Strategy discovery: use Apple’s Siri to help patrons find your arts organization via mobile voice search
I recently got the new iPhone 4S. One of the most interesting features of the new iPhone 4S is “Siri,” the phone’s digital assistant. Siri is pretty amazing, and I feel that she represents the “next big thing” in how people soon will find information about your arts and cultural organization. If you’re not familiar with .. read more
Siri, what’s playing at the San Francisco Symphony tonight?
Siri, what’s playing at the San Francisco Symphony tonight? You’ve come to the right place, Siri user! Tonight at the Symphony: Katharine Hanrahan Open Rehearsal: Esa-Pekka Salonen and Leila Josefowicz Thu, Dec 8, 2011 10:00am Davies Symphony Hall $22 to $39 Leila Josefowicz, violin Experience a San Francisco Symphony concert in the making! Open Rehearsals offer audience .. read more
How to hold a (successful) “tweet seats” event in the theater
Whether you are a firm believer, casually interested, or crazy-never-in-my-theater against, “Tweet Seats,” are being experimented with at venues across the world. The segmentation of specific seats in a venue to be used by people with their smartphones *during* performance is only a couple of years old, but has created two sharply divided groups. Let’s .. read more
My picks for the top 50 tweets of the Americans for the Arts (AFTA) 2011 Conference
I wasn’t able to attend the Americans for the Arts (AFTA) conference this year, but I did get to participate in the next best thing: following the conversation on Twitter. Lots of great discussion and opinions. But unless you were following 24/7, you may have missed some gems. So, I’ve gone through the entire stream .. read more
Arts discount-ticketing strategies: what to avoid and why — part 2
In my last post, I spent some time talking about advance sales and discount ticketing strategies, as well as how it’s too easy to train the patron to wait for a better deal if you offer large discounts late in the game. I mentioned that “the right thing to do here is create a marketing .. read more
Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance releases Groupofminds mobile app vendor selection research
In the summer of 2010, The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance commissioned Groupofminds to research mobile app development firms in an effort to identify mobile app vendors making significant strides in apps for arts and culture. Now that the research is complete, GPCA has generously released the report to the arts and cultural community, so that .. read more
Arts discount-ticketing strategies: what to avoid and why — part 1
Pricing and marketing arts event tickets isn’t easy. When faced with the need to “put butts in seats” it can be tempting to do whatever it takes. In this article, I hope to give you some explanations on why some discounting strategies would be a better choice than others, and help you avoid some short-term .. read more
Proof: How social media sold a theatre ticket on Facebook
Social media and the arts: tracking the elusive social media ROI I hear a lot of opinions about social media these days. A lot of them are positive, from people who have the time to experiment and build real relationships. And a lot of them are negative, from people who “tried it, but it didn’t .. read more
The perils of using volunteers for vital arts business tasks
When it comes to picking the people who are going to run your audience development initiatives (be it the producer of the show, the person writing your email newsletters, or the person sending out your press releases, etc.) organizations generally have two choices: barter for cheap or free using an existing relationship with a volunteer .. read more
Online video: is YouTube hurting your brand?
Image via Wikipedia Online video is one of the most effective and personal ways you can communicate your arts and cultural messages. And YouTube continues it’s reign as the most popular online video sharing site. After five+ years in business the company recently announced that YouTube’s viewership now exceeds that of all three networks combined .. read more
