The Mission Paradox Blog

Worthy Challenges

The people you want around you are the people motivated by doing the next big thing, not keeping the status quo.

Those are the people who will help make your artistic dreams a reality. 

The challenge is that they get bored real easy.  So one of your most important job as a leader/manager of those sorts of folks is to constantly give them worthy challenges to pursue.

In my own life as a manager, that's my primary job description.  It isn't marketing.  Other people do the marketing.  My job is to keep the hungry people motivated/fed.

If the people around you aren't performing in the way you want, maybe a bit part of the reason is because you are boring them. 

Raise your ambitions.  Give them difficult assignments to complete.

That can change everything.

 

Reduced returns

There is a point where the marketing no longer matters.

In my little world of theatre, my experience has been that once the show is reviewed by the press the impact of direct marketing is reduced.  By that time the public opinion on the show has been formed.  So if you were to look at my marketing budget you would see heavy investments in the weeks before the show.  That's the time that opinion can be shaped by marketing.  Once the show is up and running, a lot of things are out of our hands.

Of course it isn't a popular thing for marketers to say that there are things that can't be controlled.  People want to see marketing as a magic pill that always produces outcomes.  That isn't the case.

A key part of smart marketing is knowing when it is time to stop marketing one thing and invest your time, money and energy into the next thing.

The story of price

Marketing is storytelling.

Price is a pivotal part of the story.

In some cases, price is really the only part of the story.  The airline industry learned this the hard way. Customer service was nice, arriving on time was a plus, but consumers are trained to look for the cheapest flight possible.

You can also find examples of this in the land of luxury goods.  A Mercedes is consider a luxury good because it costs $70,000.  Cut the price to $15,000 and most of what makes a Mercedes "special" disappears.

You can build a billion dollar company based on a story about price.

The crucial question isn't really whether a price for art (or anything else) is low or high.  That's always up for debate.  The question is whether a particular organization, artist, or field is comfortable with the story that the price tells.

When I object to things like the nonprofit arts use of dynamic pricing, it is not because people are unable to afford a $100+ ticket to show.  Some people can.  I just have a hard time seeing how the practice of dynamic pricing fits with the story the field tells about its importance and relevance.

So here's today thing for you to ponder.  What does your price say about your art?  Does it say that it's accessible?  Luxury?  Cheap?

Give it some thought.  

NOTE:  My email newsletter this week will offer some more thoughts on the impact and power of price.  Click here to sign up.

 

The moral part of pricing

The always awesome Thomas Cott has sent out this recent roundup on a consistent issue in the arts, dynamic pricing.

If you have followed this blog over the years, you know that I'm not a fan of dynamic pricing but I'll rehash those arguments later.

Here's the point I want to bring up today.  I believe pricing, particularly pricing for nonprofit arts organizations, has two elements.  An economic element and a moral element.  There are always two questions at play:

1.  Is this the right price?

2.  Should we be charging this price?

I truly wonder if "high" ticket prices and the stated purpose behind many nonprofit arts organizations can live in the same space.  I worry that one argument (this show is worth $100) undercuts the other (we are a worthwhile investment of your charity dollars).

Now I should acknowledge that many organizations will find their own answer to these questions.  My hope is that there is serious internal debate about these issues before practices like dynamic pricing are put in place. 

When I say a serious debate I mean honestly asking these questions:

What does this practice say about us?

Are there long term implications to these strategy that we may be ignoring because of a desire for short term revenue?

Do we have controls in place that will keep our pricing from going entirely out of wack? 

Dynamic pricing is a complicated issue.  Approach it with care.

Those who will never come

Millions upon millions of people will NEVER experience your art.

Never.

Ever.

It doesn't matter how skilled you are at your craft or how fantastic your marketing is. The people who will never experience your art, particularly live art, will always far outweigh those who do.

So here's the question I want you to ponder for the weekend:

How will your work impact those who never get to experience it?  

How can you touch and mobilize your audience in such a way that they can have a positive impact on those who will never come?

That positive impact is what scales.  That's the thing that will cause more and more people to love your art.

Think about how you can make that happen.

The path up the mountain

You might recall a video with a certain politican.  In the video the politican said some things about 47% of the country and it landed him in some trouble.  

But this isn't about the answer.  It's about the question.  The question that bought all that on could be paraphrased as follows:

How are you going to win?

That's the question.  That is always the question.  Before people give you money, or volunteer their time, that is the question on their mind.

How are you going to win?  Of course the question comes in many forms:

What's your plan for bringing in the audience?

How are you going to raise the money?

How are going to break through a competitive marketplace?

Now here's the kicker.  Most of the time people don't even ask you the question. They nod their head. They smile.  But when the rubber meets the road, they don't give you 100% effort.  That's because you didn't give them a satisfactory answer to the (unasked) question.

A huge part of being a leader in the arts (or any field) is demonstrating that you have a legitimate way of making up the proverbial mountain.  You've got to be comfortable sharing that information, even when it isn't asked for.

It's human nature.  People want to win.  You've got to show them how the victory can happen.

 

 

Swing Time

Let's consider these three statements:

1.  I want to make art - The combination of technology and low barriers to entry has made the ability to create art more accessible to everyone.  That includes you.

