Gene Carr's Patron Technology Blog

What Can the Arts Learn from JetBlue?

I'm delving into the subject of the customer experience today. The customer experience Isn't marketing  –  it’s what happens after marketing. This been on my mind a lot recently, and I don’t think we think about it nearly enough.  If you go to pretty much any arts marketing conference these days, you'll hear all about churn. Everyone is recognizing that we spend a lot of money bringing new patrons to our theaters, and most of them don't come back.

I think one of the keys to licking this problem is fixing the overall customer experience. This includes (but is not limited to) what goes on on the stage itself.

I’m going to talk about this in a roundabout way by focusing on the airline industry. I've been traveling around the country going to conferences for last few weeks, so this is fresh in my mind.  If you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you’ll know that JetBlue is one of my favorite airlines.  I'll get to JetBlue in a moment, but first, let me tell you about last week, when I had to fly on American Airlines.

Everything about that experience was a downer. The planes looked haggard and the seats were frayed and dirty. The staff seemed unhappy and it was clear they were doing their jobs because they had to, not because they wanted to. I don't doubt American Airlines is going through tough times, as are all airlines. But the experience from the consumer perspective wasn’t doesn't make up for that. Truth is I didn't have any major complaints. The plane left and arrived on time. Everything was ultimately done in a competent manner. But if had to identify something great about American Airlines that would motivate me to travel with them again the next time I fly, it would be hard to do.

Let's contrast that to my experience last night on JetBlue. I was on my way out to Seattle to the Americans for the Arts Conference, and I was at the spacious, clean (and very quiet) JFK JetBlue terminal for about an hour.  Near the gate was a dining bar – a sort of eating and work station where I could plug in my computer. (At this dining bar, there was also a fixed computer screen in front of each customer where I could order a sandwich and a drink which would then get delivered to me.)

Sitting across from me in the terminal was a pilot. It turns out it was the was the pilot for my flight and he had already been in a conversation with a backpack-laden student who was sitting next to me, so I joined in on the conversation. It turns out he's been working for JetBlue for eight years and he immediately wanted to know what I thought of the airline. He apologized for the famous Valentine's Day fiasco some years ago, and was genuinely interested in my comments and thanked me several times for flying on JetBlue. "It's customers like you who keep us in business."

 At one point there was an announcement on the PA about the fact that our flight was delayed, and he got up to go find out what was going on.  To my surprise, a few minutes later, he came back to our to us to explain that the inbound plane had arrived late but that flying time to Seattle was going to be shorter than published, and that we would in fact arrive on time.

He didn't have to come back to tell us what was going on, but the fact that he did definitely made me feel special. Then when I got on the plane, he recognized and waved at me, and when the flight was over, I saw him at the front of the plane and he shook my hand and said, “Hey, only five minutes late.” I felt like I was talking to “my” pilot! 

Needless to say this isn't an experience that all customers have. But it's indicative of a mindset of the airline and it's employees. And, if you've flown on JetBlue you also know that once onboard it has the most legroom of any airline, leather seats and a ton of music offerings and DirectTV at every seat. The planes are new and the flight crew almost never interrupts with PA messages during the flight. And, before you take off, the pilot comes out from the cockpit stands in the front of the cabin with a microphone and addresses the passengers directly, talking about the flight to come.

Needless to say, there’s a direct analogy to our field. Ultimately these two airlines got me from point A to point B. Only in the JetBlue case, apparently everyone involved (up to and including the pilots) understands that the customer experience is the key difference. That experience is what is going to get me to rebook the next time, and go out of my way to fly JetBlue over another carrier, and to blog about it.

Notwithstanding the fact that a great performance can remain with you for a long time, I’ll bet that a big reason for so much churn in our business is that people aren’t treated specially in the theater or concert hall.  I don't think we focus on the small details (like the line in the rest room) or the smile on the face of the person handing out your program? 

