360 Creativity

It's been over a year now since I've joined the Performance Network Theatre team as the Marketing and Public Relations Director. I'm happy to say that I have just about every detail planned for the upcoming season's marketing mix, but trust me I experienced personal doubts and a fair amount of stress while adjusting to the new environment. I think we all experience difficulties when embarking on a new challenge, but that's when we learn and grow into the strongest versions of ourselves. I'm now at the point that I know exactly when the postcards need to go out, when I need to begin writing the press releases, when I should be sending them, who's composing the tweets and pins for every show this season... all while making sure there time for new ideas and efforts. SHA - BAM. MAN it feels good to be an arts marketer!

I was recently asked to present at the Search Marketing Workshop to talk about how a 360 view on your marketing mix can impact social media and vice versa. What I mean by a "360 view" is 1) incorporating old school + new school ideas and 2) getting involved in your brand. I'm not implying that I'm sharing revolutionary ideas, but I can offer a unique perspective on a marketing mix based on my experience at Performance Network. My goal is to share this knowledge with other marketers and help you draw inspiration from your company to influence your message!

1) Old School vs. New School / Old School + New School

source: keyezer

The world of marketing is in a so-called "transition phase" with old and new media, but some marketers are not adhering to the actual TRANSITION. I hear questions such as, "Is direct mail worth the time and money?", "Does Facebook generate anything for our business?", "Should I really be concerned with mobile?", or "Should I really be concerned about sending letters?". The answer is, yes. Gone are the days when organizations should argue if they should even have a social media presence. Americans use social media more than they exercise. YET sometimes the message doesn't cut through the interweb noise until consumers can physically hold a piece of your product's message. In the non-profit theatre industry arts marketers (including myself) may get antsy about writing a large check toward a mailing when social media can be used completely free of cost (sort of), but we can lower that possibility of our audience ignoring our message by strategically targeting those who are receiving the mail piece. (If you are not targeting your mailings, then yeah, you're not going to see results.) The next most important step is to make sure  your social media and online presence are integrated on your materials (postcards, posters, playbills, etc.). How do you highlight your social media in other mediums? Put your official #hashtags on postcards, place the Facebook logo on a poster so audiences are aware of you the next time they're social mediaizing, bring e-mail newsletter sign up sheets to outside events, and do not forget to put ALL of your social media information onto your website. Email me if you want more tips! Why highlight social media on your other materials? Because we are in a transitional phase and you want to show everyone you have a presence on their favorite channels. (There is also a funky myth that older generations only want old media. FALSE. Senior citizens use social media too, people!)  No more old school vs. new school. Combine their powers and engagement will happen.

2) Get Involved with Your Brand

Source: kmov

I am fortunate in my position to be behind nearly every marketing material that is presented to the public. I work at a non-profit theatre that serves thousands of people a year and I am one of seven full time employees and three apprentices. I work with a graphic designer and an apprentice each day. My co-workers are supportive and step outside of the roles of their position to help when it is needed. This is our marketing department and IT'S FASCINATING. There are no mysteries in my marketing mix, because I am lucky enough to oversee all aspects of our brand (community outreach, social media, print, web, press, direct mail, targeting, pricing, consumer experience etc. etc. etc.). If you're involved in only one aspect of your brand, make efforts to reach out to other departments. Attend concept meetings, have lunch with your programmers, swing by the design department and give them all an update in your department. You can collaborate, inform and spark ideas with one another that can evolve into a comprehensive and authentic brand for consumers to explore. When I say get involved, I mean GET INVOLVED! Not that I can hold a candle to our technical team, but I am happy to say I have helped paint and sweep the stage of Performance Network. I helped participate in a 2-hour PNTelethon to raise donations. I helped run the register for our Backstage Sale. All of these experiences have helped me gain a 360 view on Performance Network Theatre and have heavily increased my enthusiasm for the organization. Some of the best ideas come from people outside your department so be ready to get your hands dirty, collaborate and listen!

3) Gather Around the Fire...

...because it's story time! My favorite example of all of these elements coming together is when the Fireside New Play Festival at Performance Network Theatre had its highest attendance in July, 2013. Performance Network is a member of the National New Play Network and strives to produce never before seen works by new playwrights on a regular basis. Three times a year we host the Fireside New Play Festival in which we present four new plays in four days and tickets are Pay-What-You-Can. This is an engaging, challenging, and inspiring program that garners much attention with our audiences, but never resulted in attendance. This was bothering me on an emotional level. I LOVE FIRESIDE. It's actually the first time I got involved at Performance Network when I performed in a staged reading of Joseph Zettelmaier's "Blackwater Ballad". By getting involved in my brand on this sort of level, I had a true desire to boost this program. Even so, we couldn't figure out WHAT we were doing wrong! We sent out press releases, pumped out social media posts, included event info in weekly emails, but we were not reaching the attendance we were certain this program deserved. SO we decided to combine old school and new school media by sending out a postcard. A simple 8.5 x 5.5 postcard printed in-house on cardstock that included the official #PlaysOnFire hashtag to a highly targeted, small list of Ann Arbor residents. THIS WAS OUR HIGHEST ATTENDED FIRESIDE FESTIVAL OF ALL TIME! We packed the house! We had students, seniors, donors, and subscribers that responded to the mailing! This, I believe, is a testimony to the power of unity with all aspects of your marketing mix. We had basically "tapped out" our digital presence for the Fireside New Play Festival and integrated it into another medium...and it worked beautifully!

In conclusion, listen to your voice and combine it with other powerful voices (such as postcards or ideas of other departments!) and you will end up with a successful marketing mix that is totally you and totally great for your brand!