New Years Resolutions- MORE AUDIENCE

[Mari Geasair]

Did you know that in terms of getting people to attend live theatre, in general as theatre folk we have an 18% probability of success when we could have an 80% or 90% probability of success? My resolution for this year is to support the cause to get us as a community to the 80% (or even the 50% mark.) Explanation of those numbers where they came from and why is at the bottom of this message- first let me get off the soap box long enough to catch you all up in the conversation.

Hi- this is Mari  an actor/director/marketing person relatively new to town.

Occasionally I get really excited about things and just have to share. I thought I would use these boards to do so. :-)  So I am a geek. I spent some of my holiday "break" reading maketing surveys for theatres, books on arts marketing and year end numbers from some theatres friendly enough to share their info with me just because I asked. (Thanks Guys!) My conclusion is to once again realize that we CAN get lots more people to see live theatre- there are theatres doing it and finding it is not so hard. We just need to get smarter about it.

SO I am jumping on the bandwagon and offering some thoughts to those who might find them usefull.

We all can make live theatre even hipper and cooler than live sports if we pull together and learn how. (It is geeky I know  but I really believe that.) Join me in the cause- here is how:

1) Make it a point to learn about marketing- PLEASE. Producers, Directors, Artistic Directors simply have to if they want to succeed long term. Administrators would find their lives easier if they did- and ACTORS can join the party too. Most of us actors will end up as directors/producers/artistic directors at some point (often accidentally) and what is more- we ALL want to play to fuller houses. The more we know the more we can help-or at least not get in the way of good ideas when other people want to help.

2) That being said. Here are some resources: Check out DramaBiz magazine- you can read on-line and they have marketing articles every month. Including an easy to digest "things that work" article in the current issue. http://www.dramabiz.com/tricks1107.htm Also if you REALLY want a new perspective consider reading Jump Start Your Business Brain by Doug Hall and Arts Marketing insights by Joanne Scheff Bernstein. I think you can order both on line through the TPS online bookstore.

3) Change how you think about the MESSAGE we are putting out this is the biggest thing we can do. The problem turns out to be much less with our tactics and much more with our message. What follows is some cool info about message that I have  been trying to write up for the next TPS marketing workshop. Let me know what you think- if it makes sense and if you find it as encouraging as I do. :-) And if anyone out there is as geeky as me and wants to talk more about the messaging components mentioned- I am happy to post stuff to the boards and start an on-line discussion.) :-)

***And of course this is a plug for the TPS workshop too. It is mostly an "I have to get this off my chest" message but the workshop is the three day "I have to get this off my chest and share this" project so they are deeply related. We plan our show seasons and rehearsal schedules months and for some years in advance. And we spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on production costs, tech and rehearsals. And we all know about the countless hours spent getting the show right. But usually we allocate 3 hours a year and $500 for postcard printing and call our marketing done. (OK possibly an exaggeration for some- not much of one for others though.) So please join me for the workshop- or please just discuss these ideas on these boards. ***

Thoughts On Marketing Message

The marketing message is perhaps the most overlooked and most important part of marketing and certainly of arts marketing. A good marketing message can make a significant difference in your ability to get your patrons to encourage others to attend your theatre. Even better, a strong message can have a revolutionary impact on the effectiveness of your current marketing efforts. It is probably the single most significant change you can make in your marketing strategy, and while it does take some time and effort to craft the right message it does not increase your marketing budget at all!

Improving your message can radically change the effect of your current marketing because it does two crucial things 1) it gives the customer the information that they need to make an emotional decision to attend your theatre and 2) it gives both potential and existing patrons the information they need to get other people in their life excited enough that they too will make an emotional decision to attend your theatre. Because the decision has an emotional component and is not just “an idea of something that might be nice” it has a much greater chance of being acted upon.

