{"id":590,"date":"2012-02-23T07:58:55","date_gmt":"2012-02-23T14:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/?p=590"},"modified":"2012-02-23T07:58:55","modified_gmt":"2012-02-23T14:58:55","slug":"the-fundamentals-of-an-audience-development-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/2012\/02\/the-fundamentals-of-an-audience-development-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fundamentals of an Audience Development Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The goal of arts & cultural marketing is “butts in seats.”<\/p>\n

So it generally follows that the goal of audience development is to put “more<\/em><\/strong> butts in seats” and\/or “different<\/em><\/strong> butts in seats.”<\/p>\n

Marketers are necessarily focused on “picking the low hanging fruit.” \u00a0The best marketing plans present finely tuned and adaptable strategies for optimizing sales while conserving resources.<\/p>\n

So, it generally follows that the function of audience development<\/em><\/strong> is about making strategic investments that enable marketers to reach higher and higher into the tree where they can gather larger quantities of fruit from places that were previously out of reach.<\/p>\n

The metaphor isn’t wrong. \u00a0It is just far too limited.<\/p>\n

The cause of\u00a0audience development<\/strong>\u00a0has the opportunity to consider not just the increased harvest of audience “fruit” – but the responsibility to invest in the health and sustainability of the entire “tree.” \u00a0Marketing plans address immediate priorities. \u00a0An audience development plan addresses the long-term implications of today’s decisions and practices.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the questions an\u00a0Audience Development plan can & should address:<\/p>\n