A word about the competition
I’ve used this blog to talk (repeatedly) about the importance of listening in order to learn who your audience really is and what motivates them to interact with your product or service. I still believe that is the crucial first step to any good communications campaign. The step that comes in a close second is to understand who else competes for your audiences’ attention.
I work with several arts organizations in central Indiana. Time and again, the first competitors they name are all the other performance or visual arts organizations in the nine-county metro area. These absolutely are the competition. But defining the competition within the confines of your industry only begins to scratch the surface.
So I ask them (for instance), ”Does your organization have education programs that need to reach the toddler mom crowd?” If the answer is yes, these groups have to realize they compete with school, sports, summer camps, piano lessons, Children’s Museum memberships, Nick Jr., educational toys, play groups, even the inflatable swimming pool in the backyard.
If they tell me they want to reach young arts lovers (and everyone wants to reach the IndyHubbers), then I explain that they must understand the time young professionals spend volunteering, at Zumba lessons, in front of the TV, texting – but not driving, out at the bars, online and on the greenway trails (and on the golf greenways).
Guess what? If this is your audience, you even compete with the time YPs dedicate to sleeping. For post-college professionals, naps often trump everything! (Don’t deny it, my friends. You tweet about your power naps and beautiful weekend couch time. I read it and I am jealous.)
While it has always been true to some extent, one thing is especially true in a recessed economy. You compete with anything and everyone who wants a piece of your audiences’ time and wallets. It’s not just the arts organizations that have to understand where they fit into the community at large.
So what can you do?
Interact with your audiences where they are when they are not with you. Find them on Twitter. Volunteer with them. Support the causes that are important to them. Appreciate that they have broad lives and diverse interests.
First and foremost, you have to offer them a compelling reason to get off that couch. And once they choose your show or restaurant, you must meet – or exceed – their expectations so that you rise to the top of their list of options for the next time.
