I. “One Size Fits None” is a loser:
The right question isn’t “are the arts/entertainment/sports dying?” The right question is, “Are you relevant?”
One Big Thing: Focus on your customer.
The sad reality is that too many arts organizations, sports teams, concert venues, start with the point of view of “what works for me?”
As I was listening to the replay of our conversation, it got me thinking about some bullet points for improving the marketing of arts/culture:
- Research is as simple as going to Google and inserting your hypothesis to see if someone has done any research on the topic.
- Know your numbers: If you have 60-70% of a “segment” that’s saturation and you need to target a different segment if you want to grow or expand your audience.
- Stop throwing money at PR, Facebook ads, or anything until you know what success looks like. A lot of these solutions are built on “the way things have always been done” and not what is going to work now. Your potential customers might not be there.
- “Lookalike” audiences are often BS. Alternatives matter. New customers buy differently than regular buyers.
- Pricing is a terrible driver of demand. Okay, it doesn’t drive demand at all. Using price based promotions tells the market, “I don’t believe in the value of my product.”
- Stop “navel gazing”. What you find valuable doesn’t matter. You aren’t the one spending your money to come to your show.
I put some more thoughts on my blog.