smARTstart

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• Keep site updated: Outdated information will discourage the audience.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