Ideas

In the beginning there was a new website or a redesign… and people were impressed. Compliments were passed. Beer was shared. The website was built according to plan—populated with snappy content and interesting images—and it finally launched with a sigh of relief. Months passed and people were (still) impressed. But analytic data started to tell a different story. 

Video content is critical to your digital marketing strategy. I frequently say —"Cut a Print Ad. Create a Video." 

Language can change someone's entire perspective in an instant. It can pique interest, spark passion, and inspire thought. I've realized what a gift it is to both love words and have the opportunity to directly engage with people immediately.

As arts marketers, we have a unique opportunity to be the voice of art. Someone has already taken the time to craft the basis for nearly everything we have to say. There are certainly several reasons that I work in the arts—one of the most important reasons is I'm passionate about the art form I market - jazz.

I love attending digital marketing conferences and professional development workshops. The conversations with peers and masters of the digital trade never fail to inspire me. Between multiple hits of caffeine and favoriting hilarious conference Tweets, my head fills with big ideas...video trailers...user-generated content...audience engagement.  I leave inspired to do more, create more and build the gosh-darn best, most creative AND profitable digital marketing campaigns the arts world has ever seen.

Monday might be a different story.

Last week I took my first SoulCycle class. I was curious (and late to the game) to discover what all the hype was about.

There are hundreds of ways data can help you engage audiences more effectively, but segmentation is one of the simplest and most powerful techniques for improving arts marketing outcomes.

You wake up with a sense of purpose. This is the year you’re going to shake up your marketing strategy. Years of the same old playbook have and landed you in plateau-land when it comes to lead generation. Things haven’t been bad...they’ve just been “meh.”

Digital marketing efforts enable patrons to discover our programming and allow us, as marketers, to learn more about them through data collection and CRM management. But what do we do when these audiences have entered our physical spaces? Why do we not capitalize on the opportunity to engage with them when they are physically in our buildings?

I just saw the results from the first day of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's on-sale for their five week holiday season in NYC. The results were excellent—18% ahead of last year's first day of on-sale.

Gone are the days of wondering if your organization needs either a mobile optimized website or a mobile app.

We have all cast our vote through our smartphone usage and the data shows that we interact with mobile web and mobile applications in different ways. Depending on your business, you may need one or both.