How to Start a Thriving Ticketing Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Have you ever dreamed of starting your own business? If you love live events, a ticketing business could be a great option. The live events industry is booming, with people flocking to concerts, sports games, theater shows, and more. As a ticketing broker, you can tap into this growing market and build a successful company from the ground up.

While starting any business is challenging, a ticketing business has a clear path to success. You’ll need to build a user-friendly website to sell tickets, establish relationships with venues and promoters to source great seats, and market your company to reach new customers. With hard work and persistence, you can create a thriving ticketing business and become your own boss.

The Ticketing Market Landscape

The ticketing industry targets a wide audience of live event goers, from music and sports fans to theater enthusiasts. As a ticketing broker, you have the opportunity to serve both local niche markets as well as larger mass markets, depending on your business model.

Many ticketing companies focus on a specific region or city, building relationships with local venues and promoters to provide tickets to nearby events. This local approach allows you to become the go-to source for tickets in your area. You can also aim for a more luxury market by securing premium seats and packages to high-demand shows and games.

Alternatively, you may want to take a mass market approach and sell tickets to major concerts, sports leagues, and touring Broadway productions across a wider region or even nationally. The mass market has the largest potential for high sales volume, although competition will be greater. An omni-channel model, with a mix of local, luxury, and mass market ticketing, may provide the most stable and diversified business.

Your Ticketing Product and Service

As a ticketing broker, your core product is tickets to live events. However, you need to determine how to make your ticketing business stand out. Some options include:

•Focus on premium seating: Secure tickets in prime, reserved seating sections as well as luxury suites and boxes. This high-end ticketing can command premium prices from customers looking for the best seats. You’ll need to build relationships with venues to gain access to these premium tickets. •Bundle with extras: Bundle standard tickets with extras like backstage passes, meet and greets, parking, or merchandise to provide an enhanced experience for fans. These ticket bundles and packages can increase customer loyalty and your profit margins. •Mobile ticketing: Offer a mobile ticketing option so customers can quickly and easily access their tickets on their smartphones. Mobile ticketing is convenient and helps reduce fraud. You’ll need to invest in technology to implement mobile ticketing. •Perks program: Start a perks program to reward frequent customers with discounts, seat upgrades, and exclusive offers. A perks program helps build customer loyalty and repeat business. •Sell on secondary market: In addition to primary market tickets, also source and sell tickets on the secondary market to meet demand for sold out shows. Secondary market tickets can yield higher profit margins, although there is more uncertainty and risk.

Economics and Finances of a Ticketing Business

The economics of a ticketing business depend on your operating model and costs. Your primary costs will be:

•Ticket acquisition: The fees you pay to venues, promoters, and ticket issuers to acquire tickets to resell. Ticket acquisition costs will vary significantly based on the types of events and seats. •Technology: Expenses for your ticketing website and mobile apps. You'll need a robust ecommerce platform to process ticket sales. •Marketing: Costs to promote your ticketing business and events to new and existing customers. •Staff: Salaries for employees handling ticket sourcing, operations, customer service, and marketing.

For pricing, you need to determine a markup model that covers your costs and provides a reasonable profit margin. Some options include:

•Flat markup: Add a fixed dollar amount to the face value of each ticket. For example, $10-$20 markup on all tickets. This model is simple but may be too low for premium seats and too high for low-end seats. •Percentage markup: Increase the ticket price by a fixed percentage, such as 20-30% above face value. This ensures higher markups on expensive tickets. However, lower-cost tickets may still not yield enough profit. •Dynamic pricing: Adjust markups based on ticket demand and other factors. Charge higher markups for in-demand, premium seats and lower markups during off-peak periods or for less desirable seats. Dynamic pricing requires monitoring the secondary ticket market and running price optimization models. It can maximize revenue but also introduces more uncertainty. •Bundled pricing: Price ticket bundles and packages at an overall markup instead of marking up each component individually. Bundled pricing allows you to provide added value to customers at a reasonable cost.

Marketing Your Ticketing Business

A successful marketing strategy is essential to building a thriving ticketing business. Some of the most effective techniques include:

