Managing Success

I was joking with my Managing Director a couple of days ago that managing success is just as time consuming as managing a flop. On the other end of a conference call, Adrian Bryan-Brown, whose press firm Boneau/Bryan-Brown represents Arena Stage, replied “yeah, but it’s a lot more fun.” Truer words have never been spoken.

At Arena Stage, we are fortunate enough to be in a situation where we have two record-breaking productions playing concurrently: Molly Smith’s production of Oklahoma! and Marcus Gardley’s world premiere of every tongue confess directed by Kenny Leon starring Phylicia Rashad. In the past two months, I have learned a lot about what it means to manage success. Below are a couple of things to keep in mind when a mega hit hits:

1. To ensure success in the future, you need to think about retention today. Having a smash hit is exciting—orders are flooding your box office, reviews are kind and generous, and you don’t have to stress about making your sales goals. But there will be a tomorrow, and inevitably you will hit a patch that isn’t as pleasant. So take the time today to maximize your chances of retaining all the new patrons that are coming through your doors. Help prepare them for the experience by sending them a pre-attendance e-mail that discusses the show, provides dramaturgical insight, offers tips on parking and transportation, and suggests possible dinner options. Think about greeting them with a welcome kit, or maybe a complimentary drink at concessions. Go the extra distance to ensure their first experience with you is memorable for all the right reasons, and then follow it up within 48 hours with an irresistible offer to come back for another production. Studies show that if you can get new patrons to come back to just one additional production during your season, you will significantly decrease churn.

2. Have a plan for what do if inventory suddenly becomes available. Even during high demand situations, inventory becomes available as you get closer to a performance date. Sometimes group leaders can’t fill their quotas, or maybe you get lucky and you have found a way to add a few more seats. In most cases, companies just blindly throw that inventory on the market and are satisfied when it sells. These tickets have a value beyond their price as in most cases there is significantly more demand than there is inventory. Perhaps you can maximize the value of these tickets by offering them to your highest donors first as a benefit of donating. Or you could choose to sell the tickets at a significant discount to the winner of an online raffle, thereby collecting hundreds of contacts that you can use to promote to in the future. Or a little more controversial, some companies, particularly TicketMaster clients, are setting up their own e-bay style auctions to maximize revenue.

3. Monitor discounts and comp tickets aggressively. I recommend incentivizing early purchasing behaviors by providing patrons the best possible discount when you put tickets on sale. Even in high demand situations, I would encourage people to protect a significant allotment of tickets to be sold at a substantial discount weeks in advance of performances. Once you are into performances, and demand is at its highest point, discounts need to be managed aggressively. I believe that most arts organizations have an obligation to make sure that all productions are accessible to audiences that might not be able to pay full price, but that doesn’t mean you have to offer discounts on demand. If patrons want to wait for a rave review before purchasing tickets, then they can purchase them at full price. The other option is to purchase well in advance. I would also recommend budgeting your comp tickets. If each department has a maximum amount of comp tickets they can use, then you won’t have to serve as the arbitrator when people request comp tickets. It will also help you project future sales as you can factor those seats out of your projections. Keep in mind though that just like full price tickets, demands for comp tickets increase when you have a hit on your hands. However, you need to ask yourself with each comp ticket request if honoring the request is worth the full price of the ticket, because I assure you, you will be able to sell that seat.

4. Save money on advertising, and build a reserve. Normally I would suggest spending more money on advertising a hit show as you are more likely to see a higher return on investment, however if you are in a situation where you feel relatively sure that great press coverage and word of mouth is enough to drive the needed sales to move all your inventory, then pull back on advertising expenses. Many companies enter into yearlong advertising contracts with vendors, so cutting advertising completely might not be an option. But you can build a reserve of the advertising expenses you saved on your hit production to help you later in the year when you have a production that isn’t selling as well.

5. As a follow up to bullet #4, encourage word of mouth. There is nothing more powerful than word of mouth. I know I have a hit on my hands when daily sales double the second week of performances, because I know that patrons who saw a show in the first week are talking. Think about all the ways in which you can help them spread the word. Maybe a post-attendance e-mail from the star asking them to tell all of their friends. Perhaps you should give patrons a complimentary souvenir to walk away with so they can show their friends. At Arena Stage, we are giving out complimentary hand fans to Oklahoma! attendees that have a replica of the 1907 Washington Post article announcing Oklahoma’s statehood on one side, and the lyrics to a song on the other (not to mention, The Washington Post is sponsoring them so there is no cost to us for 40,000 fans). Create a viral video featuring behind-the-scenes work, record a podcast with a leading star or even do a robocall message from a celebrity. The goal—getting them talking!

