Q & A with GospelTix.com’s Winifred Robinson

After nearly 20 years in marketing and advertising, Winifred Robinson traded Corporate America for entrepreneurship.  She organized GospelTix.com in Washington, DC in 2010.  TBGB caught up with her recently to talk about her venture and its value proposition to the Christian community.

Winifred A. Robinson Founder/CEO – Gospeltix.com

WR:  My background is in marketing and advertising, and I have a lot of experience with product development, including website development.  I wanted to use my talents to serve the Lord, and I wasn’t really being fulfilled in Corporate America.  I was doing well, earning a very decent salary, but I wasn’t being fulfilled.  So I started praying on it.  I paid attention to the marketplace and decided to start a company that could be beneficial to the Kingdom of God.  

WR: There was absolutely such a moment!  After writing my skills down and looking at the desires of my heart, I thought, “Is there a company online that tells the world what is going on in the gospel community, the Christian community?”  If I wanted to go out with my family, where could I go that I know would be clean and fun, and Christian-based?  I didn’t find a lot of that online.

I then thought: “What if there was a company that could not only advertise what was going on but could also help with ticket sales?”  And that’s the part that really struck me hard.  It was like, “Oh my God, this is like a Ticketmaster!  How could I possibly do that?”  I did the research and only came up with two companies in the marketplace.  I thought, “Two companies, okay.  Well, there’s more than one supermarket.  There’s more than one department store.”  This is what I felt the community needed.  I put on my new product development hat and my program management hat, and used all of my marketing and advertising skills to create GospelTix.com.

WR:  I launched the GospelTix.com website on May 31, 2010.  Our first radio commercial in the Washington (DC) metropolitan area went out on June 1, 2010. 

WR: GospelTix.com offers churches and promoters of gospel events—any type of event that is clean—the opportunity to sell tickets to the event online, to make it convenient to patrons to purchase tickets that are delivered to their computer immediately upon the purchase process. 

We also offer customers the opportunity for their event to be Googled and found, seen and heard anytime, day or night.  When you purchase a product page through GospelTix.com, it is your on-line advertising space.  So if you don’t have a website dedicated to your particular project, and you need to have an online presence to advertise the event, GospelTix.com provides advertising space as well as online ticketing. 

We also offer customers a chance to promote their program through social media, via Facebook or Twitter.  We also promote events on LinkedIn from time to time.  We do e-blasts on behalf of our clients.  We do voice-overs.  They are just like radio commercials: a very high-quality, professionally created voice-over that can be placed on the product page so visitors can listen as well as read about your event. 

We also have a newsletter to promote Christian-owned businesses, and we highlight independent gospel music artists in a section called “Independent Spotlight.”  The newsletter helps keep people connected to the community and with what’s going on at GospelTix.com.  The newsletter also communicates what’s happening with kingdom kids, with children raised in the Christian way.  That section of the newsletter is called “Christian Kids Rock.” 

WR: Yes. 

WR: The response thus far has been good.  As a start-up company, we can never do enough marketing.  Sometimes there are a lot of active projects on the site and sometimes there are not as many.  I believe it’s a function of marketing.

On June 1 of this year, we are having a two-year anniversary celebration event.  I also have a background in event production, something I was doing simultaneously while working in Corporate America. So GospelTix.com now has a branded event in the Washington metro area called “Fantastic Friday.”  Right now, it’s a comedy series called “Pass the Mic.”  It’s a hilarious show designed to take the edge off of the work week.  Folks can come out with their families and have a great time.  So we are in the event production business as well!

TBGB: What are your goals moving forward?

WR:  To position GospelTix.com as the number one resource for the Christian community.  But I can’t do it by myself.  I’m looking forward to establishing very strategic relationships with various organizations to make that happen.

TBGB:  What got you interested in gospel music in the first place?

WR: I was raised in the church, so I love gospel music!  I grew up listening to all types of music, but gospel music has a healing mechanism for the soul.  Gospel music is about the glory of God.  There’s no other music like it.  When you listen to gospel music, it is a cut above the rest.   It’s special, it’s sweet, and it has a healing quality.

For more information, visit www.gospeltix.com.