Audience Development: Journey into the unknown…

First steps

Getting our house in order

Small, not-quite-perfectly formed No audience development or marketing expertise New strategic plan and vision placing audience at the

heart of all operations, artistic and administrative New brand/image/name and understanding of what

exactly we’re selling

What the audience sees

16-strong professional choral ensemble delivering 8-10 projects per year (average 3 concerts/project Programmes ranging from medieval through to

contemporary Concentration on commissioning – particularly Irish

composers Commitment to national and international collaboration Living up to the title of ‘National’!

Marketing Audit – who our audiences are

Presumptions!

They’re old They don’t really do digital media so like things in

the post! They like us!

Marketing Audit – who our audiences are

FACT!

They’re old but not as old as we thought – 70% is 50+ but the majority of that is 61-70

They don’t really do digital media – the majority hear about our work through print/word of mouth with little or no engagement through website/social media

They like us! They love our programming, love being introduced to new things

We need to do better at marketing!

Saying hello…

Introducing Audience Surveys

Talking informally – getting to know individuals Audience surveys reaffirming what we’d presumed Affirmation that they like what we do Enabled us to grow the database and convert in

part to email marketing

Objectives

Increasing output/access- Increasing number of performances and education activities per year incrementally over 3 years

Programming to develop audiences- Dividing programme into national touring – (2 national tours of 3-5 dates each per year)- ‘Niche’ programming throughout the year in larger cities/venues/festivals

Collaborations- Working with other national organisations to

collaboratively build audiences through shared ambitions

Target Audience? Older is OK!NCC Research + TGI data = Classical music audience largely 60+

Size and scale of organisation focus will be to retain and growthis audience segment through all our programming.

Younger? 2nd priority is for the 35-55 market at key events in the year: Culture Night Seasonal points – Christmas Festival performances