> Segmentation ISSUE 37 | JANUARY 2010
Principles of segmentation Culture segments: the quest for the holy grail 10 top tips for successful segmentation
> So I think I’ve got > Segmentation in a segmentation practice: getting > Friends, fans … but how do I started and followers colour it in? Contents JAM is published by JAM is sponsored by
> Regulars Spotlight ...... 3 Research round-up ...... 4 www.a-m-a.co.uk Just a minute ...... 11 © sugarfree/istock AMA museums and galleries
marketing day ...... 12
Resources ...... 23 > Segmentation ( Principles of segmentation ...... 6 0 Case study: Segmentation in practice: 6 getting started ...... 9 Culture segments: the quest A rough guide to the Principles of Just a minute for the holy grail ...... 14 segmentation toolkit segmentation Case study: segment evolution at the Southbank Centre ...... 17 Case study: Friends, fans and followers ...... 18 Case study: So I think I’ve got a segmentation .... but how do I colour it in? .20 10 top tips for successful segmentation ...... 22 AMA museums and Culture segments: the 10 top tips galleries marketing day quest for the holy grail
This issue of JAM was edited by JAM is published four times per annum. Andrea Perseu with assistance UK subscription rates £37 per annum from Helen Bolt and Julie Aldridge Overseas subscription rates £57 per annum e [email protected] 6-month trial membership: receive JAM and benefit from member rates for training events, workshops and conference JAM is published by the for just £50 + VAT. e [email protected] Arts Marketing Association 7a Clifton Court, Cambridge CB1 7BN © Arts Marketing Association, 2010. t 01223 578078 All rights are reserved and reproduction of any parts is not f 01223 245962 allowed without the written permission of the publishers. e [email protected] Opinions expressed in JAM are not necessarily those of the w www.a-m-a.co.uk AMA and no responsibility is accepted for advertising content. Any material submitted for publication may be edited for Designed by Sugarfree Design reasons of style, content or available space. Meanings will not t 020 7619 7430 be altered without permission from the author. w www.sugarfreedesign.co.uk ISSN 1474-1172
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2 > JAM 37 > EDITORIAL Segmentation for the next decade
ery few people will remember changed over the last nine years. Katherine Dimsdale gives us a preview this, but this is not our firstJAM Inside you will find: a rough guide to of this year’s museums and galleries on segmentation. If you go the segmentation toolkit by Heather marketing day (page 12). Vto the AMA website and scroll Maitland (page 4); Katy Raines makes all the way down to the bottom of the segmentation seem easy on page 6 publications list, you’ll find the other and presents a new segmentation one: JAM 1, published in March 2001. project she’s developing with Joanna Nine years is a long time – in 2001, Sigsworth at Town Hall Symphony Hall Google was only three years old and (page 9); and Andrew McIntyre writes things like MySpace, Facebook and about a new, universal segmentation YouTube didn’t even exist. However, I system for the cultural sector (page 14). suggest you go and have a look at that On page 18 Millicent Jones illustrates very first issue, because many of the how to target and personalise digital ideas and principles outlined there are marketing communications; Penny still valid. Many others, of course, are Mills and Bryony Duncan examine not; but it’s good from time to time to five steps to put your segmentation remind ourselves of what’s changed, into action (page 20); and on page 22 why it’s changed and how funny the we give 10 top tips for segmenting clothes we used to wear made us look successfully. back then. Jane Donald is our spotlightee So what you have in your hands this month, Tracey-Anne Gill tells us Andrea Perseu is the much-awaited update on more about marketing a carnival arts Editor, JAM how marketing segmentation has organisation (page 11) and finally e [email protected]
> SPOTLIGHT
Spotlight on Jane Donald
’m the new girl on the board of the AMA, and here I hirers of The Hall, and becoming the proud guardian of the am in the spotlight … I’m quite enjoying the attention, bright blue leaflet trolley. suggesting that I’m one of those arts admin types After 11 years I’m still at The Halls (yes, we’re plural now), Iwho hankers after the glamour of a life front stage. and I’m not the Marketing Assistant any more (the leaflet I listened carefully to my careers teacher’s advice trolley is in safe hands). My Concert Halls job titles count is regarding choosing a sensible vocational career, before at seven: my favourite role was a three-year stint as Media deciding to study Moral Philosophy and Scottish History. Relations Officer – after year two the daily joy of cutting In the summer before my finals, I worked for the Royal up newspapers wore off somewhat. I’m fortunate to work Scottish National Orchestra on a project to recruit students with a fun, ambitious and downright talented set of people. as ambassadors – bizarrely this piece of work never did Highlights of life at The Halls have included: rebranding make case study status. However, it did give me a taste the venues, developing a music festival, integrating and for arts marketing and a realisation of the buzz of media exploiting the event and sales databases (yes, it’s a major relations. I couldn’t comprehend there were jobs where highlight), and discovering that mulling wine in a kettle is you could read the newspapers and actually get paid for it. ruinous for both wine and kettle. After graduating I worked in the box office at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow (selling subscriptions for Scottish Opera circa ’97 required a basic grasp of philosophical logic – so perhaps my degree wasn’t completely wasted). I decided Jane Donald to get out of the frontline selling game, and accepted a job Head of Sales and Marketing, Glasgow’s as Marketing Assistant for the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Concert Halls, and AMA board member This involved looking after the marketing requirements of e [email protected]
