Research we Need (in Marketing the Arts)

Its time to notch up the science behind marketing the arts. Are your brochures tuned to elicit real responsiveness? Is your web site similarly tuned? Your post cards? Your promotional flashes in any form? Have you used consumer research to maximize your promotions?

I’m constantly surprised by inadequate visuals and graphic elements that are used to sell the world’s most visual and emotional of all products – the arts. My guess is that a lot of the poor field-wide promotions are due to: 1) A reliance on in-kind design or a utilization of lay graphics teams; 2) A lack of belief in marketing as a science, and as such, a portfolio of proven approaches that WILL make a difference if correctly used.

I’m happily posting a link here (see below) to the expert writing of Jean-Pierre Lacroix, President and Founder of Shikatani Lacroix and author of (among other booiks) The Blink Factor (1990), a book that has been on the “favorites” portion of my book shelf since it was published.

In his recent white paper on promotional packaging, Lacroix shares some critical elements of consumer responsiveness that will benefit any arts promotion. For example, he writes that “while consumers typically read from left to right, top to bottom, the research indicates that words are recalled better if they are perceived from the righthand side of the individual, or in the case of packaging, the right side of the face panel. Pictorial or non-verbal cues are more successful if coming from the left-hand side. Brain laterality will only affect material on the outer sides of the pack. There is no evidence of laterality for centralizing elements of packaging.

“In addition, based on other packaging studies, 40% of all communication consumers absorb is visually
oriented, and 80% is driven by the use of color and shape. These insights support the need for
promotional packaging flashes that complement consumers’ absorbtion of information, leveraging how
information is viewed and retained.

“For some packs’ copy, such as brand name or flavor description, it is important to enhance recall and
research suggests that these elements should be placed centrally or on the right-hand side of the pack.
Pack flashes function as pictorial devices despite containing verbal elements, and therefore should be
positioned on the left hand side. Nearly twice as many respondents who saw a promotional flash on the left-hand side of the pack were able to correctly recall the promotion. In addition to its visual effects, packaging also communicates its shape, size, weight, and texture through its tactility.”

Go read the balance of his white paper. Sure, he is writing about cereal packages and how we as consumers make choices as we move through grocery stores. But our field needs this level of detailed examination concerning consumer responsiveness to all sales and promotional materials.

And, by the way, think of testing your promotional materials even when you adhere to the level of science Lacroix describes. When was the last time you used a focus group or consumer panel to evaluate prospective responsiveness to your marketing and promotional materials? Can you be sure you have created materials that enhance recall, that ensure positive response, and that keep yoru targets from wandering somewhere (some other art/entertainment) else?

How many thousands of dollars are you betting on your next season? Can you risk all that expense, and all that revenue to anything less than research-based marketing?

http://www.sldesignlounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/PromoPackaging.pdf

Invest in Arts Marketing: Its Your Future

Let’s say this clearly: it has never been harder to create, build, and maintain an arts audience. There has never been more attrition, lower retention, more ways needed to connect, more prospecting needed, to more numbers, to derive small incremental gains. Toss out yesterday’s level of investment. Take it up x 4. Or x 10.

There are more and more reasons not to attend, to walk through the doors, to sit and interact with the art on stage or with the art on the wall. The economy and lack of discretionary dollars, fragmentation in our lives and interests, inertia, lack of social connectedness with others in the audience or on stage, lack of time, lack of intellectual curiosity, lack of winningness to invest in the metal state of emotional and intellectual response and reflection that art demands of us. And, not to forget Shanon from Arizona’s comment in response to my last blog – the complete and utter self absorption that comes with endlessly customizing earphones/text/screen handheld/Twitter/Facebook to reinforce self rather than encounter with minds open to exploring the different and other that is art. She’s talking this problem v/v high schoolers, but it increasingly pervades all generations. It may be that new media’s foundational concept of 24/7 self-absoption is the greatest challenge that arts participation warriers have ever faced.

I think of the monster challenge, then, that is what arts marketing now faces every day, and the level of investment that HAS to be made to find, prospect, emotionally connect to and then retain audiences.

