Ivyland, Pa. – Never one to put all his eggs in one basket, Ross Akselrad is one mobile-entertainer/entrepreneur whose ability to compartmentalize – and change on the fly – has paid big dividends.
To wit, he has divided his Philadelphia-area entertainment company into four divisions. They are: Pulse Entertainment (mitzvahs, Sweet 16s, generic parties, @pulseyourparty on socials); Pulse Wedding Entertainment (@pulseyourwedding on socials); Pulse Productions (corporate, government, A/V rental, @pulseyourproduction on socials); and Pulse Entertainment Proms and Schools (high schools, homecomings, proms, universities, campus and college events, @pulseyourprom on socials, proper website coming soon).
In a related endeavor, he also owns a photography and video studio called Limelight and Tailor Studios (@limelightandtailor on socials).
Additionally, he’s an industry thought leader. For example, at the 2021 DJ Expo in Atlantic City, N.J., this past August., Akselrad delivered tutorials on a pair of subjects – “Professionalism: How Mobiles Stay Ahead by Minding Their P’s & Q’s” and “Selling Your Services Virtually: Key Strategies to Increase Sales in a Socially Distant Marketplace.” The man definitely stays busy.
DJ LIFE MAG recently caught up with him to find out how he manages everything and keeps the revenue flowing.
DJ LIFE MAG: Pulse Wedding Entertainment – what’s the elevator pitch?
Ross Akselrad: We are different than most companies because we offer most of the services you will need for your event under one roof. We are a true one-stop-shop for anything you need – except food and flowers. We can bundle your services together to custom-create a package and save you money. We call it our version of the Comcast Triple Play Bundle.
DJ LIFE: What’s the advantage of bundling?
Akselrad: The major advantage to bundling your services with us is that you have one vendor to follow up with and that our experience is so smooth with all of my staff being familiar with each other’s needs. Another value add we tell clients that we offer is the ability to personalize their wedding, not just customize it. Personalizing an event is a process in which we truly get to know our clients better so we can cater to their specific needs better.
DJ LIFE MAG: How does that work?
Akselrad: For example, we always send two people to every wedding we do – an MC and DJ. The DJ focuses on the music playlist, while the MC manages the day’s events for you. They coordinate with the other vendors, facilitate your formalities, and help you to set the atmosphere to your wedding by how they interact with you and your guests. They can create a more formal event or a more wild-and-crazy event by how they interact with you and your guests, which brings you closer to the picture you have in your head for the event.
DJ LIFE MAG: How long has the company been around and why did you start it?
Akselrad: I opened Pulse Entertainment in 1994 when I was 16-years old. Since I was 11, I had been working for a DJ that was my camp counselor. He taught me beat-mixing, MCing, and how events should be run, and I worked almost every weekend with him for close to five years. Unfortunately, I had told him that I could not work on the night of my prom, but he booked me a bar mitzvah anyway. When I told him I couldn’t do it, he told me to choose the dance or my job. I discussed it with my parents because I really loved DJing and wanted to continue to do it. They supported me and offered to buy my first set of DJ equipment and to help me run some ads to try to get business and start my own company. So, I quit working for the other guy and started Pulse Entertainment as a two-person team with me as the MC and my brother as the DJ. My mom and dad had to drive me to my first few gigs until I got my license, but from there we were off and running.
DJ LIFE MAG: I see you’ve incorporated streaming services. Seems like a COVID-era thing that makes sense to keep around – true?
Akselrad: Yes, we are keeping it around. My corporate division and video division had been doing live-streaming for corporate events since 2012. They were few and far between because most events had in-person attendees, but occasionally we were live-streaming to other corporate offices around the globe. Once the pandemic started, we brainstormed how we could continue to provide services to clients and stay in business. We initially focused on mitzvah and wedding ceremonies and reached out to our existing clients to move their entertainment services to a streaming package, and about half of them did. All of a sudden, we were slammed with ceremonies and, in three months, did over 100 of them. Shortly after, we started getting calls from schools, non-profits and corporations to stream graduations, fundraisers, and training meetings. It really blew up at that point and, since July of 2020, we have live-streamed over 400 events, helped charities raise millions of dollars and help people move their businesses and events forward.
DJ LIFE MAG: In your opinion, what’s the future of live-streaming?
Akselrad: Looking at the future, live-streaming is here to stay, as right now we are seeing a lot of hybrid corporate events with a handful of people in person and the rest watching from home around the world. We also have many churches and synagogues that we are working with for holiday services that will continue in a hybrid capacity. Having the ability to live-stream has brought another revenue stream into my business and one that is helping to grow my overall business immensely.
DJ LIFE MAG: What gear to you generally carry to gigs?
Akselrad: A Pioneer DJ DDJ-800 controller, Virtual DJ software, two Electro-Voice EKX-15P self-powered speakers, Sennheiser Evolution G4 microphones – handheld and wireless, Mackie 1202VLZ3 mixer, American DJ Façade, Ultimate Support speaker stands,
Gator speaker pole scrims, two American DJ 4-foot truss with bases and top plates for our Chauvet Intimidator 355 IRC Lights, and an American DJ 3.0 lighting controller.
DJ LIFE MAG: You’ve got a robust website – tell me about the web strategy.
Akselrad: Make that websites. Jordan St. Jacques from Digitera has helped me with the web strategy, SEO, and other digital marketing. But it started with a specific marketing plan I came up with about five years ago. Up until five years ago, I had one website for all my services, but I noticed people really trying to haggle me for pricing. I chatted with a few friends in the industry and came to the conclusion that when people come to my website, they see everything we do and think we don’t specialize in their specific event, so they think they can haggle the price or even just pay less since we don’t do their event all the time. The wedding clients would see mitzvah photos, corporate clients would see wedding photos, mitzvah clients would see wedding photos and info, and overall I don’t think we were taken as seriously.
DJ LIFE MAG: What changed?
Akselrad: For example, five years ago, we were charging $1,295 for a basic wedding – four hours – and people didn’t even want to pay for that. They would always say, “Can you do it for $1,000?” So, it was very hard to book at a decent rate. I came up with the idea to break out our primary services into separate websites and separate categories, which is why we have a wedding, mitzvah, corporate, photo and video, and a school website coming soon. Now people go to the website that just shows the events they are having and nothing else, and so they believe we just specialize in that only. This has paid off so much for us. Since we have done this, we have been able to increase our prices between 50- and 60-percent, and are even busier than before. That equates to more events at a higher dollar value, which means more money for my team and the business. By the way, we now charge $1,995 for that same basic wedding package.
DJ LIFE MAG: You’ve also got an LGBTQ button on your website – has that connection to the community been good for business?
Akselrad: This has been great to us. For 30 years, we have always performed at LGBTQ events, but as you know it has changed over the years. We proudly advertise and market to the LGBTQ community and we employ quite a few LGBTQ staff. It has set us apart from other companies that either don’t service them or are not as sensitive to the LGBTQ community and how their events differ from traditional events. Each year, we are booking more and more LGBTQ events and I personally am on two committees within my network that are specific to the LGBTQ community and how we can help them, not only with their events, but with their community goals as well.
DJ LIFE MAG: Sounds like a mutually beneficial connection.
Akselrad: We look forward to increasing our business in the LGBTQ community and have a goal to triple our events within the next five years. We also have actually obtained 10 domain names with the extension .gay that Jordan from Digitera is helping me create micro websites for that can drive people from the LGBTQ community to our other sites, so we can help them from there as well.
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