Marketing

You're ready to get serious about promoting your organization. Have you considered the best ways to reach your potential audience?

Wait — who is your potential audience? You'll need to determine the answer to that question before you decide how you're going to reach them. And once you've got their attention, what will you say? And when your audience becomes your loyal patrons, how do you maintain that relationship?

Marketing is the process by which you come to understand the relationship between your organization and your audience. Commitment to this process is essential, particularly when working with a small budget and minimal resources (staff, time and product). You must also be creative, tenacious and focused.

While the precise mix varies from one marketing plan to another, most include five basic elements. These elements are commonly referred to as the five “P’s” of marketing:

  1. People: Who buys your product and why? What do they need, want, value? Who else do you want to reach?
  2. Product: What is being sold? What are its qualities and characteristics relative to other competitive offerings?
  3. Price: How much does it cost? What is the pricing strategy? Are there non-monetary costs associated with the product?
  4. Place: How does a customer obtain the product? Where is it available and how does it get there? What is the availability strategy (intensive/exclusive)?
  5. Promotion: How are customers made aware of the product? What motivates them to purchase/repurchase? How is it advertised? What does it look like?

In the following pages, we will assume you have already defined the first three P’s and will focus on the forth: promotion. We will help you develop a communication plan, craft a persuasive message, select the right media and make the best use of emarketing and public relations.

But where do you begin? By knowing yourself - understanding who you are and what you have to offer.

Resources

  1. Marketing 101 (.ppt) -- an Arts & Business Council workshop presentation by Diane Mielnikowski
  2. Marketing Plan Development (.doc) -- an example of the development of a marketing plan for an arts client by Arts & Business Council consultants

Links

  1. Marketing Web site of the Art and Business council: www.artsmarketing.org
  2. The American marketing Association: www.marketingpower.com
  3. Arts Management Network (global perspective on arts management): www.artsmanagement.net
Marketing content written by: Philippe Ravanas, Professor, Columbia College Chicago

Know yourself: from mission to branding

Mission: what is your “raison d’être”?
For an arts organization, the marketing process should start by drafting a clear mission statement which should succinctly define the organization’s purpose, products, values, targets and geographic scope. The mission statement should answer the following questions:

Examples of mission statements:

Brand: what sets you apart?
Ideally, your mission statement should set your organization apart from your peers. This uniqueness should be perceived by your audience.

To understand it, you should ask your current customers to describe in very specific terms what constitutes in their eyes the personalities of your organization and your events. Why do they choose you over the competition? Why do they keep coming back? What needs does your product fulfill that other products do not?

Branding is the process of understanding this uniqueness and having it reflected in everything you share with your audience – your events and the customer’s experience, as well as your communication materials. Through this process, you will differentiate yourself from your competition on every level and your marketing messages will be more specific and compelling.

Your brand is the “device” (word, phrase, shape, sound, color or combination of these) that prompt this uniqueness in the mind of your clients or prospects. Having a single, distinct visual image is paramount in the consumer’s ability to recognize you in an instant. Your first promotional investment should be to hire a professional graphic designer to develop a logo and a graphic charter that reflects your organization’s personality. This is an initial step in the process of branding your organization and a visual representation to help promote events, programs and offerings in a consistent manner.

Example of graphic charter:
The Steppenwolf Theater Company has adopted a clear and distinguishable graphic charter for all its promotional materials - brochures, billboard and website: large black and white pictures of its ensemble members, red logo and black or red font for the text. This charter gives a great consistency to the Theater’s communication effort, and reflects its intense performing style.

Links

  1. All About Branding (provides extensive resources and opinions on branding - including brand development, management and communications): www.allaboutbranding.com
  2. Deliver magazine (a magazine for marketers, including case studies): www.delivermagazine.com
  3. Marshall (Corporate identity and brand strategy consultants): www.marshallstrategy.com
  4. Studio North (brand assessment consultants): www.studionorth.com

Understand your audience

Who do you create for? Yourself? Your peers? The public at large? Probably a mix of the three. Before developing any communication materials, you need do understand your audience and define who you would like to reach.