A couple of weeks ago, I concluded a year-long consultancy with a fine Canadian theatre company, during which we created marketing systems, tested them through fire, and evaluated what should last. They did significantly increase their audience count, but didn’t reach their revenue goals because it cost more than planned, and they needed more discounting tactics to get people in and back in the door than they planned. It left the board and staff collectively saying “it was so hard, so expensive, took so much time….was it worth it? Is this our future? Are you SURE there is no other way than a lifetime commitment to marketing at this level?”

Yes, yes, and yes. It will cost more, require more prospecting with lower returns, take more back office time, and be ever more strategic – requiring more and more organizational skill. It will be less fad, more investment. It will grow from detailed ROI projections, detailed Lifetime Value calculations. It will be more investment in the pipeline – constantly ensuring a stream of newcomers to enter the door, and then winning them back. It will be much more releationship marketing to build that return. It will take nothing for chance.

Today, we are marketing to the cultural market of one. It takes a lot of investment to find and connect to that “one,” to keep and nurture that “one,” so as to eventually realize the continued support of that “one.” Today there are hundreds of niche arts and cultural audiences and interests: no single “arts-interested potential audience.” Realizing this, and aligning your organization’s investment accordingly, will position you to gain the one-by-one audience growth that is the arts future.

Ignoring it is…denial.

Arts Marketing for Success 2009. Part 1.

There are three things that can happen to an arts organization (or any nonprofit) during a recession.
1) You can close your doors and basically go dormant. 2) You can scrape by, maybe in worse shape, but making it. 3) Or you can thrive.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it – THRIVE. Yet it is happening. People are lined up in the rain outside the Chicago Arts Institute for the Edvard Munch show. Movies are selling out hours before show time. Symphony concerts, popular artists, lecture series – shows in venues coast to coast are selling all tickets. People are responding to arts and culture.

How can you ensure this kind of good news? Follow these rules and tips as a start, and come back next week for more in the tool kit.

ArtsMarket’s Rules to Live By

1. Plan to thrive. That’s right. Plan for success. Even now.
2. Budget to thrive. Invest resources where you can see results.
3. Program to thrive. Do what will stand out, be noticed, and program what will “demand” an audience.
4. Market to thrive. Create a compelling story. Share it. Prospect. Link.
5. Brand to thrive and image to thrive.
6. Govern and lead to thrive. This is exactly not the time for fear. Careful stewardship, for sure. But thinking for long term success now will let you open the box of your thinking (see my logo, above), explore new opportunities, edit back that which will go nowhere, and focus on the goal.

Over the next few weeks, I will be translating these into tools for the month. We’ll start with marketing, because April is the start of prospecting season for most performing arts organizations. It is when major budget allocation decisions are being made for next year’s marketing budget. Next month, we’ll focus on governing and leading to thrive, so you can move forward with those plans in May in June.

Using the ArtsMarket Rules to Live By in Your Next Season Marketing.

Your marketing effort for next year isn’t going to work if it is only about survival. You have a brilliant chance, right now, to emerge from the shadows and be the answer to consumer needs and wants for great art, great entertainment, great food for the soul. THINK AT 40,000 Feet. Plan for increased participation, and increased revenue. I challenge you to NOT set low expectations.

When you plan and budget to thrive, there are 10 things not to do in the current economy. Address each of these, and you will succeed.

1. DO NOT cut direct marketing. There is so much less clutter out there right now that every piece of mail is noticed, and if written write, provokes a response.

2.DO NOT stop prospecting. Everything is about prospecting. Remember that the #1 rule of business is to get a new customer who WILL COME BACK. So first you get them in the door, then you provide a great experience, and they return. You must prospect. People who don’t keep your organization top of mind are probably – like all of us – a little too numb to pay attention to what play is on stage where next Saturday night. Remember, your house list faces bigger churn in a recession so you constantly need to find newcomers.

