Gene Carr's Patron Technology Blog

The Internet is for....

If you saw the musical Avenue Q, you'll know the answer to "the Internet is for_____."  And if you didn't I won't ruin the song. (If you must, you can cheat  here.)  

I am realizing is that the Internet for consumers started out answering that question with the response "information" which in most cases meant words.  From articles, to wikipedia, to blogs, the web initialy was about word-based content.

What I see happening is that the Web becoming all about pictures. If you look at the time spent on social media sites, as reported by e-Marketer you'll see that after Facebook, the next two sites on which people spend the most time are Tumblr and Pinterest. That surprised me because we hear "Facebook and Twitter" in the same breath all the time. Twitter is for words, Tumblr and Pinterest are for pictures. And pictures are where people spend the most time.  It's also the case the smartphone users are beginning to watch a lot of video on these devices. 

This is relevant for anyone that manages a website today. It seems like the more pictures, the more video, the more engagment. And the more engaged people are the more likely they are to buy a ticket.  

Valentine's Day, Huh?

This week's guest blogger is Shannon McGilly, Manager of Business Affairs and Analytics here at Patron Technology.

Why Should You Start Thinking about Valentine’s Day in May? 

It’s nearly May, so Valentine’s Day is probably the last thing on your mind, but, here in the office, we’ve been thinking about it a lot! Over the past two years we’ve noticed a big jump in donations and ticket sales on February 14^th. So, what’s going on?

Let’s look at our aggregated data. This is aggregated data from over 200 organizations that use our PatronManager CRM system and for whom we process credit card transactions. This data represents approximately $14 million in ticket sales, subscriptions, and donations since 2011.

Let’s look at this data and see what we can learn and how you can use this insight to boost sales and donations next February.

First, just how special is Valentine’s Day? How does Valentine’s Day compare to other days in February and in the year? So far in 2012, Valentine’s Day has been the biggest day in ticket sales and donations of the year – and by a wide margin. Last year, too, Valentine’s Day was a big one -- February 14^th and 15^th together accounted for 26% of February’s dollar donations and 7% of the number of donations made in that same month. In 2011, the 14^th alone contained one out of every ten donations made in the entire month of February.

See how striking the jump from February 13^th to 14^th is? That’s a 325% jump from one day to the next! Compared to typical days at other points in the year, this same pattern holds up – Valentine’s Day is booming. It’s still short of the big donation days at the end of the year, but considering patrons’ purse strings might be a little tighter as they prepare their taxes and recover from overspending during the holidays, mid-February makes an especially strong showing.

In fact, Valentine’s Day this year ranks as the fourth highest day in ticket and subscription sales ever processed through PatronManager. Is this just a fluke? That donations and ticket and subscription sales all jump up on February 14^th certainly is surprising no matter how you slice it. Digging into the data reveals that lots of tickets to galas are sold in February, many of which are recorded as donations, but we also see that regular, non-gala donations make up a larger-than-usual slice of donations on Valentine’s Day than the rest of the month. 

But why? My theory is that it’s not only gifts between lovebirds but also gifts for wedding anniversaries. Valentine’s Day is a very popular day for weddings, and what better last-minute wedding or anniversary gift for the couple who has everything than a night out on the town, including tickets to a show? It’s also interesting that tickets are purchased on Valentine’s Day itself and not in advance, which adds further support to my theory. What’s a better last minute Valentine’s Day gift than a ticket? 

Have a look at your own sales data – does it reflect this trend as well?

So, next year, as heart-shaped boxes of chocolates start taking over drugstore shelves and champagne is featured at the wine shop, consider how you might use this knowledge to help your organization get a bigger piece of this busy day. This seems like a great time to ask for donations or to feature a last-minute discount on pairs of tickets for both couples and their friends to use.

Valentine’s Day is a social holiday. Try sending a promotion, an ask, or a love letter to your patrons on social media and see if the response surprises you. Maybe you’ll convert a secret admirer into a smiling donor.

How Frequently Should You Post to Facebook? Frequently.

I was in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia last week giving seminars based on my book Breaking the Fifth Wall, which is about e-marketing, social media, and CRM.  In the social media section, I showed some research we have done that suggests that posting to your organization's Facebook page a few times a week, (or even daily) is a good idea, since 84% of arts patrons who say they follow an arts organization on Facebook, log on to Facebook at least a few times a week. 

