A woman owns a store called Bonfire Beach. It specializes in the latest styles in surf fashion and has a loyal customer base, consisting of 75% male and 25% female clients, mostly aged 16 to 21, who live within a six mile radius.
One day the store owner decides to expand her business. She does some research and learns the demographic group in her area that spends the most on clothing is professional women, ages 25 through 40.
She spends a lot of dough on fancy marketing materials and plans a splashy event, welcoming this demographic group to her store. The turnout isn’t as large as she hoped, but she’s determined to sell, sell, sell!
The 25 to 40-year-old women take a free mat tai and poke through the clothing for a while. Most don’t end up buying anything, and the store owner overhears a few customers comment that there isn’t anything they’d wear. A few women buy swimsuits, and one woman buys a pair of shorts for her 16-year-old son.
A few weeks pass. There are no new 25 to 40-year-old female customers. The women who bought swimsuits don’t return – they are busy professionals, so they only need one swimsuit. The woman who bought the shorts for her son comes back to return them. (Apparently, Bonfire Beach isn’t a trendy store for 16 year old boys anymore, now that all their marketing is aimed at 25 to 40-year-old women.)
The plan totally failed because, well, this is a transparently ridiculous story. No intelligent store owner would ever do any of this.
So why do we do it all the time in theatre? We know our core audience but we convince ourselves that the way to grow our audience is to reach new kinds of buyers. We neglect the fact that we haven’t tapped out our target buyer group yet. Theatre professionals spend a lot of time fretting that “only well-to-do individuals in their 60s and up buy tickets these days,” and our solution is to spend time and money marketing to “new audiences” so someone is there to replace these aging audiences. Never mind that theatre audiences have swayed older for decades and manage to replace themselves year after year with a new supply of older adults who are excited to finally have time to go to a show. Never mind that common sense tells us a retired 65-year-old couple, with no kids left to support and plenty of spare time, will clearly have a logistically easier time getting to a $65 per ticket show on a Tuesday night than a 35-year-old working couple with two young kids and a mortgage. We ignore the profile of our most likely buyer in favor of marketing to, you know, “the public, in general.”
What’s worse is that we sometimes even change our programming to appeal to a new crowd. We make artistic choices based not on the merit of a piece of theatre, but on a poorly designed marketing scheme that doesn’t even have a chance of attracting new audiences. We worry that unless we get new audiences, theatre will see its demise. And we respond to that worry by ensuring its demise by not even producing the shows that mean something to us, in favor of work chosen just because it might appeal to a group who doesn’t even seem interested in coming.
My wish for not-for-profit theatre is that it would concentrate on marketing to its built-in audience. If sales are not going well, focus on a clearly identified target buyer, just like for-profit companies in all industries do. There is no way theatre has tapped out that target market, at least not in Los Angeles. We should embrace those buyers, not make them feel like we'd rather have someone younger, hipper, and newer to theatre in that seat.
And certainly theatre companies should try to reach new audiences. We should be creative and find ways to attract and engage younger and more diverse crowds. We should figure out what within our art form speaks to us so deeply that we want to share it and preserve it and keep it thriving. And then we should bottle up that passion and figure out a way to spread it around to all sorts of new types of audience members. But we should call that outreach, not marketing.
Showing posts with label audience development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audience development. Show all posts
Monday, May 3, 2010
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative
Arts for LA, the California Community Foundation, and Center for Cultural Innovation presented Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative on Thursday, October 8, 2009 at the California African American Museum. The program featured Michael M. Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center and renowned authority on managing non-profit arts organizations, interviewed by Tim Dang, Artistic Director of East West Players. Below are my notes.
Michael Kaiser has a mantra for the key to a successful arts organization: “good art, well-marketed.”
He presented one of the art industry’s greatest inherent problems: unlike other industries, worker productivity in the arts does not improve over time. (To illustrate this point, consider that Hamlet still takes as many actors today as it did in Shakespeare’s time.) Earned income potential is also limited – we can only sell as many seats as the venue holds. So the gap between the cost of creating art and the earned income potential has no possibility of decreasing, and in fact it increases year after year as the costs of personnel, rent, and equipment rise.
For many years, arts organizations have increased ticket prices to solve this problem. But that has just led to the arts becoming so expensive that they’ve lost audience members. That’s why fundraising is a better way to close the cost-income gap.
But what’s the key to raising money for the arts? Michael Kaiser has a strong opinion on this—one that I agree with: the key to fundraising is offering exciting programming and marketing it well.
So, why are programming and marketing essential to fundraising? Why can’t we just write really, really impressive grant applications and expect them to be successful?