3. DO NOT stop PR. There are more PR opportunities out there now than ever, more keyed to age groups than ever. For your networking savvy folks, you have the cocktail party atmosphere of Twitter where you can drop a hint, ask a provoking question, start a dialogue. You’ve got the Starbucksian atmosphere of Facebook, and the ever so professional conference of Linked In groups. You can Flicker, YouTube (and I challenge anyone to take on Carnegie Hall to an even higher level of community building), and so much more. At the snail level, there is a plethora of new micro newspapers emerging with the demise and cuts of metro dailies – ever so accessible. The web sites of existing media, the newsletters and the links….we’ve never seen such ability to use so many PR channels. And let’s not forget the real essence of PR – doing good for the community. Any time you can get out there to help others, right now, you WILL be seen. A number of you have read my blog and Twitter notes on the organization that has been giving tickets to the local food bank so that families can attend performances. The tickets are on the shelf next to the canned soup, and anyone can take them. No one in the audience knows who used those particular tickets.

4.DO NOT sell extravagance. This isn’t the time to market to the luxury-for-me crowd. But it is time to market wonderful experiences that create lasting memories you can enjoy and replay in your mind for months to come.

5. DO NOT cut your back office investment in database excellence. If the fire alarm goes off what is the most important investment you must save that probably isn’t covered by insurance. You got it: your database. And it isn’t just the data, it is how the data is organized and how much it allows you to customize the offers you make. Well structured data lets you personalize your prospecting.

6. DO NOT think that e-marketing, alone, will save you. It will save you a lot, but every arts audience out there has a sizable proportion of older individuals who will not follow you via email and an equal portion of all ages that has opted out of the e-marketing grid for financial or philosophical reasons. They want to see if you care enough about them to get your info to them. Do you?

7.Do not disappear between events. This is particularly important for organizations that have only a few major events a year but are there all year. I know many museums in this boat – especially as special exhibitions have decreased. Find ways to be visible every week, and to create curiosity so that people have to follow what you are doing and thinking. It might be your blog. Or it might be that you start offering salsa classes in the galleries on Friday evenings.

8. DO NOT stop leading. Your organization signals hope, confidence, and meaning to your community. Be out there living the message. Help other organizations. Facilitate civic plans. Be visible, and be confident.

9. DO NOT cut advertising. Okay, you very well might cut advertising dollars, but you’ll do better if you rearrange your advertising dollars. To all of you who have cut back your major entertainment page spending: with so many fewer competing ads, yours will be more visible. To those of you who have wondered where to advertise: you have terrific options now between on-line news media (banner ads), civic calendar/ticketing sites, local cable (incredible deals), and even traditional media. It is turning into a buyer’s market, so take advantage of your opportunities.

10. DO NOT stop saying thank you. In fact, thank your audience and attendees more than you ever have in the past.

I want to come back to point 4, and really every other point about image, atmosphere, communications… I read a recent analysis of Allstate Insurance’s most recent round of TV ads. They are a brand and image marketing giant –i.e. “Like a Good Neighbor We’ll Be There”, “You’re in Good Hands,” etc… Do you remember this winter’s NFL ads, using the Frank Sinatra/Nancy Sinatra “Feeling Kind of Sunday..” tune? It would be hard to find something that did a better job, this difficult year, of creating a happy kind of glow…that tune and sensibility sticking with you until you felt hey, it was Sunday, and time to kick back….so you might as well be there with Allstate…

I challenge you to come up with your own “Feeling Kind of Sunday” imaging for upcoming season. Feeling kind of museum…feeling kind of theatre… Send your ideas and you may see them on the next tips and tools!

And, last but not least, I want to come back to prospecting. What you don’t want to do now is waste money. But you do want to get a call for action/great offer out there to people who will respond. We regularly put together prospect mailing lists like this to target people who wouldn’t be likely to know about a performing arts series through the web. It can be a real challenge, but we see how incredibly well it works. When your returns zoom up there, this is the kind of prospecting to use. For example:

These criteria for everyone on the prospect list (Sample criteria for a given geographic area)

Over 60 (figuring this is still the age group less likely to contain high level web searchers)
Self identified interest in performing arts
Self identified interest in gourmet food
Self identified interest in reading books
Take music/arts classes
Responsive to mail offers

It works.
Remember, PLAN TO THRIVE.

A new way of looking at market segments

Grab a copy of this month’s Harvard Business Review. The lead article, How to Market in a Downturn
by John A. Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz, both at Harvard Business School, takes a look at consumer behavior in downturns since the 1970s. And as they point out, consumers never totally stop buying. They become more careful, more selective. But they still consume. They still come to the arts, but they consider their choices carefully.