•Search engine optimization (SEO): Optimize your website to rank highly in search results for terms like “event tickets,” “[city name] concerts,” and “[team name] tickets.” SEO allows you to attract customers organically through search engines like Google. •Social media marketing: Create profiles on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to promote your ticketing business, highlight featured events, share customer reviews and photos, and engage directly with followers. Build a social media content calendar to keep your profiles active and engaged. •Email marketing: Start an email newsletter to inform customers about upcoming events, special deals, and promotions. Offer a signup on your website and social media profiles. Send regular newsletters as well as targeted emails about events that match customer interests. •Pay-per-click (PPC) ads: Run PPC ad campaigns on search engines and social media to increase traffic to your website. PPC ads allow you to reach new potential customers actively searching for event tickets. •Direct outreach: Contact local venues, promoters, teams, bands, and event planners directly to let them know about your ticketing services. Try to establish partnerships to become the official ticket broker for their events. Direct outreach combined with strong relationships is key. •Public relations: Pitch your ticketing business to local media, bloggers, and influencers to earn coverage and backlinks to your website. Appearing in the press helps to build authority and trust in your brand. Offer ticket giveaways and promotions in exchange for coverage. •Referral marketing: Offer incentives for customers to refer friends to your ticketing business. Referral marketing is an effective way to acquire new customers through word-of-mouth recommendations from people they know and trust.

Sales Strategies and Processes

To sell tickets and grow your revenue, focus on the following sales strategies:

•Upselling customers: When customers purchase a ticket, upsell them on seat upgrades, ticket bundles, parking passes, and other add-ons to increase the transaction value. Your ticketing platform should make it easy for customers to select and purchase add-on items. •Cross-selling at checkout: At checkout, suggest other events that match the customer’s interests based on their current ticket selection. For example, if a customer buys concert tickets, suggest tickets to other shows at the same venue or other events in the same music genre. Cross-selling exposes customers to more of your inventory. •Season tickets and subscription plans: For sports teams and venues that you frequently work with, offer season tickets and multi-event subscription plans. Season tickets and subscriptions provide predictable, recurring revenue and guaranteed ticket sales. They also build strong, lasting customer relationships. •Group sales: Actively pursue group ticket sales by contacting tour and travel groups, youth organizations, corporate clients, and nonprofits. Offer group discounts and packages to make buying in bulk appealing. Group sales represent a large volume of tickets sold at once. •Secondary market: Monitor the secondary ticket market to spot in-demand events where you have tickets still available. You may be able to increase prices for remaining tickets based on the current secondary market price. The secondary market also presents opportunities to buy low and resell high.

Operations and Execution

To operate a successful ticketing business, focus on the following areas:

•Customer service: Provide helpful, responsive customer service across all channels, including phone, email, chat, and social media. Customer service is key to getting repeat customers and positive reviews. Have a ticket guarantee policy and flexible exchange/refund policy. •Ticket fulfillment: Mail physical tickets or issue mobile/print-at-home tickets as soon as possible after the customer purchases them. Double check that all details on the tickets are correct before distribution. Ticket fulfillment should be seamless and error-free. •Partnership management: Maintain strong relationships with the venues, teams, promoters, and event planners you source tickets from. Provide reports on sales and customer feedback. Renegotiate partnership terms to maximize profitability for both parties. Partnerships are the foundation of your business. •Inventory and pricing management: Closely track ticket sales and inventory to avoid overselling events. Adjust pricing dynamically based on demand and secondary market rates. Inventory and pricing management helps to optimize revenue and customer experience. •Fraud prevention: Require customers to create an account and login to purchase tickets. Monitor for suspicious account activity and ticket resale on unauthorized websites. Implement policies like ticket limits to prevent scalping. Fraud prevention protects both your business and your customers. •Reporting and analytics: Run reports on sales, traffic, customer data, and more to gain insights into your business. Look for trends and opportunities to improve sales, relationships, and the customer experience. Analytics shape strategic decisions and help set key performance indicators. •Legal compliance: Ensure your ticketing business operates legally and ethically within your city/state/country. Comply with all licensing, permitting, and consumer protection laws regarding ticket sales and live events. Consult with a legal expert on current and upcoming regulations. Legal compliance helps avoid potential issues, penalties, and damage to your reputation.

Legal Disclaimer

The information in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Ticketing businesses must comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding ticket resale, consumer protection, and live events. Failure to do so could result in significant legal penalties, fines, and damage to your business reputation. You should research your local, state, federal, and industry-specific laws in depth and consult with a legal expert before starting a ticketing business. The requirements around licensing, permitting, ticket pricing, refund policies, and more can vary in different locations. It is your responsibility to operate legally and ethically within your jurisdiction.

In Conclusion

Starting a ticketing business allows you to tap into the thriving live events industry and be your own boss. While launching any company is challenging, following the steps outlined in this post will set you up for success. Build a user-friendly website, establish key partnerships, develop a dynamic pricing model, implement a marketing strategy, provide amazing customer service, and comply with all legal requirements. If you have a passion for live events and an entrepreneurial spirit, a ticketing business could be a rewarding endeavor. With hard work and persistence, you can create a company that not only turns a profit but also makes memories for customers that will last a lifetime.