And can someone please tell me why in an industry in which the average age of patrons is over 50 in most cases, the font size of the programs is tiny? What's the point of handing out a program with minuscule printing when you require 90% of the audience to fumble around looking for their glasses two minutes before the curtain goes up? (In fairness I have seen some venues offer large-type versions of their programs - printed out on xerox paper. Isn't that a bit backwards?

I think this is a big deal. Clearly JetBlue gets that it's in the hospitality business as much as it is in the travel business. And, if you believe that arts are (if only partially) part of that industry as well, I think the arts field needs a new mindset and commitment to focus on this aspect of the business a lot more if it truly wants to build audiences for the future.

Obama: The First Arts President?

At the tail end of the presidential campaign, I wrote a blog post pointing out that candidate Obama had put out an arts policy. I hadn't known it existed, but when I read it, it seemed really smart, and like Obama might even do some things to help the field beyond lip service.

What's happened so far?

Well, let's read the tea leaves. We're barely past the first 100 or so days of the presidency. Certainly the extra $50 million for the NEA is good news, and the appointment of Rocco Landesman is innovative and refreshing. These are good signs.

Michelle Obama has already been in New York twice. The first time was a few weeks ago, when she was making speeches about the value of the arts, attending the ABT opening, and mentioning that her first date with her future husband was at a museum.

Then, this weekend, the first couple came to NY to have a date night on Broadway. I got a ticket to the performance they were attending, and the whole thing was quite an experience.

First, the security was as you would expect, and the NY police do this really well by now. That is to say, the entire area around the theater was so tightly locked down that the play ended up starting almost an hour late due to the fact that half the audience was trapped a few blocks away, unable to even get to the theater. And of course, there was airport-type security and pat-downs of everyone entering the theater.

But once inside, the energy was electric. People were milling around until nearly 9 PM when the ushers started asking people to take their seats. When the President and the First Lady walked in from a side entrance about two minutes before the show started, the place erupted in a prolonged, whooping, standing-ovation-type applause more typically found at a baseball stadium. The outpouring of sheer enthusiasm was something I've never seen before for any politician. It seemed everyone had a camera or a cell phone camera and for a few minutes, it was quite a light show. The Obamas were seated in row K on the aisle, and aside from being escorted in by secret service, it was just them, no entourage. And, as was reported in the paper, Meryl Streep was sitting a few rows ahead. The people sitting next to them were astounded as he walked down the aisle and shook hands and flashed his million-dollar smile.

Once the play ("Joe Turner's Come and Gone") started, it took the audience a good five minutes to focus on it and settle down. The play was good, probably great. Certainly the performances were exceptional. It was a play about the American Black post-emancipation experience -- a personal story that I suspect is lost on most white Americans. I thought back to Obama's speech last summer on race in which he spoke of two Americas -- the Black American experience and everyone else's. This play was laser beam into that world.

I'm glad I went. I caught only a glimpse of them, but nonetheless it was thrilling.  

And it did get me thinking about the potential for what the Obamas could mean for the arts, going forward.  Quite apart from the right-wing attacks Obama has taken for using taxpayer money to fund a trip to the theater, I see things differently. What we have here is a couple that chooses to participate in arts & culture as an integrated and comfortable part of their lives. Even Bill Clinton's sax playing at his inauguration pales by comparison. The last time I remember a sitting president coming to Broadway was when Bill brought Chelsea to see "Rent." This is a very different thing, and hopefully symbolic of more honest and straightforward support of the arts to come.

 

Putting Things In Perspective - Digitally, That Is

Folks, sometimes facts are very friendly.

I happened upon a chart today from eMarketer.com, which I think contains all that you need to know about prioritizing your online marketing. The data looks at the behavior of folks who are already online. 

Looks like big and old media still rule the day. And "search engines" (which really means Google) get the top slot for digital involvement.

The most interesting thing to me is that the very next Web-based medium referenced is, ahem, e-mail newsletters. Yup, way ahead of social networking or even regular Web sites.