If you're still on the fence about how valuable Facebook has become, I just read an article in the The Huffington Post, a portion of which I've cut and pasted below, which reports statistics just released by Facebook, which adds more context to my recommendation:    

• Monthly active users now total 901 million (up from 680 million a year ago).
• Daily active users are up to 526 million (up from 372 million last year).
• Monthly mobile users now total 488 million.
• 300 million photos are uploaded to the site each day.
• 3.2 billion Likes and Comments are posted daily.
• 125 billion friendships are forged per day.

Like vs. Opt-in: Why E-mail Wins

About a decade ago I started evangelizing e-mail marketing as a new, super-powerful marketing tool for organizations that sell tickets or memberships. It was tough slogging at the beginning, but what ultimately turned the tide was the evidence that when a patron opted-in to your mailing list they were giving you explicit permission for you to market to them. And when patrons give you their permission to market to them, open rates and response rates go up and so does your ROI.

Year after year the power of the opt-in has proven true, and every new technology that has come along to displace e-mail marketing (podcasts, RSS, Facebook messages, etc.) hasn't done so. Recently, David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, "The Lessons of Email: Using Digital Touchpoints for Customer Loyalty," states:

Email marketing has been around for a long time, so it might not have the same sizzle as newer, hotter marketing channels. But don't confuse lack of flash with lack of effectiveness. Consumers are more open to email messaging than most other digital marketing, and it still gets results.

And on top of this, nearly half of all consumers consider ads in e-mail in a positive light, nearly twice that of ads on Facebook:

So let's turn to Facebook, currently reigning supreme as the "it" medium for marketers. What troubles me is that the driving goal for many arts marketers seems to have shifted away from "Join our mailing list" to "Like us on Facebook." I see the latter phrase in print ads and on television and I think it's a mistake.

Sure, I'm all for social media. But the equation in social media is radically different from that of e-mail. Liking a Facebook page is not the same as an explicit opt-in to receiving marketing messages. In fact, as we wrote in our recent book, approaching social media this way and making your Facebook page sound like a billboard advertisement is precisely the wrong communication approach. Yes, you can get the word out about your events on Facebook and it should be part of your overall marketing mix, but an ROI-focused sales campaign within Facebook won't produce anywhere near the results that e-mail does.

Now, let's go a bit deeper and discover why people "opt-in" to e-mail lists: discounts.

And, not surprisingly, this turns out to be the number one reason why people "like" a brand or organization on Facebook:

At this point, it's fair to say that most cultural organizations have conditioned their cost-conscious patrons that they should wait for discounts, and delivering them with e-mail is highly effective. Our own research backs up this fact: in our 2010 study, 66% of arts patrons we surveyed said that e-mail marketing was the "most effective" means of letting them know about last minute ticket discounts.

This results in a simple syllogism. If e-mail delivers the best marketing results and e-mail recipients want discounts, then when you're offering discounts, e-mail marketing should be your medium of choice. I know this post is going to make me seem old-fashioned. In the world of social media, I'm still harping on e-mail. And given the number of questions I get in live seminars about Pinterest, I risk coming off as pretty old school. But don't let today's fashion deter you. Data, research, and ROI should guide your thinking.

Yes, please do all the social media you have time for. But when you need quantifiable results in a jiffy, go back and redouble your efforts in e-mail marketing. Here's an ad I saw on a train recently that ties this all together.

Here's a major brand marketer which clearly recognizes the value of an e-mail sign-up. Rather than motivating a "like" on Facebook, they're literally paying people to sign up for their e-mail list in the form of a discount which could be worth about $100. So keep building your e-mail list because it's the strongest digital relationship you can have with your patrons today.

Sad Men: Why Don Draper Hates Your Sponsorship Strategy

Today's guest blogger is Nathan Anderson, Client Success Manager here at Patron Technology.

“Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you're doing is OK.”--Don Draper

AMC’s critically acclaimed television series Mad Men recently returned from an 18 month hiatus, and I’m over the moon about it. Mad Men is my favorite TV show because it delicately reveals how we negotiate our lives through a constantly changing world. To help tell that story’s main theme, show creator Matthew Weiner chose the 1960s advertising industry as its primary metaphorical vehicle.

Can you believe anyone in 2012 likes this show?

It’s almost inconceivable to think someone could romanticize advertising. We have basically determined that ads are the cynical scourge of our modern media experiences. We can’t see an Internet page, watch a YouTube clip, use a mobile application, listen to a podcast, or watch a movie, TV show, or live art presentation without being “assaulted” by an ad. In fact, if you want a “better” media consumption experience your option is usually to pay more money and remove the ads.

