Jerry D. Yoshitomi

Inverting the Pyramid

Posted by Jerry D. Yoshitomi, Oct 10, 2014 1 comment


Jerry D. Yoshitomi

Gerald Yoshitomi Gerald Yoshitomi

Who in the organization already knows how to increase audiences and revenues? It's the Marketing Director and the Marketing Team. They've been attending Marketing Conferences, participating in online webinars, reading and commenting on blogs, etc. They are hired and paid because they are expected to know more about marketing than anyone else in the organization. They have the responsibility to hit the numbers, but lack the authority to implement the practices that would assure success.

New knowledge often remains unused on dusty shelves as organizations continue outdated practices. Though changing practice would reduce expenses and result in increased income, doing so would require going outside the comfort zone of others in the organization. hese comfort zones have been created by many years of experience, education, and practical knowledge - but may be less valuable, and is definitely less resilient, today than it was ten and twenty years ago. We must unlearn some old methods to learn new ones. Some examples of outdated practices and thinking:

  • Printed brochures are the most important element in a ticket sales campaign
  • Big advertisements in the 'large metropolitan daily newspaper' are second in importance
  • We don’t need to reach younger audiences, we just need to wait until they 'age-up' and turn 50. That's when they'll start buying tickets
  • Printed postcards and newspaper advertisements increase audiences for exhibitions
  • It's all about what the artists think is important (orchestra members, actors, dancers, directors, choreographers), why would we want to ask audiences any artistic questions?

To attend the NAMP Conference each year requires a modest investment of organizational and personal time and money that has the potential to increase revenues far beyond that investment. However, the lessons gained at the conference, once taken back home, frequently wither on the vine under the harsh light of current organizational practice. I encourage those authorizing these expenses of time and money to ask returning participants three questions*:

  • What practices should we unlearn?
  • Who should we listen to less? Who should we listen to more?
  • How do we learn together from all this and implement substantive changes?

Below are excerpts from an article written in the Grantmakers in the Arts Reader: GIA Reader, Vol 16, No 3 (Fall 2005)

Is Knowledge in the Right Places? A Reflection on Assumptions

Complexity theory eschews holding on intractably to old methods but to move from what's known (how we used to do business) to what's knowable (research, systems thinking), and then beyond the knowable, to a complexity where we can begin to develop methods that are effective in complex new environments. Staying in the known world is comparable to the Catholic Church's denial that the earth revolved around the sun, excommunicating Galileo instead of acknowledging the new knowledge. Staying too long trying to hold on to the old known order can result in chaos.

A recent report on the innovative uses of technology, Power to the Edges — Trends and Opportunities in Online Civic Engagement, The E-Volve Foundation, “people who are hired to implement technological solutions are hired by people who do not understand the problem; they're neither able to hire the right people nor able to evaluate their work.”

A few years back, I was talking with Jim Royce, now the Emeritus Marketing & Communications Director at LA Center Theatre Group.Jim was on the way to his office to write copy for a new E-Mail marketing campaign. I was puzzled why he hadn't delegated the work to someone on his staff, as at that point in his distinguished career, Jim rarely wrote copy, instead he reviewed and approved copy written by younger staff. Jim replied: “We've never had an E-Mail campaign and I've never written copy for an E-Mail campaign. I need to learn how to write E-Mail marketing copy before I can supervise someone who does.”

Esteemed colleague Alan Brown suggests that the most important new innovations in arts marketing will be peer-to-peer strategies — invite a friend, “viral” forwarding, etc. However many of us have difficulty moving from increasingly costly print advertising (which we understand and can manage) to virtual and viral strategies.

One of the advantages of the younger generation is that they don't need to unlearn some things. Gen X and Y have knowledge and strength that invigorates. Yet their strengths do threaten the status quo as senior leaders try to hold on to past values, positions, and ways of operating. To echo Joseph Campbell — are young knights (male and female) challenging seasoned veterans and elders?

 

*Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation, Georg Von Krogh, Ikujiro Nonaka, Kazuo Ichijo

The Arts Marketing Blog Salon is generously sponsored by Patron Technology.

1 responses for Inverting the Pyramid

Comments

October 20, 2014 at 4:05 pm

Always good to hear from you, Jerry!

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