I've been saying this for, oh, about seven years now, and finally there's data to prove this in context. That's why we also say that sending out e-mail newsletters isn't merely about "doing" it, but about doing it well.

That means great strategy and flawless execution. You need to dig into the field, learn about what others are doing, adopt best practices, and get into the minutiae. That's what will make your efforts stand out, and that's why we offer so many webinars, seminars, and training sessions to our clients. Sending e-mail is easy -- and people pay attention to it (as you can see below.) That's why it's doubly important that you do it well.

My advice is to recalibrate the ratio of your digital budgets (both your time budget and your financial budget) according to what you see below. 

Kindle & Digital Newspapers? They Still Don't Get It

It seems every day we hear more and more bad news about newspapers, so it was with some excitement that I read about the introduction of the Amazon Kindle, in The New York Times last week. It's more or less the same device, with a much bigger screen.

For a long time when people asked me what I thought newspapers should have been doing differently in the last five years, I told them that building the Kindle would have been a good idea, as it would convert folks like me from paper to digital. Now it turns out that Amazon beat them to it, and partnered with The New York Times, and a few other papers.

But buried deep within the article was the a sentence about pricing that stunned me.

Three newspapers, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, will offer a reduced price on the Kindle in exchange for a long-term subscription, but only for people who live in areas where their paper editions are not available.

Isn't this backwards? Shouldn't they be pricing this aggressively to woo folks like me from paper to digital? I guess they still don't recognize that their paper printing days are numbered, and their strategy is to milk existing subscribers like me for subscription fees until we leave on our own accord.

The danger in this strategy is that competition will trump them. What will happen when some clever entrepreneur does a mash-up of the Times and other newspapers for the Kindle that I find better than the Times itself?  It could happen, and probably will. And if the Times blocks such a venture (as the AP is trying to do with Google right now) they only shoot themselves in the foot.

What I learned in B-school decades ago was that the first question every business needs to answer is "What business are we in?" Clearly the Times has answered that question: We are (still) in the business of printing paper and distributing it. If their answer was "news distribution" then I'd think they would have a very different approach to the Kindle DX - like giving it away for free to print subscribers in return for a long-term fee-based subscription.

Vox PoP Redux: Actually By More Than Half

Thanks everyone for participating in my little test marketing survey in my last post. You can read all the comments from viewers here.

The verdict on my little test proves my point. Some commenters already knew what Vox was, but putting those aside, all the rest (including me) only had a vague notion of what this video was all about. One commenter strung the missing pieces together and concluded that this was some kind preview of the NYCO's next season. That seems to be a logical conclusion. Only that ain't what this is about.  

Here's the answer, which interestingly enough came in the form of an e-mail from the Skirball Center, which hosted the event:

The partnership between New York City Opera and NYU Skirball Center continues in 2009 in celebration of VOX's 10th Anniversary with free performances of 10 bold new works from both established and emerging composers.

Guess what - it's a TWO DAY FREE FESTIVAL!!! Free. Did anyone hear me say "free?"  Darn. Wish I knew that weeks ago, I would have reserved a ticket.

Look, I give the NYCO kudos for producing a really interesting video. But in my book it wasn't marketing. It was a self-indulgent promotional piece that served those who already knew what Vox was. (Maybe I'm missing the point entirely; maybe the secret is that this event is so popular they can get away with obscuring the sell.) 

But, given that the NYCO has publicly stated that it's betting its future on rebuilding its mission (and replacing its current audience) by doing new works, it seems to me that this kind of promotion does the Opera a disservice. I think the NYCO ought to start building its new audience by wooing folks in, not preaching to the converted.

That means clear, crisp, direct marketing messages that communicate a "value story" to the prospect. This is B-school Marketing 101: Communicate directly the benefits of your product and consumers may buy. I'm reverting to hardcore marketing jargon - because in these economic times, I think arts marketers need to get back to basics. 