This Internet scenario will probably sound familiar:

You’re reading an online article, and all of the sudden a full page advertisement about a car you may or may not want to purchase envelops your computer screen. You quickly look for the “X” to close it, and when you eventually fail, you reluctantly sustain the 30 seconds of video or flashy images, watch it disappear, and then gradually remember what in the world you were reading in the first place. At best, it wasted your time; at worst, you got frustrated and closed your browser without even seeing what you came there to see in the first place. One thing I bet didn’t happen: you ended up liking that advertised brand more.

Advertisements are here to stay, and when you subsidize your organization with advertising in your programs and inside (maybe even outside) your venue you help your bottom line. But what can you do to pull a Don Draper and make people happy after seeing them rather than indifferent or, worse, annoyed? Here’s one simple idea to understand yet challenging to execute:

Choose relevant partners.

I know. You’re absolutely thinking, “We will take money from anyone who offers it” or “In a good year  we can get one or two sponsors -- we don’t have a choice.” And I will admit that both scenarios are totally understandable considering the economy today. But before you paper your next program with 131 untargeted ads, ask yourself this question: What are you giving up when you accept any and all advertising dollars? I would submit you’re giving up the chance to delight and surprise your patrons.

Just like with anything else that yields a great result, this is going to take some thoughtful work. Did a new music store just open in town? Are you performing a Corelli Sonata in your season? Those two are an obvious match. On your last arts patron survey did you discover that a majority of them like sewing as a hobby? Is there a fabric store in your town? If you went to that store and pitched this to them you have another clever match.

Every time you take in money from a sponsor you need to ask yourself if that brand association can make your patron base happy. If you decide to take that sponsor regardless, know that you’re potentially creating a valueless “pop-up ad” your patrons can’t remove with an “X.” Is there a palpable harm there? Maybe not. We’re all used to the barrage of ads. But if you were more thoughtful and targeted in your presentation of those ads, what would happen? I would take this question to your front of house speeches, lobby ads, and anything you plaster up in the restrooms or outside of your venue. If it’s not going to make them happy, it’s probably not worth doing.

Now, if all this sounds like un-executable nonsense...

...then at least try this: create programs (or patron experiences) without ads for your subscribers/members. If you can’t make your patrons happy with your ad campaigns, then create a way out of them. Although this sly move will anger Don Draper, Dick Whitman will absolutely approve.

Blog Bonus: Here’s a link to my all-time favorite ad (turns out...it makes me happy.)

 

Confessions of a Non-Subscriber

This week's guest blog post was written by Greg O'Neill, Account Executive here at Patron Technology.

I have a confession to make.  Despite the fact that I’ve been in theatre pretty much all of my life, having studied it on the graduate level, and even though I’ve acted in a wide range of theatrical events-- from the classics to my own original works-- I have yet to do something that most people who are serious about theatre tend to do: buy a subscription!

At the ripe young age of 47, I have managed to elude doing something that would not only appear to fulfill a basic need for someone in the arts but something that’s also just plain smart business for anyone who regularly attends arts events. 

How has this happened?  It’s actually not as mysterious as it might seem at first glance.  During my days in grad school, I was surrounded by free or next-to-free theatre, all of which was offered as part of my education.  As I struck out into the local audition circuit, I landed roles.  Sure, many were small, but that didn’t matter.  What did matter was that I was becoming part of “the scene,” so I was often getting invited by other thespians to attend their shows at other venues.  These were almost always “comp” offers, which I reciprocated. Actors rarely pay for most of the theatre they see.  It’s one of the few fringe benefits to the otherwise “starving” lifestyle.

I remember how surprised I was, when I finally landed the prized Equity Card, to learn that one of the benefits of belonging to the union was a discount on theatre tickets and the opportunity of acquiring Equity “rush” tickets.  By the time I hit 30, I’d learned to believe I’d never have to pay full price for a theatre ticket for the rest of my life.

Well, life went on and I eventually found myself among the many actors/writers/producers that need more financial stability in their lives than the peripatetic thespian lifestyle allows.  It’s an age-old story, and I’m not at all embarrassed to admit it.  I knew the odds when I entered the artistic arena.  Creativity is its own reward, as they say.  (That’s why, for the non-creative needs in life, I always found myself working part-time in sales and marketing.  The skills I learned in those arenas always also applied to my theatrical career.)

I’ve been with Patron Technology for just shy of six years now.  I haven’t given up the dream of writing a hit play (even if it only runs in the underground circuit, Off-Off Broadway) or even the next titillating memoir to land on artsy bookstore shelves.  But I am ready to give up this notion that I should rely on personal connections or on my Equity card for theatre tickets. 