If you find yourself in the fortunate position of having a record-breaking hit on your hands, make sure you do everything in your power to have that show pay dividends well into the future. I liken it to winning the lottery—you can spend all the money today, or you can put it into a savings account and have it work for you in the future.

Crazy, Busy

Wow, what a week. Talk about being crazy busy, it has been a crazy week at work and a crazy week at home. We are on the downward slide of Friday and I can't wait to kick off my shoes, sit on the couch, possibly with a nice cold beverage and just unwind.

I will use this weekend to regroup and re-energize for what I will tackle next week. I am thankful everyday for my family, my job, my life. I am truly livin' the dream.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Dip your toe before you jump in

We have a client who's opening a new branch in an existing market and using this opportunity to test some new marketing strategies.

Looking into the future, I'll bet you have some great ideas that you'd like to try:

• Edgier look
• New products
• New packaging
• Bundling products
• Relationship pricing
• New sales delivery
• Refined message
• Tweaked pricing
• Unique customer segmentation
• Guerilla marketing

With our help, our client is trying all of this out in one of their markets. When successful, they plan to roll it out on a larger scale.

If you have big dreams but are challenged by budget or approval constraints, try the "dip your toe" strategy. Test out your ideas in a market that makes the most sense. Then take the best of what works and expand it out. The risk will be diminished and the rewards will be great!

Referrals: Don't Forget to Ask!

Obtaining referrals is not only simple, it’s cost effective! Plus, it can be a great addition to an ongoing marketing strategy for your relationship managers. All you have to do is ask customers, members, peers, or associates to recommend you. So why do so many bankers fail at this tactic?

Many people believe that doing a good job is all that’s necessary to generate referrals. However, business owners, professionals, customers/members, etc. have other things on their minds than rewarding your service when you are meeting with them. Simply put, you need to speak up!

Here are 4 simple tips to help increase success of your referrals:

It’s not about the size of the prize. Few people refer to get a reward. On the contrary they may like to be viewed as the person who is “connected.” Save the $20 referral reward and invest in your customer/member relationship by taking them to lunch instead.

Wait until customers/members are happy. After you go the extra mile for a client… then ask. They will be so happy with you, they will want to return the favor.

Don’t worry about rejection. – If someone doesn’t know anyone they could refer you to, they’ll tell you. But if they don’t give you a referral, that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t in the future. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Simplify the process. Whether you decided to ask for a referral using an email, mail, or in person, make it a seamless part of your marketing plan. Automate the process or putting tools in place for relationship managers to refer can help you in the long run.

And while I’m at it… if you are happy with the knowledge MarketMatch provides and you know someone who could benefit from our services, please give us a call our drop us a line.

Best,

Jamie

Social Marketing Success Secrets

Social marketing can be fun, build awareness, and be lucrative ... you just need to know a few key elements to help monetize the names and best leverage the interactive relationship you're engaging in.

First, I'd like to explain the flow of information with social media marketing:

Social media marketing is 'pull' marketing. People are getting pulled to your profile page by the information you're posting. This marketing channel is passive and the profile visits are organic. Visits are also uncontrolled by the marketer/publisher. The opposite is 'push' marketing. This would be more targeted and aggressive messages such as email marketing (direct response), where you're pushing your message out to someone who's opted to receive it. These messages are more controlled by the marketer/publisher.

Some may argue that by friending or following (F/F) someone you've sort of opted in to receive their messages that are being pushed (posted) to them. I disagree, as not everyone will be on your profile page every second of the day or maybe not even for that week. Individuals follow many people and checking your page on a frequent basis is unreliable. The frequency of visits lies in control of the F/F, which makes it more 'pull' marketing. With email marketing or enews ad sponsorships, it's a more controlled environment. You're 'pushing' a direct message to your recipient. Sure you're competing with other messages in their in-box, but chances are if you have a good subject line, your email will get opened and read ... way better odds than a profile page visit.

The reason I bring this up is because although many people get excited when they see they have a 500 friends or 1,000 followers, it's more of an ego thing. It goes back feeling popular and wanted. But these F/F's aren't subscribers - that is, they're not people who've opted in to receive a free newsletter from you. Subscribers have given you their email address, and in the publishing industry, email addresses are one of the most important things you can get from a person aside from their mailing address. The email address is the foundation of your list ... of your lead generation efforts. This helps with list building and gets you leverage when coordinating JV, affiliate marketing and editorial deals with other publishers. It also adds names into your sales funnel for email marketing efforts, which ultimately, will help you monetize those names turning a subscriber into a paying customer.

