The Mission Paradox Blog

The New Battleground

The next decade in the arts is going to be about three things:

1.  Creating Demand - We have to increase the audience "pie".  I believe embracing diversity (however you define it)  is a key part of that equation.  I believe effective marketing is an important piece of the puzzle as well.

2.  Innovation - Not just in how art is created, but in how it's distributed, funded, etc.  Maybe that innovation comes in taking the nonprofit model of the arts and leveraging it in every single way possible.  Maybe the innovation comes from careful consideration of the for profit side of the world and how we might find success despite it's limitations. 

Either way, the road ahead requires that we try things quickly, adjust from our failures quickly and then let the world know about what we are doing.

3.  Execution - Those who can take a good idea and execute it effectively will be rewarded.  The new world is about having the right people in place within an organization.  Not a lot of people.  The right people. 

Are you creating demand?

Do you have an emphasis on innovation?

Do you have the right people to execute on your ideas?

Those are the only three questions that matter.

Happy New Year.  See you Monday.

Creating Demand

Consider the following facts:

1.  The number of nonprofit arts organizations have increased significantly over the last few decades.

The NEA Survey on Arts Participation gives us the following:

2.  The majority of participants for the arts they surveyed are white, well educated and have incomes between 50K and 150K or over.

3.  Participation in the arts are in decline across the field.  There are a few exceptions, like musical theatre, but mostly decline.  

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Peter Drucker, a legendary management guru, said that a good business creates demand.

All the evidence points to a simple conclusion, the arts are not creating demand. 

There are some exceptions to this of course, some groups are actively creating demand, but as a collective field we still struggle with this.

We are building more and more organizations to serve the existing, shrinking, demand for what we do.

When I talk about diversity in the context of the arts, what I'm really talking about is creating new demand for art.

The bread and butter audience, the middle aged, relatively wealthy, audience is tapped out.  That's to be expected.  They have been filling our seats and dealing with our funding requests for more then three decades now. 

Many of them are just plain tired.

Tired of our continous need for funding.

Tired of being invited to 100 artistic events a year that they can't possibly make it too.

We have dipped into that particular demographic well over and over and over and over again.

Our future depends on our ability to find new "wells" and embracing diversity is a key part of that effort.

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The good news is that when your audience is as homogenous as ours typically is there are plenty of places where you can go to create demand.

You can leverage your diversity efforts toward age, class, gender, race, socio-economic background, whatever.

But not doing anything simply isn't a good option.  All that does is leave you in a fight for a piece of a small pie.

And since you are going to be having that fight with organizations that are better known and more resourced then you, that's a tough fight to win.

Create your own definition of diversity and pursue it.  Look at other fields and see how they have had success in diversifying their workforce and other areas.  Call your colleagues in the field that are having some success and ask for advice.

Note:  At my day job the diversity efforts had led to increased audiences and recognition from Actor's equity .  Want to know how it happened?  Email me and I'll tell you everything I know.  I'm a little biased, but I really do think my day job does it right.

The future is in front of us.  Let's make this decade the time when we embrace it.

Being accessible

An arts organization, particularly a nonprofit one, needs to be accessible.

If people can't see your work because they can't afford the tickets, then what exactly is the point of having the 501(c)3 status?

There are a lot of ways to ensure your work is accessible.  The way I use at my job is to have as many different price points as possible.

Depending on a lot of different factors a person could pay as little as $10 for a ticket or as much as $56.

Yes, that's a wide range of possible prices, but they work together to keep our average ticket price at a reasonable level.

Sometimes it helps to have a bit of a mantra or guideline when it comes to setting ticket prices, discounts, etc.

Here's my guideline:

I believe that an average couple, with a bit of advanced planning, should be able to see a performance at my day job and then go to dinner at a decent restaurant for about $100 total.

That's my completely made up, but very helpful to me, standard.  When I'm thinking about pricing, I see that couple in my head, imagine a $100 bill on the table and start thinking backwards.

Take the time to look carefully at the prices you are charging for your work, the discounts you offer, etc.

Because if people can't afford to see your work, then that nonprofit status is really a waste.

Master Touch

What's the hardest part about marketing art?

Having no control over the end outcome.

Maybe people love the work.

Maybe they hate it.

Who knows?

All you, all any of us can do, is put the work out there and let the chips fall.

How do I deal with that?

I control what I can.

I manage every single "touchpoint", which I define as every interaction a consumer has with my organization.

Buying tickets on the website = touchpoint.

