By Rolf E. Olsen
Director of Marketing
Hopkins Center for the Arts
Dartmouth College
"When an event sells out, it's great programming. When an event doesn't sell out, it's bad marketing."
- A malicious myth that haunts arts marketers
Any exploration of marketing should begin with a few definitions. Just what is this process called marketing? Many people think of marketing very narrowly as advertising and promotion - that mysterious and fluid blend of newspaper, radio and maybe TV advertising, posters, direct mail - an entire range of tasks and tactics all intended to distribute information about your events and compel people to buy tickets. It's useful to remember, though, that marketing is really a continuum of activities that ranges from the development of a product through the product's delivery to the marketplace, at a time, price and location that satisfies a need.
Academics talk in terms of the 'Four Ps' of marketing:
- Product: In the performing arts, the product is the performance, or more broadly, the experience one has while 'consuming' the product. It's been said that a performance is the only product that is created simultaneous to its consumption. A performance, and all the related actions and experiences required of an audience member, comprise the product.
- Price: The price of admission needs to reflect, in part, the cost of the performance being presented - the artist's fee, technical production expenses, overhead for your organization and, yes, promotional costs. But the price also reflects the perceived value of the experience of attending the performance. And what about the price of childcare, travel to the performance venue, dinner before the show or drinks and dessert afterward? This all adds up to the true price to the consumer of attending a performance.
- Promotion: Promotion is all of the activities that must be paid for by the presenter to bring people's attention to the performance and persuade them to attend. This includes all forms of advertising - newspaper, radio, television, posters, direct mail, billboards (are they still legal in some places?), website, email messages, telemarketing and so on. Publicity (sometimes included as a fifth P) is most often thought of as that set of communication tasks that doesn't bear a direct cash expense - convincing the arts editor of your local daily paper to interview one of the performers in an upcoming show, for example. There isn't any charge for this coverage, but you definitely had to spend time persuading and cajoling the editor to pay attention to your event above all the others in your community.
- Place: Where did your patron have to go to buy tickets? Was it a simple phone or online transaction or did she need to trek across town during rush hour in order to buy tickets during very limited box office hours? How about your venue? Is it located in a safe part of your city or town? Is there convenient parking? Is it free or is there a cost? Is there a visible and friendly person to greet guests in your lobby? Are there ushers to show people to their seats? Are the ushers well trained and able to answer questions? Are the seats comfortable? Attentiveness to all of these aspects of 'place' is a crucial part of your marketing strategy.
You get the idea: Marketing is a continuum of tasks, processes and activities, all of which are involved in satisfying a need in the marketplace. If what you are proposing to market to your community doesn't satisfy an important need, then the chances of long-term success of your enterprise are very slim. And remember, you are selling a comprehensive experience, not just what happens on the stage for an hour or so.
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