Ashlea O'Loughlin

10/11/2022

Wondering why some events and operators have managed to sell out immediately post-pandemic while so many of the rest are battling slower sales or bookings trajectories?

I’ve had this conversation with a lot of people lately. So many of you are asking ‘what should we be doing different?’

It’s natural to look towards the success stories of others and try to pick that one thing that they did to set themselves apart and achieve those “effortless” sales.

Oh, it’s because they ran a ballot rather than an exclusive presale

It’s because their program is stronger

It’s because they offered a discount

…etc etc.

But here’s the thing.

The thing that most of these operators did to enjoy their sales success post-pandemic is actually something they started implementing years ago and continue prioritizing today.

And what it boils down to is that they’ve focused on creating an event or experience that is bigger than the sum of its parts.

More than the lineup, the ticket price, the destination, the launch strategy, or any other element put together.

👉 They’ve focused on fostering a true sense of community around what they’re doing. A sense of place and belonging for their audience. A genuine and personal connection. We see the people behind the event, they talk to their customers like friends or family, and engage in more than a purely transactional relationship. There’s no hiding behind a brand or logo.

👉 They’ve tied a sense of identity to what they’re offering, bringing like-minded people together to share in a common passion. Their customers identify as someone who goes to X or Y festival, or books tours through A or B operator. They consider that fellow attendees for those experiences are ‘their people’.

👉 They’ve created an experience for customers beyond any one activity they’ve programmed. And the experience can be deeply personal to each individual attendee, which fosters a sense of ownership of the event or experience throughout the audience base.

👉 They’ve become aspirational. For some, it becomes a rite of passage, for others something to tick off the bucket list. And at times it turns into tradition, a repeat pilgrimage to enjoy the experience time and again.

What all of this leads to is something akin to unconditional buy-in. When times are tough and customers are weighing up competing priorities, dealing with the rising cost of living, and deciding how, where, and with whom to spend their time and money, they go with the option they feel the deepest connection to.

Now, none of this is something that can be fostered overnight. But it’s deeply important for laying solid foundations and setting yourself up for sustainable, long-term success.

If you’re interested to know more about how you can integrate this approach into your business, get in touch today and send me a dm.

02/11/2022

If you’re running Facebook ads listen up!

I spoke with our Meta rep yesterday regarding a sweep of ad rejections that have rolled through a client’s ad account with no warning or explanation. Around 30 ads that had all been running in the account previously with absolutely no issue were all of a sudden “in violation of policy” (though which policy was never provided) and no option to request a review of the ad rejections exists.

A couple of months ago, a similar thing happened with another client’s ad account. Campaigns had been running without issue for several weeks when overnight, after some minor tweaks to the campaign settings, all ads in the account were rejected and the page itself was banned from setting up any new ads. All without warning and all with zero reasoning or explanation behind the rejection. It took weeks to get the problem fixed.

It seems to be something that is happening more and more frequently in Facebook ads land. Ad accounts being shut down, hundreds of ads (even ones that haven’t run for years) being rejected, pages being banned from running ads.

And so yesterday I sought explanation from our agency rep, and the response? The AI behind the ad platform has gone rogue.

We all know that initial ad reviews across the Facebook ad ecosystem are machine-handled, and that there can be bugs in the system that lead to incorrect ad rejections. But from the sounds of it, the system is now being triggered to reject more ads, inconsistently and based on minor changes to campaign settings that are not actually in violation of any policy.

And as it stands, there is no quick-fix solution at Meta’a end. They are scrambling to catch up to the AI changes and bring it back in line. But it’s a big technical job.

So what can you do if you experience this in your ad account?

✔️ First, if you have the option to request a review of the rejected ads (not everyone will) do so through your ads manager - you’ll likely see the decision overturned within 24 hours.

✔️ If you’re unable to request a review, then open a support ticket. You’ll need to provide the ad IDs for each of the rejected ads, so have these handy. Again, you should see the ads reinstated within 24 hours if all goes to plan.

✔️ If you have an assigned rep at Meta, get in touch with them immediately about the issue and provide them with the reference ID for the support ticket you raised. Ask them for any help in getting the issue fixed asap - if you’re having trouble getting the ads reinstated they may be able to help escalate your account to higher-level support options.