When a person calls my box office = touchpoint.

When we are seating a person for the performance = touchpoint

When someone visits our website = touchpoint

I need to make each one of those interactions as enjoyable and effective as possible.

If the actual performance increases that person's enjoyment . . . super.  But again, that's not under my control.

In a world as unpredictable as the arts, we need to manage what we can. 

Identify your touchpoints.  Make every interaction with a touchpoint as strong as you can.

 

Nothing Left

Making the decision to be a professional artist is a huge choice.

I define a professional artist as someone that is trying to make some part of his/her living through participating in or producing art.

Being a professional artist isn't for everybody.  It's a decision to be made very carefully.

But if you decide to go for it you have officially entered the marketplace.

The marketplace can be an incredibly cruel, unfair, environment.  But that is our place.  Even as we try to make it better, it is what it is.

I believe that one of the biggest flaws that we have in the system of educating artists and possible arts administrators is we don't prepare them for that world.

We don't teach them about how to position themselves and their work in a competitive and cluttered marketplace.

We don't show them how things like marketing, branding, organizational design, etc. can be used in ways that are both effective and authentic.

So it's no wonder they struggle.

But there is something else I want you to consider.

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If you believe you have the multitude of skills necessary to be a dancer or a painter then you might as well give it a try.

If you want to build an organization that produces incredible plays, go for it.

What else are you going to do?

Get a "regular job?"

Look around.  There are no jobs.  There is no stable business environment where you can lay back for a few decades, get to retirement age and quit.

Those days are behind us.  Probably gone forever.

So you might as well do what you love.

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Time for another brief hiatus.  New post on Monday.  Happy holiday's.

 

 

 

Execution Speed

If it takes you forever to implement a good idea . . . there really isn't any point to having good ideas.

Most good ideas, about marketing, diversity, artistic programming, etc. don't die because of lack of money or personnel.

They die because people love talking about things and hate doing things.

Talking is risk free.  Things rarely go wrong when you are just talking about them.  But doing is risky and thus something people tend to avoid.

Try things.  Seriously, just try things.

Take an idea and give it a try.  Measure, yes actively measure, how long it takes for your team to think of an idea and execute it.  The faster, the better.

For example, at my day job somebody suggested a change in our pricing structure that would benefit a certain market.

It took 5 minutes for the idea to be explained.

15 minutes to debate the merits and tweak the idea a bit.

1 minute to decide to give the idea a try.

And 10 minutes to tweak our box office software, make the change official and share the news with appropriate parties.

From "hey let's do this" to "ok, done" in about 30 minutes

If it turns out that we made a mistake, then we just fix it.  This decision, like most decisions, aren't a matter of organizational life or death.

The world moves fast.  You have to move fast as well.

Fast track your decisions.

If things in your organization happen slowly, ask why and see what you can do to improve things.

 

Right Now

I was talking with a friend.

She said that life for artists would improve when the public finally understood the value the field had and started moving more money in that direction.

She is right.

But I don't have time to wait for that.

Neither do you.

The arts has numerous systematic problems.  We have a responsibility to talk about those probelms and propose solutions to them.

It's those sorts of actions that will make the field better for those of us who will still be in it 5-10 years in the future.

But in the meanwhile there is right here and right now.

There is the responsibility you and I have to find success in this world, in spite of how hard, dumb and brutal it can be at times.

We have responsibility to innovate, to take risks, to help others find their way in this unfair world of the arts.

Remember that the playing field is only level in heaven.

Remember that your job is to succeed anyway.

 

Social Enhancer

Social media is not really a creative tool.  It's an enhancement tool.

If you have an idea worth spreading, social media can help it go all over the world.

If you have art that is remarkable, social media can help tons of people know about it.

But if your ideas are self serving  . . .

If your art is too boring, or too predictable, or too much like what else is out there . . .

Then social media is pretty much useless to you.

Social media isn't a magic wand.  It doesn't create magic.

But if you already have the magic, then an understanding of how to use social media is a powerful and vital tool to have.

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A few notes to close the week:

1.  I've got 11 spots left for the marketing and technology workshop in Jan.  If you want in then check out the details

-  If you are representing an arts organization then consider bringing a second person to the workshop.  Marketing is a team sport, so the more people that can understand how to get more mileage from the work they do, the better.  If you are interested in bringing a second person then I'll charge you $75 for the first person and $15 more for the second.  $90 total.

-  I enjoy working with individual artists, even though I don't get to do it that often.  So if you are an individual artists consider this a special invite.

