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Inside the Cultural Consumer's Mind: Trends in Consumer Behaviors
Related to Arts Participation

In 2001, Audience Insight surveyed over 50,000 individual ticket buyers, members and visitors to a wide range of cultural institutions, and interviewed over 15,000 adults across the U.S. in random sample telephone surveys. Much of this data is publicly available. For the first time, the arts industry is beginning to accumulate information on how consumers construct cultural outings, what sorts of decision processes are at play, what motivates them to attend, and how they relate to the product offerings in a given market. Alan Brown will present an overview of key trends in consumer behaviors related to arts attendance, including highlights from a national study of U.S. cultural consumers conducted in 2001. Following the presentation, participants will be invited to discuss what these trends mean for their organizations.

Strategic Communications: Discovering, Defining and Reinforcing Your
Organization's Brand Identity through Strategic Communications
In a competitive marketing environment, brand equity and market positioning are not just jargon borrowed from the commercial sector, but critical elements to a systematic plan for institutional development. This workshop provides an opportunity for arts managers to develop and refine their approaches to branding and strategic communications. Prior to the session, participants will be asked to prepare a 1-page "situation analysis" and will be asked to submit copies of brochures, press releases, web pages and other communication pieces. Using a combination of peer review and facilitated discussion, each participant will receive direct feedback on their institutional identity and suggestions for how it might be enhanced. The goal of the session is to leave participants with practical ideas about how to proactively manage their organizations' public identities.

Collaborative Marketing: An Emerging Trend
What do arts and cultural organizations stand to gain from collaborating on marketing and audience development? This presentation covers best practices in cooperative cultural marketing, from mailing list co-ops to community ticketing centers and shared group sales operations. Participants will also get an up-to-date status report on the various cooperative marketing programs in various stages of development across the U.S. Following the presentation, participants will discuss both the benefits and challenges of cooperative marketing from both the institutional and consumer perspectives, and share their own experiences, concerns and questions.

Audience Research in Practice
Participants will gain an overview of the range of research methods used to learn about audiences and prospects, including telephone, postal, and intercept surveys, focus groups and depth interviews, customer data file analyses, and other innovative approaches to understanding how people arts and cultural programs, and how they make decisions about cultural outings. A framework for approaching research over the long-term will be discussed, and case studies from real audience research projects will be used to illustrate different approaches to research. Finally, participants will receive practical suggestions on how to organize a research effort, and how to maximize the value of results

Customer Segmentation (Advanced level)
Over the past twenty years, sociologists and arts marketers have developed a host of behavioral and marketing models in an effort to understand arts participation (sociologists) and ticket buying (marketers). This workshop consists of a presentation and discussion of the research literature on models of arts participation and arts consumer behaviors, including the early arts adoption models, leisure lifestyles, VALS, geodemographics, theories of behavior change, the RAND model of arts involvement, and some of the newest consumer segmentation models developed around specific art forms. The goal of this session is to offer participants an overview of the conceptual models and marketing frameworks that might be useful in thinking about their daily work.

Writing the Marketing Plan: Parts 1 and 2
Part 1: The ABC's of Writing the Marketing Plan
Especially designed for staff members of small and mid-sized arts and cultural organizations, this workshop leads participants through the basic steps creating a marketing plan. Topics of discussion include market definition and targeting, campaign planning, timing, execution and evaluation, packaging, pricing and ticketing, as well as how to manage the planning process itself. Participants will be asked to fill out worksheets in advance of the session, and should leave with a clear sense of how to craft a simple and effective marketing plan.

Part 2: Marketing Dollars and Sense
Designed as a follow-up to Part 1, this workshop focuses on the quantitative aspects of marketing planning, including figuring quantities and budgeting for direct mail campaigns, cost savings opportunities, leveraging sponsorships to reduce campaign costs or to increase exposure, scaling the house and pricing strategies. Tracking mechanisms to assist in the evaluation of marketing campaigns will also be discussed including such metrics as dollar return per dollar spent and advertising cost per seat.

Creating Brochures That Sell
Season brochures are more than pretty pictures and program information about upcoming events; they are critical vehicles for communicating your organization's core values, and for closing a sale. This interactive workshop starts at the planning process and addresses the important role of sales brochures in your overall communication plan. Topics of discussion include writing copy that sells, content, use of photography illustrations, type, and other design elements, as well as suggestions for working with graphic designers who don't always understand the sales objective. Participants are encouraged to bring their own brochures for peer feedback.

Improving Direct Mail Results
Learn how to advance your direct mail efforts to the next level of sophistication through research and campaign planning and back-end evaluation. List sources, including house files, traded lists, response lists, and compiled lists will be discussed, as well as list hygiene and merge/purge processes. A template will be provided for figuring mail quantities based on sales goals and historical response rates. Strategies will be discussed for renewal, acquisition, and prospecting campaigns. Participants will develop an understanding of the resources available to them through a range of outside service providers including list brokers and direct mail service bureaus.

Strategic Marketing Issues for Board Members
Designed especially for board members of arts and cultural organizations, the goal of this workshop is to assist board members in their oversight of marketing activities. An introductory presentation will highlight trends in consumer behaviors, competitive and environmental factors, and systemic barriers to more effective marketing. The role of board members in providing directional guidance and logistical support of marketing activities will be discussed. Critical success factors will be outlined, including marketing resources, maintaining focus on core values, staff structure issues, frameworks for building customer relationships, technology and systems issues, and establishing criteria and measuring marketing performance.