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For many arts organisations, connecting people with art is paramount. With 94 per cent of the adult population in Victoria being in the market for arts, culture and heritage – just over four million people – the audience is there, but how can we keep them engaged?
At the National Public Galleries Summit, Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (MHM) consultant Lucy Shorrocks said many organisations think: ‘If we could just speak to people on an individual basis we would be able to convert them all, communicate the vision and get them excited about the work.
‘But in the arts, we don’t have the marketing team, budget or resources to do that.’
Adding to the difficulty in engaging audience is that our lives have become more disjointed, meaning it is harder to research and understand the market.
‘Previously, that was postcodes, or age, but because the world we are living in is so fragmented, there are any number of reasons why demographics are dead,’ said Shorrocks.
While limited resources may restrict galleries and arts organisations from reaching ‘everybody’, Shorrocks points to Culture Segments as a way to understand and engage audiences.
A way to group people together with shared characteristics, Culture Segments enable your organisation to communicate and cater to a larger portion of the market, inform marketing efforts and get people through the gallery door and back again.
Tailor marketing to specific Culture Segments
Being aware of the major Culture Segments relevant to your gallery or arts organisation can help develop tailored marketing campaigns and have more informed conversations with donors and philanthropists.
‘If you know what a big chunk of your audience want out of the experience, then you are more likely to provide that for them, therefore they are more likely to have a great time, and come back,’ said Shorrocks.
An online test developed by MHM determines your organisation’s Culture Segment, with the next step being to create unique copy, events, and products that allow you to get closer to your audience.
‘We are trying to move audiences away from having a kind of transactional relationship with galleries to feeling much closer and feel the warm glow of the organisation,’ said Shorrocks.
How can you get closer to your segment? In an example, Shorrocks points to the Expression segment. Of the eight segments, Expression is the biggest group in terms of attendance and art donors. Community focused, externally driven and egalitarian in their approach to arts and the world means that tailored events should be free, accessible and attract a diverse audience in order to engage this segment.
Put yourself in their shoes
Another big market for galleries and the arts is the Essence segment, consisting of curators, gallery directors, critics and other patrons of the arts.
Shorrocks observed that arts organisations can lose touch with the wider audience by only catering to the Essence segment. ‘A lot of arts organisations are brilliant at getting Essence, because they are kind of marketing to versions of themselves.
‘Interestingly, these people hate being marketed to because they feel they have a level of knowledge and expertise so they really don’t need you telling them what they are going to get out of the experience,’ added Shorrocks. ‘What you have to do is flatter their knowledge.’
Looking out to the world and past the Essence segment can allow an organisation to engage with a wider audience. ‘Thinking about the customer journey, I think is something we all need to do and devote a bit of time to,’ said Shorrocks.
Putting your organisation in the audience’s position when they are attending a gallery for the first time, or deciding what events to attend can enable a genuine and engaging, experience.
‘No matter how challenging that is, it’s worth it in terms of the feedback you get on how your organisation ticks.
Challenge assumptions
Similar to falling into the cycle of marketing to the segment that is your mirror image, organisations can fall into the trap of repeatedly marketing to the same audiences, ignoring key markets.
Shorrocks said that the Affirmation segment – consisting of typically young adults and students – is hugely ignored by the sector, but believes once you have connected with them, ‘they will be yours’.
‘While the Essence segment are culturally promiscuous, with the Affirmation, once they have become close to an organisation, you will have their loyalty.’
For this group, culture is quite aspirational and social. ‘They want to be educated but also entertained,’ said Shorrocks. ‘They are real planners’.
Have a conversation with your segment
Determining what kind of Culture Segments your organisation already caters to and wants to attract can enable better conversations with your audience.
Talking to your audience and asking them what they want more of, what they would like less of, what would be relevant and ultimately their motivation for attending your gallery or arts event can shape your programming and marketing.
Shorrocks advised the first step to reach your audience is to secure an email address. This allows your organisation to conduct your own research.
‘An email address is really the bare minimum, you can’t do anything without an email,’ she said.
Social media is also a powerful tool. In all of the top four segments for arts and culture organisations, 74-80% are social media consumers. Tailoring social media campaigns to your specific segment is useful. If you are targeting the Expression segment, promoting free, accessible events can help to attract that market. When targeting the Aspirational, offering packages or inclusive deals that make the market feel ‘in the know’ is effective.
Be mindful of authenticity when communicating with audiences. Telling the story around the artists and community involvement allows the organisation to be artist lead, and audience focused.
‘Every organisation that is functioning well is thinking of those two things as part of the same being. We can’t exist without an audience, but it has to be driven by the art,’ said Shorrocks.
Think long term
Innovative events, exciting collaborations, and new marketing initiatives can be an effective way to bring in new segments to the organisation, but it’s important to make sure it’s not just a gimmick.
Thinking long term and strategically can get visitors back through the doors. ‘It is about having a long term view,’ said Shorrock. ‘It’s about saying we are going to do this in 2015, this at the end of 2015, and these things in 2016.’
Stating your vision of why you are there is the most important thing to determine your long term strategy. Asking why you are important to the community should then shape everything you do, said Shorrock.
It can be all too easy for a gallery to focus their energy into an upcoming exhibition, neglecting the long term vision. ‘That’s how we all work, there is a big flurry at the beginning and end of an exhibition … it’s interesting to think about how to get people back in and engaged in what my colleague describes as the “soggy middle” of the exhibition period,’ said Shorrock.
This means looking at the broader community and other organisations, festivals and events within that to look for potential collaboration and ask how you can get involved.
Shorrock said: ‘You are more likely to get a positive response from people who are open to attending arts then people who are not attending arts at all.’
Part of a successful long term strategy is the ability to reflect and assess what worked and what didn’t.
‘I think the more we can talk about the stuff that isn’t going well, as well as the stuff that is going well, the better,’ concluded Shorrock.
The Fifth National Public Art Galleries Summit runs from 4-6 February in Bendigo, Victoria