Consumer analysis: who are they and what do they need?
To identify and understand your existing and/or potential customers, you need to collect all available and accessible information about each of them:

You can ask your customers for information during their direct transactions with your organization. Alternatively, you could buy the information from a third party or get it from an organization targeting the same audience, in exchange for information about other consumers.

Capturing, integrating and leveraging all customer data available demand a solid process, documented rules and the discipline to effectively use them. But the rewards, in the form of consistent, quantifiable, clean data ready to be easily converted to actionable marketing intelligence, are great.

Motivational analysis: Why do they buy your product?
Because you present great art? Probably, but not exclusively. According to a survey conducted by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO)[1], luring people to concerts is more than a matter of appealing to classical connoisseurs. That group, in fact, doesn't even make up the majority of the classical concert customers.

Exploring what truly motivates your audience in visiting you might be a sobering experience, but an essential one to understand how to retain their clientele.

According to Fred Bronstein, president of the Dallas Symphony Association, “There is a core group of people who love to come no matter what you play, but there has to be an expanding circle of others. We're interested in audience development. There's a lot of work we're doing around the whole concert experience, the programming and other things.”[2]

Targeting: who do you want to reach?
You probably won’t have enough time or money to convince every body of your product’s merits. You will have to concentrate your resources on a group of prospects who have the will & capacity to buy and are the most susceptible to respond to you r offer. Selecting this group is called targeting. Ideally, your target market should be:

If you're not specific about the target audience, you will fail to generate sufficient return from any segment. You are not starting from scratch: understanding the characteristics of your current audience will help you build a profile of the target audience.

Links

  1. Arts Research Digest (provides a unique overview of recent and current research in the arts, media and cultural sectors): www.arts-research-digest.com
  2. Marketing Research Association: www.mra-net.org
  3. National Endowment for the Arts (publishes regular audience surveys): www.Nea.gov/research
  4. Survey Monkey (Easy-to-use software to create customer surveys): www.SurveyMonkey.com
  5. See also the special Audience Development Research section of smARTstart.

Footnotes

[1] John Kirkpatrick, "After Years of Hanging Up the 'Sold Out' Sign, Dallas Symphony Raises Its Marketing Volume," Dallas Morning News, 10 November 2003.
[2] Ibid
 

Draft a clear communication plan

A communication plan includes specific recommendations and cost estimates for the numerous tactical applications that are required to launch and sustain a new product, brand organization or event.

A good communication plan clearly identifies objectives, target audiences, key messages, tactics, projected timeline, estimated costs and success measures. Below is an outline of a communication plan that fine arts organizations can customize to their individual needs.

Overview
This introductory section provides a succinct summary of background information on your new product, brand, organization or event, and its pending launch:

Try to keep the Overview section to one or two paragraphs. Don't get bogged down in details; the main reading is ahead.

Objectives
Developing clear, measurable objectives are critical to the success of your communication plan. A good communication plan should achieve some or all of the following goals:

Think about what you want your communications activities to accomplish. If, for example, you are launching a new offering, you will first need to make your audience aware of it, then educate them about its many benefits. If you are introducing a series of smaller offerings, you will need to explain how they work together and their combined benefits.

As you develop your communication objectives, use active verbs and phrases, such as:

Most communication plans have 5-7 objectives. Fewer than that may indicate you have not thought about all of your target audiences and what you want them to do in response to your communications efforts.

Target Audience
With whom do you want to share information about your offering? These people are your target audience. Most times, you will be communicating with a variety of audiences, both internally and externally. Also, some audiences may be more important than others, so you will need to make that distinction (e.g., primary audience, other audiences). Think broadly, but realistically. Who can you inform and influence?

Approach
In this section, you will provide a general overview of the methods you intend to use to communicate with your target audiences. For example:

Key Messages
Look to your Creative Work Plan to help you craft the key message you want to share with your target audiences, and include these in your communication plan. Remember to follow the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW of communications:

Remember, your messages should be simple, direct, clear, benefit-oriented, and written in language that your target audiences can understand and relate to.

Communication Tools:
To convey your message, you can use a mix of the following tools:

Each tool will be presented in more details in the pages below.

Timeline
Every communication plan needs a detailed timeline focusing on two important areas:

Microsoft Project, Excel or Word programs are all useful formats for communication plan timelines.

