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Built For a Different World: The Arts Business Model Problem
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What does Spirit Airlines have to do with arts marketing?
Make it easier for your target audiences to make a purchasing decision by clearly framing the tradeoffs.
Does your video marketing ignore the reality of your target audiences?
Think about the last orchestra/opera/ballet commercial you watched, whether on TV or social media. Was there anything familiar or relevant for the Outsiders in that video?
Revlon sells hope. What does your cultural organization sell?
The founder of Revlon once said, "In the factory, we make cosmetics. In the drugstore, we sell hope." It’s a framework that’s key to relevant, empathetic marketing.
A soccer mom walks into a lumber yard: Developing empathy for your outsiders
Consumers simply don’t seek out experiences that cause stress, effort, or uncertainty. Which means that your Outsiders won’t be convinced to partake of your offerings—unless you deliberately shape the whole experience from marketing to ticket purchase to the event itself to be more familiar, more comfortable for them.
Do you REALLY know what your cultural audiences need? A deep dive and how-to guide.
Whether the your target audiences ultimately choose your arts event depends on how well you understand and respond to their needs, their emotional context, and their social circumstance.
Want to grow your audiences? Embrace the haters.
In the cultural sector, as we work to grow our audiences, are we trying to "shore up" the areas that don't need it, meanwhile ignoring the areas that do?
Lose the cookie cutters: A mission statement manifesto for cultural organizations
In Conductor as CEO, Tiffany Chang shares a fascinating analysis of the mission statements for 71 orchestras across the U.S. In a crowded market where ticket sales have declined by 50% over the past two decades, her insights provide some real motivation to step away from the standard formula and create something unique.
Apollinaire Theatre Company’s Romeo and Juliet: A study in community-growing, audience-building art
This is not your mother’s Romeo and Juliet. Let me count the ways.
Everybody hates marketing. But everyone loves a good story.
Traditional marketing is no longer serving today’s consumer.
Why digital content can never replace live performance
If we continue to provide digital programming, will it hasten the death knell for live performance?
How will cultural organizations survive the next big disruption? Neuroscience and Amazon have the answer.
These are daunting times for the cultural sector. What’s the right way forward for the industry?
Can arts organizations survive the longest-running disruption in history? Opera Australia has cracked the code
Opera Australia increased their sales revenue 28% in eight years and became the only major, year-round opera company whose ticket sales provide more than 50% of its income. How’d they do it?
Arts orgs have long relied on demographic and transactional data to segment their audiences—age, income, ticket history, and zip code serving as proxies for interest and intent. But these traditional models have lost their predictive power.