iTunes U: Giving back by putting out information

If you ever doubt the effectiveness of promoting your category by giving your audience relevant information and educating your audience, just look at iTunes University. Apple delivers free content, free educational content, and, consequently, brings in new customers. This is also a great example of referring your audience to other services and companies that can serve them.

Making your "Peeps" feel important

A balanced diet keeps you healthy. A leader that makes employees and other audiences feel special by balancing visiting and speaking at their events and talking to them in person with all his or her work makes for a happy company and happy customers.

It's all about making your "Peeps" (in honor of Easter) feel special.

For example, I attended a reception last week held to honor Biola University athletes. The university president, Barry Corey, attended and gave a short speech. He also hosted a dinner at his home a few weeks ago for campus leaders in Associated Students, Student Missionary Union and The Chimes student newspaper. As news editor of The Chimes, I was honored to attend. I felt very special after the DBC (as we fondly call him) took the time to talk to me personally. Students at Biola are on very good terms with DBC, as well. One student even started a clothing line for him.

How are you making your "Peeps" feel special?

The importance of family entertainment

I used to think of concerts, shows and other programs billed as "family entertainment" as a way of differentiating them from more adult-oriented programs, but having "family entertainment" is more essential to the success of the arts industry than some of us may realize. After all, it's another way to educate the future generations on the importance and excitement of the arts.

It is our job as theatre administrators to fill the gap left by education cuts.

Reaching the younger audience... without ads

According to "Arts Marketing Insights" by Joanne Scheff Bernstein, Teens are extremely marketing savvy, "having been exposed to more than 1,200 advertising messages per day."

Therefore, advertising needs repetition for the audience to notice, but because there are so many ads out there, advertising may not be your best route. True awareness likely comes from other sources like publicity and branding.

How do you reach the younger generation aside from ads?

Educating students on the arts

An addendum on yesterday's post:

It may seem like education is a completely different department from marketing or public relations, and, in many cases, it is, but when you educate others for the sake of your product, you are essentially performing marketing and public relations.

The Metropolitan Opera is a great example of this. They have several education programs, and they have taken their HD movie theater broadcasts to junior highs and high schools. I remember watching a behind-the-scenes clip on this when I attended one of their HD broadcasts a few years ago. They had interviews with students who originally thought opera boring, but found themselves more attracted when they saw a giant poster of a beautiful Juliet promoting the "Romeo and Juliet" opera the Met was bringing to their school.