Ideas

You probably have firsthand knowledge of the power of social media advertising tools to engage your audiences and sell tickets. Lately, we’ve been exploring cost-effective ways to harness these same digital tools to support the mission-centric programs that are important to all of the organizations we work with (and we’re guessing yours, too!)

Read on to learn how we did this with Anchorage Concert Association (Anchorage Concerts) and how you, too, can cultivate audiences and awareness for outreach activities and public performances through the Facebook tools you already may be using. With a solid targeting strategy as a foundation and engaging creative as your framework, you’ll see measurable results as your programs grow.

Central to the value of Facebook users and advertisers alike is its purpose of connecting people all over the world. Facebook has over two billion active users, and half speak a language that isn’t English. Additionally, a majority of Facebook Pages promote to multilingual audiences.

Carnegie Hall saw a crucial opportunity to reach multilingual audiences in New York City with their world-renowned programming. We worked with them to promote foreign language posts throughout various campaigns, which helped them bring new patrons into their universe, connect with communities in their languages, and as a bonus, drive strong return on investments (ROIs)!

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.

There’s quite a bit of nerdery happening in the blog post. If you’re new to the conference, you’ll want to read the whole thing. If you’re a vet, you may want to skip toward the end of the post. I hope you find some of my ideas helpful.

If you’ve never been to Digital Marketing Boot Camp for the Arts, let me just say this: you will find your people.

I’m the Director of Marketing, Sales, and Communications at BalletMet, and this will be my fifth year attending, and my first year presenting! Every year, I always find someone new to connect and nerd out with. Want to talk AI? Go for it. Want to chat about strategy for building new audiences? Yes, please! Want to give me a ridiculous amount of amazing information that I can use to do my job better, cheaper and more efficiently? Glory to the marketing geeks and gods.

It has never been easy to run an arts organization. Since our dreams are always larger than our budgets, arts organizations almost always grow to the point where it is uncomfortable. I have never met an arts leader who believes they have enough resources to meet their needs.

We have always fretted about box office revenue and fundraising success. We have always looked to attract new audiences and donors. We have always prayed that an angel donor would fall in love with our work and allow us to make a quantum leap in artistic ambition and budget.

As arts marketers, we invest a lot of time learning the tools of the trade and staying up to speed on the ever-changing technological landscape. But what if one of the ways we can enhance our performance at work is by doing something for ourselves? Namely, getting our financial house in order.

Just like eating a balanced diet, exercising and getting enough sleep, maintaining healthy financial habits is fundamental to achieving and sustaining career success. One reason for this is that financial stress has a direct impact on productivity, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Not surprisingly, about 70% of Americans say that financial stress is their most common source of stress.

Instagram’s strength as a photo and video sharing platform makes it a natural social media fit for visual art museums looking to engage audiences with their collections, exhibitions, and events. Our partnership with the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) has demonstrated how seamlessly Instagram can be integrated into a comprehensive and highly-tailored marketing approach with Facebook and other digital channels.

Podcasts are a powerful way to connect with your patrons and attract new ones. Like arts buyers, the podcast-listening audience is intellectually curious and active. With 90 million people listening podcasts monthly, the landscape is ripe for more arts institutions to offer podcasts. But is it right for your organization?

Arts administrators from Seattle Opera, The Joyce Theater, and The Rubin Museum of Art answer frequently asked questions about launching a podcast including branding and artwork inspiration, equipment recommendations, and how their podcast ideas came to fruition.

Your website is one of the first impressions your organization makes. It’s the place where most tickets are sold, it’s a goldmine for user behavior analytics, and it’s a place to share information and build your brand’s voice. Your website is a fundamental piece of a marketing funnel, whether or not a patron buys online.

The work of my team at Tessitura is based on one simple philosophy: revenue follows engagement. This means that deepening a customer’s engagement with your organization leads to more ticket sales, more donations, and more renewed memberships and subscriptions.

What does this mean for your website?

When you’re tasked with creating videos for a non-profit organization, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and start playing the comparison game.

"Opera companies have such beautiful sets to capture!"
"Orchestras have it so easy, they already have the music!"
"Dance companies have bigger budgets!"