Since the implementation many plan deliverables may overlap, it is important to use a format that allows concurrent tracking of tasks.

Some helpful tips for constructing your timeline:

Estimated Costs
Here is another area where details count. As you develop the tactics for your communications plan, be sure to also develop cost estimates, especially if external vendors are involved in materials production. Include these estimates in Excel spreadsheet or Word format with your main plan.

It is wise to include a mix of tactics at varying price levels in your communications plan. That way, if budgets are cut, you will still be able to communicate effectively with key audiences.

Success Measures
How will you know if the launch of your new product, brand, organization or event is a success? A year down the road, will your target audiences still be aware of it? A communication plan should always include tangible success measures.

First, check the effectiveness of your communication pieces as they are delivered. Ask recipients: "Are the messages clear and understandable? Are the pieces engaging and informative? Would you like to receive future communications about this offering?" Actively solicit feedback and suggestions to enhance future communications.

Also, think longer-term. Pre-launch consumer research to yield information about target audiences' awareness levels of your new offering at a certain point in time. Use this information to your advantage. Conduct a survey six months to a year after your launch and compare the pre-launch awareness levels with those post-launch. Repeat regularly thereafter. If awareness levels dip over time, you'll need to increase the frequency of your communications activities.

Links

  1. Fuel 4 Arts (a professional development website for arts marketers): www.fuel4arts.com
  2. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation (provides a good communication plan toolkit – go to knowledgebase, toolkits): www.wkkf.org

Advertising

Advertising regroups any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization, good, service, or idea. It is the biggest communication tool of all: roughly $250 billions are spent each year on advertising. It has the biggest reach and is a cost effective way to reach lots of people. Even with a very limited budget, it is possible to inform the organization's audience about performances and events.

If you decide to use this tool, you will first have to choose the right media in which to advertise.

Mass Media Advantages and Disadvantages

  • Television: Reaches more people than any other medium; costs the most.
  • Cable TV: Better equipped to target a specific audience both psychographically and geographically; more cost efficient. Chicago Access Network (CAN-TV) offers nonprofits the opportunity to connect with the public through this key medium.
  • Radio: Able to target specific audiences with higher frequency of the message; need to buy 2-3 stations for good reach; not as expensive as television.
  • Newspaper: Communicates details about arts organization's events; can geographically target a city/communities; lots of ad clutter, especially in the entertainment section; expensive for a "page-dominant" ad.
  • Magazines: Reach upscale audiences; higher quality graphics and environment; based on a weekly or monthly publishing cycle, it is difficult to develop an adequate frequency level; costly, especially since a color ad is necessary for impact.
  • Outdoor Billboards and Transit:Good image or reminder medium; can't communicate many details.
  • Internet: Good support medium; communicates lots of information events; open 24/7; need to promote website address; must keep information current.

Where to Begin?

  • Create a media plan based on specific objectives. Example: Increase ticket purchases for a particular event by African-American women by 25%.
  • Ask your current audience how they heard about your offering and where they typically look for or hear about entertainment options.
  • The plan should include placement designed to reach that audience with your message several times during a critical decision-making period.
  • Analyze the cost per inquiry to determine which media produced the most for the least money.
  • Don't rely on just one medium to carry the message. People need to see/hear the message several times. Target audience and budget are the most important factors.
  • Repetition and consistency are keys. Deliver the message through several forms of media. Don't include a medium just because it's cheap. A bargain can actually cost more per sale than a higher-priced, more effective medium.

Avoid Common Mistakes with Paid Media:

  • Don't dribble. Pulse your advertising in short, intense bursts when it counts the most. Don't spread over too much media or too much time.
  • Don't target "everyone." If you're not specific about the target audience, you will fail to generate sufficient return from any segment.
  • Don't respond to "deals." If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
  • Don't be cheap. A cheap media buy is more expensive if it fails to deliver inquiries. Paying more may get you more in return.
  • Don't track too broad an area or fail to track. Then you can't tell what's working and what's not.

Get Help:

  • Buying media is a complicated and technical job. Everyone thinks they're an expert because they watch, listen, read.
  • May be worthwhile to get help with this task. The Arts & Business Council can assist.
  • Ad agencies will help nonprofit organizations plan and place media for a small fee or pro bono.

