One club has very kindly sent us an editable complimentary ticket template, if you would like a copy please click here to go to our downloads page
Some (most?) people may not feel they could come along by themselves so make tickets/vouchers valid for up to 2 guests.
Tickets could be left at local music shops to be given out to customers at the discretion of the dealer who would know the sort of audience the club is targeting. If you want to keep close tabs on them you might want to number them, include a date they are valid until and include some of way of knowing they are original and not photocopies.
Donate a couple (or more) complimentary tickets as a prize at a local fete or local newspaper/magazine etc., you may be able to include a short preview of the concert if it's a publication.
Donate tickets to a fund - raising event for the charity to be able to sell or auction - everyone's a winner.
Give adverting leaflets and free tickets to women's societies such as Womens Institues - as these are the people who will drag their male counterparts along.
'I have personally handed complimentary concert tickets to complete strangers - in supermarkets (including staff), post office queues, surgery and hospital waiting rooms - and, if I can find the relevant addresses, I even send tickets to people celebrating wedding anniversaries announced in newspapers or websites!'
Similarly - and with mixed results - we have allocated a quantity of priced tickets to local charities, churches, PTAs and any voluntary organisations seeking funds: they are then invited to sell the tickets and retain the proceeds. Our first such attempt was made some 4 or 5 years ago, involving the local church. We allocated 20 tickets of which 17 were sold and several of the purchasers (including the vicar, now retired) still attend our concerts on a regular basis'.
'I gave a pair of complimentary tickets for a concert to a lady on one of the check-outs in my local supermarket. She explained that she was able to come to that particular concert but would probably not be able to attend others because she had another commitment on our set concert dates. Anyway, she attended the concert, along with her husband, and when I saw her in the store a couple of weeks later she couldn't wait to tell me that she had already bought tickets for our next concert. She explained that her husband had enjoyed the evening so much that he insisted she cancelled her other commitment whenever it clashed with our concert date. The couple have been attending regularly ever since - along with a couple of their friends!
There is nothing to lose in giving out complimentary tickets - and everything to gain'.
'Our Society offers complimentary tickets via our members and a monthly reports in our local news paper, for any first time visitors. We usually have 3 or 4 people a month sadly they don't all re visit, those that do help to maintain our numbers currently 60-70 for each concert. Our view is that it cost us nothing and it allows more people to understand exactly what we do, they can then make up their own minds'.
Tip for committee members - always have some complimentary tickets on you, you never know when you find the ideal time to give out one, a pair or more.
(any further ideas on this?)
