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Online experience is still a blind spot for festival organisers

Co-Founder of Close

As an enthusiastic visitor to festivals and concerts, I recognise the challenges outlined by Robert Swart in last Friday's FD article. There is more choice from all kinds of festivals, and as consumers we are increasingly spoiled. Organisers are therefore continuing to perfect the offline experience. All attention goes to those one or two festival days, so that it becomes an unforgettable offline experience, but hardly any attention is paid to the online experience. Online opportunities to bind visitors before and after festivals are still a blind spot for festival organisations, while that is precisely the solution to distinguish and therefore survive.

Just as Denis Doeland states in the article, the relationship with the visitor is the basis for success. Look at companies such as Bol.com, Coolblue and Marktplaats that are successful and disruptive in a traditional retail market by, among other things, putting the customer first and embracing the online possibilities. There are also opportunities for the festival market. Because why would you limit the interaction with the festival visitor to just the festival days?

Take the moment of online ticket sales as a starting point to build a relationship with the visitor. With the current mobile marketing techniques, this is now easy to achieve. By warming up the visitor to the festival from ticket sales on the basis of personalised, exclusive information on their mobile phone, you can bind the visitor to your brand. As a result, the visitor not only has more anticipation, online technology also gives the festival organiser more insight into visitor behaviour and preferences, which also offers commercial opportunities. Think of the offer of a Tipi tent on the camping site, including a fresh breakfast in the morning, an extra sales channel for merchandise or completely new sponsorship opportunities. And immediately after the festival closes, the offer is presented on the mobile to immediately buy a ticket for next year's edition. Who can refuse that offer?

Maintaining a relationship is work, but with the available technology, this is relatively easy to arrange. With many loyal visitors and a profitable festival that can continue for years to come as the ultimate reward.