If creating a work of art in Hong Kong is difficult, then marketing it is even more daunting. After all, arts cannot thrive without people. Without an audience, performances and artistic creations will be robbed of their meaning and intrinsic worth. Hence, even masterpieces need adequate promotion. Are you short on resources but eager for a good return? Then you have to develop a profound understanding of the arts market.

What is Marketing

Put simply, marketing is all about "supply" and "demand". The marketing manager's job is to sell the show/production according to market demands, and, if necessary, create the market demand for larger benefits.

In other words, the producer and the marketing manager have to be in close liaison and communication. This is what you need to make marketing work.

Hence, as a producer or marketing manager, you must listen to others and their comments, especially those outside the art world. They are the conduits to audience and market cultivation.

1. Know Thyself and Others
   The promoter's main job is to have a clear grasp of the strong points and weaknesses of the arts organisation or their production. Having a clear grasp of the current environment, however, is equally important. How is the current economic climate and will it affect the audience's appetite? Or, are there any current trends to ride on for greater publicity?
2. Market Positioning
   Remember always that not every work may cater to all tastes and preferences. From a marketing point of view, it is important to have a target audience, which can be categorised on the basis of age, sex, income or cultural background. Of course, it is also important to know who holds the purse strings.
3. Pay Attention to Sales Report
   A marketing professional should have the daily habit of reading the sales report in order to
   •  Put oneself on constant alert
   •  Have a grasp on immediate effect and feedback
   •  Understand the correlation between stock market performance and box-office returns
   •  Maintain the audience's awareness and thus prolong the shelf life of the production

The Four P's of Marketing

1. Product
   • Marketing means resources distribution. You have to know how much resources are at your disposal. Remember, resources include monetary and human resources.
   • If resources are tight, it is necessary to put a high-risk production in a subordinate position, though their existence cannot be thus ignored.
   • In fact, a large-scale production does not necessarily mean a costly promotion. On the contrary, small-scale productions or unknown works may require more resources for promotion.
   • The cardinal rule of a successful promotion is to have a focused selling and meet the market's demand. Once you find out that you are off-focus, re-adjust it immediately.
   • If you want your production to be a family show, then the time-slot you choose to schedule it is important.
2. Price
   • Don't price production individually but in complement to other productions. For instance, set a higher price for a production with high return potential but lower for those with risky return. Or, set a higher price for good seats and let those who can afford it subsidise poorer seats.
   • Unless as a last resort, don't readily give discounts on tickets. Otherwise audience will take this for granted. Try offering non-monetary favours like a drinks coupon.
3. Place
   • Pick your venue carefully. A remote venue may have adverse effect on ticket sales. However, it may be remedied by proper transport arrangement.
   • Do not overlook the importance of sales network. Extend it to overcome geographical restrictions.
   • Make full use of the information technology to promote your production, say, through e-mail or fax.
4. Promotion
   • Make noises. For instance, create a sheep effect through additional shows to stimulate talks and box-office performance.
   • A creative advertisement is good promotion.
   • If resources are tight, concentrate your resources for promotion on just one medium to enhance impact.
   • Don't waste resources on media whose audience is not your target audience
   • Tailor your promotional strategies for individual productions. Seek different selling points. For instance, try serial promotion or arrange interviews; in short, make as much noises as possible.
     

Public Relations

1. Customer Service
   • Maintain a good relationship with the audience. Try keeping the old one before you look for the new.
   • Maintain a good customer service conduit; for instance, for information inquiry, ticket sales, ticket inquiry and transport guides.
2. Media Relations
   • Maintain a good relationship with the media; provide them with ample information, for instance, criticisms and comments. But remember, don't place the same piece in several publications except press release.
   • Keep in constant touch with your media contacts, even those who are no longer in the field since there are still working opportunities in the future.
   • Reserve press tickets for the press; their coverage is the most direct type of promotion.
3. Partnership
   • You first have to know what and who to look for (for instance, joint producer) and how they will help promote the production, for instance, collaboration with credit card company will help in publicity and certain companies/organisations/groups will allow more venues for leaflet distribution.
   • Sponsorship creates a win-win situation. The arts organisation looks for sponsorship, submits creative and appealing scheme to potential sponsor. It is certainly good for the arts organisation on programme publicity and arts promotion. At the same time, it helps the sponsor's image building. Both parties actually benefit from the activity.

Conclusion

Besides having the ability to get hold of adequate resources and mastering marketing theories, listening to comments and learning from the experience of others are also indispensable qualities for successful marketing.

 

The article was a transcription of a talk held by the ADC on 26 March 1998. The talk was given by Ms Katy Cheng, Marketing Manager of Hong Kong Arts Festival Society. The topic was "Marketing the Arts".