29 Mar 2012
"I know half my advertising isn't working, I just don't know which half." Lord Leverhulme
Marketers in the cultural sector are hungry for advice and data that guides them in how to set relevant targets and evaluate their marketing success, or otherwise.
Responses to scoping research conducted last year for Optimise – Creative New Zealand’s online marketing capability building programme showed that:
- almost half of respondents were not yet tracking online marketing activity
- fewer than 20% of organisations were using the available data to make marketing decisions that might improve RoI or effectiveness
To improve online marketing practice, Creative New Zealand is inviting you to be part of a groundbreaking project, Optimiser, that will give you tangible information about your current online marketing activity’s success. Optimiser will provide you with the data and evidence to make smart decisions about your marketing investments.
Optimiser is a pilot project that will collect online marketing data for the arts sector and develop benchmarks to allow you to compare your results against other New Zealand arts organisations for the first time. Optimiser will be led by respected arts marketing consultants Vicki Allpress Hill of The Audience Connection and Tim Roberts of ARTS Australia and will use real data from organisations to answer six burning questions heard regularly from New Zealand arts managers:
- ARE WE OPTIMISED? Are we doing as well online as we should or could be?
- WHAT SELLS TICKETS?Which online activity results in the most ticket sales?
- COMMENCING A RELATIONSHIP:What should my acquisition activity look like?
- GOING MOBILE:How should we adapt to mobile trends?
- WHAT’S MY EMAIL RoI?Is my email marketing hitting the mark?
6. BEYOND SALES:How valuable is our social media activity?
Project Leader, Vicki Allpress Hill of the Audience Connection, says that “We consistently see a desire for comparative benchmarks expressed at workshops and seminars within the sector in New Zealand. Online marketing benchmarks, and the lack of them, remain a key issue for the cultural sector in New Zealand.”
Issues include:
- limited knowledge within arts organisations of how to use analytics tools to extract meaningful data upon which to base decisions
- confusion around how to evaluate success
- a lack of standardisation of online analytics tools being used across the sector
Optimiser is a pilot online marketing benchmarking study – the first of its kind in the arts sector in New Zealand. An extension of the ongoing Optimise programme, the study offers an opportunity for fine-tuning of online marketing in the arts to enhance drivers and reduce barriers to attendance.
New Zealandarts organizations and venues are invited to be an Optimiser. Project participants will receive a number of benefits that will help them to be a better online marketer:
- We’ll check that your online analytics are set up correctly to measure your activity.
- You’ll receive a tailored report about your online marketing results and how they compare to the sector. Your data will remain confidential. It will go into an aggregated pool and be segmented to be included in comparisons relevant to your business.
- We’ll run a free Facebook advertising campaign for you
- You’ll learn how to read, interpret and act on your online marketing analytics.
To participate you must meet the simple criteria outlined at Optimiser and complete the easy online sign-up form no later than Monday 2 April 2012. Participants will be accepted in order of application, so the sooner you apply, the more chance you have of being a part of the project.
This is an internationally unique project and is the first time we will have sector-wide benchmarks specifically relevant to New Zealand arts organisations. Don’t miss this opportunity to be included and have access to real online measures you can use.
CATEGORIES: Audience development, Capability building Latest news and blog
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