How do you explore ideas for campaigns for upcoming seasons, programmes, or exhibitions with your colleagues?
I’m curious about what works for you?
If your organisation has a really joined-up, collaborative approach to creating audience campaigns I’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch and share your most effective campaign.
Maximise the impact of your next audience campaign
I’ll shortly be providing access to a creative toolkit sharing an audience-focused approach to campaign planning with a new group of arts organisations.
Initially, I’ll be looking for a group of people to join me over a few creative, online sessions.
Try out the tools with me and explore how you might adapt them to work brilliantly in your context.
A QUICK WIN TO TRY FOR YOUR NEXT CAMPAIGN:
Do you typically start with a ‘briefing’ from the creative team to the marketing team?
If yes, you might be missing a valuable step that would make it much easier to build meaningful relationships with audiences.
Try shifting your next ‘briefing‘ to a ‘discovery‘ session or an ‘ideas‘ session.
That might sound like cheesy consultant speak (?!) but shifting the style of this meeting can honestly make a big difference in the impact of your campaign.
Hold a joint conversation between experts: the creative expert and the audience expert.
A collaborative, creative conversation (not a briefing) early in the process and well before you need to create the campaign plan.
Both experts should ask lots of questions to explore things such as:
Make it collaborative and ideas focused.
Use post-its or whiteboards to jointly share and capture your ideas.
This shift in style of meeting from briefing and telling, to discovery and idea generation enables conversations that kick-start a different way of thinking and talking about audiences.
When done well, this approach can spark:
- ideas for exciting new collaborations or creative partnerships that can help you reach more people
- more impactful messaging and design for the campaign
- creative ideas for wrap-around audience experiences – before, during, or after the event etc.
This approach is the first step in a campaign planning process I use with clients across the sector to help people create more relevant, impactful campaigns and great experiences for audiences.
‘We’ve been working with Julie over the last few months to develop a digital strategy and expand our online and onsite audiences.
New structures of gathering ideas and refining campaigns have been particularly helpful … widened internal conversations.’
[Moya Malekin, Deputy Director, Camden Art Centre]
Want some help to make the most of your campaign planning?
- Find out more about the upcoming Campaign Planning group programme, the toolkit, and the options for further training and bespoke support.
- Book an Audience Review to help uncover essential insight about your audiences to inform those early conversations about why people might engage, what matters to them, and what might prevent them from getting involved.
- Commission an Online workshop and / or Coaching session bespoke to your team (ideal if you’re working on a big campaign e.g. an anniversary, a season launch, a production with a long run, a brand campaign etc.)
- Explore options for Consultancy Support to help you produce an audience (or digital audience) strategy driving long-term impact for audiences and income.
‘I usually find marketing workshops a bit baffling because my mind doesn’t work the way marketing does – but your sessions made me rethink it completely … It’s been a real eye opener working with you! I found it very useful indeed.’
[anonymous quote from a director in the arts]
Reply and share your thoughts:
- Do any of these notes spark new ideas for you?
- What do you think about the options for support?
- What might make the toolkit and support useful for you and your colleagues?
- What else would you like me to explore in upcoming newsletters?