2.  I want to make some money from my art - I believe that this is a challenging, but achievable goal.  Will you make enough that you can quit your day job?  Probably not.  But I think it's possible to mix in your artistic passions with your "real life" in a way that generates real revenue. 

3.  I want to make a full time living from my art - Notice that in Point 2, I mentioned real revenue.  To make a full time living you need real, consistent, revenue.  It's the consistent part that makes a full time living such a challenge.  A part of being a freelancer (and if you're an artist, you're a freelancer) is that the money swings.  You have good months, great months and then long (sometimes REAL LONG) stretches where nothing comes in.

Being able to make a full time living means that you must have the stomach to handle the swings.  A lot of people don't.  There is no shame in that, it just means you have to be honest about your own ability to handle uncertainty.

You should also understand that your ability to handle the swings will change over time.  I just turned 36.  My life has given me an ability to deal with uncertainty, but I also know that I could handle it a lot easier when I was 26.

If you can't handle the swings, stick to options 1 or 2.  Your life will be much easier.

 

Money and Marketing - Part 2

Part 1 is here:

I would argue that there is really one reason to spend money on marketing.  You spend money on marketing to leverage an organizational or artistic strength.

Stop.

Read the sentence again.

Please note that I didn't say that the reason to spend money is to build a brand, or build awareness, or sell tickets, or anything like that.  You're spending money to take advantage of something you're good at.

 An example:

You're a part of dance company preparing to make a series of performances.  Part of what you've always done is a direct mail piece to your mailing list.  Here's the question:

Why do that mailing?

Is it because you have a strong visual style (strength) that is reflected in the postcards?

Is it because you have some sort of clear evidence that your mailing list is particularly effective (another strength)?

Is this mailing going to take something good and make it better?

If the answer is No, then why do the mailing?

If the answer is Yes, then why aren't you mailing twice as much?

Another example:

You're a musician.  You're pondering a major investment in your own website.  Instead of saying "I must spend the money" or "I can't afford it", think of it this way:

Will the website help you to increase your connection with the audience?  Exactly how will that happen?

WIll the website help you to demonstrate the skills and range you have as a musician?  What's the plan for making that happen?

It may turn out that after you ask those questions you determine that you don't really NEED to spend a lot on a website because it will just help maintain the status quo.  Keeping the status quo in place is not something worth paying for.

Read that sentence again.

If you are spending money on marketing and things aren't getting better, clearly better, then you should consider stopping that investment and either holding on to it or spending it some place else.

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So that's an example of what I offer in my email newsletter.  As you can see it's a litle longer and more detailed than a typical blog post.  It's also a place where you can directly ask me questions and see those questions answered in the newsletter.

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Money and Marketing - Part 1

I want to give you a look at some of the information I send out to people who get my email newsletter.  Hopefully you'll like it and decide to sign up by clicking this link.

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Note:  Part 2 of this post is here - http://www.missionparadox.com/the_mission_paradox_blog/2012/10/money-and-marketing-part-2--1.html

 

Money and Marketing - Part 1

Let's consider the role that money plays in marketing.  Here are a couple of opening thoughts:

1.  There is an inverse relationship between time and money.  The means that the less time you have to market art, the more money you need to promote the work.  Maybe once a month I get a call from some artist that has a relatively low amount to invest in marketing AND wants to sell tickets to an event that starts in two weeks.

 "What can I do?"  They ask.

 "Nothing."  I answer.

 They hate that answer.  But it's the truth.

If you are looking for immediate attention that leads to immediate sales then get ready to break open your wallet.  If your wallet is empty, or relatively empty, then you have problems.

This leads to one of the best marketing lessons I can give you.  If you are low on money, give yourself more time.  Much more time.  Way more time then you think.

 If you are using "free" marketing tools such as email or social media, keep in mind that those are very cluttered airwaves.  You are using it but so is EVERYBODY ELSE.  Any message, even the most noble message, needs time to break through the clutter.

 

2.  Free marketing is often not enough.  One of the most dangerous ideas out there is the idea that marketing is supposed to be free.  All you need is an internet connection and BANG the world is yours.

 Right?

 Even free or low cost technology can benefit from investment.  Let's use email for example.  A lot of you are using email services like Constant Contact, Aweber or Emma for marketing purposes.  It is a great idea.  But maybe your email could be better and perhaps money could be invested for that purpose.

Maybe you invest in a professional photographer, video person or writer to help your email marketing separate itself from the pack. 

Perhaps you invest in a training course on email marketing to make sure you're getting the most out of the "free" tool.

 You've probably noticed that I used the word "invest" and not "spend".  I know that may sound like I'm playing a word game with you.  Actually, I'm trying to make a broader point.

Not all spending is bad.

A lot of artists and arts organizations I encounter are terrified to spend money on anything that doesn't have an immediate and obvious return.  On some level, I understand the fear.  But we should also acknowledge that fear does play a big role in this.  

Resist that fear.  Don't be afraid to make smart marketing investments.  In the next blog post, I'll give you a framework that will help you decide exactly what a smart marketing investment looks like.