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One State: Together in the Arts
Session report
E-Marketing 1
May 17, 2007
Reported by Deanna Shoss
Moderator: Alex A.G. Shapiro, Illinois Arts Council
Panelists: Al Fleener, Surface 51; Lisa Meid, Surface 51; Andrew Micheli, Arts & Business
Council of Chicago.
Al and Lisa kicked off this very informative session with an overview of how e-marketing fits into
an overall marketing strategy. They defined marketing as “every single manner of communicating
to consumers that encourages them to use your product or service,” and e-marketing as the
“practice of applying digital technologies to achieve your marketing goals”.
Samples of e-marking include email marketing, search engine marketing, social media (e.g. My
Space, Facebook, etc.), banner advertisements, and online video marketing such as on You
Tube.
The Good News is that e marketing is generally less expensive and reaches a more targeted
audience.
The Bad News is that it changes by the hour, and you need to be willing to let it have a life of its
own.
Case studies cited included “art lives here” campaign for www.40north.org as an example of
going “viral”—something that gets passed from person to person to person; www.barrysfarm.com
was an example of the power of going to message boards to announce something; or something
different, as when band member from Nine Inch Nails left jump drives around clubs to ‘leak’ out
new music and get a buzz going around it.
So, what kind of e marketing might an arts manager use?
Web presence—increasingly crucial as a portal to all e-marketing initiatives, but important to give
people reasons to keep coming back to your site, with things like:
• Podcasts—e.g. audio podcasts of music, new releases, etc.; video podcasts of art
openings
• downloadable mp3’s of local music
• notify subscribers of current sales or events, either at your own location or stay current on
things that would interest your constituents
• create eBay auctions of local art and feature it on your website
• Offer an online matching service to pair artists with venues, agents, etc.
• add bloggers to your press release distribution lists
• create local art screensavers, ring tones, etc. that people can download from your site
• create local art e-cards (MOMA has great ones)
Andrew Micheli then talked more specifically about his experience with email campaigns, and
how to get your email subscribers to evolve from subscriber to ticket buyer to donor. He also
emphasized the need to keep giving people a reason to come back to your site.
A successful email campaign might include:
1. Collecting information—get as much info as you can about subscribers
2. Have a ‘sign up’ button on your home page
3. Use email to drive people back to your site—e.g. your e-zine will have links back to different
spots on your site, or such as with www.stagechannel.com, have places on your site where
people can get a quick link to a audio or video of a show.
Also, remind your constituents to link to your page, or to set up their own Facebook or MySpace
page (e.g. if you have an exhibit, remind all of your artists to use their digital connections to drive
people to your site/event.)
Q&A
It is probably a good idea to hire someone to put together templates for your email. As far as how
often to send out messages, as much as you thing subscribers will tolerate—you don’t want
people to opt out because of too much mail. Also, a system such as Constant Contact will help
keep list current by asking subscribers to update their info every 4 months or so.
Marketing and Development should work together to drive traffic to your site. At the end of the
day it’s a matter of numbers—if 1% of all visitors are going to your site buy something from you,
the more who visit, the greater the return.
A well designed, working e-newsletter that you can take over and update your self can cost
between $2,500 and $5,000.
Constant Contact and Patron Mail are two examples of affordable solutions. Look at a variety of
options to see which might best fit your needs.
Good idea to look at your ‘back end’ to see where people are linking from to get to your site. Can
also do surveys on your site to ask, but be sure they are simple and short.
May want to invite someone from an ad agency to be on your board.
One State: Together in the Arts
Session report
E-Marketing 1
May 17, 2007
Reported by Connie Shanahan
Summary:
Al Fleener and Lisa Meid:
Marketing is every manner used to communicate to convince people to use your services. E-
Marketing is the practice of applying digital technologies to achieve your marketing goals.
Emarketing is generally less expensive than traditional marketing techniques; however, it is new
and emerging, and requires additional time and creativity (at least up-front). It often takes on a
life of its own–you must be willing to accept this.
Forms of e-marketing: email marketing, search engine marketing, social media (e.g., Wikipedia,
YouTube, etc), banner advertisements, online video marketing, and this list is growing. A web
presence is increasingly crucial as a portal to other e-marketing ideas.
It is important for you to target your audience and segment it. Note: most gamers are 55+ in age;
MySpace largest demographic group is in their 50's and 60's. NOW is the time to start working
with emarketing, since it will be growing in the future.
The Surface 51 Power Point presentation, list of resources, and hot topics in arts
marketing are available at www.surface51.com/iaa.
Andrew Michelli:
The Arts & Business Council’s current project is an e-marketing incubator, which is training
several organizations in developing their digital marketing efforts (in the absence of resources).
Your central digital home is your website. Everything you do should aim people back to your
website, which means that it has to be interesting enough for people to want to come back to time
and time again.
Start with an email campaign; start growing the list and get as much information as you can. E.g.,
have an e-mail signup on your main web page. You can provide a newsletter or e-blast (a short
message) on a regular basis–offer people something that will enhance their experience. E.g.: an
audio or video clip from your recent show. You can hire someone to put together an email
template. Constant Contact and Patron Mail are two nonprofit-oriented email newsletter
businesses you can look into.
Purpose of website: get people to come back, and bring them one step closer to the experience
you’re offering. You want them to say, “I want to be part of this.”
Other forms of emarketing include online forums or blogs. Mechanisms to let you know what
people want: an online survey; small focus group
Suggestions on what to avoid: not giving enough attention to design, content, message.
Q: For those organizations who don’t have time or money, what should the approach be? Start
with research–who is your audience. Then do a simple e-mail campaign directing people to your
website (assuming you have a dynamic website).
Purpose of e-marketing: to make things more effective, more efficient, so it saves you time in the
long run and allows you to do less grunt work and be more creative.
