Recession Special

A promotion I did during non-recession times was having a day where the box office did not charge service fees for phone orders. We did this on a Sunday and I called it "Service Fee Free Sunday" and supported it with print advertising. It was a huge success and did not affect sales on our normally busy Monday. By removing barriers to the organization, everyone wins. The promotion was so successful the performing arts director insisted it be repeated again.

Amanda, you've outdone yourself with this one. So timely and helpful. Some other thoughts off the top of my head:

*Offer ticket trades in exchange for ad space and other publicity. Some publications may be interested in gifting concert tickets to their advertisers and VIPs, and you can get some free or discounted space in exchange. It's a win-win.

*Develop media sponsorships whenever possible.

*Use Twitter to offer special "for Tweeters only" promotions - include a link to online offer. Integrate your Twitter updates with Facebook.

*Consider collaborative programming with other arts orgs in addition to marketing campaigns. Some joint performances could cut down on the expense side.

*Implement joint advertising and direct mail campaigns with other complementary arts presenters to share expenses (and share your lists).

*Make sure "discount/sales" offers are substantial (with a real financial benefit). We get hit over the head with these, and 10% off isn't a strong enough incentive.

*Add a hotel stay to your concert/restaurant packages for an affordable Getaway. Promote via Web site, e-newsletters, Facebook.

*Enhance subscriber and multi-ticket package benefits (a la the "add value" approach described above)

Online brainstorming is fun.

Great, easy-to-implement arts marketing tips on this post! Many are great for other arts genres too. Perhaps we can use the comments here for other folks to keep writing in low-cost guerilla arts marketing tactics. On a recent blog post along a similar vein of "Marketing a downtown economy," we talked about restaurants co-marketing with arts groups, involving blasts to each others' respective email list. It's a great way to get in front of new eyes and help each other out. I recommend to groups that they also consider raising the value rather than lowering the price. It doesn't really hurt your bottom line if you start offering more for the same price, as long as what you're offering doesn't cost you anything. Be creative! But I do think it's important, especially now, to band together with each other and collaborate more than ever before. Thanks for the great post!

The coffee shop in the Border's across the street is having a "holiday open house" to drum up business the week before our holiday concerts, so I am trying to cross-promote - i.e. drop off postcards, maybe some merchandise, etc.

One other method groups often forget about: free listings in local publications. I edit the calendar listings at www.artandseek.org, the arts and culture Web site for North Texas' PBS and NPR stations, and we often have to ask people to submit their events to our calendar. Our calendar and many other calendars out there offer free opportunities for arts groups to let the community know what's coming up. Since most arts groups can not afford an ad in a daily paper or on television, this can be the next best thing.