Context is king.  I know, I know.  You thought content was king. Nope, it’s context.

It’s an honest mistake.  Content is incredibly important to arts marketing.  But context makes sure that we’re getting the right message (and content) to the right patrons via the right medium at the right time.

If we have great content but we aren’t delivering it within the right context, then at best we’re inefficient.  We’re not leveraging our time, money, and opportunities as well as we could.  At worst, we’re alienating both current and potential patrons.

So what do we mean by context?

In their ebook “Context Changes Everything,” marketing firm Strongview defines the customer context as “the unique combination of the consumer’s disposition and situation, coupled with the business’ disposition and situation.”

So let’s take a moment to reframe this through an arts marketing lens.

When looking at the patron circumstance:

●     Disposition is comprised of data points that we often use to construct patron profiles and segments - demographic information, behavioral data, psychographic information, and affinities.  Generally speaking, the patron’s disposition does not change from moment to moment, but it may change over time.  

○     For example: A patron might move into a new age bracket or a new geographic residence.  Or maybe they shift from a multi-ticket buyer to a season subscriber.
 

●     Situation is comprised of factors that can change much more frequently - states, needs, sentiment, and events.  Some situational data is certainly easier to obtain than others. Recent advances in technology have also made it possible for us to leverage situational data in new ways.

○     For example: It’s 7:30pm, and your production of August: Osage County starts in 30 minutes.  You send a notification to all of your mobile app subscribers within 1,000 feet of the theatre.  Your message invites them to stop by the box office to upgrade their tickets for the show.

When considering the arts organization circumstance:

●     Disposition is a set of elements that provide a definitive profile of your organization and what you do - firmographics (physical locations, number of employees, box office hours, etc.), what you sell (performances, admissions, workshops, etc.), strategies, and market segment.  These elements can change, but they typically do so infrequently.

○     For example: Your museum decides to extend admission hours to 9:00 PM on Thursday nights.  With the addition of a new gallery, your museum now has a designated space for its collection of works by contemporary American painters.
 

●     Situation for your arts organization includes inventory details, personnel details, corporate factors, and environmental activity.  These elements are much more dynamic and prone to change than those comprising the disposition.

○     For example: Your orchestra utilizes a dynamic pricing model for single ticket purchases.  As your inventory for a concert falls beneath designated thresholds, the average price for unsold tickets increases.  In this example, both the ticket inventory and pricing fluctuate.

What is contextual marketing?

Contextual marketing leverages the patron context to maximize the relevancy of our efforts to communicate with current and potential patrons. In order to understand and leverage the patron context, we need a few things:

●     Data:  We need a way to collect it and harness it, so that we can identify the factors defining disposition and chart the shifts in situation -- for both the patron and our arts organization.

●     Empathy: After we analyze the data to better understand the patron circumstance, we need to be able to mentally place ourselves within their circumstance.  What would we need?  What would we want?  What elements would affect our openness to messaging?  How would we most likely wish to receive messaging?  What message would most likely trigger our behavior to align with the arts organization circumstance?

●     Communication channel: Once we understand the patron context and utilize empathy to determine the right message and the right time for delivery, we need the right medium for getting the message to them.

●     Metrics:  When the message is delivered, we need to be able to measure its degree of success.  

We start with data, and we circle back to data.  We can use digital tools, like CRMs, to collect and harness data.  We can use web and mobile communication channels to deliver messages to the right patrons at the right time.

But ultimately, we are the human element that will interpret the data through a human lens and craft the right message to deliver to our patrons - in and through context.

Want to know more? Attend my workshop, The Art of Contextual Marketing: Maximizing Relevancy in the Age of Personalization, at the NAMP conference Saturday, November 7 at 4:00 PM.