Audience Development: Attaining Persuasive Volume
by Craig Cook

The goal of an arts organization in the mediated environs of the 21 Century is to develop an audience for selected cultural content while maintaining a positive income flow. The sheer number of economic choices available to the general public, coupled with a diminishing average attention span, has left traditional modes of cultural dissemination wanting for spectators. With the onset of the digital information paradigm, classic (and one might argue intellectually superior) forms of cultural expression and presentation have been relegated as secondary to immediately gratifying entertainment and news media. The question facing the next generation of cultural expressionists is how to apply business models to the administration of cultural agenda in an effort to access greater public consciousness, thereby securing continued funding. The answer may be found in the concept of Persuasive Volume.

Persuasive Volume (PV) can be defined hence as benchmarks of public reach, the achievement of which secures varying levels of external aid. In much simpler terms, persuasive volume refers to the number of audience members necessary to secure ever more lucrative sponsorships, advertising, publicity, recognition and credibility. When an organization reaches a certain persuasive volume, it can demand more attention, respect, quality, and money. The goal of the PV mindset as applicable to arts administration is to position arts organizations in business relationships that are a reflection of the core audience and will further the ability to secure market share. To attain PV, one must employ the right mix of content development, marketing, information gathering, and strategic positioning. One must also consider the fact that none of these areas of concentration exist in a vacuum; rather they co-exist in a never-ending feedback loop, each affecting the other on a daily basis.

The application of Persuasive Volume is not limited to those interested in fostering the classical arts. Rather, PV can be a guiding principal for any organization whose life and economic stability rely on attendance and public awareness. Whether managing a rock band, designing a gallery show, or producing a summer festival, incorporating a PV mindset into traditional business models will put your organization on the path towards success.

From Foundation to Fortification:
The application of the PV model necessarily begins with the organization itself. Within the initial business development plan, PV ingredients should be mixed into the market schema to strengthen the foundations of the company. One should have a specific set of audience reach goals for the first few years. Understanding who your demographic is, and what types of marketing influences them is key to increasing your base. A clear understanding of content goals will allow an organization to identify PV strata, and set management agendas for ascension along the scale. Gathering information about your demographic for presentation to possible sponsors and advertisers will allow an organization to move up the PV pyramid.

Identifying the Market Niche:
Deciding on whom you are going to reach out towards is a core element in the PV pyramid. The decision to cater to a demographically diverse audience, versus a targeted demographic, will direct all decisions to follow. A lifestyle magazine, directing content towards a specific group of people (i.e. skateboarders, music lovers) is more likely to employ direct marketing tactics like street-teaming and concert promotion, as well as strategically position themselves for advertising and partnerships with companies that provide products that the demographic would find useful. An organization whose main goals are to promote Opera would be more inclined to develop strong PR relationships with local and national newspapers, and market directly through subscription drives and calendar mailings.

A unique variable when catering to a wide demographic is the Lowest Common Denominator (LCD) factor. Catering to the LCD means that content, marketing, and strategic positioning must be done with the everyman in mind. Reaching out to your audience with lofty, difficult to decipher marketing information can hinder an organizations ability to convert newcomers.

Once an organization has identified the market niche, they can progress to the development stage, where the selection of content can make or break and organization’s ability to do business.

Content Development:
Content is key to any arts organization. Carefully choosing the content that your organization wishes to highlight will guide you throughout the rest of the audience development process. Staying true to the goals set forth by the creators of any arts organization is difficult, as external economic pressures will often place management in compromising situations. Approaching content development with a strong understanding of the market niche is essential to successful penetration. How far off the beaten path is your organization willing to trudge to bring new and creative work to the table, and how will your audience react to such eccentricity?

If your goal in developing content is to present generally accepted forms of cultural diffusion, say chorale music or classic ballet, it is best to stay within an acceptable date or stylistic range. Purveyors of modern cultural content risk uncertainty with each new presentation, as work that the organization may deem cutting edge may not gain favor with the general public. What has proven true time and again in the artistic world is that audiences generally accept works that provide a level of comfort and familiarity. Though a piece of modern dance or sculpture may invigorate the intellectual elite, many times the complexity of such work will be lost upon the greater populous. Know your audience well, and cater to their needs...

Taking PV into consideration, one must decipher what types of content attract external aid, and at what economic level? A symphony orchestra may have a large number of corporate sponsors, but may lack advertisers and partners engaged in the proliferation of orchestral music. A snowboarding magazine on the other hand, may not cater to a wide enough demographic for major corporate attention, but will concentrate their efforts on securing advertisers who want to reach out to snowboarding culture.