Limitations
Advertising was developed to promote fast moving consumer goods and have proven less efficient for cultural organizations. In the field of culture, targets are usually too small, products too complex and budgets too limited to fully take advantage of mass communication techniques. Moreover, the impact of advertising is undeniable but difficult to precisely measure. One can never be sure that an advertisement has been seen, understood and remembered, since communication is one way: from the organization to its target. Separating the effect of advertisement from other factors influencing consumers is particularly arduous.

Last, promotional spending for consumer goods has been growing steadily, and tends to overpower products with smaller budgets. Because of this constant growth, the multiplication of media and the resulting advertising omnipresence, consumers tend to develop a type of immunization to this type of marketing and shield themselves from this communication avalanche by ignoring most advertising messages.

Direct Marketing can address all of these concerns.

Links

  1. The American Advertising Federation: www.aaf.org
  2. Ad Forum (impartial, advanced and up-to-date source of information on the advertising industry): www.adforum.com

Direct marketing

Direct marketing “consists of direct connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships” . In a direct marketing campaign, an organization sends a specific, usually time-limited promotional offer directly to individual customers via mail, telephone or email and not via mass communication media such as billboards, press, radio and television. This generates a direct and rapid response in the form of an order, a subscription renewal, a request for further information, a visit to a retail outlet or an internet site.

Direct marketing often leads to direct distribution. Since the consumer responding to the offer orders the product directly from the company, the latter can do away with intermediaries and resellers. This model fits cultural organizations whose mission is to host live audiences (theatres, symphonies, museums…) because tickets can be easily mailed or printed from the internet.

Direct marketing is not new: catalog sales have been around for a long time. However, the evolution of information technologies (particularly database management and the internet) give this tool a new youth. Thanks to these technologies, it is now possible for an organization to weave a dense customized relationship with each individual customer with the goal of better meeting their needs.

Direct marketing offers several advantages:

  • More accurate targeting than traditional advertising, since only the consumers whose buying potential has been identified will be contacted with a customized offer. With traditional advertising, targeting is only as precise as the audience of a given media. For example, an advertisement in a newspaper will be seen – and perhaps read – by its readers, who are not all actual or potential customer of the product promoted in the advertisement.
  • Accurate return-on-investment measurement of a promotional campaign, since the rate of response to the offer and the cost per contact is known. For example, if one sends a thousand letters with a specific offer and twenty people who received the offer respond to it, one can calculate the return on investment of the campaign by dividing the amount of the twenty sales by their total cost (time spent formatting the offer and drafting the message, costs for paper, printing, envelop, stamp and handling.)
  • A more personalized, two-way communication stream with the target, since the latter is encouraged to respond directly. This consumer feedback is essential to improve the service offered and customer satisfaction.
  • The possibility to send dense messages and complex offers without with the space limitation of traditional media.
  • Reduction in lead time between the initiation of the offer and its reception by the customer is reduced, since the offer can be sent at anytime, independent from formal publication schedule.

For all the reasons above, direct marketing is widespread and is becoming the main means of communication and distribution for many cultural organizations.

Direct Response Media
The media commonly used for direct marketing are mail, telephone and the internet.

  • Mail: this traditional media for direct marketing is still very much in use, despite competition from the internet. Mail offers many formats for direct, individual communication: letters of course, but also postcards, brochures, catalogs, sampling, tapes or CDs… In many countries, postal services offer discounted prices for mass mailing.
  • Telephone: Telemarketing (i.e.: using telephone for direct marketing purposes) is faster and more interactive than mail, but also more expensive. Calling people is time consuming and manpower intensive. Telemarketing is regulated in some countries, where individuals can have their phone number de-listed to avoid receiving sales and marketing calls.
  • Internet: e-marketing (i.e.: using the internet for direct marketing purposes) has some key advantages. It is as fast and interactive as telemarketing, but much less expensive: sending an email costs a fraction of the price of a phone call or a stamp. Access to the internet is growing rapidly, and the vast majority of consumers of cultural goods is already connected - or will be soon.

Links

  1. Direct Marketing Association: www.the-dma.org
  2. DM News 9publication for direct marketers) www.dmnews.com

Using the internet as a Distribution Tool

The Internet is one of the most effective direct marketing tools available to you. Your website is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week promotion machine.

