Do you have regular customers?

With only two main products up to now, we have had repeat customers and we have been asked what other walks we do, hence our plans for other walking tours from mid January 2012.

Do you keep in touch with your customers? If so how? How often?

We encourage guests to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and state at the end of each walk that we won’t contact people more than 4 times per year if we have their contact details.

What’s your number one tip for attracting new people to your events?

Getting out there, we have distributed approx 7k flyers in 2011, we are never without some in our pocket, and we can regularly be seen in Birmingham in our undertakers costumes.

Do you think your brand is important?

Yes I think people are starting to remember Birmingham Ghost Walks, as we develop our walks our challenge is to get the same success with Midland Discovery Tours.

Do you have a marketing plan or schedule? If so, what’s at the top (other than the title: Marketing Plan!)?

For 2012 our marketing will be more formalised, as we develop other products. We also set aside a percentage of our turnover to pay for marketing.

What’s a good way of getting people to book online?

All our on-line content, Twitter, web site and Facebook, have links to Oxboffice, stating no booking fees.

Anything else you can add for us to share with other promoters?

We have worked in partnership with local pubs where we end our tours, always attracting attention with our attire, and always willing to talk to people about what we do. The pubs enjoy the custom we bring and are willing to promote us within their premises.

We also work with a coffee shop, telling ghost stories before we head off on one of our tours, this brings our clients into their coffee shop, and their clients become aware of what we do, maybe whetting their appetite for a ghost walk.

Tickets for Birmingham Ghost Walks and Midlands Discovery Tours can be booked here.

Follow them on Twitter here.

Lots of towns like Warwick have a wonderful cultural scene and we know how important it is for groups to maximise their potential audiences by programming their events in colaboration with other organisations.

So, now that we have established that our Anti-clash facility works and that the WDMPF uses it to regularly keep up to date with each other and to to automatically update listings sites, we think other promoters might find it useful.

How does it work?

• A group of event promoters comes together under a group name
• Each promoting organisation of the group is given a login
• They are all given access to an anticlash diary which only the members of this particular group can view
• Promoters add their events to it
• They all share the diary and avoid clashes for the audiences
• If they want to sell tickets online through Oxboffice they can. No further hassle.

It’s completely free.

Let us know if you want to find out more: sales@oxboffice.com or reply to this post.

View the Warwick District Music Promoters Forum Anticlash diary here

Recycle Reuse Repurpose

Merryn Haines-Gadd is a product and furniture designer who enjoys a challenge. This image shows what she can do with a bunch of leftover Oxboffice ticket stock.

(click image for larger version)

She works for a small innovation consultancy, where she designs all graphics and helps them develop new training materials. She also designs and makes new products and furniture in the studio project she runs with other independent creative businesses.

She also helps out front of house at OSJ concerts.

Find out more about Merryn here: www.mezhg.com
Follow Merryn on Twitter

What’s the best thing about the Old Joint Stock Theatre?

You can see new and emerging talent both on the stage and in the writing. We had Imelda May perform at the Theatre before she hit the big time!

Which is your favourite event you have had in the OJST and why?

Difficult to choose one as there are so many that I could pick and it would be unfair to those that I left out.

If you could have anyone performing at the OJST who would it be and why?

On the comedy side it would be Ken Dodd (because he is one of the best entertainers this country has ever seen), but the pub would have to have an extension to the licence as he does go on. On the acting side I’d love to have Dame Diana Rigg perform at the venue because I once acted with her when I was a professional actor and I’d love to work with her again on my home patch.

What’s the most bizarre (clean!) thing you’ve heard an audience person say?

Where do I start? The public are unintentionally funny with some of their remarks; like the lady who thought she would be walking into a 3 tier Victorian Theatre and was disappointed to find a small studio space instead and just said witheringly ‘Oh!’

Or.

I don’t like this (theatre) there is no scenery. I only like theatres that have scenery.

Get tickets for events at the Old Joint Stock Theatre from Oxboffice here

Rob Skinner, Imaginary Friends

Karin Charles, Nordic Noir Book Club
www.ucl.ac.uk/nordicnoir

Music in the Abbey

The Orchestra of St John’s annual music festival in the beautiful setting of Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester on Thames, was as ever a feast for the senses!

Music from the Fibonacci Sequence Chamber Ensemble included best loved chamber music favourites (Mendelssohn’s Konzerstuck resounded for me as it’s a piece I learnt at school!).

Rising stars from the Birmingham Conservatoire were superb in their delivery and very impressive in their musicianship and professionalism. The audience gave great feedback.

OSJ performed Beethoven’s 7th Symphony to a crowd who thought they knew it but who’s eyes and ears were opened to the unique and daring interpretation by Musical Director, John Lubbock. Springs in steps everywhere as people left for the journey home.

The festival culminated in the traditional concert by OSJ and OSJ Voices who this year performed Faure’s Requiem so sublimely that you could see people didn’t want to leave!

We took some photos of the beautiful Abbey on the iPhone (view)

OSJ perform Christmas Music by Candlelight in the Abbey on 12 December. Click here for more info and to book.

The certificate of PCI DSS compliance is given to companies which demonstrate an adherence to strict security rules on the processing of sensitive data including payment card information.

This is not a legal requirement but it is something which we know is really important to our promoters and to their customers.

We’ve uploaded our certificate here as we’re so proud of it!

Event Sales – this reconciles the finances for any given event once it has closed.

Weekly Sales – at any time you can view a snap shot of your accumulated sales for your open events.

Front of House – it shows who has bought what and their order number. Best to get this just after your event closes.

Marketing Data – this shows the contact details (by event) for people who have agreed to be on your mailing list.
Not for sharing outside of your organisation!

Marketing Data Anonimised – here you can see a breakdown of all your transactions (by event) with information on how many tickets bought and where customers heard about the event.

Customers who buy paper tickets will have them sent through our well-oiled distribution machine!