Can a friend or follower be converted into a paying customer without being a subscriber?

Sure, but it's harder to bond with someone when the marketing messages are limited, passive and relying on the prospect to visit your profile page. You're also dealing with maximum character counts and other limitations as with FaceBook or Twitter that will impact the effectiveness of your marketing message.

So I like to advise clients to use social marketing as a tool to assist with, and compliment, their other online marketing efforts and not to put all their eggs in one basket. But there are things you can do to help maximize your returns with social marketing:

Bonding. The whole purpose of social media marketing is to 'connect' with like-minded individuals with a common interest. People follow or friend (F/F) someone because of a psychological reason: they feel like they're getting one step closer to their subject of interest albeit guru, celebrity, or idol. They also feel they're getting the 'real' deal: the inside scope, unedited, raw comments straight from the horse's mouth. So your goal should be to post engaging somewhat personal messages for your F/F's. Don't just upload links to promotions or newsletter issues or basically spam your F/F's. Upload thought provoking comments and interesting informational nuggets. Depending on your list size, pick a few random names a week and send them a personal message through the social media platform. Engage in a one-one-one conversation. Interaction with your F/F's will help develop and cultivate a relationship that will result in bonding. I've found success asking questions and talking to (not at) your F/F's. That's what will keep them coming back to your profile page as well as visit your website for other products you may have or to sign up for your free newsletter.

Branding and Free Advertising. Incorporate your brand (image, logo, tag line) or promotional messages either in the background of your social media profile page or with the use of text or banner ads on your social media profile page. Make the text ad or banner ad eye-catching and link to your website home page, squeeze page (name collection page), or promotional landing page (the link will be determined by your goal and message copy). FaceBook has areas on individual (as opposed to Fan pages) designated for this such as Text boxes, Notes tab, Links, and Profile Badge. You can also upload banner ads. And Twitter allows personalization via their 'Settings', 'Profile' and 'Design' tabs.

Conversion. Remember, although you have F/F's names or links to their profile messages, you don't have direct access to them in a way that will help your business bottom line. For my clients I put together a social media conversion plan, which is a strategic plan to incent F/F's to sign up for the client's newsletter, which allows for the F/F to then move to 'subscriber' status. Moving to subscriber status helps magnify the bonding efforts and also allows the individual to receive targeted messages from the client - whether it's through an auto responder series, ads in the enewsletter, or solo email marketing messages - either way, it's a more effective and expedited way to get those F/F's into your sales funnel for monetization.

Incorporating the above will help you get the most of your social marketing efforts to help grow your business. And if you read other blog posts (http://musclemarketing.blogspot.com/2010/05/you-can-measure-social-media-you-just.html), you'll now know how to measure those results through the '3 O's'.

Map it...

I am beginning a series on helpful strategic planning exercises.

The initial topic... mapping your customers.  We help banks and credit unions all over the country with strategic planning and thoughtful tactical delivery and love doing it!

One of the first questions we ask?  Have you mapped your customers?

Why?

Because typically we learn a lot by seeing neighborhood patterns, location gaps and when we add the layers of "deposit customers", "loan customers", "investment customers", "commercial customers", etc. as different pushpins...we also see visually the opportunity for organic growth!

Its easy...mapping software is available and inexpensive.  And all you need is the address for your customers!  You can get more sophisticated as you go...and we can help!

Cheers!

Bruce

How can you get 25 hours of work into a 24 hour day?

Have you ever wondered how to get 25 hours of work into a 24 hour day?

Well it all starts with focus. Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, winners use them wisely!

No matter how many great ideas you have, you only have 24 hours in a day. The key is focus. Save precious minutes throughout the day and you will become more efficient and productive.

Here are a few points to help you stay focused and effective...

• Prioritize your day, starting with the highest impact first
• Focus on one activity at a time to be more productive
• Keep a journal, jot ideas down when you think of them
• Clear the clutter, clean off your desk and any other horizontal surfaces
• Make the most of meetings with an agenda and a time frame
• Minimize interruptions, it's okay to not answer a ringing telephone or cellphone
• Check your email at designated times throughout the day

Be a winner, try one of the above points and see how it frees up your time during the day. Once you have mastered one point move on to another one.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi