The Touring Marketing Map A step-by-step tool for marketing a tour in Ireland Guidance notes The touring marketing map has been produced by the AMA (Arts Marketing Association) for Arts Audiences 2014. Arts Audiences is funded by The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. These guidance notes are designed to be referred to alongside the map to simplify the campaign planning process for those new to marketing and / or new to marketing a tour. Download the map and print a copy to inform your campaign. Start by making some initial notes in each of the sections of the map. What: set your objectives Make a note of what you aim to achieve with this tour. Speak to others in the Why has this event been programmed? Who are you trying to reach? How does it help you achieve your company vision / purpose? What does it need to achieve financially? Make some brief notes on this and start to map out your objectives for the tour for each venue. While this is the first box in the process and should inform all of the other stages, many people find it easier to briefly fill this in and then come back to it as they progress through the map to flesh it out and refine it. So don t worry if you can t fully pin down your objectives straight away. As you refine your objectives, make sure to make them SMART (see the map for a definition of SMART objectives). This is important as it will make them measurable and therefore help you to know whether or not you ve achieved what you set out to do. Here are some examples of some SMART objectives: To raise awareness of our company with audiences currently attending other family events at venue X. By the end of the year, 30% of those completing venue X s survey will be aware of the company. To sell 10% more family tickets at venue X than in the previous tour. To achieve an average ticket price of X from tickets sold for this event at company X.
Who: identify who you want to reach You can t possibly reach everyone with the tour. You need to identify who you most want to attend in order to focus your efforts and your budget. If you ve toured to this venue before discuss what insights the venue has about who attended last time you were there. Are you seeking to attract similar people to this tour? Who else are you aiming to reach? Pull together any research, observations, and insights you have about each group. What do you know about them? What do they know about the company and/or the venue? What are their expectations? What type of experience do they want to have? Are there any barriers to reaching them? Make some notes about this now (including any questions you may have) ready for the face-to-face meeting with that venue. For insight on mapping your audience by driving distance, see: bit.ly/mappingyouraudience For more information on how to define and research your target groups, please see: http://culturehive.co.uk/tags/segmentation How many: define how many people you aim to engage Use the information your have gathered above to set realistic numbers for each target group. Remember that it is approximately five times more expensive to reach a new target audience member than it is to get a previous attender to engage again. Discuss with each venue the joint resources you have available i.e. your experience, knowledge, skill, budget, access to potential audience data etc. and refine your targets accordingly. Don t forget to come back to this section after the tour and note down how many you actually achieved against your targets to inform future planning. Why: agree key messages why should your target audience take part? What will motivate your target audience groups to attend? Refer back to the information you have about that group and find out more about the event from your colleagues. What will people feel, learn, or enjoy? Imagine the person you re writing to and think about what will convince them that this experience is something they would value. Note some ideas and agree with the venue the most important message to get across to each target group to ensure that your communications are consistent and have maximum impact. For more information on talking about the right things please see: bit.ly/marketingproductionsontour How: decide how you will reach your target groups Identify the communication tools most suitable to reach your target audiences. 1. Enter your target audience groups across the top axis of the table in the marketing map and create a list of potential communication tools down the side axis e.g.
Venue X website Direct mail from the Venue X season brochure Social media led by the touring company Video clips produced by the Press coverage achieved by the venue Audiences attending previous family events at venue X within the last 12 months Those living within a 10 mile radius of venue X School groups from town Y 2. Tick the tools that work for each target group Audiences attending previous family events at venue X within the last 12 months Those living within a 10 mile radius of venue X Venue X website Direct mail from the Venue X season brochure Social media led by the touring company Video clips produced by the Press coverage achieved by the venue School groups from town Y 3. Prioritise by thinking about which channels will be the most effective and have the greatest return. Where is each target audience likely to look for information? Which tool will most effectively communicate your message? Circle up to three communication tools to prioritise for each group. Don t forget to note your must haves (things which need to appear on all marketing material) i.e. logos, partner / sponsor credits, accessibility information, website details, branding rules. There is space for notes on this within the map. Audience data For touring companies, audience data and who has access to it can often be a
contentious issue. Read the latest advice on this on www.audiencesontour.org, analyse your capacity to manage audience data within the requirements of the data protection act, and discuss and agree an approach to accessing relevant audience data with each venue. Budget Agree your budget with each venue. Take into account: The size of the venue (larger target audiences will naturally require more budget) How new the audience group is to you and / or the venue it s often found to be five times cheaper to target existing groups so this needs taking into account in your budget The amount you ve had to spend previously to achieve the same results Price Discuss and agree the price range and the yield with each venue to balance: A maximising revenue B developing audiences, visitors and participants For more information, please see: http://culturehive.co.uk/resources/using-pricing-tooptimise-income-and-access-2 Agree the visuals you ll gather / create for the campaign Visual images can communicate even more than words. Consider whether you need to commission any photography, graphic design, video clips, etc. Revisit your benefits / key messages decide whether your images should represent what the art or performance is like, who the performers or artists are, a glimpse behind the scenes, what the venue/s is like, what the experience will be like, who the typical audience is, what the impact on the audience will be like, etc. Having an impact Getting your message to stand out is crucial. Consider the checklist on the marketing map. Is your campaign likely to achieve each of those things? When: planning the campaign timetable Decide with the venue who is responsible for each element of the campaign and what staff time and budget each will provide. Put dates and deadlines for your tasks and agree how you will keep in touch to update one another on your progress. Adapt the dates to fit your tour schedule and different venue needs. For an example of a campaign timetable, please see page three of this handy Arts Audiences guide: bit.ly/marketingproductionsontour The marketing pack Pull together all of the information from your agreed campaign plan and create a pack for each venue to include: About your company (information for marketers, box office, front of house etc.) About the performance Shared insight about the target audiences The key messages / benefits copy adapted for the key target audiences Any other agreed information (such as images, video clips, people available for press interviews, endorsements, etc.)
Your contact details Marketing evaluation Don t forget to evaluate your efforts. Analyse what worked and what failed. Solicit feedback and take note. Collect reviews, explore digital analytics, check budgets, record the actual reach in the HOW MANY section of this map, calculate return on investment and effectiveness for each campaign. Evaluation is not just for funders, use this to inform future campaigns with each venue For more information, please see: http://culturehive.co.uk/resources/reviewing-yourmarketing-campaign-strategy Please see www.culturehive.co.uk/tags/irish-touring for a range of case studies, articles and guides to marketing for touring companies.