How much greater? Vastly. Consider the chart show below. It was created by marketing research specialist and corporate guru Doug Hall and published in his book Jump Start Your Business Brain. In it he identifies three key components of an effective marketing message (benefit, reason to believe and dramatic difference- all of which we will be discussing in depth in both this report and the workshop.) Based on data from detailed research of over 1,200,000 consumer reactions   Mr. Hall rates the probability of success for marketing messages with none, some or all of the components he outlined. The difference is significant.

Message Probability of Success (Other Variables Controlled to Average)

Features Only (implied Benefit and Reason to Believe) 10%

Features and Image Only (implied Benefit and Reason to Believe) 18%

Overt Benefit Only (implied Reason to Believe) 28%

Reason to Believe Only (implied Benefit) 28%

Overt Benefit and Image (implied Reason to Believe) 29%

Reason to Believe and Image (implied Benefit) 28%

Overt Benefit and Reason To Believe 41%

Overt Benefit, Reason to Believe, and Dramatic Difference 51%

The numbers above are for an average level of each of the three dimensions. When you hit the maximum of each your probability of success rises to 90%

This chart gets more meaningful the more you think about it. So let’s take a moment to do just that.

If you think about it most smaller theatres put a large chunk of their marketing money into postcard mailings, posters and advertisements in local publications. And a quick survey of the theatre marketing in your area should prove that the formula they use to design these materials is pretty universal. Almost all theatre marketing materials contain an image designed to be evocative of the play, the title of the play, director and author information and then the dates, times, prices etc. A few very forward looking theatres might also have a short description of the play (recommended) but not many will even include that information. 

So according to this data most if not all of the theatre marketing you see has a success probability of about 18%. Now anyone with any marketing experience will tell you that this does not mean that 18 out of 100 people will come see the show. (Gosh we wish! That would be a great response.) It means that 18 out of 100 people who are already likely to come see your show will actually be moved to do so by the types of marketing we described above. (We are defining “likely” very generously- as meaning that their attitudes are at least somewhat favorable towards live theatre in general and your theatre in particular.) When you consider that only a very small portion of the posters, postcards and advertisements actually reach people who are already favorable to live theatre you realize that the odds of success for most theatre marketing efforts are so slim as to make you wonder why any portion of the budget goes toward these efforts.

But now think about what happens when between 51% and 90% of the people favorable to live theatre (and your theatre specifically) are moved by your message. That can have a significant impact! In fact when you understand marketing from that perspective you end up with 3 very simple goals:

1)  Improve your marketing message until it is between 80%-90% success probability rate
2)  Take steps to increase the number of people who will think about your theatre in a  “somewhat favorable” way
3)  Put that message in front of those same people

The really great thing about this 1,2,3, formula is that most people even remotely involved with theatre marketing, acting, or self producing have already been working on  steps 2 and 3 (consciously or unconsciously.) So you should be able to make huge impact fairly quickly by learning to work on number 1- getting your marketing message success probability rating to between 80% and 90%. This will not only help you to get more people to buy tickets from your own marketing efforts- but it will also encourage those very same people to pass the word on to people they know and help do some marketing for you. What could be better?

  OK those are my thoughts I just had to share. What do you think? Any of this excite, enrage or confuse you? Lets post!

Mari

[Mari Geasair]

And ANOTHER great resource:

http://www.artsmarketing.org/marketingresources/practicallesson-view.cfm?catID=6&titleID=25&itemID=186

 

[Mari Geasair]

I know this went out by e-mail to TPS members- but I couldn't find it on the boards here for you lurkers. SO here is another great marketing resource. It sounds like they will be talking alot about messaging too!
 