Lately, the businessperson in me has been asking the thespian in me, “Isn’t it time you found a theatre with programming you like enough to buy its subscription package?”  The benefits are obvious.  For me as a businessperson there are discounted seats.  For me as a thespian there is the chance to experience an entire season produced by one of my favorite theatres. 

Now that I’ve made the decision to subscribe, I’ve got my eyes peeled for just the right theatre to subscribe to.  Will it be the programming that makes me write a check for an entire season’s worth of shows or will it take more? 

It will take much more!  My businessperson side scoffs at the idea of making a big-ticket purchase based solely on the titles of the plays in any given theatre’s season.  After all, if I want another retrospective on O’Neill or another deconstruction on postmodernism, I can re-read my textbooks or just fill up my Netflix queue with truly dry material.  No, for me to subscribe to a theatre’s entire season, I’ll expect that theatre to have reached out to me.  I will expect that theatre to have a season that is properly aligned with its mission statement.  And I will expect the marketing and development efforts I receive from that theatrical organization to be in alignment with its mission, too.  In other words, I expect an experience from the organization that transcends the experience of any one of its shows.  I expect to have some sort of relationship with the organization and its mission.

I want an organization to stay in touch with me, to remind me of why it exists, to court me, and to woo me into wanting to be part of its mission, too. 

As arts marketers, we should be aware of two things:  there are always opportunities that we might not have considered, as in this case of the adult thespian who’s never subscribed, and, more often than not, it takes more than interesting content to attract a subscriber --  it takes a relationship.

Prices Going Up? Or Down?

I've been in four cities in the last seven days giving seminars and having meetings with arts marketers and executive directors. Reflecting back on these conversations, I'm sensing a few themes relating to ticket sales and pricing.

Many organizations are reporting better subscription activity and better single ticket sales. Compared to a few years ago, managers seem to be optimistic about the direction of their earned income. I don't know how this correlates with an overall economic recovery, but there is more positive conversation than negative, and that's significant. 

The most interesting theme is that the premium seats are selling out, those at the very top of their pricing scale. There's a lot of talk about dynamic pricing, and often that translates into edging premium ticket prices higher as the house gets sold and the show date gets nearer. 

On the other side, I'm hearing that the trend of discounting knows no bounds. Aggressive discounting is becoming more and more entrenched as companies like Goldstar, Groupon, and others successfully move large numbers of tickets at a deep discount.

This puts some organizations in a position where they are selling their shows out, but because of these discounts they don't meet their budgets and their organizations are in crisis.  And yet I hear managers uniformly worried about raising prices, because "our patrons can't afford it."  

Pricing is never easy. But what I sense is that those organizations that are taking the time rethink their pricing strategies and adjusting to the market seem to have an edge. 

 

Socialize! Spreading Good Will Through Social Media

This guest blog post is by Ben Bromberg, Client Services Representative here at Patron Technology.

It’s not something I’m always proud to say, but I’m on Facebook a lot. And if you’re like me, you have to manage your intake. If I followed every business and brand that I like, my Facebook account would be flooded, and I’d miss my cousin’s engagement news between Dorito’s promotions.

So, for your arts patrons to choose to add your organization’s news and updates alongside those of their friends and family demonstrates a certain level of loyalty. Thus, you should consider your followers a particularly valuable group, and you should make them feel that way.

How do you do that? Well, what makes social media unique from other marketing outlets is in the opportunity it has to start a conversation. If you personalize your responses and look for opportunities to wow your patrons, you will give them a reason to sing your praises.

To illustrate this, here’s a story of a particularly incredible social media interaction between blogger Peter Shankman and Morton's Steakhouse. The full story is worth reading, but here's the summary: a frequent diner at Morton's Steakhouse, Shankman jokingly tweets, as he's boarding a plane from Tampa to Newark, that he'd like Morton's to be waiting for him at the airport with a porterhouse when he lands. The request is clearly tongue-in-cheek, but when he lands in Newark and meets his driver in the baggage claim area there is a tuxedoed Morton's employee with a steak dinner in a to-go bag waiting with him.

Shankman is quick to share the story with his blog followers, who are amazed enough to share it with their friends, who continue to pass it along. To this day, I define the character of Morton's by this story, a tale that quickly communicates, this is what this company is all about.

The secret weapon in this story is CRM. As Shankman mentions in his blog post, Morton's has a great social media team and makes good use of a CRM system, so they knew when they saw his tweet that he was not only a loyal, valued customer, but an influential blogger. For Shankman, this was a "wow!" moment and for Morton’s it was a social media coup.