Now that you have identified what content will be presented, the development of a concise marketing plan is necessary for growth.

Marketing:
Once you have identified your intended demographic and developed content aimed towards their interests, it is necessary to begin the process of marketing in order to raise public awareness. Marketing encompasses a number of different fields, all working in harmony to further the goals of the organization and present a clear message to the public. Through a carefully planned mix of advertising, publicity, promotion and pure marketing, any organization can achieve increased awareness.

The level of marketing that any firm can engage in is determined by economic factors. Grassroots organizations have to make the most out of inexpensive marketing solutions. These groups benefit from free publicity (newspaper/Internet articles and community calendar postings), street-marketing (dissemination of postcards/fliers/posters in and around the community), and radio and television promotion (local news spots, air-time for trade agreements, ticket give-aways). Organizations that have strong financial resources are more likely to employ print and media advertising to increase awareness.

Designing the content of a marketing plan to communicate with the core demographic, while enhancing the ability to reach a greater audience, is essential to successful outreach. A company that is focused on architecture would probably not want to design a marketing campaign around pictures of fast cars. A better approach would be to highlight angular representations of natural forms and shapes that architecture is derived from.

Gathering information about your proposed demographic can help guide the process of marketing development and will help to codify PV strata.

Information Gathering:
Feedback is one of the most important aspects of continued market saturation. Arts organizations must constantly probe their audience for information that may be useful in the design of content, marketing and strategic positioning. The development of expansive demographic information is vital to strategic positioning, content, and marketing decisions.

Web sites have some of the best demographic tools available to them in the current economic environment. Programs like Level Ten Hit Counter allow web administrators to track minute user details ranging from technology data (screen resolution, operating system), to personal taste indicators (user navigation paths, top pages). Other demographic information such as time spent on the system, click-thru path, and advertising click-thru allows site administrators insight into what content is working best and what advertisements are connecting with the core users.

Non-web based organizations also have myriad feedback tools available for information gathering. Surveys, polls, email forms, focus groups, mailing lists, subscription information and sales statistics all help arts managers make informed decisions affecting their PV perspective.

Strategic Positioning:
While engaged in the process of developing an audience, one must always be on the lookout for unique opportunities, and must actively pursue new sponsorship, partnership and advertising avenues in an effort to increase awareness and public support. An ice-dance organization that aligns themselves for sponsorship with a skate manufacturer is utilizing strategic positioning to reach out to their core demographic in an effort to encourage continued participation in ice-skating activities. This is an example of a symbiotic relationship where the manufacturer is able to showcase their product in front of a captured audience, and the arts organization is able to foster continued participation in the sport.

Carefully filtering the sponsorship money into the marketing mix allows both companies to get their message out to the greater public, thereby increasing the chances of continued public involvement. It is necessary to have concise demographic analysis in order to engage companies in investment discussions. Whether via advertising or sponsorship, companies who may be willing to fund your activities must be convinced that your organization is reaching out to their public, and that a mutually beneficial arena exists.

The PV Perspective- A Concise Approach:
Once you have identified and developed the factors that will increase audience participation, and focused on Persuasive Volume as a governing principle, it is time to employ PV tactics to reach your audience and economic goals. Each step of the development process allows your organization access to new PV strata. Grassroots organizations that have an audience between 1-5000 patrons have a certain status, and can work within their abilities to court local sponsors, advertisers and partners. Printing of programs, gallery guides, newsletters and marketing materials gives grassroots companies the ability to sell advertising space. One must be careful to concentrate advertising retention on products and services that will directly foster increased audience participation.

After an organization has excelled within a specified PV strata and increased audience share, it is time to step things up. Regional advertising, sponsorships and partnerships are a good next step. An audience between 5001 and 15,000 is likely to afford an organization more leverage opportunities and the economic means to begin print, radio and television advertising. At this point, content development must broaden, marketing solutions must expand and strategic positioning becomes a more important factor. You have conquered your core demographic and must concentrate on regional private and corporate organizations for continued support.

The obvious next steps are to expand into national and international markets as your company continues to grow. At this point, the economics of a deal become more important than the audience reach factors. With money, any organization can develop high-level marketing campaigns for greater audience contact. Fostering audience development with the PV perspective will enable your organization to dominate the market niche and sustain development for years to come. Careful planning is key to organizational success, and following PV guidelines will ensure that your company continues to foster audience participation and expansion.