Email marketing is not dead, really. Just ask the people who run Goldstar Events. Back in 2002, their email list only had 10,000 registered users on it. Today, it does about $40 million a year in ticket sales and has 1.2 million subscribers. The founding principle behind this privately held company is similar to Priceline.com, except it's for the entertainment sector and doesn't rely on a reverse auction system. The notion of "not every show sells out, so instead of letting seats go empty, venues list them with us to sell to our members" is what drives customers to buy up tickets at half price. Sometimes tickets are even free, but it's on a first come first served basis.
Goldstar's forte is having deals in major metropolitan areas. When I lived in Los Angeles, I thought it was a real treat to sit at the very front of a jazz or classical music concert. It just tickled me pink to see all the septo- and octogenarians wondering how I got there. They're still a little skinny on venues in the Portland metro area.
How a customer opts in for email through Goldstar was really well thought out. You can add and remove venues by zip code, and Goldstar will serve up content to your specifications. Even if you don't live in a metro area, you can still buy tickets for other people. All they need to do is show the ticket registration (which, by the way is delivered by email to you and to your guest) at the venue's ticket counter with a photo ID and they're all set. Newsletter spam too much for you? Simply log into the site and turn it off for a while. Your venue interests will still be there if you want to see what's going on in your metro area.
Here is a shameless plug for my referral link, if you wanted to subscribe. Every referral earns me a service fee credit. Even at half off a ticket, Goldstar charges a small, but fair fee per ticket purchased. This is how they make money to run the site. It's still a lot better than paying full price.
Sure, they have joined the social media platform bandwagon, but they have never lost sight of their core strengths in this market and whatever additional buzz is created by Facebook and Twitter, it can only help to create more mindshare about their services.