Because ultimately people contribute to any cause because of passion. Great programs, marketed well, make people passionate.
That’s why Kaiser sees cutting programs during bad economic times as dangerous. The less you have to offer, the less interest people will have in your organization, and that will lead to less contributed income.
The good news is that marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. Tools like Facebook are “not just for kids anymore,” and Internet marketing is now more effective than traditional paid newspaper advertising, for example.
An enthusiastic board is also essential, because if your board members truly stand behind your organization, they’ll be excited about spreading the word. So find out whether your board members have negative feelings towards any aspect of your organization. Who can blame a person for not wanting to ask their friends for support if they don’t think the last few productions were very strong, or if they have to worry about whether their personal friends will be thanked in a timely manner for a contribution? Deal with these important issues; make your board members confident.
Part of offering exciting and excellent programs is deciding what exactly your organization intends to achieve. It is worth noting arts education programs at this time: if your organization includes education as part of its mission, but cuts these programs during a recession, you are sending the message that these programs are not very important to you after all. Spend time thinking about your mission and make sure your programs truly serve all aspects of your mission.
At a later time, I will post notes on the rest of Mr. Kaiser’s discussion, including his insights on how arts organizations of color can improve their fundraising during the current economy, plus innovative ways to motivate your stakeholders to stand behind your programs.
Michael Kaiser has a mantra for the key to a successful arts organization: “good art, well-marketed.”
He presented one of the art industry’s greatest inherent problems: unlike other industries, worker productivity in the arts does not improve over time. (To illustrate this point, consider that Hamlet still takes as many actors today as it did in Shakespeare’s time.) Earned income potential is also limited – we can only sell as many seats as the venue holds. So the gap between the cost of creating art and the earned income potential has no possibility of decreasing, and in fact it increases year after year as the costs of personnel, rent, and equipment rise.
For many years, arts organizations have increased ticket prices to solve this problem. But that has just led to the arts becoming so expensive that they’ve lost audience members. That’s why fundraising is a better way to close the cost-income gap.
But what’s the key to raising money for the arts? Michael Kaiser has a strong opinion on this—one that I agree with: the key to fundraising is offering exciting programming and marketing it well.
So, why are programming and marketing essential to fundraising? Why can’t we just write really, really impressive grant applications and expect them to be successful?
Because ultimately people contribute to any cause because of passion. Great programs, marketed well, make people passionate.
That’s why Kaiser sees cutting programs during bad economic times as dangerous. The less you have to offer, the less interest people will have in your organization, and that will lead to less contributed income.
The good news is that marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. Tools like Facebook are “not just for kids anymore,” and Internet marketing is now more effective than traditional paid newspaper advertising, for example.
An enthusiastic board is also essential, because if your board members truly stand behind your organization, they’ll be excited about spreading the word. So find out whether your board members have negative feelings towards any aspect of your organization. Who can blame a person for not wanting to ask their friends for support if they don’t think the last few productions were very strong, or if they have to worry about whether their personal friends will be thanked in a timely manner for a contribution? Deal with these important issues; make your board members confident.
Part of offering exciting and excellent programs is deciding what exactly your organization intends to achieve. It is worth noting arts education programs at this time: if your organization includes education as part of its mission, but cuts these programs during a recession, you are sending the message that these programs are not very important to you after all. Spend time thinking about your mission and make sure your programs truly serve all aspects of your mission.
At a later time, I will post notes on the rest of Mr. Kaiser’s discussion, including his insights on how arts organizations of color can improve their fundraising during the current economy, plus innovative ways to motivate your stakeholders to stand behind your programs.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
How Twitter can help Non-profits
This morning I participated in Theatre Communications Group's enlightening Teleconference, "Twitter as Audience-Builder and Branding Tool." Tons of great advice on how Twitter can help you build a community for your organization. Here is a summary of what I found most valuable, with thanks to the conference’s presenter, Callie Kimball of Red Bull Theatre, @Calindrome.
The key message: Twitter can be a great tool to cultivate a community around your organization.
Q: Is Twitter just a fad, and does this affect whether we should use it?
Social media experts think platforms like Twitter represent a new way for people to connect to each other. Whether that stays as Twitter.com or evolves into something different, the technology itself is here to stay.
Q. Who uses Twitter, and why would my organization want to get to know them?
A main demographic of Twitter users is “informed global citizens,” in their 20s to 50s, who want to share information. They are often people who work in front of a computer and use Twitter like a coffee break. They are the people their family and friends turn to for information about what’s going on in the community. These are exactly the type of people you want to have in your organization’s community.
