Promotion

All promoters, as the name suggests, spend a good deal of time and energy promoting their events and exhibitions to the widest possible audience.  We put posters up, distribute leaflets and place adverts in newspapers in order to raise awareness about our events, exhibitions and venue, and to encourage people to come along.

• But how many groups and organisations are actually involved in marketing?
• How does marketing differ to promotion?
• And what, if any, are the benefits of using marketing?
  

What is Marketing?

Marketing is a planned and practical way for any group or organisation to achieve its goals (sometimes called mission or vision).

Marketing will allow you to make informed decisions to ensure that you are both doing the right things and doing things right.  This will help you to achieve your goals by targeting your time, effort and resources more appropriately and effectively.
 

Marketing involves promotion as one tool, but also uses a wide range of other tools to achieve our goals – including programming, pricing, the place that we do what we do and how customers can get hold of tickets, positioning ourselves as distinct from other similar local organisations and groups, the process that we have in place for relating to audiences and their needs, the skills and strengths of the people we work with, and a knowledge of the people that we do our work for.

Therefore, unlike promotion alone, marketing goes to the heart of everything that a group/organisation is and does, and puts audiences at the centre of that process.

The marketing planning process is structured and straightforward process which any group or organisation can embark upon.
 

What Marketing is not

There is much suspicion about marketing and its place in the arts.  People hear about marketing most often in relation to hard-nosed business and commerce, and therefore assume that it is not relevant to creative organisations.  Below, we try to dispel some marketing rumours…

• Marketing is not corporate or dull.  It is a highly creative process akin to the artistic process itself.
• Marketing is not about ‘spin’ or misleading people.  Audience members are intelligent people – if you are not totally honest with them, they will find you out!
• Marketing is not a last-minute ‘bolt-on’ to make your programme look more ‘glossy’.  Effective marketing goes to the heart of everything you do.
• Marketing is not the job of just one person in your team.  It is an ongoing process involving everyone, including your board, staff members and volunteers.
• Marketing need not be costly or time-consuming.  In the long-term it should save you time and money by ensuring that you target your time, effort and resources in the most effective way to achieve your goals.
  

Audience Development

Audience Development is a phrase that is often used in the arts now.  This is possibly because it describes one tangible and beneficial result of successful marketing – that is, the development of new audiences for the arts.

So, why develop audiences for the arts?  There are plenty of reasons, but here are just six:

1. Renew audiences.  Relying on the same audience to attend your venue or programme is a risky business.  Every organisation naturally loses audiences members over time and, if you are not working to introduce new audiences to what you do, you will find that your audience numbers dwindle over time.
2. Value for money.  The more you increase your audiences, the better value-for-money you can demonstrate for the cost of your programme.
3. Less reliance on regular attenders.  Increasing your overall audience base means that you need to attract proportionally less of them to each of your events to maintain your audience numbers.
4. Moral and social obligation.  Being a 'community' promoter entails serving the widest possible cross-section of your community.
5. Word of mouth.  It is a proven fact, that the most effective way of marketing events in rural communities is through word of mouth.  Therefore, the more satisfied customers you have, the more successful you will be at attracting new audience members.
6. Funding requirement.  Funders target their resources at bringing new audiences to the arts and, therefore, an organisation that is content to serve the same audience year after year is not a wise investment for them.