A great website allows you to interface with your customers and potential customers. You can use your site to inform your audience of events, sell tickets and merchandise, even provide a virtual community that allows your patrons to interact with you and each other.

You can also use the Internet to conduct research on your audience — directly, through polling, or indirectly, by capturing information on how they navigate your site.

Your Website Enables You to:

  • Build awareness of the organization.
  • Help with new audience development.
  • Position the organization in the community.
  • Promote and market 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
  • Answer questions from current and potential patrons which frees up staff.
  • Provide another means for customers to contact you.
  • Can be updated quickly with changes in programs, schedules, activities.
  • Save money on postage, mailings, brochures.

Arts marketing on the Internet complements other marketing activities. Include website address in other promotional pieces/advertising.

Tips for Effective Arts Website Management

  • Define goals: What is the purpose of the website? What do we want people to do when they are there?
  • Respond to inquiries within 24 hours. Unanswered e-mail turns off a potential patron, ticket buyer, or donor.
  • Use the website to build an e-mail list: Generate leads for e-mail marketing by placing a prominent link to join your newsletter list.
  • Keep navigation simple and intuitive: Use labels, such as "calendar," "buy tickets," "children's concert series." Avoid acronyms.
  • Use graphics and streaming media intelligently: Keep graphics simple. Web images should be kept to a minimum. Remember, not everyone has high-speed Internet access.
  • Measure and analyze site traffic: Use web tracking software that gives more than "hits" information. This will help "fine tune" the website.
  • Keep site updated: Outdated information will discourage the audience. The press will check the website for current information.
  • Put basic information up front: Address, directions, parking information in a prominent location on website.
  • Test site with your patrons: Ask a few to "buy a ticket" or "check on next week's concert" to learn about the ease/difficulty of using the site.
  • Market the site - don't just say it exists: Selling tickets online represents a strong reason to visit the site.

To Pro Bono or Not to Pro Bono your Website?

  • Website should be professionally produced.
  • Pro bono work is the first to be eliminated during economic downturns or when staff is reduced.
  • Website should be under your control.
  • Website needs constant care and maintenance.

E-mail Marketing for the Arts

  • E-mail marketing can outperform many of the traditional marketing tactics.
  • Most arts organizations don't exploit the interactive potential and don't involve the patron.

Why E-mail Works for the Arts

  • E-mail comes in 2 flavors: spam (not requested & unwanted) and opt-in (requested & wanted).
  • Opt-in e-mail works because arts feeds a passion and can develop loyalty to a specific organization.
  • Most successful when offers are connected to the recipients' needs and interests.

Tips for Effective E-mail Marketing

  • Make the collection of e-mail names the #1 objective of your website. Most important goal: "Sign up" link for your e-mail newsletter.
  • Always collect demographic and preference information along with the e-mail address. Consumers are willing to give personal data in return for the promise of special offers and information not available to others.
  • Segment lists and make all of your offers targeted. The more closely the offer matches their needs, the better the response rate will be.
  • Include a "call to action" with e-mail marketing. Ask e-mail recipients to click on a link to do something ("click here to purchase tickets online").
  • Offer HTML, AOL, and text formats. HTML is the most common form that means e-mail includes text formatting and pictures. Invest in the correct software.
  • Favor quality vs quantity. Send a targeted message that responds to their needs and offers them something that they otherwise could not get.
  • Prepare destination web page. "Click here to buy tickets" should send them to your web page where they can order tickets.
  • Integrate e-mail list development into offline marketing efforts. Develop a consistent and rich database of information about your patrons.
  • Measure, Measure, Measure. Track the results of your e-mail marketing efforts.
  • Test your way to success. E-mail marketing provides the ability to change and modify your offerings.

Resources

Arts & Business Council of Chicago held a full-day E-Commerce Seminar in September 2006 to share e-marketing best practices from its multi-year E-Commerce Incubator to the arts community.

Links

  1. eMarketing Association: www.emarketingassociation.com
  2. Click Z (news for digital marketers): www.clickz.com

E-Commerce Seminar Case Studies

Below you will find links to the presentations for the E-Commerce Seminar: Engaging Your Audience Online held Tuesday, September 19, 2006.