Q. What’s the most effective way to use Twitter as a marketing and community-building tool?
Treat Twitter like a cocktail party: pop in frequently and engage people with conversation. This means don’t just spit out facts like “Opening Night on Friday” or “Get half-price tickets now.” Mix those in with tidbits that are warm, friendly and make your followers feel like they are getting insider information. Insights from the inner-workings of your organization, especially if they are funny.
Your goal is to end up with a homepage that looks like a conversation, where you are tweeting messages that entice your followers to respond, and where you are tweeting back to them.
On that note, it’s really important to follow people, and not just have them follow you. An organization who follows nobody and spits out facts about dates, prices, etc. will appear cold, mechanic and boring. Follow others who share your organization’s interest, and send them responses that spark conversation amongst all your followers.
Q. Can Twitter help in Fundraising?
Sure, if you are creative. A tweet with a generic fundraising ask like “Support XYZ Drama Club” probably won’t be effective. But updates on how fundraising is going and how close you are to your goal can build momentum around your fundraising campaign.
A few other things:
• Create a personalized background.
• Consider in your bio stating who on staff is doing the tweets, or have staffers “sign” their tweets.
• One sign of a successful tweeter is someone whose homepage has a lot of @ signs, indicating conversation back and forth. A good way to attain this is add followers.
• Search your company name frequently. If people are tweeting about you, add them! And respond to them – “hey, thanks for coming to the show!” or “yeah, great suggestion” or whatever. (Especially respond to anyone who says something negative, by encouraging their feedback. Once they register that they are conversing with a real live person, they will be less inclined to be as negative!)
• Your theatre should follow all cast, crew, staff, and board members on twitter as well as audience members and thereby encourage them to communicate. This helps build a community around your theatre.
So that’s it in a nutshell…I’m on Twitter @CEBernardi. If you want to see some good examples of organizations using Twitter successfully, look at @SeattleRep and @GuthrieTheater.
And if you participated in the Teleconference or if you just have ideas or questions about how non-profits can use Twitter, please respond here in the comments section.
The key message: Twitter can be a great tool to cultivate a community around your organization.
Q: Is Twitter just a fad, and does this affect whether we should use it?
Social media experts think platforms like Twitter represent a new way for people to connect to each other. Whether that stays as Twitter.com or evolves into something different, the technology itself is here to stay.
Q. Who uses Twitter, and why would my organization want to get to know them?
A main demographic of Twitter users is “informed global citizens,” in their 20s to 50s, who want to share information. They are often people who work in front of a computer and use Twitter like a coffee break. They are the people their family and friends turn to for information about what’s going on in the community. These are exactly the type of people you want to have in your organization’s community.
Q. What’s the most effective way to use Twitter as a marketing and community-building tool?
Treat Twitter like a cocktail party: pop in frequently and engage people with conversation. This means don’t just spit out facts like “Opening Night on Friday” or “Get half-price tickets now.” Mix those in with tidbits that are warm, friendly and make your followers feel like they are getting insider information. Insights from the inner-workings of your organization, especially if they are funny.
Your goal is to end up with a homepage that looks like a conversation, where you are tweeting messages that entice your followers to respond, and where you are tweeting back to them.
On that note, it’s really important to follow people, and not just have them follow you. An organization who follows nobody and spits out facts about dates, prices, etc. will appear cold, mechanic and boring. Follow others who share your organization’s interest, and send them responses that spark conversation amongst all your followers.
Q. Can Twitter help in Fundraising?
Sure, if you are creative. A tweet with a generic fundraising ask like “Support XYZ Drama Club” probably won’t be effective. But updates on how fundraising is going and how close you are to your goal can build momentum around your fundraising campaign.
A few other things:
• Create a personalized background.
• Consider in your bio stating who on staff is doing the tweets, or have staffers “sign” their tweets.
• One sign of a successful tweeter is someone whose homepage has a lot of @ signs, indicating conversation back and forth. A good way to attain this is add followers.
• Search your company name frequently. If people are tweeting about you, add them! And respond to them – “hey, thanks for coming to the show!” or “yeah, great suggestion” or whatever. (Especially respond to anyone who says something negative, by encouraging their feedback. Once they register that they are conversing with a real live person, they will be less inclined to be as negative!)
• Your theatre should follow all cast, crew, staff, and board members on twitter as well as audience members and thereby encourage them to communicate. This helps build a community around your theatre.
So that’s it in a nutshell…I’m on Twitter @CEBernardi. If you want to see some good examples of organizations using Twitter successfully, look at @SeattleRep and @GuthrieTheater.
And if you participated in the Teleconference or if you just have ideas or questions about how non-profits can use Twitter, please respond here in the comments section.
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