Case Study
How Smart Hustle Magazine Cultivates a Community Through Events
Before founding Smart Hustle Magazine, Ramon Ray wore a lot of hats. He was a civil servant for the United Nations and the first person to interview Barack Obama via video chat. He’s an unapologetic, serial entrepreneur who started four companies — two of which he successfully sold.
His multidisciplinary career led to the creation of Smart Hustle Magazine, where his loyal following of go-getters get insight on how to grow their business and follow their aspirations.
When he extended the “Smart Hustle” platform by adding a Growth Conference, he required a hassle free way to fill seats with the right people. Despite his extensive experience, he understood that an effusive presence could only take him so far.
Smart Hustle 2018, Growth Conference, NYC
Challenge #1: Find a low-cost solution to sell tickets
Ramon Ray has seen the inner workings of events around the world. He knew exactly what the Smart Hustle Growth Conference needed to attract attendees, but needed a strategy to sell tickets online.
He hired a developer to build a ticketing solution that would handle every step in the process — from a customized registration form to a PayPal integration. It worked for a while, but when Ray wanted more features, the cost of building and maintaining the ticketing solution grew too high.
That’s when he chose to invest in Eventbrite. “Eventbrite is drop dead simple,” he explains. “From the Facebook integration to multi-user access, there are so many features we rely on.”
“The best part,” he adds, “is that we didn’t need to invest a ton of money upfront.”
“[Eventbrite] lets you do so much at a low cost. Facebook retargeting integration, for example, lets us sell tickets directly on Facebook.”
— Ramon Ray, Founder of Smart Hustle Media and Smart Hustle Growth Conference
Challenge #2: Offer ticket tiers to boost sales
Smart Hustle Magazine aims to educate small business owners, many of whom have less than a handful of employees. This means Ray’s events need to offer a variety of ticket options. “One day we’re hosting a small gathering with free pizza, the next it’s a 700-person conference,” says Ray. “Eventbrite is flexible enough to handle all of them.”
Ray and his small, dedicated team leverage every tool available on Eventbrite to effortlessly setup events. Private, invite-only events, for example, can be hidden from the public easily. And when they’re setting up a complex event like the Smart Hustle Growth Conference, the team uses the platform to offer multiple ticket tiers and discount codes.
“Eventbrite makes it easy to create a variety of combinations of tickets so that we can give discounts to people directly or let our partners give discounts to their communities,” says Ray. “This increases sales and impacts our bottom line.”
“We can dream up an event, decide our strategy based on past Eventbrite numbers, and then have it ready to sell tickets and create a profit in a matter of minutes.”
— Ramon Ray, Founder of Smart Hustle Media and Smart Hustle Growth Conference
Smart Hustle 2018, Growth Conference, NYC
Challenge #3: Optimize Smart Hustle’s event strategy
Ramon Ray and his small but mighty team knows the importance of data. With the right analytics, they can identify what aspects of their event strategy are worth investing time and money into — and, more importantly, which are not.
“Eventbrite’s reports and analytics give us insight into how many tickets were sold, which channels drove the most sales, and whether or not our partners are pulling their weight,” says Ray. While the value of data can often be overlooked, Ray knows that it can the the make-or-break between a successful event and a dud, starting from the foundation up.
Smart Hustle 2018, Growth Conference, NYC
Get selling — the smart way
Now that he has a strong ticketing platform that he can rely on, Ray has assembled a small team to help his business scale. His team works together to leverage data, Eventbrite’s Facebook integration, pixel trafficking, retargeting, and other strategies to increase ticket sales and stay on top of emerging tech.
Despite being constantly contacted with offers to use alternative ticketing services, none appeal to him. “Eventbrite just works,” he says. “I’m honestly proud of Eventbrite for evolving and growing our business.”
“There’s no compelling reason for us to switch, because Eventbrite just works.”
— Ramon Ray, Founder of Smart Hustle Media and Smart Hustle Growth Conference
Eventbrite powered 3.9 million events in 2018
Eventbrite brings the world together through live experiences. More than 795,000 event creators like you used Eventbrite in 2018 to issue 265 million tickets and registrations. From music festivals and conventions to pop-up dinners and photography classes, events of all sizes use Eventbrite to transform your vision into an experience people will love.
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