(I didn't ask David for permission to post- and I have not attended this workshop so this is just in the sprit of sharing general information. Please direct specific questions about this workshop directly to www.marketing4artists.eventbrite.com )

Dear TPSers -
This is a one-day workshop that I am helping to produce that will offer some
useful tips about marketing ourselves.   It's being sponsored by the Seattle
StoryTeller's Guild but should be useful to all kinds of artists, us
included. 
The formal title is THE ARTISTS GUIDE TO MARKETING; the informal title is
"Left Brain for Artists."
And the Description is -
        This workshop will give attendees simple tools and ideas they can
use to make their promotional efforts more effective. Workshop leader Bob
Sterry uses a lighthearted approach and thirty years of sales and marketing
experience to make this workshop immediately useful and fun to attend.  This
workshop is an upbeat guide to the "so called mysteries" of sales and
marketing
        At the end of the day you should be able to:-
                clearly state what you do
                clearly state the people/market you want to hear it
                understand the tools you can use to promote yourself
                find ways keep track of your progress
                begin to write your own marketing plan
And most importantly you will begin to spend less time on promotion (because
you now know how to) and more on your art.
Price is $60 for a 6-hour workshop -  January 26, 10 AM to 4 PM
Place - Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard
Online reservations at www.marketing4artists.eventbrite.com 


David S. Klein
206-525-6436
davidsklein@comcast.net
http://talent.tpsonline.org/?M=599

[Mari Geasair]

  So here is another interesting on-line article I found about Theatre marketing.

And do post a reply please- let me know if these updates are interesting or if you are politely ignoring it because you just don't care.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The TAO of B.I.T.S. (Butts In The Seats)
rethinking the craft of arts marketing
by marcel
March 25, 2007



ARTS MARKETING of THEATRE
(or... the Internet - it's not just for porn anymore)
by Marcel Nunis (Theatre J'Nerique)

As a playwright, director and producer in the theatre I was plagued for years with these nightmare questions:

How do I push the show without "selling out"?
Will I compromise my "art" by marketing my show aggressively?
How do I compete with big media for an audience on a budget?
Let us first admit to our own sins......

For more visit  http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/5449

[Karen Lane]

Mari -
Yes, speaking for myself, I do find all of this very interesting. Obviously 'promotion' and 'audience development' is a major focus for TPS as an organization.

One little New Year's resolution of high priority for me worth mentioning with discussion follow-up face to face preferred - is to eliminate the language 'Butts in Seats'. I believe that 're-thinking' this marketing paradigm must include the extermination of this label. This label is the label of the 90's - of excess - where the goal was to herd all the folks with all the expendable entertainment dollars through our doors.

What is required today is a relationship of much higher caliber and respect. As folks are attached to the 'butt' as the representation of a sale and filled seat - I suggest the new paradigm we are working to discover and master be called 'Beyond Butts'.

This may seem trite but I just don't think that we can truly discover and understand a new relationship with our audience when the name of our goal is suggestive of a much different time - a time in which we no longer live.

Sincerely,
Karen

[Mari Geasair]

Hey Karen-

Well I think you bring up a really interesting point that actually goes very deep. I would love to have some face-to face follow up with you on it. And I also think it raises some issues that are worth pondering for lots of us.

Far from trite your analysis of the "butts in seats" phrase brings up for me a central question. What do we really want?  You see, from my perspective one of the jobs of a marketing message is to talk about what the audience wants in the terms the audiences use. And we have been talking for at least a decade now about "buts in seats." When I survey theatre producers and administrators they use the phrase again and again. This is why I have used it to promote my workshops and no doubt why  Marcel Nunis used it in the title to his article. So we have been going along with the program there and promoting the benefit that we believe theatre artists want: Buts in Seats.

And that is the problem.

Why would theatre artists REALLY want buts in seats. And do they actually? Or is that just a easy thing to say and a short term fix? I think part of the problem is that we are not very far thinking or audacious in our relationships with our audiences. While we find it easier to say we want deeper, more evocative, more challenging art it is hard to get artists and administrators to really talk about audience development from any place other than lack and panic. We seem to be settling for a very shallow relationship to our patrons."Get some people here now so this show doesn't play to an empty house." Then we move on and get caught up in the art process for the next show and ignore the marketing and audience development conversation until the next numbers crisis.

