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Backstage event marketing

client case study

This case shows how addressing a single overlooked issue—email domain verification—can unlock major audience growth and retention. By combining smart troubleshooting with creative campaigns and tech integration, we’ve transformed email marketing into a high-performing channel for one of the region’s busiest venues.

Why This Story Matters

Ector County Coliseum is a major venue in West Texas hosting concerts, sporting events, and community programming year-round. In 2023, the Coliseum sought a marketing agency through an RFP process and awarded Backstage Event Marketing a three-year contract, based on a strong recommendation from existing client West Texas, a regional concert promoter.

About the Client

The Challenge

One of the Coliseum’s most urgent issues was a drop in email open rates—plummeting from a healthy average to less than 1%. This was a major concern since the newsletter was a key communication tool for event announcements, pre-sale access, and ticket holder information. Despite paying for an email service provider, they were getting little return on investment and risking lost audience engagement.

The Strategy

Backstage Event Marketing identified the root of the problem: the Coliseum's email domain had not been authenticated with Mailchimp, causing emails to land in spam folders. We worked directly with Ector County’s IT department to confirm the domain and restore deliverability. With this technical fix in place, we implemented a long-term email strategy that included:
  • Monthly newsletters with strong visual content and calls to action
  • Campaign-specific emails for presales, ticket offers, and giveaways
  • Collaboration with event promoters to push time-sensitive messaging
  • A strategic newsletter sign-up integration with the venue’s free Wi-Fi (via Purple)

We also created attention-grabbing promotions like the Five Days of Holiday Giveaways, which have run successfully for the past two years, helping drive new subscriptions.

Driving Audience Engagement Through Strategic Email Marketing

Ector County Coliseum 

The Results

In two years, we have grown the Coliseum’s mailing list from under 10,000 to 20,462 contacts. Their average open rate has improved steadily—from under 1% to 19% and climbing. The email list is now a robust, reliable tool used to drive presales, promote upcoming shows, and keep audiences informed.
Thanks to our integration with the venue’s Wi-Fi, we’ve added passive but effective audience capture into the overall email strategy. This synergy ensures the Coliseum gets more value out of the tech and services they already invest in.


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