But it doesn't take bringing a steak to an airport for your organization to wow patrons. All it takes is a little bit of personalized attention when they aren’t expecting it. You don't need a team of social media experts to pull this off; it only takes the occasional gesture. 

For instance, if a patron uses Facebook or Twitter to ask when tickets go on sale, don't just send them a date. Look them up! Maybe you’ll notice that for the past few shows, the patron always sat in the same section. So, instead of replying, "Tomorrow at 10," you can respond with, "Tickets are on sale tomorrow at 10, Tom. But we've already reserved your favorite seat in Row A!"

No matter how big or how small, going the extra mile to personalize your customer service experience will always elicit a "Wow" response. Give just a small handful of patrons who are active on social media an experience like this and I’ll bet they start speaking pretty highly of you.

Facebook and Twitter aren’t just web pages; they’re tools for influencing your patrons to spread the word about your organization. So use them! Treat your fans right and you’ll get more fans -- good business is good business. Even in the era of social media, this same old adage proves true.

What's the Same about the Arts & State Government?

As I was leaving my health club last week, I happened to hear the end of an interview on one of the early morning financial shows with the Governor of Delaware, Jack Markell. And what I heard made me think that the situation in state government is in many ways similar to the arts, but the narrative is very different. 

Markell said that he was proud of the fact that during his administration he had reduced the size of Delaware's government by about 1,000 workers, out of a total of 15,000. He admitted that that that number didn't sound very impressive, but the fact is that when the economy goes south, people's need for goverment goes up, so it's hard to cut staff in times like these.

In the arts and pretty much any live events, similarly, it's hard to cut costs and still do what you do. You can't do a Mahler symphony with 35 musicians, and you can't do "Twelve Angry Men" with a cast of five. So we, just like goverment, know that no matter how bad the economy is, there aren't easy ways to cut costs.

Markell then went on to say "that's why we are going to wring out all the inefficiencies we can out of our system."  In essence he's saying that if government systems and operations can be made more efficient, that's the same as increasing your budget. That was pretty much his whole pitch -- the only place to improve is in the area of efficiency. 

The truth is we're in the efficiency business ourselves, since efficiency is one of the key benefits of our new PatronManager CRM. It's technology that enables naturally occuring collaboration, so staff can work faster and smarter and waste less time.

So, as I left the health club, I began to wonder, why isn't efficiency a major topic at every arts conference?  Why don't we discuss this with as much gusto as we talk about audience development? Maybe, in addition to artistic and innovation awards, should there be awards for executive directors who can build their organizations and increase efficiency at the same time? 

Are your Patrons on Facebook? (and Other Reasons We Need Good Research)

Before I get started, at the end of this article is an invitation for your organization to participate in a national arts patron research study in March. You can skip right to that now by clicking here.

I've got a real passion for consumer research, particularly since there's so little of it in our industry. That's why I was delighted to read about the Intrinsic Impact study that was released last week.

For the past eight years at Patron Technology we've been working on an annual nationwide study to understand the online habits and interests of arts patrons. We partner with 10 to 15 of our clients who send an identical survey to their patrons, reaching in most cases over 50,000 recipients, and getting us about 10,000 responses each year.

Multi-year research projects like this begin to pay off only after years of effort, as trends which can help managers change their course of attention begin to appear. We started this in 2002, well before Facebook, YouTube and blogs ruled the Internet. And, in the past few years some amazing trends have begun to reveal themselves. Before I share these, let me remind you that dramatic swings in consumer behavior are very rare. I'm sure you see this with the open rates of your e-mail campaigns. Changes of 1% or 2% in a year are typically seen as significant.

So, consider these facts about what arts patrons have done online between 2007 and 2011:

• Reading of blogs increased by 32%, from 34% to 45%
• Watching an online video increased by 80%, from 31% to 56%
• In 2011, 1.5% of respondents said Facebook and Twitter were the most effective way they kept up with an arts organization they were interested in
• There was a 459% increase of those who say they check between 50% to 100% of their email on their mobile devices.

And finally, in 2011, 17.5% of arts patrons said they followed an arts organization on Facebook.

We now have so much good data now that we're planning to turn this multi-year study into a publication. This is where you come in. We want to make this year's study extremely broad and representative.

We'd like to broaden our reach this year and we're inviting any arts organization to apply to participate. There's no cost to this, and you get the results nearly immediately after the survey is fielded. We then aggregate the data of all the participating organizations into a national data-set.

So if you'd like to apply be part of this study, and the forthcoming publication, please click here.

Needless to say, I'll keep you posted as we get results in.