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Recent Posts
- The Press Stories You Really Want to Tell
- Music That Matters
- Audience Development at Three Arabic Schools in Qatar
- Please Advise Me: What Simple Ticketing System Do You Prefer?
- How to Make Your Website Social: InfoGraphic
- Working In Concert Trumps Collaboration
- Facebook Ads and You: Targeted Advertising for a Fraction of the Cost
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Author Archives: Bruce Robinson
The Press Stories You Really Want to Tell
Week after week, orchestra marketers and communications professionals try to get stories about their music director, guest conductor or guest artist in the media. Is this wise? Yes, of course. Guest musicians are news. They can talk about the music … Continue reading
Posted in Calls to Action, Essentials
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Music That Matters
Much music-making today is about commerce. Famous artists regularly play chamber concerts after one or two rehearsals. Veteran orchestra players sit back in their chairs while they play, bored yet holding on to their income until retirement. Tonight I heard … Continue reading
Posted in Calls to Action
2 Comments
Audience Development at Three Arabic Schools in Qatar
Recently a colleague and I visited three primary schools in Qatar on behalf of my employer, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. The experience was the highlight of my six weeks in Doha.
Please Advise Me: What Simple Ticketing System Do You Prefer?
At my new employer, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, we’ve managed paper tickets with Excel spreadsheets, an outsourced box office and hard labor. We have no customer database with a ticket purchase history. And we have no ticketing software or hardware. … Continue reading
How to Make Your Website Social: InfoGraphic
A Big Challenge, an Enormous Opportunity Social tools both enable and challenge us as marketers. I’ve enjoyed grappling with social technology to understand it. What a puzzle! And what rewards await us. Yesterday I put together a chart of the … Continue reading
Working In Concert Trumps Collaboration
Arts management mavens are always touting the benefits of collaboration among performing arts groups. And foundations love to reward grants to those good citizens who collaborate. Often, though, collaboration is skin deep or limited to marketing alone. A dance group … Continue reading
Posted in Calls to Action
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How to Merchandise Tickets on Your Website
Music Is Like Candy I spent my early years in marketing in candy: Brach, Andes, Toblerone, Cote d’Or, Milka and Suchard. One of the great things about candy is that buyers consume it immediately. So you can sell them more … Continue reading
Posted in Calls to Action, Essentials, How To's
Tagged audience, candy, design, e-commerce, marketing, merchandising, single tickets, website, wordpress
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A Texas Two-Step to Make Your Website Social
Last April Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook proclaimed, “We are building a Web where the default is social.” Forrester Research says the Web is becoming “social as a rule, not an exception.” No longer can any orchestra afford to ignore the … Continue reading
Posted in Calls to Action, How To's, Lists
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Ten Lessons in Trust to Apply Before a Crisis
This week I heard an expert on reputation, IBM Distinguished Professor Daniel Diermeier from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, speak to a few dozen fellow Kellogg alums in Houston. The orchestra industry can learn from his years of … Continue reading
Posted in Calls to Action, How To's, Lists, Thought Leaders
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Better Than Talk from the Stage: Silence
Today musicians frequently talk from the stage. Don’t you wish they’d get to the music? Last weekend I heard a voice recital with superb music—and superb silence. I always expect great music-making from accompanist Keith Weber, the conductor-organist-harpsicordist-coach-and-yes-pianist who is … Continue reading
20 Orchestral Orgasms
Updated count: 32 (see comments below) Beatles producer George Martin famously called the gigantic crescendo of the Lennon-McCartney song “A Day in the Life” an orchestral orgasm. Last month Rolling Stone named it #1 of the top 10 Beatles songs. … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Lists
Tagged beatles, day in the life, orchestra, orgasm, programming
9 Comments
Social Technology Is Show and Tell for Adults
Sometimes simple insights best light the way. How Social Media Are Like Show and Tell You remember when you were six, don’t you? The most compelling part of the school day consisted of bringing an item before the class and … Continue reading
Why I Market Classical Music
Sure, there are easier things to do. I’ve marketed candy, cigars, nuts, lighters, gasoline, travel and education. All were easier. But music can change lives. It has thrilled mine. Music carries deep, otherwise-inexpressible meaning. 35,000 years ago our species was … Continue reading
Posted in Calls to Action
Tagged audience, marketing, mission, orchestra, programming, strategy
2 Comments
What I’d Like to See Orchestras Provide Audiences: 10 Words Over 10 Days
We have more orchestras with better-trained musicians than ever. Yet these marvels of precision bleed anxiety over the future. Most of that anxiety centers on revenue. In my view, possibly because of our focus on commerce, the artistic product needs … Continue reading
Posted in Calls to Action
Tagged audience, consumer, marketing, orchestra, programming, strategy
8 Comments
Tom Holm of Enertex Tells How to Grow Your Audience
It’s always a challenge to bring in new single ticket buyers, isn’t it? Let alone broaden your subscription base. Extend Your Reach Your house list is your best source for audiences. And trades with other arts organizations can supplement that … Continue reading
Posted in How To's, Thought Leaders
Tagged audience, direct mail, marketing, orchestra, single tickets, strategy, subscription, target
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50 Words for Classical Music Marketers to Rest
An Age of Puffery Adam Sherk has statistically catalogued The Most Overused Buzzwords in Marketing and Press Releases. Gregory Sandow has satirized the language of classical music press releases, saying he hopes they die. And the anonymous blog Proper Discord … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Calls to Action, Lists
Tagged language, marketing, overused, sandow, sherk, strategy, words
12 Comments
What to Write in a Single-Ticket Ad. Yes, It Still Matters.
In this day of social technology there’s little attention paid to the ABC’s of advertising. Yet developing an effective ad will always be a useful skill, whatever the medium. Learn from The New York Times My first newspaper ads in … Continue reading
Posted in Essentials, How To's
Tagged advertising, audience, consumer, marketing, motivation, single tickets, strategy, target, ticket
3 Comments
How to Hire an Orchestra Marketer
Hiring for any position is as much art as science. Choosing an orchestra marketer can be especially difficult. Understanding the dimensions of that choice can frame the decision within our orchestra’s true needs.
Posted in Essentials, How To's
Tagged hiring, management, marketing, orchestra, strategy
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Social Media Doesn’t Trump Direct Marketing: What the Rule of 40-40-20 Means for Orchestra Marketers in 2010
In the 60s direct marketing expert Ed Mayer popularized the 40-40-20 rule. He claimed 40% of a mailpiece’s success depended on the list, 40% depended on the offer and 20% depended on other factors including design. Check the Numbers Yourself … Continue reading
Posted in How To's
Tagged audience, consumer, design, direct mail, marketing, orchestra, segment, social media, strategy
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