We sat down with Laylo’s live events team and power user Jack Hite, to unpack how festivals, venues, and promoters drop with Laylo to grow lists and sell more tickets. Read the summary, watch the full session, then steal the plays.
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What you'll find in the guide below:
- Use Drops for every key moment in your cycle. Lineup and presale convert best.
- Amplify sales and awareness authentically with festival expert Jack Hite's winnin playbook.
- Capture once, enrich forever. Segment by channel, distance, and purchase signals.
- On site, message fans for schedules and sponsor perks. Refill the funnel with QR.
1) Capture signups before presale starts
7-8X conversions by pre-announcing your presale and sending fans to a Laylo RSVP page for first-tier pricing plus early codes. Teams are seeing 50 percent or more of visitors opt in, compared to about 7 percent for typical web forms. Add an Upsell redirect after signup, for example last year’s after-movie or a merch pre-order. Roughly 30% of registrants click through.
Why it matters: Higher opt-in rates create bigger, warmer audiences. Upsells turn interest into immediate engagement.
2) Build your list with a lineup teaser on Instagram
Lineup teasers often drive the biggest list growth because the CTA is casual, for example “see it first.” Post a Story asking fans to reply with a keyword such as “RSVP.” Laylo captures their info and opts them into Instagram DMs automatically, then routes them to your lineup page at reveal.
Why it matters: Fans join with one word or emoji, land in your primary DM inbox, and are ready for the on-sale push.
3) Leverage giveaways to capture more fan data
Run “tag a friend” or “win two tickets” posts and connect your Drop to that Reel or Post in Laylo. Anyone who comments is opted in, and you can notify winners via DM without losing the thread.
Why it matters: You turn engagement into owned reach. Every comment becomes a contact you can nurture.
4) Upgrade your “newsletter” into a living profile
Use Laylo’s Profile page to passively collect SMS and email year-round via Link in Bio, an embeddable module on your site, QR codes on posters and screens, and venue signage. One-tap opt-in pre-fills phone or email and auto-captures country code and location.
Why it matters: Your list grows quietly in the background, and every fan joins with the right compliance and data attached.
5) Promote after-parties and Road To series from a single drop
Running pre- and post-parties or city pop-ups? Use one Multi-Drop page so fans RSVP to the main event plus any extras they want. When presales open, each city’s list gets the correct link automatically. Cross Festival used this to drive strong sell-through across an after-party series.
Why it matters: One link, as many shows as you want, no spreadsheet chaos.
Spotlight: Jack Hite’s Playbook for hype that converts
Jack is a digital lead who has run campaigns for major festivals and artists such as Coachella, Do Lab, Flume, High Tide Festival, and many more. His superpower is turning fan curiosity into owned reach that does not feel like a sales push. Steal these four plays.
Jack Hite Play 1: The voicemail teaser
What it is: A public phone number fans can call to hear short artist voicemails that hint at the lineup or a key date. Each call nudges fans to sign up for updates via Laylo.
Why it works: It feels like insider access. Fans invite friends to call, which creates a waterfall of organic signups.
How to run it
- Record 3 to 5 artist liners, for example “Can’t pick up, see you June 6 in Charleston.”
- Rotate messages weekly to keep the mystery alive.
- Point every caller to your Laylo Drop, for example “Text FEST to this number for first access.”
- Post the number in Reels and Stories, then pin a highlight titled “Call Me.”
- During reveal, swap voicemail to “Lineup just dropped, check your text.”
Measure it
- Calls per day trend, percent of callers who opt in, first 24 hour CTR on the reveal message, lift in presale conversions from callers compared to non callers.
Want to set up your unique number and voicemail line? Laylo makes it easy.
Jack Hite Play 2: Spotify Canvas Easter eggs
What it is: Hide your Laylo number or keyword in the looping Canvas on top tracks for artists tied to your event.
Why it works: You capture high-intent fans while they are already listening, without telling them to click a bio link.
How to run it
- Pick 2 to 3 high-stream tracks from participating artists.
- Design a minimal Canvas with a short prompt, for example “Text ‘SHHH’ to get the lineup first.”