Keynote Speaker
Gerald Yoshitomi

AM Breakouts

  1. Online Media Buying - Decision to Participate Lead Presenter:Cheryl Mayberry McKissack; Founder, President and CEO of Nia Enterprises Case Study:Congo Square Theatre Company
  2. Primary Research - Perception of Benefits Lead Presenter:Deborah Johnson-Hall, Founder and President of Johnson & Associates Marketing Case Study:Joel Hall Dancers and Center Case Study: The Joffrey Ballet
  3. Online Fundraising - Decision to Participate Lead Presenter:Betsy Harman, Founder and Principal of Harman Interactive Case Study: Architreasure Case Study: Luna Negra Dance Theater Case Study: Teatro Vista

Luncheon Presentation
Online Communities - Reaction to Experience Presenters: Alan Warms, Founder and President of Participate Media Christine Cupaiuolo, a Chicago-based editor and online media consultant for several successful blogs Jim Hirsh, Executive Director of Chicago Sinfonietta

  1. Search Engine Optimization - Decision to Participate Lead Presenter:Jon Morris, CEO and Founder of Interactive Marketing Initiative Case Study: Joel Hall Dancers and Center
  2. Database Mining and Marketing - Attributes & Background Lead Presenter: JD Hixson, Senior Account Executive for Patron Technologies
  3. Email and Website Marketing - The Experience Lead Presenter: Marty Higginbotham, Founder and President of The Stage Channel Case Study: Gene Siskel Film Center Case Study: Luna Negra Dance Theater

Public Relations

Public relations (PR) is the use of publicity and other non paid forms of communication to present an organization and its products with a positive image.

Don't you think someone should write an article about your organization? How come you're not getting the attention you deserve? Maybe it's time to raise your voice and let the media know you're here. Positive coverage lends credibility to your organization and widens your name recognition. Through creative communication (and a little persuasion), you can entice reporters to cover your group. PR is a great tool to create word of mouth.

PR warnings

  • PR is not free: although it uses non-paid forms of communication, it requires a qualified staff, time, effort, creativity and salesmanship.
  • You can't control where, when, how or even if your story will appear, and to some extend if it will be positive or negative.
  • Competition is fierce: 2.4 million news releases are sent out every week in the USA.
  • PR alone rarely works: it should be used in conjunction with advertising and/or direct marketing.
  • Your timing is not necessary the paper’s timing: you must understand the media's mindset - what they need, how / when they need it, and what you can do to shape your story to meet their needs.
  • Do not expect fast pay offs: it usually takes time and a lot of courting before a journalist decides to cover your events.

Drafting a press release
The majority of press releases are never used by the press because:

  • They are poorly written.
  • They have no local relevance.
  • They are sent to the wrong media outlet or contact person.
  • They don't include any news.

To avoid making these mistakes, you should make sure that your message is:

  • Brief: no more than one page.
  • Easy to understand: don’t use any lingo specific to your field.
  • Prioritized: place the most important information first.
  • Compelling: make sure you have strong, substantive material to back the story.
  • Accurate: don’t breach the trust a journalist will place in the information you send him.

To prepare a press release, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Do you have something to say? Ask yourself "so what?" and "who cares?"
  • Who to send it to? Target the right media, find the right – and current – contact, and send a personal, individually addressed email to accompany your press release.
  • When to send it? Not too late, not too early: respect the reporter's schedule
  • Did you include all the necessary information? Not everybody is as informed as you are. Make sure your press release answers: Who? What? Where? When? Why?
  • Is it short enough? Send a Clear concise Message.
  • Do you use a distinctive tone? Is there a balance between factual and colorful? A sense of identity is key. A good quote by one of the artists involved could help you achieve this.
  • Have you included all practical information? Full names of artists’ involved, full name of event or opening, address, telephone number, e-mail and website of organization, interview contact, etc…

Press packet:
In addition to the press release, you could send the following documents.

  • Telling Photographs with caption.
  • Short Biographies of each artist involved including prior exhibits/shows/events by the artist that may be relevant or interesting.
  • A synopsis of the performance or exhibit.
  • Fact sheets with general information about your organization.

