We market our parties as “something different.” It is our motto.
This is why we claim our events are unique: Mystery Mixers is the only company that offers theme parties for groups of 35-80 people in a social party where every guest plays a character. Guests even play the killer. (Okay, so we don’t know if there might be competition somewhere, but we haven’t run into any yet.)
First, a Little Background…
About half of our parties are held in private homes in the Tampa Bay area. They frequently feature alcohol and hors d’oeuvres, and many are bring-a-dish events. We don’t have to sell individual tickets; the host already has a group. Those parties are easy for us.
Our biggest problem is selling individual tickets to a public event in restaurants and bars.
Having a genuinely unique product comes with advantages and disadvantages when trying to sell those tickets. On the plus side, we don’t have any competition. (sh!) Nobody does what we do because we created this whole thing from scratch more than twenty years ago.
On the negative side, sometimes, we feel like Bill Gates trying to introduce the first computers. Once our guests are at the event, they always have a blast. Our customers love them! But trying to sell enough tickets to meet our minimum 35 characters by pitching people who don’t know what we can do can be very stressful.
We need a minimum of 35 people because if the theme is rock and roll, for example, we need roadies, backup singers, entertainment lawyers, and concert promoters. Just having a party with a rock star and a few of her fans doesn’t work. That would also not be the kind of large, mixing-mingling social event that we require to make the parties a blast.
Trying to Sell A Product Nobody Knows Exists
You may think selling our single event tickets would be easy, but it is not. Our single ticket sales are not a slam dunk because nobody has ever heard of what we do. Of course, people jump to the wrong conclusions and think they will have to stand on stage or recite lines. So we need to spend time with someone buying a single ticket to explain in depth what we do, and that is not always possible, so sometimes we have to cancel events.
Nobody wins if we have to cancel the event. The venue is upset because it set aside space and may have hired extra help for the event. Even though those who purchased tickets will get a full refund, the 10 or 15 people who signed up are unhappy. Some of them may have already bought unique clothes for the event. Not only that, but Mystery Mixers spent money on promotions and was in high stress mode every day no tickets were sold.
What They Think We Are vs. What We Really Are
Usually, people confuse us with dinner theater, where people watch a show put on by actors. Or maybe they have purchased one of the mystery games available online, where a host gathers about a dozen friends, and they follow the instructions in the box set.
But when we explain our concept, people are shocked that something like what we do exists. When we explain the size of our events and that everybody plays a character, they look at us like we are out of this world. And when they discover it is not a show but more like a cocktail party, and they might be the killer, a funny look comes over their face. Then we tell them all their friends can play parts; everybody dresses as their character, there is no skit, no lines to recite, no audience, and they will have a week to think about how they want to play their part – it is a lot to digest.
Crunch Time! Once the Venue is Selected, the Race is On!
So, in addition to trying to get people to pay for a ticket for something they have never done, we need to know who will attend 10 days before the event. That is because we need to send out our character packets a week in advance so participants have time to think about how they will play their characters. Last-minute sales or sales at the door don’t work for our concept.
So as soon as we book the venue for a specific date, the race is on to sell our minimum of 35 tickets, or we have to cancel.
So This Is Our 20 Year Old Problem
I have pondered this question for more than 20 years – How do we sell more parties without having to deal with the stress of selling tickets on a short timeline to meet the event date?
I was getting out of the shower a few weeks ago when suddenly the thought hit me like a lightning bolt.
Eureka!
I suddenly realized we were doing what had always been done in the entertainment industry to book public sale events.
Here are the details of how ticket sales for public events typically work: The first thing planners do is find a venue and set the date. Then, the planner must arrange all the details of the event. Is there food? How many people will attend? How will the planner market the idea to the public? Once all the details are arranged, then the planner starts marketing and selling tickets.
But in my eureka moment, I realized we had to throw all this out the window. What the typical planner does for a typical public event was not working for us. We needed to remember our motto of doing “something different. ” We needed to turn the old way of doing things upside down and inside out.
Our Solution
So we have decided to create Facebook pages where people in the community can go and register. Then when the group gets large enough, we will determine the venue and start selling tickets. This way, the group can grow at its own pace. Plus by not booking the venue until we are sure we have enough tickets sold, we won’t have to cancel.
So for example, we created a group page called Mystery Mixers Fans – Gulfport. We have asked people to “like the page” if they are interested in possibly attending our parties and help us promote the page online.
(They don’t have to buy tickets at this point; just indicate that they would consider it.)
So as the page grows and more people become fans, they can start interacting with other fans and get excited enough to tell their friends that “something different” is cooking. They can share stories about what they are going to wear (especially the ladies for the Roaring 20s party) and what character they want to play.
We can have group chats and other social media interactions with the page members to grow the page’s membership. We just let the page percolate for as long as it takes to get enough people to do the party.
Then, when the Facebook page has enough interest, we can ask our fans for input about what venue we should choose and possible dates. The fans will feel like they have a voice and are part of the project.
So half of our tickets will probably be presold to our facebook fans before we even go to the general public. The venue will probably sell another 25 percent, meaning we only have to get 25% of the tickets sold “off the street”, through our website or to past clients that might want to go.
The result? We won’t have to stress about selling 35 tickets from scratch before a specific date. Who knows how long each community will take? Who cares? All we have to do is promote the pages, and whether it takes two months or ten months, it doesn’t matter. Nothing will be on a timeline while we wait for the Facebook page to fill up.
This Opens Up National Markets for Us!
Combining this Facebook fan strategy with another feature we have called “Teleparties” will allow us to hold single-ticket parties anywhere.
Here is how:
Teleparties are designed for people who live outside of the Tampa Bay area and don’t have the funds to fly us roundtrip to their events.
The first thing we do is hire and train somebody from the local area to be an emcee and bring the PA system.
At these events, we only need a few basic items:
A computer: We need it set up for a Zoom call somewhere discreet and out of the way at the event. We will sit on that Zoom call throughout the event (nobody needs to sit there and talk to us, everybody should be enjoying the party and not be tied to a computer). We sit quietly on the call in the background; we don’t run the show. However, we can resolve any issues if something unexpected happens or a guest doesn’t understand their character or the clues.
A host – She is responsible for recommending a good venue and acts as our eyes and ears at the event. However, she still plays a character in the mystery. We will hire the hostess and pay him/her a nominal fee.
Now We Can Do Ticket Sales Anywhere!
This new strategy will enable us to start new Facebook Mystery Mixers Fans groups anywhere and let them percolate until they attract enough interest.
This really could explode our business. We are sure there will be bumps along the way, but I am optimistic it will reduce our stress and increase sales.
So, let’s try this new strategy and see where it takes us. When a business or a starship tries to “boldly go where no one has gone before,” it is another way of saying, “We want to do something different.” And that, after all, is our motto.
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Host Your Next Party With Mystery Mixers!
If you are ready to host your next party with Mystery Mixers, click here or email [email protected] or call 727-430-5908 to plan your own murder mystery party event!
