Don’t Sell Yourself Short By Way Of Universal Statements

Adaptistration People 195I’m at the National Arts Marketing, Development & Ticketing Conference today running a session on Google Analytics and hosting some roundtable sessions but I wanted to quickly point out a short-but-sweet post about the dangers of writing off entire communication channels just because they are rooted in traditional approaches.

Ceci Dadisman published an article at her Medium blog in the form of a reassuring rant about why you don’t want to write off communication channels like print ads or direct mail.

You can’t make the blanket statement that “print doesn’t work” without looking at the target groups and the market in which they reside. In some markets, print ads in a particular publication are very effective and in others they are not.

[…]

Determining your mix of channels requires doing a little research and data analysis to land on what works best for you.

If nothing else, you can begin to tell the difference between professionals who really know their craft and those who lean on dubious popular perspective by how much they avoid or lean into universal statements.

Read Unpopular Opinion: There is no communications channel that “doesn’t work”

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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