Follow up with Reporters
You got the story. Now the whole world will be reading about your organization. Your effort has paid off, but you're not finished yet:

  • Thank the reporter after you get the story. Be specific. If the story was well-written, or if the criticism was insightful, say so. Hate the story? Thank the reporter anyway. Don't tell the reporter you hated the story, but you can correct any information. Remember, any press is good press! People will be more likely to remember a critical review than a positive one — and that means they may be more likely to attend.
  • Continue a Relationship with the Reporter. Introduce yourself if you know who they are. Send personal invitations to future events if possible. Use quotes and descriptions of your work to your advantage! Quote a reporter in advertising, in your curriculum vitae, in future postcards, etc. This will help you in getting the attention of other reporters. Use the name of the reporter and publication.
  • Keep the article. Build it into a scrapbook, or mount it in a frame. Display your scrapbook/frame at your events/openings/performances.

Resources
Community Media Workshop provides a comprehensive guide, Getting On The Air & Into Print, as well as workshops, PR tips, and a multitude of resources to connect nonprofits with the best people and communications practices.

Links

  1. Public Relations Society of America: www.prsa.org
  2. About Public Relations (comprehensive collection of how-to PR articles, public relations features and links) www.aboutpublicrelations.net

Enhance the Customer Experience

The art is not enough
Your organization thrives on presenting exiting art. But is that enough? Ironically, by focusing all energies on the art on stage or on the walls and by neglecting all other aspects of customer service, many arts organizations make the artistic experience feel like work. One can witness many cases of ‘audience abuse’: disturbing arrogance of the staff toward the customer, inflexibility of ticket exchange policies, unannounced seasons, last minute changes in schedules, ticket issuing mistakes…

It is all the more regrettable that those aspects are controllable (one can hire (or find volunteers) and train customer friendly staff, make sure that queries are answered promptly, etc…), whereas the reaction of the audience to a new play or exhibition is not.

Cost of bad customer service
Poor customer service can ruin the overall experience of your customers, decrease their satisfaction and ultimately tarnish your company’s brand image. Still not sure you should invest in improving service? Check out these statistics[1]:

Rewards of good customer service
Good customer service can set a company apart from the competition and enhance customer loyalty. It will translate directly to your bottom line:

11 Tips to enhance customer experience:

  1. Don’t turn your back on your audience: your mission is not just to create great art, but as importantly to share it with the public. Develop a culture of customer service and make sure that every employee sees customer service as part of your organization’s culture, and not as an after thought or worse, a necessary evil.
  2. Don’t take your patrons for granted: over the past decade, customer service has vastly improved in every industry. Consumers have grown accustomed to good service, and are more demanding then they used to be. Don’t test your patrons’ loyalty, and strive to retain their clientele.
  3. Think total experience: every interaction between your audience and your organization - whether by telephone, on the Internet, in the parking lot, at the box office, during an event or during the lodging of a complaint - enhance or negate your consumers’ satisfaction.
  4. Script the experience: create a logical, seamless and agreeable path through which customer will go before, during and after attending your play or exhibition. Make your guests happy the moment they get in. Make sure that every aspect of their experience sets their mood and prepares them to enjoy the spectacle that is about to unfold before them.
  5. Recruit and train the right people: Good customer service is a matter of attitude and aptitude. Hire people who are personable yet not easily rattled. Teach them how to interact with the public and to answer any query.
  6. Allow people to break the rules: There are exceptions to everything. All your front office employees should understand the exceptions and have the autonomy to ignore procedures if it is necessary to accommodate a patron. Flexibility always lowers the number of complaints.
  7. Over inform: Be very clear about what you deliver to your customers, what they should know about the show and what you expect them to do. Tell them everything they need to know to come and enjoy the experience, then tell them again, as they will forget.
  8. Use a personal touch: your guests have to think of their experience with you as more than an anonymous retail exchange. Identify them by their name when they come to see you. Surprise them by communicating with them when they don't expect you to, just to find out how they're doing. For instance, you could greet every new subscriber with a welcome card placed on their seat for their first visit.
  9. Don’t operate blind: Listen to your customers and to your front office staff. It’s the best way to understand what need to be done to improve the audience experience. Develop a mechanism to capture the voice of customers, collect their complaints and track their satisfaction level. If you don’t measure it, you can’t change it.
  10. Follow up and through: Don’t let customers feedback fall into a black hole. Address their concerns, fix what they say is not working and let them know you fixed it.
  11. Be a customer yourself: go regularly through the process of buying and attending your own shows. It’s the best way to understand how customers experience your product.

