People who use Google Search already know what they’re looking for. So how many people are looking for theatre? I was working on a digital marketing strategy for a client recently and we decided to ask Google Keyword Planner how many people search for theatre in Ireland. If we knew that we’d get a sense of the level of interest in theatre among the Google using population – which is a lot of people. So here’s the monthly average figures: 720 people a month search for theatre, 590 search for drama and 120 search for plays. You can look at this in two ways: a) not a lot of people are searching for theatre, or b) people don’t use that generic term when they search because they have a much clearer sense of what they want. So we asked some more questions….. Continue reading What Google Adwords tells us about our Audience
The Blog
No Artists Need Apply – The reality of jobs in the Arts
Making a living as an artist can be hard. I remember a conversation with journalist Donald Clarke many years ago about this. In his inimitable way he made the comment “You don’t see many ads in the paper do you? You know, Wanted: Novelist. No Magical Realists need apply”. The truth is that there are no jobs for artists. Never have been and probably never will be. Continue reading No Artists Need Apply – The reality of jobs in the Arts
Roll Up! Roll Up! The Audience Dillemma
Is it just me or is the phrase “Audience Development” – so beloved of Arts Councils and Policy Makers – one of the most patronising concepts ever developed? I mean, maybe the “audience” reckons its pretty developed as it is and it really doesn’t need any help defining and acknowledging its own tastes.
Audience engagement is a different and far more challenging idea. Engagement means listening – and they just might tell you stuff you don’t want to hear. Despite this one of the first responsibilities of artists and arts organisations is to make work for an audience. know who that audience is, and get out and find them, and engage with them. If we are not doing this – particularly in a start-up situation – then what we are doing is a hobby. Continue reading Roll Up! Roll Up! The Audience Dillemma
Customers and End Users
So here’s the thing. No matter what you’re making, be it art, drugs or breakfast cereal you can thing of your audience in terms of Customers and End Users. The simplest way of illustrating the difference is with nappies. The parents are the customers, but the babies are the end-users. So although your end users may vastly outnumber your customers – it’s the customers who are paying for what you do and its their needs and expectations that need to be met. Sure, the babies have to be comfortable and kept dry but beyond that its the parents that we need to keep onside.
All you have to do is ask…..the right person.
What you need and where to get it.
For many of us working in Arts and Culture the word “resources” is nearly always preceded by the phrase “a lack of”.
Indeed, in the last three years the comment I’ve heard most is “can you not scale it down?” But if I scale it down its not the original vision anymore is it? I mean who wants to climb a steep hill to see the possible field when you know it should be the highest mountain with an excellent view of the promised land? Continue reading All you have to do is ask…..the right person.
“You run a tight ship – you’re just not going anywhere”
Have you got the “vision” thing? I’m amazed by how popular this word has become, and how some people are miraculously endowed with an excess of it and others are cast into outer darkness because they have none of it. I’m also amazed at how quickly it was absorbed by the corporate strategists, and how confusing Arts Funding applications became when I had to say what the vision was, followed by the mission and followed by the objectives – all of which were different, but of course had to be related. Continue reading “You run a tight ship – you’re just not going anywhere”
Consultant - Arts, Culture and Creative Industries 