And, in a recession, market segmentation takes on a whole new meaning. Quelch and Jocz have taken all the demographic and lifestyle clusters that exist out there and condensed them down into four segments:

The Slam on the Breaks segment. This group includes the hard hit, the unemployed – everyone whose world is upside down.
The Pained by Patient segment. The authors call this the largest consumer group in the US right now. Economizing, cutting back, but still doing and going. Carefully investing in whatever they purchase. Probably really looking for bargains.
The Comfortably Well Off cohort. Sure, this includes the upper 5%. But more importantly for the arts, this includes the carefully invested retirees who continue to have the resources to go to the arts.
The Live for Today group. Hey, they never had any savings anyway, so why change?

The authors point out that all four groups spend. Each spends on essentials that “are necessary for survival or perceived as central to well being.” For many, arts, cultural activity, and a way of weaving joy into life is central to well being. That’s a powerful offering that the arts have always had, and it is the message that people will best respond to right now. Anything that is an ‘indulgence’ is probably not going to be purchased right now. Anything that is the same old-same old can be put off for another season. Anything that is unjustifyable – an over the top ticket price, for example – may be looked at as expendable.

The authors point out that all four segments will be responsive to strong brands and good loyalty marketing, so that marketing can be extremely important right now. As they note, companies with excellent brands, like Johnson & Johnson, maintain high stock values through recessions based on continued brand-responsive consumer purchases. So, if arts-lovers can only spend on one event, or on one organization – make sure its yours they trust to offer them outstanding art experience.

Be sure your organization has the resources to market your best strengths. The authors recommend dropping programs/products that just can’t make it no matter what in favor of putting more resources into your core that will attract the most loyalty and new attenders. Focus on strength.

I also think there is great power in responding to the absolute need of the Slam on the Breaks folks. Put any resources you can into opening doors for those who can’t afford art any more. Last week, I was in Canada working with a group that noted the power of offering blocks of tickets at the local food bank. No one needs to know who gets the tickets there, or how large a share of the audience comes through that door.

Take the big picture view…

What’s the number one issue you need to overcome? Retreating due to fear.

The best nonprofits are those that take the long view. That see the world – their art, culture, audience, funders, and future – at the 40,000 foot level. They see where they want to go, and they know that if they keep focused, they will reach their destination. It might mean a little slowing in the pace, but it doesn’t mean giving up.

Andiences and funders will come back, and in fact are coming back already. For audiences, demand is on the increase after months of negativity. For funders, donors, and folks whose discretionary income rises and falls with their portfolio – last month was the best stock market month since August. It still will be hard, but there are some spring flowers blooming out there.

What should you be doing? This is the season for renewals – in memberships, audience subscriptions, and looking ahead to a new year. Do not pull back on your renewal and new efforts. Plenty of people who dropped off your database last fall are ready to – need to – reconnect to art.

Good News on the Horizon: Research from other sectors

A big part of what I do is bring trend information to the table for clients. I look beyond the arts to other sectors that can guide us. Today’s good news comes from Commercial Property News, a publication I regularly comb for trends regarding cultural center development, arts facilities in mixed use development, and even the trends witnessed by retailers who are the prime tenants in commercial properties.

This week’s issue focuses on a new study by RREEF Research, which is a highly regarded property research company, in this case through a study they did for Deutche Bank, on trends in US commercial real estate.

1. They see that the decline in sales of commercial properties will halt by mid summer, and that we will start seeing upturn by the last quarter this year.

2. Vacancies will decline by the start of 2010.

3. Neighborhood and community centers will be the first to start doing better.

What does this mean for our field?

1. Be ready. Those projects that you may think won’t be forthcoming may be just timed right for investment. Construction costs are lower by far than they were, and good deals can be found. Timing is great.

2. If yours is a community center mixed use venture, you should be working now to line things up. Developers will be ready to move by the last quarter of this year.

There’s one other interesting finding here. CPN reports that the “luxury goods” retailers will be among the first to see the uptick by the end of this year. I look at that and think that your subscription ticket sales next fall may be better than we could anticipate right now. A week ago, when I read that the Chicago Art Institute was increasing its admission prices to $18 come May, I thought it was not such good timing. But they seem to be right in line with this report of pent up demand meshed with a bit more expendible money. All in all, a good read of tea leaves that gives new energy to us all as we look to next season! Let’s banish fear, and get to work.

