Just the other weekend, I went to beautiful Providence, Rhode Island to attend the National Arts Marketing Project Conference! DiverseWorks was the featured organization for a marketing session called Quick, Cheap and Dirty: Developing an Inexpensive Marketing Plan. I was completely nervous as it was really my first time to present in front of my peers. Sara Kellner, the former Executive Director of DiverseWorks, and myself presented ways for other organizations to maximize their marketing dollars and existing staff to develop a down and dirty marketing plan. We used our marketing plan and marketing roundtable as examples to help others. We got a lot of fantastic feedback and a chance to let others know about the amazing people and community that have assisted DiverseWorks in making our marketing more effective. H-town Represent! Anyway, I wanted to share some of the highlights and adventures from my trip with you….
OMG! Google Ad Words. That's all I'm sayin... If you aren't familiar with Google Ad Words, you must learn about it NOW.
The plenary Luncheon with Rich Mintz was truly inspiring. He works for Blue State Digital and they did online pitches and marketing for Obama for America. He really touched upon fundraising for the campaign and some of the tactics to connect with your audience. Keeping promises and following through. Moments make your programs. Test Everything you can. Build Relationships. Online is everybody's job, even yours!
Nancy Hytone Leb. She was the fantastic moderator of my session and very supportive. I hope to remain in contact with her down the road. She is a marketing specialist, strategic consultant, development advisor and meeting facilitator and most excellent person.
Printing Money: Stretching your Collateral Budget. Wendy Hower Livingston (aka @Nashergirl) from the Nasher Museum of Art and Dewey Mooring discussed the ways that they slashed $80,000 from their marketing budget. Although I couldn't identify with that type of marketing budget ( I wish!), it was very interesting on how they refigured the marketing for a Museum. From what I learned in their session - cut down on the quantity of gallery guides, revise your marketing pieces, make sure you have a good printer, spend your money on the website. I also heard about their show: Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool going to the Contemporary Arts Museum and the importance of Dario Robleto's work to the Nasher. So cool!
Check out Dewey's blog. He does marketing for various arts organizations and you might find it helpful.
PROJECT AUDIENCE-
a pilot program that can develop and change the way we engage with audiences. Compared to sites such as Amazon and Yelp, audiences can recommend performances and exhibitions to others and review the show. Check out the site. http://www.projectaudience.org/
Also, I went to a roundtable discussion called the Ipatron: Audience Mobile Phone Trends and Study Results moderated by Ron Evans. WOW! I recently bought a smart phone and it's changed my life. This session was very cool. The results and the future of mobile phones are just crazy. Only a few arts organizations have taken the leap to creating an app for your phone or creating a website that is for mobile phone users. I think we will be seeing more and more of these things in the future. They have a great site too with lots of information. http://groupofminds.com/arts-marketing-articles
Last but not least, this isn't marketing related but if you get the opportunity to visit Providence, make sure you do 3 things.
1. Visit the RISD museum. A beautiful space and the coolest conference room EVER!
2. Eat dinner at Al Forno. Best meal of my life. Hands down! O-M-G!
3. Visit Waterfire. A tradition of the town and come on, THEY LIGHT THE RIVER ON FIRE!
Check out some of the pics from my trip.
Also, I want to make mention of these people. All of them in a big part (besides the staff of DiverseWorks) have shaped my marketing practices and were mentioned in our presentation. People like Lendre Kearns and Keith Gulla took the DiverseWorks staff on a marketing retreat to help us really evaluate what we were doing and we have since carried on that tradition. I'm so grateful to the participants of the 25th Anniversary Marketing Roundtable - Lindsay Kayser, Monica Danna, Matthew Wettergreen, Philip Beck, Kellye Sanford, Phillip Marshall, Tom So, David Cobb, Sarah Schellenberg, Tracey Morton and Jason McElwheenie. Thanks Everybody and Special Thanks to Sixto Wagan and Diane Barber for being so supportive, being free thinkers and not being afraid of change.
Shawna Forney
Public Relations & Marketing Manager
DiverseWorks
P.S. Please send me Del's Lemonade. I miss you sweet little delicious, natural, tasty lemonade from Rhode Island.
