{"id":32259,"date":"2015-12-04T14:24:07","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T19:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=32259"},"modified":"2015-12-04T14:50:54","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T19:50:54","slug":"new-rules-for-arts-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/12\/04\/new-rules-for-arts-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"COFFEE BREAK | 15 New Rules For Arts Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"15
Image: Diamond Skull: “For the Love of God” (2007) by Damien Hirst<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arts Marketing is a major part of the business of presenting classical music and opera to audiences. It is about reaching out to the public at arm’s length through advertising, social media, in-house and independent media publishers.<\/p>\n

But promoting classical music is not easy, nor is writing about it for that matter. Finding what works is a little like aiming at a constantly moving target while wearing a blindfold. What worked in the past is\u00a0not necessarily going to work now or in the future.<\/p>\n

James Whittall is the former Director of Marketing and Communications, for the\u00a0Ottawa Chamber Music Festival<\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>Founder at Ignitus Marketing Arts<\/a>. With\u00a0over thirty years of arts marketing experience behind him, he’s<\/span>\u00a0come up with 15 new rules for the tenacious souls working in today’s rapidly changing performing arts sector.<\/p>\n

15 New Rules for Arts Marketing<\/h3>\n

1:<\/strong> An arts marketer\u2019s skill is inversely proportional to the number of exclamation marks he uses in his copy.<\/p>\n

2:<\/strong> If you need more than 70 words to describe your event, don\u2019t bother.<\/p>\n

3:<\/strong>\u00a0As a call to action, \u201cCome join us\u201d is most effective when never used.<\/p>\n

4:<\/strong> Some patrons will always complain about the price, even if it\u2019s free.<\/p>\n

5:<\/strong> Single tickets are your most profitable products. The people who buy them are your most valuable customers.<\/p>\n

6:<\/strong> Save your discounts for groups. Build value, not price breaks, into subscriptions.<\/p>\n

7:<\/strong> Non-attenders think your art form is stuffy and uninteresting because that\u2019s how you market it.<\/p>\n

8:<\/strong> Everyone has an opinion about your work.<\/p>\n

9:<\/strong> If the artistic director has a fabulous promotional idea, it probably isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

10:<\/strong> Your worst brand ambassador is a longtime volunteer.<\/p>\n

11:<\/strong> The difference between a sellout and a half-empty hall is the size of the room.<\/p>\n

12:<\/strong> Board members who worry about the age of your audience don\u2019t know what the hell they\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

13:<\/strong> Marketing can be part of the art form if you think of it that way.<\/p>\n

14:<\/strong> Ticket sales rarely cover costs. The patron experience defines success.<\/p>\n

15:<\/strong> If you don\u2019t know how to do it, make way for someone who does.<\/p>\n

Some contentious stuff here… Especially his thoughts on\u00a0discounts, volunteers, and concerns by board members about the age of audiences. Do you agree? Share your comments below.<\/p>\n

#<\/em><\/strong>MUSICALTORONTO<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review\u00a0before anyone else finds out? Get our exclusive newsletter\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or Twitter<\/a><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15 useful tips for arts marketers working in today’s rapidly changing performing arts sector. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":32260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,4967],"tags":[5715,5714],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/12\/15_tips_for_arts_marketers.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-8oj","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32259"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32288,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32259\/revisions\/32288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32259"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=32259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}