NYC Opera: Too Hip by Half? Take My Marketing Challenge

Last week I got a curious brochure in the mail from the New York City Opera. This is the same group that lost its high profile French leader only months ago, and turned to New York's own forward-thinking George Steel to rescue the institution and redefine its mission.

It's also the same group that, according to an article in last week's The New York Times, "had raided its endowment of a total of $23.5 million to pay off debts and right the troubled company’s finances, leaving little left in its coffers."

So anything new coming from the City Opera caught my attention as a harbinger of things to come. And indeed, this print brochure looked like something much more likely to come out of an Indie film festival (or a comic book store). In fact, it was so hip, one of my staff said, "Why did they do this in print at all? Why not just create a Web site?"

Indeed, they did create a Web site, and the URL in the brochure takes you to an amazingly creative and enjoyable video:

Now comes my challenge. Please do the following.

1. Click through and watch the video.
2. Don't click on any other links on the site.
3. Return to this blog, and click "comment" to tell me what *exactly* they are promoting.

Let's see what you come up with, and then in the next post, I'll give you my reaction.

The End of Newspapers -- This Soon?

I assume you all heard about the threat our local paper, The New York Times, made this week -- to shut down the Boston Globe. Who knows if it was merely a negotiating posture with the unions, but just the mention of that kind of threat damages the Times' own reputation, so one has to believe they are seriously on the ropes.

When I wrote about the demise of newspapers a few weeks ago, I ended by saying that it was my guess that the folks that run newspapers don't get it, and they will watch as their enterprises sink into the sea.

Well, last night I read something on Huffington Post which I had to share, written by Jeff Jarvis (whose new book What Would Google Do I ordered from Amazon.com just last night).  Jeff's take on the newspaper industry is far harsher than mine, and I think it's a must read.

It's titled "To Newspaper Moguls: You Blew It" and he makes the indictment with a dagger.

I know folks in the arts community in Boston are scrambling to understand the potential of their city without a major newspaper to review their shows and a place to put their ads.

It may just be that the biggest economic crisis the arts are going to face in the next year is not financial at all -- it's editorial.

So, as I've said for years at my seminars (now sort of a mantra to arts marketers), when you think about marketing online you should make yourself into the publisher. With e-mail and Web sites, and now RSS, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, *you* are the publisher -- and in some cases this may be necessary sooner than you think.

 

Atlanta Speech & Facebook Teach

I'm heading to Atlanta tomorrow at the invitation of the National Alliance for Musical Theater. I've been invited to give the keynote address at their Spring 2009 conference. The conference is titled  "Marketing in a New Age: How Technology Can Build Your Audience and Save You Money."

My talk will be largely focused around the incredible potential now facing the arts & culture world with regard to "cloud computing." In techie circles that phrase is quickly becoming an over-used cliche, but the reality is that organizations that embrace this new way of accessing technology truly can operate with dramatically greater efficiency and for a lot less money. If you happen to be in Atlanta (or want to hop on a plane) my talk is at 10 AM on Friday morning.

The only downside to all this is that I'll be headed to the airport tomorrow just in time to miss Michelle Paul's Webinar about how to develop your organization's presence on Facebook, that I wrote about last week. We are all thrilled here at the overwhelming registrations for this event -- as of this afternoon over 800 people have registered!  if you still want to go, you can still register for free here.  

I got a preview of her session last night and it's chock full of good information. We sent out a survey to all registrants earlier in week about their social media habits, the results for which Michelle will summarize. And to top it off, she's going to be announce a new initiative we're developing for arts professionals around social media. 

Using Facebook for Your Organization - We'll Show You How

I've been more and more impressed with the potential of Facebook every month. Despite what I think is a pretty botched upgrade, the Facebook juggernaut continues.