 Don't we really want to invite audiences into the whole process to become collaborators with us? Don't we want extended community who view our shows as a vital part of their lives and expression of who they are? Hell, don't we want Angel donors and contributors and volunteers and people to deed us buildings and endowments in their wills? Don't we want to be challenged and supported?

As you say there is alot at stake here and- it is way beyond buts.

When we really focus on buts we end up on focusing on numbers not relationships and that eventually leads to audiences with a "prove it to me" attitude not a "share it with me attitude."

That being said- is the benefit of extended relationship with our audiences something that theatre artists care enough about to put time effort and energy into? Or is the marketing and development question only interesting if it is a quick ten minute process of learning the right trick or tactic for getting more buts in seats"?

I am not asking this to be a pain to anyone or to in any way diminish the incredible accomplishments of our community. I think we all DO care deep down. And  I also think we all fall into a blind spot and focus on what will do the trick for now. We will put the time into design and rehearsal and training in our craft- but marketing- that is for business types not for us. I know I take short cuts. It is easy to use the phrase buts in seats to get quick attention instead of looking for ways to move the conversation to the next deeper level.

So thanks Karen for moving it deeper.

And to everyone else-

In terms of your audiences what do you really want in your own words?

[Karen Lane]

Mari,
Yes, thank you. These are exactly the points at which I am trying to get. I just believe deeply in the power of 'naming'. If the 'name' is wrong - it won't be impossible to get there but significantly more difficult.

Karen

[Mari Geasair]

Fabulous! So I am asking everyone who reads these posts to help us out now.

How should we name it?

What is the right language to say exactly what it is we want for and from our audiences. When we market and develop what is the ideal thing we are trying to create?

Ideas? Anyone?

[Phillip Mitchell]

I had a myriad of thoughts around this topic and your request for a new "label" for the goal being served by Marketing and Development.  I found the following on Wikipedia and will quote it here as it summarizes much of what I was thinking.  Bolding is mine.

A Community of Interest is a community of people who share a common interest or passion, such as rugby fans on Rugby365.com, or music lovers on MP3.com. These people exchange ideas and thoughts about the given passion, but may know (or care) little about each other outside of this area. Participation in a community of interest can be compelling, entertaining and create a ‘sticky’ community where people return frequently and remain for extended periods. They sometimes cannot be easily defined by a particular geographical area.

I think the "prove it to me" response to "butts in seats" results when the audience senses that their participation is only really desired at the box office.  It is understandable that they therefore demand to get their money's worth without any other participation.

Mari asks if theatre artists really want audience participation.  Well, I say, they had better.  Someone once said there is no art until there is communication between artist and viewer.  (I apologize for the paraphrase and lack of attribution)  The ART of what we do can only be created in a space with both parties present.  We understand this instinctively when we are bummed by a small or nonresponsive house.  Hell, we'll even rate audiences for their intelligence or enthusiasm.

If we were to approach Marketing and Development from a perspective of building a community (as trite as that may sound) that includes present and potential audience, I propose we'd take different actions.  We might take more of a systemic approach remembering to consider our community in each and every thing we do including: advertising, play selection, volunteer recruiting, board development, educational program development, partnering with businesses, strategic planning, etc.

Here's an example of what I'm thinking about.  Say you live in an area that has the following: 
- Businesses with limited public service money that must be targeted at children in low income homes and education programs.
- Parents who work their 9-5/ M-F jobs even when school is out, especially in low income families
- Kids who are 'at risk' due to socio-economic realities and life 'on the street'
- Theaters who are struggling financially whose audiences are rapidly aging

A theater day camp program offered by one of these theaters utilizing targetted business money for scholarships for low-income families with children can meet all these needs and more.  The businesses get recognized for community involvement, the families get a great place for their kids to be, and income is generated for the theater.  What's more the children learn about theatre but also vital life skills (self-discipline, teamwork, responsibility, etc.) in a safe environment.  They become part of our future performers and/or audience members.  In other words, they become members of our Community of Interest as do their friends and families.  Oh, and the people teaching at the camp might be former 'campers' or other young people who will learn more by teaching than they realize and maybe get their first chance to direct or design.  That's a win-win-win-win-win-win. 

