Why the Taylor Swift + Ticketmaster Debacle Might Hold Your Nonprofit Back

Even if you aren’t a Swiftie, you probably have heard about the big Ticketmaster debacle this week with Taylor Swift tickets.

i.e. when the Star announced her 2023 tour a record number of people went online to purchase tickets on the infamous Ticketmaster site and it was not able to handle the high-demand. This caused hours of waiting online for tickets and countless pre-sale tickets to be no good and many, many unhappy fans. The tech just was not ready with the countless fans waiting to buy their tickets as soon as the doors opened.

Here’s the thing. Not for nothing, due to high profile media like this one, so many nonprofit organizations and freelance grant writers put themselves into the Taylor Swift category when it comes to launching something.

Now, your nonprofit or your consultancy might be very popular and have thousands of folks on your email lists, but I doubt it’s in the stratosphere of Taylor Swift land, making 2.4 million individual sales in a matter of hours.

But these stories hold a toooooooon of other people back. Including, maybe you.

Why the Taylor Swift + Ticketmaster Story Might Hold Back Your Nonprofit

A nonprofit organization may think they need to have the following in place before kicking off a donor campaign:

• A huge marketing budget
• Outsource a huge, expensive company to host millions of donors
• Every single i dotted and t crossed before posting a social media post about the upcoming campaign

Why the Taylor Swift + Ticketmaster Story Might Hold Back Your Nonprofit Consultancy or Freelance Grant Writing Business

A freelance grant writer might feel like they need to have all the following in place before they let people know about their business:

• A website
• A huge following on social media
• An email list
• The price of every single thing they might offer already figured out

The thing is, those things might be nice! But having to do all of these things before you talk about something… nope.

The Impact of Not Launching

You don’t need it all figured out yet.

The short story is that popularized media stories can make us feel like we need everything perfect and therefore we do hardly any of the things.

Sure, it’s good to run tech checks, check links, and all that jazz but something is bound to go wrong. And that’s okay. Because the alternative of not launching could be…

Your nonprofit is missing out on getting new donors, thousands of dollars in donation, or brand exposure.

Your freelance grant writing company may never launch because trying to get everything figured out before you even talk about your company is just too much. OMG the pressure.

As Sheryl Sandberg said, “Done is Better Than Perfect.”

“Yeah, but what about Taylor Swift? That was a mess!”

Well, as stated, she is in her own category. But she will still sell out every ticket and I guarantee she will come up with a creative way to address her fans who may be a little upset right now. People who didn’t know she is going on tour, now know. Ticketmaster will upgrade and the world will be okay.

#1 Tech Snafu – Not Recording a Webinar

Ugh. Yep, that’s right. Embarrassingly, I’ve done this twice. I know there is an automated button that will record as soon as I start a webinar, but often I do things behind-the-scenes before I start and don’t want that recorded (or want to edit the video to remove it afterwards). 

So, yes I have forgotten to record a live webinar training. The thing is that people sometimes sign up for these knowing they can’t attend live and will watch the Replay. This is especially a big deal if folks pay for the webinar training! 

Course Correction: I’ve actually done the entire webinar again and recorded it. Even if it’s just me on the video! Then I can at least send out the content. Folks were thankful for the added webinar and I got a lot of emails from people thanking me for taking the time to do that.

#2 Tech Snafu – Not Having the Seat Number Setting Updated on a Live Webinar

Yep. That happened. I only bought a certain amount of seats for a Zoom webinar and at the last minute got a huge rush of folks. The issue was as I started the webinar training I wasn’t able to get in the backend to update the seats. 

That was awful as a lot of folks were waiting and couldn’t get in.

Course Correction: I sent out an email right away letting folks know the issue and set up an additional webinar training a couple days later. I also added 30 minutes of Q&A time to the additional training so they could have more value, and I sent out a free checklist that made sense for the audience. Folks thanked me for adding the training and the downloadable and I got a TON more that signed up (and this time I was able to let them all in). This turned into my biggest webinar launch I ever had. 

#3 – Tech Snafu – Zoom Glitches

This one wasn’t anything I did, however it was one that I had to try and settle. During a Zoom upgrade it has done a funky thing where when I was sending folks their log-in link for a webinar that for some people it didn’t work. For others, the exact same link was absolutely fine. This meant some people couldn’t get into the webinar and others could but with no reason why.

Course Correction: I sent the Replay out to everyone and contacted Zoom and worked with them on solutions as they did note it was something on their side. Folks were understanding and appreciated that I sent out the Replay to everyone who had signed up. I also extended the Replay time.

#4 – Tech Snafu – Email Woes

I accidentally sent an email to my entire email list that was meant only for folks who were in my 8-Week Freelance Grant Writer Academy. Oops. My entire list got a bonus link and some materials, and were utterly confused about the email (because they started emailing me immediately asking “What is this?”)

Course Correction: I emailed the entire list again with a subject line: “Oops! Disregard that last email” and then inside the email explained what happened. I also cancelled the link right away for the Bonus! Funny enough, I got a ton of email replies saying, “Thank you for letting me know ”, “Oh, that looks like a great academy and I’m interested in signing up,” “LOL ” and so much more. I even got a company that thought I did it as a marketing technique and said they were interested in hiring me?!

Launch Before It’s Perfect, Because It’s Never Perfect

So… if you are a nonprofit organization and have been sitting on an end-of-year campaign idea or Giving Tuesday campaign, go ahead and launch it. Give yourself permission to potentially have some things go wrong, and know that you can course correct.

But if people don’t know about your nonprofit’s campaign they will never give to it!

If you have a freelance grant writing company but don’t have a website yet and are waiting to get everything together before you reach out to potential leads, go ahead and give yourself permission to call your leads now. You can talk to them over the phone, via email, or on Zoom and let them know about your services. They don’t need to see a website. Heck, just start with sending your friends and family a short message that you are open for business and ask for 1-2 referrals!

Seriously, that’s all you need to do right now. Then when you get a referral client you can pay for your website.

Remember… when people don’t know about you they can’t donate or buy your services.

Obscurity is worse than having a tech glitch!

If you are ready to get moving on that thing… then watch out for the biggest sale of the week starting this Friday (4 days only!). I’ve partnered with two other folks to give you everything you need to get THOSE THINGS GOING! Whether that’s writing your first grant, recruiting a board of directors, or doing an online campaign – we’ve got a MASSIVE Sale for you.

That’s how passionate I am about your nonprofit not being obscure but getting momentum! 

Be sure to sign up to my Free Grant Writing & Funding Hub Haven Online Platform and weekly Newsletter so you hear about the upcoming sale!