That's why I think every arts organization in America ought to have at least some presence on Facebook. And by that I don't mean simply creating a Facebook Page for your organization. Just like e-mail marketing isn't simply about sending a "blast" once a month, marketing on Facebook properly requires some thought and technique.

We'd like to show you how. We're offering a free webinar on Thursday, April 2 at 1pm, led by Michelle Paul, our business development manager (and product manager for our own Facebook app ill go!), who will offer tangible techniques and tips on what to do. I think this will be a half-hour well worth your time.

After all, Facebook marketing is a triple threat -- it's FREE, it's easy, and it reaches a younger audience.

You can register for the webinar here.

Also, Michelle has a blog about Facebook marketing for the arts.

Finally, I want to share with you an interesting quote from an article in eMarketer yesterday. 

“If you’re going to build a community, don’t center it around your product, but rather on something deeply relevant to a particular consumer group,” said eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey. He also suggested keeping fans of your brand pages happy by giving them a lot of content and letting them share the love with others.

When Michelle read this yesterday, she IM'ed me and said, "Hey, that's what I've been saying all along!"

Yes, indeed. There's a right and wrong way to use Facebook, and the true marketers out there in the corporate world are already recognizing that fact.

We should too.

I hope you'll join us next Thursday: register here.

Are Arts Managers Worried About the Wrong Bad Thing?

I realize that my persistence in writing about newspapers threatens to turn this blog from one about online marketing into something quite different, but arts marketing and the health of newspapers are completely intertwined. I don't see why more people in the arts marketing field aren't in as much of a panic about the imminent demise of the newspaper industry as we know it as they are about the economy.

Every day now on Facebook I read friends' posts who work for newspapers and are worried about losing their job, or fearful that their papers will go under entirely.  There's even a "Don't Let Newspapers Die" Facebook group that has 69,000 members. Amazing. It seems like this noise level about this kind of thing is changing from a din to a cacophony, even in the last few weeks.

Look, the moment big cities lose their only major newspaper is the moment that arts marketers are on their own -- meaning, you're now 100% in the world of direct marketing. (Let's set aside radio and TV as practical options for most organizations.) In this scenario, those that haven't built a huge e-mail list will be faced with the unfortunate realization that traditional direct mail is not a viable alternative. 

I'm turning up the volume here because yet another article in today's Times has foreshadowed exactly what I'm talking about. The most telling line of the article: "But no one yet has unlocked the puzzle of supporting a large newsroom purely on digital revenue." That's the issue. There will be news. It just won't be produced by major newspapers that dominate the information landscape in each city.  

I encourage you to read the Times article, as I think it offers a balanced view of what's going on as well as some quotes from pretty smart VCs about what kinds of news sources may replace a major newspaper.

As the tectonic shift in our economy is happening in front of our eyes, this newspaper thing seems to be equally as significant. And, frankly this is what I've been saying for about seven years now, and why I wrote three books on this topic. It's exactly what our Patron Technology is all about: If you build a direct relationship with your members and donors, you don't need an intermediary any more.

And the ability to build this relationship isn't based on technology alone. Yes, you need great technology. But you also need expertise (and non-profit expertise doesn't come from the cheapest systems).

What you need is to deeply understand how e-mail and digital marketing works -- what techniques are best for building your list at your venue, when to send e-mail to your patrons, and how to get them to click on your "Buy Tickets" links. And since technology changes every six months, you need to keep up with it.

This is why we give over 30 seminars a year, and this is what we'll be talking about this weekend at the ArtsReach pre-conference on Saturday. If you're in New York City and you're not signed up yet, I hope you'll come. I'm giving a hour-long talk about my vision of how the next five years of technology changes will dramatically improve not only arts marketing, but arts management as well. And Michelle Paul, our resident Facebook expert, will explain how to connect with your audience on Facebook -- something that is quickly turning from a side-show into a big deal.

Technology is a tool -- not a technique. Technique and tactics come from education, case studies, and expertise -- something I hope our industry recognizes sooner than later.