Ideas

Spring might be over a month away, but it’s the perfect time to start planning for a bountiful season of new, engaged patrons. We hope we reignited your passion for gathering new leads in our blog post about the success Emerson Colonial Theatre has had with their lead generation campaigns on Facebook.

In this follow-up post, we’re here to round out your repertoire of ways to gain permission to talk to patrons via email and then dive into how to make sure you set up great communication with those patrons from the get-go...and avoid losing their permission via the dreaded unsubscribe.

It’s a fresh, new year and with it comes the opportunity to think about new leads. When it comes to permission marketing, gaining an email address from a patron is the ultimate invitation—they’ve given you permission to have a regular conversation with them about the things they care about. It’s vital to nurture those patron relationships through tailored, vibrant communications. And it’s also important to continue to infuse your database with new leads to grow your patron base and weather the ebb and flow of database churn.

The holiday season is in full swing, and amidst the swirl of wrapping paper and ribbon, holiday baking and travels, your patrons are bravely facing down email inboxes chock-full of promotions. We’re here to help make sure your organization’s messages stand out like a bright red mailbox above a blanket of snow.

Read on for some content tips and creative inspiration that will keep your patrons merry and bright, and keep you on track to arrive at your holiday parties on time.

As we approach the end of the decade, I have to pinch myself when I chat with venues around the world. 

Somehow, after nearly 50 years, email marketing is still the belle of the ball when it comes to conversion and engagement with ticket buyers and fans. It’s amazing to consider that with all the exciting new channels available to consumers, the modest email marketing campaign is still the one that gets us clicking. 

Will I be publishing the same article in 2029? Hard to say, but for 2019, the success of your venue and your career hinge on you making the most of this quirky channel. Here are five data points successful arts organizations should use to measure their email programs.

It’s no secret that email is still an important channel for arts marketers. 87% of arts buyers regularly hear about upcoming performances through email, and email continues to deliver the highest return on investment (ROI) for marketers across all industries.

Even with these stats in mind, it’s easy to feel like you’re stuck in a cycle. You might get in the habit of only sending emails when a performance or exhibition goes on sale. Or, you’re looking for a solution that will help you automate email processes to get valuable time back in your day.

We’ve outlined several different ways to help you get out of a rut and level up. These are achievable steps that will set your organization apart from the oversaturated inbox crowd.

Our clients often ask how they compare to other cultural organizations. While we’re happy to point them towards the most recent Arts Industry Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, the best path is to benchmark against themselves. This is particularly true for email because email type and the size of the list both impact metrics and results.

The word “segmentation” can bring to mind images of infinitesimal details and complex analysis. In other words, plans that digital marketers of the artistic world might be salivating to try but blocked to implement by time, resources and reality. Luckily, new research suggests that relatively straightforward strategies are still valuable for arts organizations trying to boost their return on investment (ROI) on email.

Exploring trends in organizational health at the intersection of arts administration and technology, the 2019 Spektrix Insights Report analyzed a cohort of about 350 performing arts organizations from the software provider’s client base. The report shows segmented emails outperform open rates on unsegmented emails by 56%. In this case, “segmented” means sent to 10% or less of an organization’s opted-in audience base.

In a battle for inbox relevance, only anticipated, personal, and relevant emails will survive.

As arts marketers, we’re always looking for new and exciting ways to grow our audiences. We want to invite them into our inner circle, and make them feel like they’re part of a growing cultural community.

One of the most valuable assets we can gain from a new patron is their email address. They’ve given us permission to talk to them on a regular basis, and we shouldn’t take that for granted.

Ask the Industry features advice from arts marketers in their own words. We hope it will spark new ideas for your organization.

This month, we’re asking, “How can marketing and development departments successfully collaborate?” Gabriella Napoli and Rio Vander Stahl (Carnegie Hall), Christopher Hoodlet and Colette Randall (ICA/Boston) Belinda Bale and John Hart (The National Ballet of Canada) answer everything from what elements make their interdepartmental relationships successful to how they segment messaging and create compelling content for both ticket buyers and donors/members.