The Mission Paradox Blog

Avoiding the Freak Out

Sorry I missed my Monday post.  Life got in the way.

----------------------------------------

Job titles and descriptions can be deceptive.  They can cause you to forget what your job actually is.

I've got a couple of job titles.  Director of Marketing for a Chicago theatre.  Arts Marketing Consultant.  Speaker.  Workshop Presenter.

Those are things I do.  You probably have a list of things you do as well.

But what is the real job?  What's important?  What would people miss if you disappeared?

A big part of my real job is avoiding freak out.  I don't get paid to make marketing plans.  Anybody can do that.  I get paid to fix those plans when they don't work out (which is often).

My job is to figure out the complexities that separate the goals from messy reality.  If reality wasn't messy, people wouldn't need me . . . or you.

If marketing, revenue generation and artistic planning was easy they wouldn't need us to do.

So when you think about it, the fact that this stuff is so challenging is good news.

As long as you avoid freaking out.

What the devil doesn't need

The devil doesn't need advocates.

All ideas are flawed.  

All of them.  

You could poke holes in any artistic project.  

Any of them.

We have enough of that.  The internet is full of that.  Our society doesn't lack people who are willing to take an idea or an intention and rip it to shreds.

What we need (what you need, what I need) are people who can see the possibility in our ideas (even the stupid ones).

We also need YOU to be one of those people.  Don't be afraid to praise.  Don't be afraid to try and improve an idea.  Don't be afraid to believe.

We don't need the burnouts, the cynics, the people who (secretly) delight when people shoot for the moon and fail.

Get those people out of your circle, out of your organization, off your Board of Directors.

Energy, positive energy, is way more important then you think.  Embrace those who deliver that energy, even when they are being critical.

Let the rest go.

"Never dark" marketing

Many people are familiar with the idea of a performing arts venue being "never dark", i.e. open (in some form) 24 hours a day.

It's an idea that should carry over to your marketing as well.

You have an arts exhibition in July, it closes in August.  The next thing is in November.  What are going to do between those times?

Disappear?  

Some of your most important and effective marketing efforts can happen in the moments in between events.  This is a time where you can tell people the story, purpose and vision behind your art without the immediate pressure that comes from needing to sell something.

Most of us will spend as many days NOT producing/presenting art as we will placing the work into the world.  Keeping the conversation alive with your audience during those in between times is vital.

The next time you are planning your marketing, don't just get to the end of the event and stop.  Keep going.  Invest some time, money and thought in keeping the story going when the art goes away.

 

 

 

Gathering worldviews (and offering a new service)

Marketers love demographics.

We love knowing how much money our audience makes, what zip code they live in and what their ethnic origin in.

We love knowing these things because we assume this information tells us about who these people are.

It's a fair assumption, or at least it WAS a fair assumption. 

We now live in a world where people can have a range of experiences that defy the stereotypes of geography, age and race.

You can be a Buddhist without moving to India.  You can gather with people who think like you without worrying if they look like you.

At my day job I have stopped describing in terms like race and gender.  I define them (lovingly) as nerds.  Not black nerds, white nerds or rich nerds.  They are people who value intellectual stimulation and expect that to be reflected in the work on stage.

If you were stripped of all the traditional demographic language that marketers use, how would you describe your audience?

What do they have in common?

What do they believe?

And how could you use that information to find people who think in a similar fashion?

==================================

I've got a bit of news:

After doing a bit of research and talking with clients, I have decided to offer a new arts marketing coaching service.  It's called Paradox 90.  It's a quick, affordable way for you to get the marketing help you need.  Take advantage of it.  For more details, click here

On to the next thing (w/video)

Below is the video from a plenary session called Ensuring the Sustainability of the Field.  I'm a little biased of course but I think it reflects a really good conversation on diversity and bringing new life to the arts.

The whole thing is a good investment of your time, but if your short on time check out what I have to say around the 33:30 mark of the video.

I talk a little about moving past the boxes of marketing to "black people" or "white people how we should focus on bringing people with similar worldviews in to see art.

I think this "worldview marketing" is what's next in the world of marketing.

I'll talk more about this on Monday.  For now check out the video:

 

Random thoughts on privilege, the arts and empathy

Self awareness is important.  When a leader of well respected, well resourced arts organization speaks about the "industry", they have to be aware of the privilege they live in.  

For every 1 person making a living in the "professional" arts there are 15 other people who would like to make a living but, for a variety of reasons, are not able to do so.

This matters.  It's a source of real pain and concern for a lot of people.  It's important to show awareness of that when discussing the field.

----------------------------

On the other hand, most people with privilege don't really FEEL privileged.  

I've talked to a ton of people who make a living in the arts.  When they described their lives and the challenges they have to navigate on a daily basis, I don't envy them at all.  

I wouldn't want their six figure paycheck.  I wouldn't want to have to deal with the things they have to deal with.

------------------------------

I find myself thinking about empathy more and more.  It's so easy for us to jump into our perspective corners:

Bloated, ego filled administrators versus underpaid, long suffering artists.

Overwhelmed adminstrators versus spoiled, naive artists.

It can get ugly fast.

The key to avoiding that is developing an ability to see and respect the point of view of others . . . even if you really disagree with that view.

More empathy.  More compassion.  We need that in this industry.

