1. Objectives and goals of the current marketing program.
a. Revenue goals for different audience segments (subs/members vs. stb/admissions)
This varies by performance, often dramatically. Overall, we sell between 40-45% of our total tickets on subscription and the rest via single ticket marketing. But we often have shows that sell almost entirely to subscribers or, conversely, almost entirely to single ticket buyers.
b. Total marketing budget
Varies per year depending on programming, but performance advertising is usually between $500-600k per season with a budget of roughly $500k to run the department. Individual performance advertising budgets run from $2,500 to $160,000.
c. Organization capacity - personnel
23 full time and 4 part time staff with numerous freelance, project-based contractors
2.Competitor
a. Who does the organization see as competition?
Overall, any entertainment is competition, from the Red Sox, to Hollywood movies, to the Handel and Haydn Society. However, within a given genre we recognize that ticket buyers with certain affinities will gravitate to the same types of performances. This, however, varies by genre and is a very complex matrix.
For example, the Boston Symphony Orchestra may compete with our orchestra performances, but they offer four or more performances of the same program weekly, whereas we only offer one orchestra performance at a time, often of an international orchestra.
They are competition in some ways, but on a limited basis. Since we are primarily in the business of selling artist brands, we are mostly competing for a patron's time rather than in terms of a similar artistic choice.
b. Who are the comparable organizations? (if not direct competitors, modeled after)?
Washington Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.)
San Francisco Performances
University Musical Society (Ann Arbor, MI)
World Music (Cambridge, MA)
c. Are there non-arts organization competitors?
See a.
3. Programmatic marketing inventory
a. Based on the specific things you can do - what are the assets:
i. Is there a subscription or membership program? If so, how many? How much of earned revenue (from ticket sales and membership/subscribers) is it?
It varies from season to season, but subscriptions generally account for 40% of earned revenue. Our subscription model is much more flexible than most and could be described as bundled single ticket marketing.
ii. How large is the email marketing list?
Approximately 50,000 addresses
b. Who are the organization's target audience?
i. Demographics?
ii. Subscribers/Members versus Single ticket buyers/Admissions
For us, this is less about targeting specific demographics than it is pursuing genre affinity. Our average patron age is 56, and our price point is high enough to suggest an older patron, but we do not exclude many potential groups from our plans. Our early subscription on sale (mid-April for the coming season (October - May) does more to segment buyers by behavior than demographics.
c. What is the pricing strategy:
i. By audience segement?
ii. Product (ticketing, subscription) program?
We offer discounts for subscribers on roughly 2/3 of our performances. Subscribers are guaranteed access to the original ticket prices throughout the season, even if we employ dynamic pricing.
Single ticket buyers do not get the subscriber discount. Discount pricing is available to students for most performances and to affinity groups for selected performances.
d. What is the current marketing plan?
i. Media buys
ii. Public relation strategy
iii. Online content: content generation/distribution
I'm afraid this question is too large to answer here. We run 45-50+ individual marketing campaigns each season and they vary widely. I can say that our print advertising spend is shrinking each year and our digital advertising spend is growing.
We also invest heavily in direct mail for subscription and single ticket sales and find that it is among our most effective tools.
Our public relations efforts are handled by several freelance entities on a contract basis.
4. Institutional marketing inventory
a. What events have you done in the past 12 months to raise the visibility of the organization - separate from your usual programs?
b. Who are the target audience for your institutional marketing?
Over the last few years we have undertaken several of what we call Public Performance Projects. They are large in scale and free to the public. The target audience is quite large and general.
c. What do your organization's staff members do in the community? Do they teach at colleges and universities in the area? Serve on boards, associations, or community committees?
Several of our staff members serve on boards currently or have done so in the past, some in the industry and some in the local community (see ispa.org, artsboston.org, jazzboston.org). I am unaware of anyone who teaches at universities though I have spoken to several classes at BU and via adult education programs over the years.