Email Marketing Strategy
Strategic opportunity to activate 8 years of customer and shareholder data through email marketing. Currently untapped; high-ROI channel for re-engagement and repeat attendance.
Three Audience Tiers
1. Shareholders (~200 people)
Profile: Invested in community bar; financial stake and emotional connection. Most valuable long-term audience.
Current state: Minimal communication. AGM notices and ad-hoc emails only.
Strategy:
- Immediate: “State of the Venue” letter from Mat (honest, transparent, forward-looking turnaround plan)
- Monthly: 3–4 paragraph update email (what happened, what’s coming, one action they can take)
- Quarterly: Exclusive Shareholder Night event (free entry, complimentary drink, 15-min Mat business update)
Expected outcome: Turn shareholders into repeat customers and word-of-mouth advocates
2. Loyalty Members (PinTuna database, ~572 members)
Profile: Already opted into loyalty program; demonstrated repeat interest.
Strategy:
- Immediate: Audit PinTuna for member count, active status, email deliverability
- Ongoing: Monthly event highlights email, birthday recognition (complimentary drink offer), frequency-based rewards (5 visits = unlock reward; 10 visits = VIP early access)
Expected outcome: +20% monthly active members within 4 weeks
3. TryBooking Customers (2,809 unique emails from sample; full historical list larger)
Profile: Broadest audience; already attended events and paid money. High conversion potential.
Current state: Zero post-purchase communication beyond TryBooking transactional emails.
Data issue: 29.7% of emails are trybooking.net proxy addresses (non-mailable). Effective mailable list ~1,974 real emails.
Cross-reference finding: Only 9 overlap with shareholder database (0.3%). Customers and shareholders are separate populations; need distinct strategies.
Legal consideration: Australian Spam Act 2003 requires consent. TryBooking customer consent status needs verification before bulk campaigns.
Strategy:
- Immediate: Export TryBooking emails, deduplicate against shareholders and PinTuna members, clean list (remove hard bounces)
- One-time campaign: “Reconnect” email — “You came to [event]. Here’s what’s coming up.” Personalised by event type.
- Ongoing: Segment by event type (drag, comedy, bingo, cabaret); send targeted announcements for similar upcoming events
Expected outcome: 25%+ open rate on reconnect email; 5%+ click-to-purchase conversion
Email Infrastructure
Current tools:
- PinTuna: Shareholder, member, loyalty data. Can receive email uploads.
- Designmodo Postcards: Newsletter creation tool. Team skeptical of effectiveness.
- TryBooking: Transactional emails only. Email data exportable. Free “Email Buyers” feature for direct communication.
Emily’s position: Believes in email (contradicts Mat’s skepticism). Planned monthly sends. Sees Pride Perks as email mechanism. Enthusiastic co-owner.
Recommended CRM: Mailchimp Standard (April 2026 Update)
Mailchimp Standard ($20–60/mo for 3,000 contacts) is the recommended central CRM hub:
- Native Square integration — auto-syncs customer and purchase data after one-time setup
- TryBooking data via quarterly CSV import
- All three databases (shareholders, TryBooking, PinTuna) unified with tags and segments
- Free tier handles 500 contacts with 1,000 monthly sends to start
Future upgrade path: Audience Republic ($145–190/mo) for native TryBooking sync + SMS + Meta Custom Audiences — evaluate once event revenue is consistent.
Key principle: Consistency matters more than platform. Use weekly. Emily owns execution; content strategy support from leadership.
4-Week Content Calendar (Template)
| Week | Shareholders | Members | TryBooking List |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 (30 Mar) | “State of the Venue” letter | PinTuna audit | Export emails |
| Week 2 (6 Apr) | Shareholder Night invitation | ”We miss you” email | Reconnect email (personalised) |
| Week 3 (13 Apr) | — | Monthly event highlights | Segmented announcement |
| Week 4 (20 Apr) | Monthly update #1 | Birthday automation live | Post-event follow-up |
Success Metrics
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Shareholder email open rate | 40%+ |
| Shareholders attending events monthly | 20+ (from current <10) |
| PinTuna active members | +20% from baseline |
| TryBooking reconnect open rate | 25%+ |
| Repeat ticket purchase from campaigns | 5%+ click-to-purchase |
Risks & Mitigations
- Shareholder comms sensitive. Mat must approve all outbound shareholder emails before sending.
- Spam Act compliance. Verify TryBooking email consent before bulk send. Include unsubscribe in every email.
- Email fatigue. Keep emails short, valuable, infrequent (1/month per audience). Prove ROI before expanding.
- Data quality. 8-year-old TryBooking emails have high bounce rates. Clean on first send; remove hard bounces immediately.
Immediate Next Steps
- Mat reviews and approves plan
- Audit PinTuna (member count, capabilities)
- Export and clean TryBooking customer emails
- Pick email platform and set up first campaign
- Draft “State of the Venue” letter
Email as Algorithm-Proof Channel (April 2026)
Email is the highest-ROI marketing channel at $36–42 return per $1 spent — higher than any social platform. With Instagram organic reach collapsed to ~3.5% and documented LGBTQ+ content suppression on Meta, email is the only channel fully within Pride’s control.
TryBooking “Email Buyers” feature: Allows direct communication with all past ticket purchasers for free — no third-party platform needed. This is the fastest path to an algorithm-proof channel.
Conversion path for new subscribers: In-venue QR codes, giveaway entry, freebies, and Instagram-to-email conversion prompts.
Strategic priority: Email list building should be treated as the #1 marketing infrastructure investment — ahead of any social platform expansion. Every ticket buyer email captured is an asset that doesn’t depreciate with algorithm changes.
Key Insight
Email has been dismissed by leadership (Mat) but Emily (who executes) believes in it. With $36–42 ROI per $1 and complete independence from platform algorithms, this is the single highest-leverage untapped channel. TryBooking’s free “Email Buyers” feature eliminates the platform cost barrier.
Related Pages
- Shareholder Engagement — shareholder-specific email strategy
- Customer Acquisition Strategy — channel strategy and conversion funnel
- Revenue Model — email-driven repeat attendance and revenue
- LGBTQ Venue Social Media Strategy Research — source: email ROI benchmarks and algorithm-proof strategy (April 2026)
- Loyalty Programme Strategy — loyalty programme with email/CRM integration
- Loyalty Programme Research — source: CRM platform comparison, database unification strategy, engagement benchmarks (June 2025)