Ideas

Google recently announced new rules for their Google Grant program, which included increasing the maximum cost-per-click (CPC) from $1 to $2 and placing ads from Google Grant accounts below paid account results. When I first heard the news I was worried, but it turns out this is good news for arts orgs. We have some results after a few weeks of managing accounts using the new rules.

Many arts marketers are so focused on selling their current production, they fail to take a long-term view of lead acquisition.

Facebook recently began the rollout of social search. This powerful tool will allow users on Facebook to enter queries such as "Broadway shows in NYC my friends like," "friends who like ballet," or "concert venues in Seattle my friends have been to." 

It is the end of the year and many arts organizations are gearing up for end of year fundraising campaigns. One of five of all donations made during the year happen in the final week of December. Here are some things we've learned about successful fundraising for the arts:

Facebook recently made a dramatic change that affects all arts orgs that have worked to build a Facebook fan following. It started in early October when page admins began to see a decline in how many fans saw their posts.

As any arts marketer knows, traditionally subscriptions are sold using direct mail. But what happens when you apply the principals of direct mail to banner advertising?

I've worked with a lot of arts orgs and I've seen some similar characteristics among the ones that are succeeding with their digital marketing. Here are seven characteristics of the orgs that are flourishing:

If you sell tickets or accept donations on your website, you are, at least in part, an ecommerce company.

We have been working on some very successful banner advertising campaigns (with our vendor partner) using retargeting, social proximity targeting and real-time bidding. We have been seeing ROIs from 250% to 2500%. Our most successful campaign drove over $400,000 of ticket sales on a $15,000 media investment!

I just got a really great email from the team at JustGive. It was entitled "Your 2010 JustGive Tax-Deductible Donation." The email reminded me how much I donated last year and notified me that my gift is tax-deductible.