[Roger Tang]

The big thing, I think, is that audience development, marketing, etc. should be changed to a more audience-centric model. What are THEIR needs, what are THEY using your show for, what do THEY get out of it.

Tangent: one of the biggest threads in the Mac/PC flamewars is that some people were arguing that since Apple is the only manufacturer of Macs, then they have a monopoly. This goes about it the wrong way. Products don't define markets; users/audiences do. And they define them with respect to their needs and uses.

I think (and I know Mari teaches this) 95% of all theatres couch their marketing and PR with their own needs in mind and defining it by the product. It's sketch comedy! Come see us! (And the same people complain that people don't know what sketch comedy is, and they have to explain it.....). Aiming marketing and development through the eyes of the audience, by its very nature, strikes closer to the audience than traditional PR/marketing techniques.

And the community of interest is very much a part of this. It defines itself. And since communities want to grow, it can often do the work for you in reaching new people. I note in one fairly successful company, there is a very active, informal community surrounding the shows; the audience members know each other a lot of time (both because they were pre-existing friends, and because they meet each other through the shows). They use the shows as a socializing element, as a bonding element to get closer to each other.

[Kent Phillips]

Interesting thread and probably addresses the biggest issue facing theatre companies: How to attract more audience.  Roger hit the nail on the head.  The key is not to shove what your theatre does down someone's throat.  The key is to figure out what your audience wants and give it to them.   The typical theatre company begins with a group of artists with a vision who create their vision on stage.  "Build it and they will come!"  Guess what, in most cases they don't come.

Roger hit the nail on the head.  Theatre companies forget the golden rule of marketing: DEFINE YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION.   Audience centric thinking...what need do you fulfill?  Be specific (to entertain or to educate is much to vague).  Market the value proposition to the the audience that it fulfills.   The beauty of today's marketing is you don't have to just use postcards, posters, PSA's, Press Releases and the occasional direct mail piece.  90% of that is a waste of time.  Learn about hot zips, email blasts, internet options, google analytics, radio and tv web programs targeted to your value proposition.  Partner with other like products that share your value proposition to expand your dollars and reach.

Finally, the second rule of marketing: NEVER VIOLATE EXPECTATION.   Once you have defined your value proposition, what your theatre delivers to its audience...don't violate it.   I always laugh at theatres that say they need to put in a show "with meat in it"  or worse the reverse "our shows have been too dark, we need to throw in a light comedy to change it up!"   Welcome to theatre in the 60's!   If people want to "change it up" they will go to the theatre that provides that value proposition.  It's like an Oldies radio station, playing a few new songs to attract a new audience.  Not only do they not attract a new audience, they piss off the audience who values them for their oldies music.  Theatres can create a lot of variety within their value proposition. 

[Louise Penberthy]

I used to think marketing was a bad word.  I've learned a lot of things since then.   

But when my dad started designing and manufacturing mountaineering equipment during the late '60s, he didn't do audience surveys or marketing studies to find out what equipment to make. 

He was a mountaineer himself, and he knew from his and his friends' experiences what equipment was faulty or downright dangerous.  He made and sold better equipment.

And people bought it, even though it was more expensive than you could buy at other places.  They knew that a mountaineering stove that could take a quart pan of snow to boiling water in 3 1/2 minutes could save someone's life when they were hypothermic.  Even if it did sound, in one climber's words, "like an SST taking off."

My dad was an engineer as well as an avid mountaineer, and he had the intelligence and the ability to make good mountaineering equipment.

John Doe could survey mountaineers and ask them what they want, but that same John Doe might not have the ability to do the work.