2.  I've had a few people ask me if I'm going to do a similar conference as a webinar.  I'm checking into that option.  The Jan. 9th workshop will not be a webinar, but if I can find a good way to pull one offer late in 2010 then I'll do it.

3.  One thing I do intend on doing for people outside of Chicago is creating a series of arts marketing ebooks.  They will be cheap, less then $10 each.  Of course I'm having the typical writer problems, figuring out what to include the books, trying to find a way of making it interesting, etc.  But I'll get over that and try to get at least one of the books to you guys by the end of the winter.

4.  I have to also say Thank You for all the people who have already signed up for the workshop and encouraged me to do things like webinars and books.  I'm a pretty confident guy, but I'm also human, so the encouragement is both needed and appreciated.

Developing an edge

Yesterday we talked about the importance of creating clear, tangible differences within your company.  Here's an example of that.

While in a hotel this week I noticed this article from USA Today about how Southwest Airline's "Bags Fly Free" campaign has led to the airline receiving a 1% increase in market share.

There's two marketing lessons in that for us.

1.  Sometimes great marketing comes from what you don't do. 

When the airline industry was implementing fees on checked bags, I'm sure there were some folks within Southwest that were pushing for the company to follow along.  I'm guessing somebody realized that the short term financial benefit from the fee wouldn't outweigh the long term damage to the brand that comes from doing something people generally hate.

Most arts organizations have a ton of fees and policies:

-  Ticket purchasing fees

-  Ticket exchange fees

-  Ticket refund policies

-  Seating policies

You get the idea.

Take the time review all those policies and fees.  What you'll probably find is that there really isn't a good reason to have some of them.  They are just there because that have ALWAYS been there, or because other arts organizations have similar policies.

So what if you just got rid of them?

Suddenly, without spending a dime, or sacrificing your artistic standards, you may have just created a real, tangible difference between yourself and your competition.

Or maybe you do something even more creative.  In addition to changing your fees and policies, maybe your the dance company that gives fresh baked cookies to random patrons. 

"Adam, that's just dumb" you're thinking.

But just remember, 99% of all arts organizations are basically the same.  Same rules, same structure, even the art they present is always familiar.

In a world like that, creative, little, points of distinction and difference can be a BIG deal.

Here's the second lesson:

2.  When you develop that difference, that edge, PROMOTE THE HELL OUT OF IT.  Think about Southwest running those Bags Fly Free commercials.  It's sorta genius.  They simply let the industry make a bad long term decision and then profited off their mistake.

If you are making your policies more customer friendly, shout it from the rooftops.  If you do decide to give away those cookies put a big ass sign outside letting people know.

Create differences and then promote them.

One more example of that.  At my day job we offer free parking to all our performances.

Trust me, we promote the hell out of that.  If you've seen any ad for, you have seen the words FREE PARKING splashed on it somewhere.

Know why we do that?

Because free parking isn't grey.

It's isn't "artistic quality" or "excellence".

It's something everyone can understand.

Free.  Parking.

Simple.  Clear.  Tangible.  Something everybody does that.

The best marketing you do this year could be creating a similar edge. 

 

 

 

 

 

Shades of Grey

Here's an experiment for you.

Break out a sheet of paper and rank the top 10 arts events/exhibitions/plays/whatever that you saw this year.

Rank them in terms of "quality", however you define the term.

I'll wait.

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I'm betting you had a pretty easy time listing the worst thing you saw this year and the best thing.

You probably could even figure out the second best and worst thing.

But when it came down to figuring out slots 3-8 I'm guessing things got a lot harder.

I'll even wager that there wasn't much difference in quality between those six events.  I'm betting I could swap the 4th slot for the 7th slot and it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

So what we have is two extremes and then a lot of grey in the middle.

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You now understand the world a consumer sees when she is exposed to most arts marketing.

Most arts marketing uses "artistic quality" as a key part of why that person should see the work.

But to the average consumer, artistic quality is a meaningless phrase.

She knows the stuff her friends (or the local arts critic) said she absolutely must see.  She knows the stuff she should avoid at all cost.  She knows the extremes.

Everything else is grey.

That's why things like community building, strong customer service, providing useful content (and context) to people, are so important.

Those are things that can be leveraged in your marketing.

Those are the sorts of things that can cut through the grey and actually get your marketing (and ultimately your work) noticed.

The good news is that these sort of distinctions can be created.  Tomorrow I'll give you an example of a company who created a distinction, marketed it strong and benefited from it.