week before the Event

With just seven days until your event, it’s critical that you confirm all of the
details. Make sure all of your vendors and staff have your phone number
and you have their numbers. No matter how much you plan, things will go
wrong, and you need to have access to the people who can help you solve
those problems at a moment’s notice. In fact, it’s a great idea to hire two to
three people (or secure two to three volunteers) whose role is to help with
emergencies.
Schedule rehearsals, set up staffing assignments, and do a full walk-through

with all personnel. Don’t forget to determine how much petty cash you
need to have on hand for tips and emergencies on the day of the event,
and write out checks in advance for any payments that are due on that day.
Finally, keep promoting!
5. 1 Day before the Event

When the 24 hour countdown begins, you need to make sure the countdown
to purchase online tickets also begins. For example, if your event begins at
6:00 p.m., your online ticketing application should close sales before that
time.
This is also your last chance to recheck all of the equipment and supplies
that have to be brought to the event to confirm everything is where it
should be. At the same time, double check that your petty cash and vendor
checks are ready.

6. Day of the Event
This is it! You’ve spent the last six to 12 months planning this concert, and
it’s finally here! Be sure to arrive to the event early wearing clothes you can
get dirty in. Unpack all of the equipment and supplies to confirm nothing
is missing. Double check the concessions, and go over the final details with
your staff. Check the sound and light equipment as well as the staging
before holding the final rehearsal.
Once the logistics of the day are completely taken care of, you can change
into your event clothes to greet VIPs and make sure they’re in the right
places. Also, greet the sponsors and performers, and ensure they have
the appropriate scripts if necessary. Finally, make sure your cell phone is
charged and have a battery-operated charger with you in case you need a
charge during the day when you’re not near an outlet!
FREE RESOURCE
Download AttendStar’s
FREE 12-MONTH EVENT PLANNING CHECKLIST
Download AttendStar’s free 12-Month Event Planning Checklist
to start your own To Do list. It’s formatted so you can print
it out and check off each item as you go. You’ll stay more
organized, have fewer problems, and feel less stressed when
you know you’re on the right path.

PLANNING A CHRISTIAN CONCERT?
YOU NEED A TICKETING COMPANY THAT DOES IT ALL
( a t a P r i c e Yo u C a n A f f o r d )
When you choose AttendStar as your ticketing company, you’ll get the help you
need to ensure your Christian concert is successful for your ministry.
We’re not just a ticketing company, we’re your partner in holding an event that
lifts your worshippers, entertains your audience, and meets your goals.
With AttendStar you’ll get:
• Complete ticketing setup and sales • Phone, email, and chat support for
support extended hours 7 days per week
• Customized ticket sales page, • Dedicated account manager
pricing, and printed tickets with
your own branding • Daily payments to your bank
account
• Online and offline ticket sales
solutions • No contracts, monthly fees, or
commitments
• Complete box-office solution
• Email, social media, advertising,
• Mobile ticket sales and scanning and Google Analytics integration
• Marketing and sales expertise • Comprehensive tracking and
reports
• Onsite event support
We focus on supporting Christian concert ticket sales. That’s why we offer you
better support and more help than any other ticketing company.
We understand your needs. We know your challenges. We’re here to help you.
CALL ATTENDSTAR AT 615-223-1973 TO LEARN HOW WE CAN TAKE THE

stress and confusion out of your Christian concert ticket sales. 35
Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing

How To Plan A Christian Concert

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

How To Plan A Christian Concert

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

By Gary Bradshaw

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States

AttendStar is a registered trademark

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 2

Chapter 1: Pick an Artist............................................................................................................ 5

Chapter 2: Book a Venue.......................................................................................................... 7

Chapter 3: Set Ticket Prices....................................................................................................9

Chapter 4: Develop Pricing Promotions............................................................................12

Chapter 5: Choose a Ticketing Company..........................................................................15

Chapter 6: Promote Your Concert....................................................................................... 19

Chapter 7: Get Help..................................................................................................................23

Chapter 8: Attract Sponsors..................................................................................................25

Chapter 9: Tracking Results...................................................................................................27

Chapter 10: Surveys................................................................................................................. 30

Chapter 11: Create a To Do List.............................................................................................32

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 4

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 5

Beware of the contract rider! Contract riders indicate

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 6

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 7

Always do a complete walkthrough of any

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 8

1 . DETERMINE YOUR BREAK-EVEN POINT

2 . IDENTIFY A REALISTIC TICKET SALES QUANTITY

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 9

3 . RESEARCH SIMILAR EVENTS

4 . RESEARCH COMPETITOR EVENTS

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 10

Cheap tickets aren’t enough to sell out your event! I

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 11

Early Bird Discounts

I recommend having a $5.00 spread between advance tickets and at the

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 12

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 13

When discounting ticket prices, be sure to follow the

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 14

5 Choose a Ticketing Company

Ticket Sales Management

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 15

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 16

Ticket Buyer Data

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 17

Reports AND SURVEYS

Did You Know?

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 18

6 Promote Your Concert

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 19

The process is very easy. Here’s an incredibly simplified explanation. You

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 20

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 21

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 22

Be sure to show volunteers the descriptions of their roles and responsibilities

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 23

Did You Know?

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 24

The key to organizing a successful Christian concert with sponsors is to make

Determine Sponsorship Opportunities

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 25

 Date, time, and venue for the event

Speaking with sponsors can be very uncomfortable

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 26

Your goals should be trackable conversions. For example, a ticket purchase

Copyright © 2017 www.attendstar.com/christian-concert-ticketing 27

Date, time, and venue for the event