Americans for the Arts

Brian Reich

1) Shiny Object Syndrome. Organizations too often look to technology as the solution to their problems. They suffer from "Shiny Object Syndrome.” Organizations invest in a piece of technology or sign on to a particular platform after reading another organization’s case study, or because the developers/salespeople swear it will deliver a certain result. But the truth is, it is not about the technology -- no widget or tool or database or network on its own will make your audience do anything. Technology can help host a vibrant conversation, facilitate an event, make the delivery of information more efficient (and in some cases compelling), or store all your data. But it won’t raise you money, help people listen, or get people off their couch to attend your performance. Arts organizations need to understand what is changing about how people get and share information and/or how marketing and communications must be adapted through those tools to reflect our more connected society if we are going to drive significant change. The understanding of how people use technology to create, consume, and share information and what their expectations are when it comes to interacting with an organization, or other individuals, is what is most important.

Chloe Veltman

The relationship between public relations professionals and (arts) journalists often feels uneven to me. PR people seem to know much more about -- and are acutely sensitive towards the needs of -- the journalism profession than journalists know are are about PR people, as many PR people have been reporters or editors in the past (journalists rarely come to the profession from a career in marketing). And I think there are a lot of journalists who look down their noses at the PR industry. If a journalist leaves the profession to pursue PR, his or her colleagues will often accuse them of "selling out."

This is ridiculous, as like it or not, journalists rely upon working with good PR people more than they care to admit.

A few weeks ago, the head of one of the PR firms in the Bay Area, David Landis, asked me to participate in a new feature on his company's website called "Meet the Media." I had to answer a few questions about my job and send in a photo. I did what was asked and the result can be seen here.

The exercise made me realize how little I know about David Landis, and most of the other PR people I work with regularly for that matter.

So I decided to ask David if he would return the favor and answer a set of very similar questions to the ones he had asked me so that I could find out about what he does and post the findings on my blog. David obliged.

So here's the first installment of "Meet the Marketer," my response to Landis Communications' "Meet the Media":

What's CRM?  And why are we talking about this at an arts marketing conference?

These questions inspired me to attend today's panel discussion: "The Brave New World of Customer Relationship Management Technology" to find out what CRM was all about, and hear how arts organizations are using it.

Illuminating the topic of customer relationship management in relation to the arts was Steven Roth, President of The Pricing Institute; Ruth Davidson, Director of External Affairs for ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage; and moderator Eugene Carr, Founder and President of Patron Technology who gave Brian Sayre, Director of Ticket Services for PlayhouseSquare's presentation (Brian was not able to make it to the conference).

Mary trudel

Now that’s an interesting question for arts audiences…why are you here?  Research by the Urban Institute and others documents that “someone I know told me about it and asked me to join them.”  Audiences are people first, arts consumers second, and People who need People are the Luckiest People in the World! (As Barbra Streisand sang awhile ago.)

But our upcoming NAMP conference is focused on “New Tech. Tools. Times.” – so where are the people in our picture?  Of course, they’re everywhere and anywhere, any time and all the time.  Let me relate an anecdote from colleague Clay Shirky’s new book: Cognitive Surplus that illustrates the connective power of groups.

When South Korea unexpectedly lifted the ban on American beef a couple of years ago and news surfaced that US beef world return to the Korean market, Korean citizens staged public protests, turning out in Seoul’s “central park” in unheard of numbers.  The protesters were unusual – over half the participants were teenagers, most notably teenage girls.  Their presence helped make the vigils Korea’s first family-friendly protest, with whole families turning out in the park.  What would cause girls too young to vote to turn out in the park, day after day and night after night, for weeks?

If you’ve ever worked in marketing at an organization, or if you’ve ever done graphic design work there, you know the pains and pitfalls of “design by committee.”  And unfortunately, if you’re not running the organization, you will never have the final say in the design of a marketing piece, a logo, a website, etc.  What makes one person happy can be totally wrong for another.  After all, design is subjective.  All the while, if you’re in charge of the design or the process, you can’t take it personally.  But design by committee is something that is almost unavoidable, and having to navigate it within an arts organization can be doubly hard because your colleagues often DO have at the very least a creative personality and a decent eye for art and design.  An article I read recently though, provides some good tips and tools for avoiding the worst parts of design by committee.

1. Clarify the Objective

A successful design starts with a well-defined objective that everyone understands and supports. Without one, it’s nearly impossible to complete a design project on your own, let alone as part of a large group. Be sure you also define and agree upon the target market, business objectives and criteria for success. Once you begin the feedback process, having a clear set of goals will help keep feedback on track and make it easier to disregard suggestions that are not in line with the objective.