Marketing Your Chorus
(Page 4)

The Price

Now that you know the product you're offering to your target audience, it's time to start thinking about the financial aspects. As a non-profit organization, Sweet Adelines and its choruses never seek to make a profit from our activities – the goal is for our budget to break even at the end of the year. Unfortunately, that still doesn't mean that what you're offering to your show patrons, potential members and the like is entirely cheap. Here's how "price" relates to our four target audiences.

Show Patrons
The price to consider here is relatively simple – what are you going to charge for admission to your show or cabaret? In many cases, this may be the "big" income event of the year for your chorus – so you probably want to charge as much as you think the audience is willing or able to pay.

This can be a very difficult decision, however. If you've only charged $5 in the past, but the local SPEBSQSA chapter is charging $15 or more for their tickets – then you may want to increase the price of admission. At the same time, you wouldn't want to increase the price by $10 in one year, because your returning show patrons would probably not appreciate such a dramatic increase.

You also need to consider the "value" of the performance & entertainment to the consumer – as well as any extraneous costs the show patron may incur by coming to your show. For instance, if they're coming to a cabaret, you may want to make the price of admission a little bit lower than it is for your show since the atmosphere is a little more relaxed and the attendees will likely need to pay for their own food and drink, etc.

Fundraising Donors/Sponsors
When it comes to fundraising, you also need to consider "price" – although in this case the price is actually the amount you're asking the person or organization to donate. Again, keep in mind the value of what you're offering or asking for.

If you're doing a raffle, you want to make the raffle tickets affordable so that people will buy in bulk – and perhaps offer discounts when x number of tickets are purchased (e.g. – $1 per ticket or $5 for 6 tickets, etc.) Of course, what you're raffling needs to be something that the donor actually wants or needs!

If you're selling ads for your show program, you'll want to offer a variety of prices. That way companies or individuals who want to contribute but can only afford a small amount can buy a small ad; but if that person really wants their ad or name to be noticed, they can buy a full-page ad or a cover page. How much you charge for ads will likely depend on the size of your show program, how many people you anticipate will come to the show, and the quality/cost of printing the program.

And if you're looking for a grant and/or corporate sponsorship, the "price" is how much money you're asking for. Be prepared to show exactly what your expenses have been in the past and exactly how and where and when you will spend the money that you're asking for.

Performance Contacts
The price for this audience is your performance fee. Deciding on how much you should charge when all or part of your chorus performs in public is also a difficult task. You may want to create a pricing structure whereby a 20-minute performance costs less than a 30- or 40-minute performance. Also, the price may be different if a smaller group or quartet from your chorus will be performing.

Of course, you will often be asked to perform for less than what your performance fee is, and sometimes a freebie may present itself. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't take these performances – because it is important to get out there and sing for the community even if you DON'T get paid very much for it. Consider each request independently & use your common sense.

However, still let people know what you usually charge when you accept free or low-paying performances, so that perhaps after they hear you or when they want to hire you in the future they will be willing to pay a little more. The key is that you don't undercut the value of your chorus' performance and entertainment value when setting your performance fee. At the same time, don't make the price so high that the performance contact figures it's a waste of time to even TRY to negotiate the price.

Potential Members
When it comes to potential members, price equals the costs of being a member in Sweet Adelines. This includes the dues as well as any extraneous costs for costumes, competition, travel, etc. Price is likely not the first thing that you want to discuss with potential members, but at some point after their first visit or two to the chorus, it's important that you provide them with a realistic look at how much it costs to be in the chorus.

Be prepared to explain what these costs are, why they're important, and if there's any way to spread out the costs over time. Let's face it – membership in this hobby isn't always cheap; and the more active or involved the chorus is, the higher the costs are likely to be. Every chorus should charge dues of some sort to their members; but it's up to each chorus to decide what the amount of those dues should be and what expenses are included in those dues.

The key here is that you simply keep the needs & costs of the new member in mind. For instance, even though the new member must pay her initial dues right away when she joins, you may want to spread out or forego her costume costs for the first year. Or if you're going to an international competition or traveling out-of-state, you may want to allow that new member to reimburse the chorus for her costs on a pro-rated basis rather than paying 100% up-front when she's just paid her initial dues for a hobby she may not be completely "sold" on just yet.

Tips on the Price Component

Price is definitely an important component of marketing. Even though these decisions are typically made by your chorus board or management team, led by your Treasurer or Financial Manager, you need to be prepared to explain and advertise what these costs or prices are and why they're worth it.

Keep in mind that if you're asking for more money for your product/service than what it's actually worth, very few people will take you up on it. On the other hand, you don't want to sell yourself short by under-charging. Don't be afraid to do some research and find out what other choruses (male and female) charge for similar activities when setting your price.

If you find that your pricing structure for one or more of these audiences is out of whack or if you're not getting the income that you anticipated from your performances, you may want to address your current "prices" with your Treasurer/Financial Manager. The price may be set in stone, but there’s also a chance that the board/team is willing to discuss or consider changing it for next year's budget.

 

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Site last updated on August 20, 2007