Ace Metaphor & David Shands on Touring, Monetization, and Building an Ecosystem

From Poetry to Sold-Out Tours

• 💡 Ace Metaphor began his journey selling just 10 tickets for poetry events in 2013, emphasizing the importance of direct customer feedback.
• 🚀 He learned to sell an experience rather than just an event, shifting focus from poetry to the audience's desire for escape and enjoyment.
• 📈 The transition from selling 10 to 100 tickets was achieved by focusing on the experience, and scaling to 1,000 tickets was accomplished through early Facebook marketing.

The Power of Digital Marketing and Content Creation

• 📱 Ace leveraged video marketing on platforms like Facebook to promote his poetry shows, which led to audience requests for him to visit their cities.
• 🌐 This demand sparked his first tour, the "Future Wife Tour" in 2017, built on the foundation of his online following and marketing skills.
• 💰 A key strategy for scaling was understanding that 20,000 views could translate into potential ticket buyers, a principle he applied across multiple tours.

Navigating the Pandemic and E-commerce Pivot

• 🦠 The pandemic in 2020 accelerated Ace's shift to e-commerce, leading to the creation of the "Tonight's Conversation" card game.
• 💸 The card game sold 5,000 units in two days, with a remarkably low cost per customer of $2.30 on Facebook ads, demonstrating the power of targeted online marketing.
• 📈 This success was amplified by incorporating the product cost into shipping, effectively making the game seem free and driving sales.

Building an Ecosystem Around Live Events

• 🤝 Collaborations, like the "Self-Love Summit" with Derek Jackson and Stefon Speaks, taught Ace the value of collaborating brands and handling the operational engine work.
• ⚠️ He learned that revenue sharing in collaborations can be problematic, especially when explaining financial losses, leading him to prefer fixed payment structures for collaborators.
• 🎥 Filming every show is crucial for creating viral content clips that drive app subscriptions, sell more tour tickets, and build brand awareness at a fraction of the ad cost.

Monetization Strategies Beyond Ticket Sales

• 📱 The "Tonight's Conversation" app generates revenue through subscriptions, integrating with viral video content and driving app installs via Facebook ads.
• 📧 Building an email list of over 300,000 subscribers from app sign-ups allows for direct marketing to potential attendees for future shows.
• 🎯 Ace emphasizes that his primary role is as a marketer, focusing on selling his roster, shows, content, and app, considering it the last function to delegate.

Advice for Aspiring Event Organizers and Content Creators

• 🚀 For those looking to start live events, Ace advises to "just do it", starting small and learning from practical experience rather than over-analyzing.
• 🗣️ He stresses the importance of entertaining your audience online first, as the ability to hold attention on social media directly translates to motivating people to buy tickets for live events.
• 📈 Consistency is key; posting regularly on platforms like YouTube, even with basic equipment, is more effective than waiting for perfection, as the algorithm rewards organic content and engagement.