✔️ The other option I was advised yesterday is to rebuild your campaigns and ads from scratch! No duplications…building every piece of the campaign again from the ground up. Now, this isn’t a solution any of us wants to take. I’m not sure about you, but the idea of building entire ads funnels from scratch, when there could be upwards of 30 ads in any campaign ad set, is not how my team’s time is best spent. But if you’re finding it’s taking too long for Meta support to fix the problem, and you need those ads up and running, you may be able to get things started again by simply starting over.

If you're struggling with your Facebook ads account reach out!

25/10/2022

It’s not enough to simply rely on the strength of your lineup to generate ticket sales these days.

There has been a fundamental shift in audience behaviour post-pandemic and while much of life now feels like it resembles the way things were pre-COVID, there is so much that has changed and continues to influence how we as event operators and marketers do business.

As a society, and this is largely being driven by Gen Z, we now seek more meaningful connections and a deeper understanding of the businesses we spend our money with, and where we spend our time. So much of what we do and engage with now is more intrinsically wrapped up in identity, community and our personal values.

We are faced with an abundance of choice every single day. Options are plentiful for things to buy and do that tick our boxes of being relevant to our interests, fun, entertaining and appealing. But this abundance forces us to be more selective of where we choose to spend our money and time, and who we spend it with.

And what we’re seeing more and more, particularly in the events and tourism spaces, is that people are waiting until much later in the piece to make a call on where they’ll spend their time and money. Where we could previously rely on consistent ticket sales or bookings patterns, we’re now faced with disruption and unpredictability.

So its no longer enough to just put out a poster announcing a bomb lineup of artists, speakers, exhibitors, panels etc etc, and expect instant sales momentum to follow.

Spend time cultivating connection, developing a sense of place, belonging and community, and demonstrating and providing value to your audiences, beyond the wonderful program you’ve created for your event or experience. What are they going to walk away having experienced by spending their time with you? How will it enrich their lives?

When you start to engage with your fans beyond the straight-up transactional, you start building a community of loyal followers who feel a sense of connection and ownership of what you’re doing, and who wouldn’t miss it for the world.

25/01/2021

Your website is your single most important business asset as an eCommerce business owner.

I mean, when you think about it, your website is responsible for so much of the heavy lifting 🏋️‍♀️

👉 It's your storefront - providing the first impressions of your business and enticing potential shoppers inside.

👉 It's your retail space - displaying your products in an easy-to-navigate way that enables your customers to browse, assess the make, materials and price of your products, and select items for purchase.

👉 It's your salesperson - offering friendly and helpful customer service (both pre and post-purchase!) so that your shoppers feel welcome, informed and confident in exchanging their hard-earned cash with you.

👉 It's your secure payment gateway - acting in place of a cash register under lock and key, and instore electronic transactions supervised by a real human. It has to make sure funds are delivered promptly and reliably to you for your products, and also (very importantly) that your customers are protected in the process.

Plus SO MUCH MORE!

If you're experiencing lacklustre sales through your online store (especially if you've got good traffic volume) chances are there could be a problem with your website.

Some common problems...? 🤷‍♀️

❌ Slow site load speeds
❌ Confusing layout
❌ Absence of reviews from other customers
❌ Buttons that don't stand out (pro-tip: make your Add To Cart button a bright, contrasting colour from the rest of your website colour scheme!)
❌ Unexpected costs or charges (think shipping or freight)
❌ Lack of info on things like returns, shipping and expected delivery wait times.
❌ Long or clunky checkout process

25/01/2021

If you're advertising on Facebook you've no doubt heard of the impending changes due to hit the ads platform with the rollout of Apple's new iOS 14.

While the full impacts of the rollout will come to light over the coming weeks and months, there are things we can all be doing right now to secure our Facebook Business Manager and ad accounts.

This isn't the first time we've had to adapt to changes outside of our control as advertisers, and it certainly won't be the last. Take this as an opportunity to clean house, and reassess your marketing strategies and how you engage with your customers.

Start preparing now and you'll be better placed to ride the waves as we experience the rollout together.

Check out our blog for Social Season for our top tips for securing your accounts.

https://socialseason.com.au/how-to-secure-your-facebook-advertising-and-business-manager-accounts-to-avoid-shutdowns/

06/01/2021

06/01/2021