Footnotes:
[1] Mark Stevens, Extreme Management, 2001; Emmett C. Murphy and Mark A. Murphy, Leading on the Edge of Chaos, 2003
[2] Ibid

Set the Right Price

Price is the exchange value of your product in the market place. There are three methods to determine the price of a product:
  1. The cost-based method consists in determining the unit cost of a product, and adding a markup to set the price. Simple enough, but it fails to connect the price with the perceived value of your product.
  2. The competition-based method consists in setting your price according to the competition’s. Also simple, but it lets others decide how much a consumer is willing to pay for your product.
  3. The consumer based method consists in setting your price according to what consumers are willing to pay for your product. The most accurate pricing method, but the most complicated.
Better pricing
“To improve a company's pricing capability, managers should begin by focusing on the process, not on the outcome. The first question to ask is not, ‘What should the price be?’ but rather, ‘Have we addressed all the considerations that will determine the correct price?’” writes Harvard Professor Robert J. Dolan[1], who suggests several steps to better pricing:
  1. Assess value consumers place on your product - Customer value is the difference between what a customer gets and what he/she pays.
    • What a customer gets (Total customer value): represents the total value of the entire product, incorporating services, personnel, and image values that a buyer receives form your offer.
    • What a customer pays (Total customer cost): the total cost of the monetary, time, energy, psychological, and sometimes physical costs or risks  associated with your offer, in which the customer invests by purchasing your product.
  2. Look for variations in the way consumers value your product
    Different customers may buy the same product for different reasons, and the same customer may buy the same product for different reasons at different times. For instance, some customers might be very committed to your show and would not miss it for the world, and other might see it as just another entertainment option, and will only come if you offer them an advantageous price.  You need to understand why people come to see your show, and define how these reasons influence their perception of value attached to your product.
  3. Assess consumer price sensitivity
    Will you sell more products if you lower your price? Maybe, but not necessarily. You need to understand the relationship between variation in price and subsequent variation in quantity demanded.
  4. Monitor prices at the transaction level
    The face value of a ticket might not mean much if the show is constantly discounted. You need to determine the actual price at which your consumers buy your product, taking into account all discounts rebates and other promotional offers.
  5. Identify an optimal pricing structure
    Using all the information gathered in steps above, you will be able to define a price scale based on customer evaluations of your different product features.  
[1] Robert J. Dolan – How Do You Know When the Price Is Right? Harvard Business Review Sep 1, 1995

 

Use the Internet as a Distribution Tool

Online distribution offers clear advantages over traditional, “brick and mortar” retail operations:

It is also more reliable: selling online allows for better and more detailed sales reporting and analysis, for increased information on the profitability of marketing initiatives and for tighter control.

An online distribution operation should be fully integrated and connected with the traditional, retail channels the organization might retain. That combination of online and traditional distribution if often referred as ‘click and mortar’ distribution.

Online distribution best fits cultural organizations whose mission is to host live audiences (theatres, symphonies, museums…) because tickets can be easily mailed or printed off the Web. The Internet has also proven to be a very effective means of distributing music, images and film, although fostering piracy for these products.

When it comes to selling non-digital products to consumers (for your organization this might be artwork, scripts or books, non-downloadable CDs, etc.), the big challenge of ‘last mile logistics’ arises. The last mile is the link between an online ordering process and physical product delivery. In contrast to store-based retailing, online shops have to organize product delivery to the consumers’ homes and not just to stores.

Of the importance of a good website
Having a good website is essential for developing online distribution. Yet many sites are substandard. They are not clear, and sometimes unreadable. Their navigation is counterintuitive and shows inconsistencies. They lack basic product, price and availability information. All this gets patrons frustrated and fed up, never to return. It is also a big waste of money. Developing a web site does not come cheap, and a bad one can damage the reputation of an organization. 

Here are some tips for effectively building and managing your website:

To Pro Bono or Not to Pro Bono your Website?