ArtsMarketing.org

Americans who participate in the arts through technology and electronic media – using the Internet, television, radio, computers, and handheld devices – are nearly three times more likely to attend live arts events; attend twice as many live arts events; and attend a greater variety of genres of live arts events, according to a report released by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Read the full report at Audience 2.0: How Technology Influences Arts Participation

If there's anyone out there left who says you can't measure social media, here are a hundred answers. Some entries can be interpreted several ways. Depending on how you define them, some of these metrics may seem redundant, while others may seem so broad that they can be broken out further. Many of these can be combined with each other to create new metrics that can then be tracked over time. It's a start, though, so dive in and consider which ones may apply to programs you're working on.

These days, there are few things getting more attention in the cause-marketing field than the trend of directing corporate philanthropy dollars by crowd sourcing. The retailer Kohl's joined the trend after it announced its Kohl's Cares 10th Anniversary promotion. The program stands on the shoulders of the giant $20 million Pepsi Refresh Campaign. Refresh followed the first major initiative in this space, the million dollar American Express Members Project. All of these campaigns share positive and negative traits, and it is now undeniable that this trend has become a powerful tool in cause-marketing. Non-profit organizations with solid missions that haven't received the support of major foundations can now have access to the brand building awareness that these highly visible programs offer. Not to mention potentially accessing much-needed cash.

Since we know that the true success of any advertising campaign is the number of conversions and ROI (return on investment), it's essential that we examine ways that we can increase those conversions. Before we get to the message inside the blast, we've got to make sure as many people are opening it as possible. Here are five tips you can use to increase the open rates on your email blasts, whether a third party is sending them for you or whether you're blasting the subscribers from your own lists.

Broadway shows about black characters often draw black theatergoers, but the producers of “Memphis” and “Fela!” as well as producers of some coming shows are particularly going after African-Americans, given that Broadway’s overall attendance has been on the decline, down 3 percent for the 2009-10 season. Whether black theatergoers become a larger, reliable part of the Broadway audience remains to be seen, as do the range and quality of the shows that are offered to appeal to them. Read about their strategies from focus group research, to adjusting tag lines, to group sales approaches.

The critic has long had control over a vital and rare conduit - the media - between an artist and their potential audiences. For presenters and promoters, convincing a critic to review a show was the essential way to make sure people found out about it. When it came to ticket sales, a positive review and the sense of buzz that came with it went a long way towards ensuring you broke even. Today, TV, newspaper and radio aren't the only conduits any more. The internet has created a plethora of blogs, email lists, social networking, and marketing strategies that are cheap, easy to access, and bypass the traditional critic entirely. Word of mouth - long the holy grail of marketing people everywhere - has become massively amplified by Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. We're all critics the moment we see a show, visit a museum, watch a film and share our reactions to it. How can arts marketers harness the critic in all of us?

E-mail is still the preferred channel for marketing communications. According to Marketing Sherpa's “2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Report,” a poll of 1,493 marketers conducted online and via follow-up phone calls last summer, 78% said they preferred e-mail, with social media coming in a distant second at 22%. And now, thanks to advances in rich-media technology and social media integration, marketers can create e-mails that act like mini-portals, with videos, music clips, links to related articles, websites and social media pages—and even icons that activate text-to-speech. Multimedia e-mail marketing of this sort can be easy to learn and use, and be super-effective and affordable for arts organizations.

You know your audience member may also be a patron of the gallery next door, the symphony uptown, or the touring dance company next month. So check out what the competition is up to. Why might people prefer their experiences to yours? Intentionally visit your competitor's events to see what works and what doesn't work, and then test the best practices in your own marketing plan.

After years of insisting that the audience shut down electronic devices before the conductor raises the baton, the symphony is encouraging its audience to stay logged on for the Houston Symphony’s first “Tweetcert.” Listeners with access to Twitter will be able to view tidbits of information about Bernstein and Ravel as the orchestra performs the composers’ works. “We all have all of these sensory stimuli around us all the time,” says Houston Symphony assistant conductor Brett Mitchell. “Engaging one or two more of the senses, I think, is a fabulous way of interesting people who might not come to a concert on a regular basis. It might entice them to come.” The words of an audience engagement specialist found in the voice of a true artist!

The Internet has transformed whole sectors of society, but it has had a more limited impact on the world of philanthropy. A recent survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy found that among the top 400 U.S. charitable groups in 2009, the median share of giving that came through the Internet was just 1 percent. Now, two Silicon Valley websites, myphilanthropedia.org, and allthis.com, have ambitious plans to change that. Learn how your organization can join their efforts.