What's more, what those mountaineers said they wanted would not necessarily be what they would buy.  Cognitive psychologists know that what people say they want, corresponds far less to what they actually will buy than they think it will.

If you're not good at something and you don't like doing it, you will do it poorly or shoot yourself.

I say, do good art and let people know about it.  Be as wise in your marketing as you are about your art.


P.S.  My dad's company, if you're interested, is Mountain Safety Research.  REI bought it and sells its products still.

[Kent Phillips]

Bingo!  That's it Louise.  Your Dad, based on his experience found a need, fulfilled on the value proposition, didn't violate expectation (the device worked) and had success.

Same concept with theatre.  Find a need that you can fulfill.  If there is no need or desire for the type of theatre you want to do, no amount of marketing can help you.   Maybe there is a need for hispanic language theatre for the growing population,  theatre focused on environmental issues...whatever.   Once you figure out the need and a way to fulfill it you have your value proposition.  Don't violate that proposition (do good focused work) and then market to the groups most likely to come to your theatre.  If it is hispanic language target hispanic core hot zips with mailers, use google analytics for email blasts, buy KDDS or KKMO Hispanic radio, partner with other hispanic businesses for events and marketing.

Being audience centric, doesn't mean doing mainstream theatre...it means finding your niche, creating art to fulfill it, sticking to your niche and then marketing to the core audience that will benefit.   Again, we make this way too hard.

[Keith Dahlgren]

Okay, gotta step in here with my Devil's Advocate horns on.

If we spend all of our time asking what the audience wants and then trying to give it to them, we end up with a lot of Three's Company, a lot of music by the Archies, and a lot of American Pie sequels.  We can't keep looking for the Lowest Common Denominator.  If we go ahead and ride the pendulum all the way to the other side, we get a lot of pap.  Is that a price we're willing to pay for more audience?

Roger says, "I think (and I know Mari teaches this) 95% of all theatres couch their marketing and PR with their own needs in mind and defining it by the product."  So we should define ourselves by what? Should we abandon Sam Shepard for all time and only perform Mame? Over and over and over again?

Sure, we can go in for mass marketing.  Marketing, as Kent says, is no longer just posters and postcards.  It's email and televison and radio (and expensive!)  But do we allow that to define our product? 

Our product, live theater, is a luxury. It's not essential, it's not something people can't live without. Much as we want to believe it does, it doesn't save people's lives like Louise's dad's equipment may.  We believe in it, of course. But its value is in its integrity.  How do we sell that?

[Lantz Wagner]

Two points really struck me going through the past few posts on this thread.  Though I'm just a little ol' actor (no marketing/artistic director/PR experience here), I felt inclined to post.

The two comments that struck me were Kent's "Theatres can create a lot of variety within their value proposition" and Keith's "But [live theater's] value is in its integrity".  I think that largely (there are certainly other factors involved), a theater's integrity lies in the variety within its value proposition/vision.

Variety can keep a theater from going stale, bring in fresh material, present pieces relevant to the times, bring more actors to the audition because of work that isn't done as much and bring new people into the audience who otherwise may not have come.  If you are a theater that, for instance, only does comedies, look within the grand scope of the genre.  Neil Simon can be fun, but not 15 Neil Simon shows in a row.  Or do a couple Neil Simon shows and fill it in with Durang or Steve Martin (as an example), or Moliere (hey--you don't have to pay rights!).  There's other playwrights out there that are funny (and poignant at the same time) that both actors and the audience can appreciate because it is a break from the norm (or the Lowest Common Denominator, as Keith calls it).  This, of course, all depends on your audience/demongraphic--but I think even a small introduction of new material that is not part of the same old, same old can bring a more healthy balance to what a theater has to offer. In my mind, a theater should listen to its audience (who is always changing as time goes on) and also take the great risk of breathing new life into itself with new material without violating its vision.

Or...we start a theater that does musicals based on sitcoms.  "Three's Company! The Musical!"

Sweeet.

Ah well, my two bits.