Caught in the Middle: Presenters and the 2010 season

“50 is the new 40″ in the booking world of the performing arts. And we’re not talking age. From the looks of artist fees, you’d never know there was even the hint of recession, much less an economic downturn. You want a name artist who can sell out the house? Plan on spending ten grand more this year than last.

But don’t plan on charging your customers for the difference.

Be prepared to market more, charge the same or less, and – yes, program less. Offer more moderately priced easy family fare to offset those big ticket events. Subsidize your series more than ever before.

Unless, of course, the field as a whole rose up and said “NO!!!” to the inflationary fees artists and entertainers are charging – fees with no relationship to reality. As long as everyone pays, though, expect business as usual, only more expensive. Hmmm. Will we ever see “30 is the new 40?”

The You Tube Orchestra

This could get old too fast if too many organizations sieze upon the idea…but when we are talking about new delivery mechanisms, new ways of involving people, new ways of building a world wide community of the arts…. WOW. How to get to Carnegie Hall. YouTube style…

http://www.youtube.com/symphony

New Opportunities, Agile Organizations…

So many layoffs, so much strife. What’s our industry to do? We’re going through real change, and only part of it has to do with the economy. Changed consumer patterns are just as big. We have to run just to stay in place. So grab your running shoes! We may live in scary times, but they sure are interesting.

As a member of a focus group I led last week in Trenton, NJ quipped, “Email is so 2008. Mobile text is so 2009.” Yes, if you are still worrying about email lists, maybe your should think about leapfrogging right to texting. All you need is cell phone numbers. Days Inn has been testing text messages. They ask guests upon arrival if they’d be willing to leave their cell numbers to get valuable text messages. They have found consistently, nationwide, that 29% of guests will do this. In exchange, guests get texts with bonus offers like reduced price coupons for breakfast or the like. One Days Inn in Boston reported literally standing room only at their restaurant for breakfast in return. Hmmm…text with coupons for the next event? Text your museum visitors for $3 off lunch at your restaurant…

This is the kind of rapid response to new technology we all can use. How else can we be rapid and agile? How can we respond to what could be crisis and turn it into new opportunity?

Never Waste a Crisis, and Always be Thankful

I enjoyed reading Saj-nicole A. Joni’s Third Opinion on Forbes.com yesterday, detailing how businesses should approach the turbulent times in which we find ourselves. She aptly quotes Rahm Emanuel’s quip, “never waste a crisis.” We in the cultural field should take heed. This is a time for examination, change, refocus and relignment.

Saj-nicole summaries four steps for businesses, which I’ve briefly applied to the cultural nonprofit field:

1) Figure out how to survive.

Change. Cut. Add. Reprice. Restructure. Do what it takes to stay viable.

2) Figure out what you can do now that you couldn’t do before.

A cut in next year’s calendar of events may give you the much needed time to build the back office infrastructure you need to eventually support new growth.

3) Listen for market transitions.

Take the time now to listen and learn, and tool up for the future.

3) No whining.

Our field, like every other, will change. There will almost certainly be less product being presented as we right size. There will be new consolidations and operational models that lower operating costs. Marketing the arts and culture will continue to rapidly evolve. We need to be stimulated by the changes ahead, and ready to grab the opportunities.

That leads to my last point:

4) Be thankful.

As we reflect on the bounty and the challenges, past and present, we have so much to be grateful for as a field, and as a people who are enriched by art and culture. We live in a country that created as its First Ammendment to the Constitution the Right to Free Speech that has granted us the precious right of expression central to art making and sharing. We live in a country with a bountiful and diverse cultural landscape. We live surrounded by art and the work of artists who challenge us every day. We have witnessed enormous growth in our nonprofit and civic arts and cultural institutions over the past thirty years. We work within a wonderful community of people who believe in the value of arts, culture, and creative expression as fundamental to a healthy society. We are challenged, daily, with new opportunities to connect this work to a broader public.

Tomorrow, let’s pause to reflect. Friday, let’s roll up our sleeves, and meet new challenges.