Culture, Layer Cake and Building an Audience

Language can be deceptive.

When you say the word audience it is easy to see them as one body.  In reality, any audience is composed of multiple segments that have very different needs and may be in your space for very different reasons.

Let's use an example:

Over the weekend, the first major Comic-Con convention of the year took place.  If you wanted an example of what a true cultural event looks like, then you should have been in San Diego over the weekend.

The Comic-Con events are places where fans of video games, comics, etc. come together.  I think it also gives us a look at the future of audience development.

The audience at Comic-Con are made up of cultures and sub cultures.  You've got your fans of the Avenger movie, and your fans of the Avenger Comic, and the people who know the in-depth origins of all the Avenger heroes, and the people who are fans of the guys who do the ink on the Avengers comic.

Deeper and deeper levels of fandom, all served by one event. 

Any one of these groups alone might not be enough to sustain the Comic-Con event, but when you add all those groups together - sort of like a layer cake - you get something special.

---------------------------

When I'm thinking about the audience I'm looking for at my day job, I think about it layers:

Layer 1 are the folks who may be fans of the subject matter of the play.  I need a plan to reach them.

Layer 2 are the people who live in the local neighborhood. 

Layer 3 are the people who are fans of the institution itself, no matter where they may live.

Layer 4 may be people who get their information from the traditional press, i.e. theatre critics and feature articles.

Those four layers together equal up to an audience that is large enough to accomplish the organization's goals.

They have different motivations for coming.  Some come because they love the director or the actors.  Others come because they see it as their way of supporting the neighborhood . . . it's a civic pride thing.  I've got to be able to speak to all those different needs.

So do you.

------------------------------

If your audience feels stagnant, maybe that just means you need to add a new layer.  Maybe you need to focus more on local/neighborhood marketing.  Maybe you need to promote the values of your organization as much as you do the programming. 

Those additional layers can lead to something special.

 

 

 

Beyond Control

When you work with art, the list of things you can't control FAR outweighs the things you can control.

I can't control whether an actor will miss a line, or if a dancer will fall, or if a musician will botch a critical moment.

I can't control your interpretation of that painting.

All that really important stuff is out of my hands.  

It is out of your hands as well.

Here's what you can control:

Almost everything else.

You can make people feel welcome in your performance space.

You can work to offer superior customer service.

You can make sure that your web and social media interactions are engaging and relevant.

You can find small ways to give people a little more then they expected.

That is our opportunity and we must take advantage of it.

-----------------------

We can't sell art like it's a Macbook.  

We can't just break out the shiny new product with the shiny new features and assume that everyone will love it.

We have to remember that we are offering something that is inherently unpredictable.  We can't change that.  We shouldn't even try.

But we also have a lot of things we can control.

Make the most of it.

 

 

Embracing what you don't understand

It's 11:30pm in Vegas.  But I'm still on Chicago time so it feels like 1:30am.

So I'm a little tired.

Plus my last journey to the craps table didn't go well. 

So I'm a little cranky.

It's at this point that the invasion of the casino floor begins.  Hundreds of folks start streaming in to line up at the various nightclubs inside of Wynn Las Vegas.

Mini skirts and Ed Hardy shirts are abundant.  They are ready to line up for hours to see the latest EDM (electronic dance music) DJ.

Some of them are ready to spend a lot of money on bottle service.

--------------------

I don't understand any of this.

I don't understand the appeal of Skillrex or Diplo.

I don't understand why anyone would spend $300 on a bottle of Grey Goose.

But I'm a marketer at heart, so my job is to try and understand (maybe even embrace) things that I don't understand.

------------------------

Did you catch that?

Good marketing is about trying to understand things that you don't initially understand.

In the real world, we call that empathy.

So I get over my feelings and try to understand these clubs kids.  I try to get out of my own worldview and try to get into their worldview.

If you can't do this, your marketing will always suck.

-------------------------------------

So maybe I'm a kid from LA.  I've got a decent job, but not that many bills.  Maybe I still live with my parents, or with some roommates.

The weekend has arrived and I'm ready to blow off some steam.  I grab my buddies and we take the short trip from LA to Vegas.  I'm interested in what's cool and new.  EDM is cool and new.  So it doesn't matter if I "like" DeadMaus.  He is what's hot and I'm interested in that.

I spend a little money for an outfit for the weekend.  I want to look good.  I wear "normal" clothes all week long and I'm ready for something new.

And I convince my buddies to chip in some cash for bottle service, because I understand that I'm not paying $300 for the Grey Goose . . . I'm paying $300 for the Grey Goose and a place to sit down and drink it.  I'm buying the seat, not the vodka.

Did you catch that? 

Did you catch the difference between what I'm buying and what I'm paying for?

----------------------

After I think about it for a few minutes, I understand why these people are here. 

The easy thing to do, the thing we do so often . . . especially in the arts, would be to mock these people.

It would be easy to look upon them with scorn.  The same way we look at the people who like "trash" like reality TV.  Why don't these losers put down the remote and come out to see our noble and worthwhile art?

Maybe part of the reason is because we look down on them . . . and they know it.  Maybe it is because we lack empathy for their experience.

A good way to get over that feeling is by working hard to understand their perspective.  Once we understand others, we can market to them.