- Map the keyword to your lineup Drop in Laylo.
- Track stream-to-opt-in conversion by lining up Canvas on and off dates.
Measure it
- Opt-ins per 1,000 streams, time-to-first message open, overlap with ticket buyers.
Jack Hite Play 3: Auto pre-save while they sign up
What it is: As fans opt in for updates, use Laylo’s Spotify and Apple Music integrations to trigger pre-saves or follows for participating artists.
Why it works: You give artists meaningful value for promoting your Drop. They are more likely to post and email their lists when they get clear upside.
How to run it
- Ask headliners for a pre-save link or ISRC.
- Add the pre-save to your presale or lineup Drop.
- Offer to share back aggregate counts for their team’s reporting.
Measure it
- Artist posts driven by the incentive, presale signups on days artists post, pre-saves per signup.
Jack Hite Play 4: Turn engagement into owned reach with Instagram Comments
What it is: Connect a giveaway or lineup Reel to a Laylo Drop so every comment becomes an opt-in. Notify winners by DM inside Laylo.
Why it works: You already ask fans to tag friends. Now you capture that energy as first-party data without extra steps.
How to run it
- Post “Win two tickets” or “Guess the headliner” and enable Instagram Comments in your Drop.
- Add a confirmation DM that delivers a small reward, for example a lock-screen schedule or a behind-the-scenes clip.
- Retarget commenters who did not buy when on-sale opens.
Measure it
- Comment-to-opt-in rate, DM open rate, sales from commenters compared to viewers.
6) Unlock rich fan profiles from a single tap
Every signup creates or enriches a Laylo profile with name, phone or email, real-time location, merch purchase tags, top artists via Spotify, and a history of the Drops they joined.
Why it matters: First-party data becomes your edge for smarter routing, segmentation, and partner reporting.
7) Nurture with segments, not blasts
Laylo’s Message Composer lets you filter by radius, purchase status, channel, and more, then send via SMS, Email, or Instagram DMs. Add ticketing integrations to segment bought compared to not bought, offer VIP upgrades, and pull merch history via Shopify or Merchbar. Drop your pixels for Meta and TikTok to fuel paid optimization.
Why it matters: Segment messages using enriched filters to save on costs and reach the right fans, every time.
8) Leverage SMS for on-site messaging
During show days send morning schedules, weather updates, stage changes, and sponsor offers, for example “Show this DM for $2 off until 3 pm.” Add FAQ keywords such as texting “MAP” to receive a lock-screen map. Country Thunder runs a full keyword set for ride-share, parking, and more. Keep QR codes visible between sets to refill the funnel for renewals.
Why it matters: You reduce ops pressure, improve fan experience, and give partners measurable reach.
9) Leverage your lineup, artists as accelerants
Because many artists already use Laylo, you can:
- Offer pre-saves or follows to headliner teams in exchange for sharing your presale Drop.
- Use Collabs to co-brand a Drop with an artist, for example Chris Lake and FNGRS CRSSD.
- Pilot Laylo Ad Audiences, anonymized lookalikes built from artists’ Laylo networks that target proven buyers.
- Ask artists to message fans within 100 miles of your event via their Laylo lists.
Why it matters: Artists amplify your reach, and your presale registration creates value for them too.
10) Quick how-to: Instagram keywords and comments
- In your Drop’s Advanced tab, add a Story keyword such as a word or emoji. Fans reply to the Story, Laylo captures data, and they are opted into the Drop’s DM flow.
- For posts or Reels, connect Instagram Comments to a Drop so every comment opts in automatically. DM confirmations and winner notices are handled in-flow.
Why it matters: You remove friction and meet fans where they already engage.
Final thoughts
Cover the basics first. Embed on your site, update Link in Bio, and post QR codes on site. Then run Drops for every key moment, for example presale, lineup, giveaways, and content. Let Laylo’s profiles and segments do the heavy lifting across SMS, Email, and Instagram DMs. Layer in artist amplification, on-site messaging, and Multi-Drop. You get a repeatable system that grows your list and pulls demand forward.
Call to action: Get Laylo free
Talk to us: Chat with the live events team