JAM 37 > 3 A rough guide to the segmentation toolkit
Heather Maitland takes us on a tour of the segmentation tools most readily available to cultural organisations
he easiest way to segment behind the two geo-demographic people is to use obvious and segmentation tools most often unambiguous characteristics: used by arts organisations in the UK. Ttheir age, gender or ACORN and Mosaic are based on the occupation, for example. But there idea that similar kinds of people live is a world of difference between a in the same neighbourhoods. Both married 16 year old in their first job combine information from the 2001 and a 16 year old who is looking Census with consumer, financial and forward to university and plays lifestyle information to give each Grade VIII violin. postcode in the UK a classification. Target Group Index (TGI) surveys As there are 1.78 million postcodes these obvious demographic in the UK, usually containing around characteristics in an annual sample 15 addresses, they can pinpoint of 25,000 people across the UK, people fairly accurately. Both ACORN alongside what they buy and how and Mosaic have versions specific to they live. Since 1986, it has asked Scotland and Northern Ireland. There which broad art forms people attend are also versions that segment people and how often they attend them. It at household and even individual level. is important because it allows us to If your organisation has at least see patterns of attendance over time. 1,000 customer records with accurate However, the information readily postcodes, you can use ACORN or available to arts organisations is pretty Mosaic to see what kind of people basic: age, gender, socio-economic engage with its activities. You can group, newspaper readership, etc. so also profile the population within it is used mainly as a benchmarking your catchment area to find more tool. Other sectors, though, have the people of the same types. Your budgets to buy much more TGI data regional audience development and see it as an essential starting agency can help you with this point for segmenting their customers. (you’ll find contact details at Put 400 different descriptive www.audiencedevelopment.org). characteristics together and you These types of tool are all limited begin to get a picture detailed because we have to fit our audiences enough to be useful. That is what lies into segments that are based on
4 > JAM 37 > RESEARCH ROUND-UP
To persuade new audiences to get involved we need to understand people’s attitudes and beliefs about the arts. socio-demographic description. about their new segmentation model pictures of the likes and dislikes of How our audiences behave gives on page 14.) the people in each. Use them to us a much better picture of their But audience behaviour only tells deduce what might persuade each engagement with what we do. Lots us about people who already engage segment to engage more with what of cultural organisations analyse with what we do. To persuade new you have to offer. box office or survey data about audiences to get involved we need Segmentation area profiles will visitors, participants or audiences to to understand people’s attitudes and help you develop new audiences by set up their own made-to-measure beliefs about the arts. And that is pinpointing where you are most likely segmentation system. Some of these exactly what Arts Council England’s to find people from each segment. are robust enough to be used across segmentation system is for. Each year These are available from your regional different organisations. for the past three years, the Taking Part audience development agency. If you Alan Brown, for example, has survey has interviewed around 24,000 have at least 1,000 customer records profiled audiences for orchestral music adults aged 16 and over about their with accurate postcodes, the agency through a questionnaire that asked involvement, if any, in sport, heritage, can also help you identify which about musical tastes, knowledge about leisure and culture. The research segments your existing audiences, classical music, attitudes to music by team have used the resulting data to visitors and participants belong to so living composers and to different ways divide English adults into 13 segments. you can find more of the same. of presenting concerts, motivations They have then used ACORN to Arts Audiences: Insight is not meant for attending and what influenced the create a profile of the attitudes, to replace your made-to-measure decision to actually buy tickets. He lifestyles, purchasing behaviour and segmentation of audiences, visitors then helped the orchestras relate this demographics of each segment. and participants. Instead, it provides to demographic factors and ticket- For the first time, we have a the missing link that allows you to buying behaviour. The result was four segmentation tool that starts put this internal view into an external segments that have changed the way with engagement with the arts context so you can see the potential many orchestras in the US programme rather than bolting it on as an for growing your audiences. And that’s and present concerts (you’ll find more afterthought. It embraces all types got to be a good thing. information and useful downloads at of engagement: participation and www.wolfbrown.com). attendance, including individuals’ The team at Morris Hargreaves informal engagement at home as McIntyre has developed a well as in specialist spaces. And, most segmentation model for museums importantly, it includes people with and galleries that is also based little or no experience of the arts. on responses to questions about This segmentation system is known motivation. Another model uses a as Arts Audiences: Insight. You can combination of questionnaires and download profiles of the segments Heather Maitland observation to divide visitors into at www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/ Consultant and author Browsers, Followers, Searchers and research/arts-based-segmentation- e [email protected] Researchers. (Andrew McIntyre talks research/downloads to get vivid w www.heathermaitland.co.uk
JAM 37 > 5 > FEATURE Principles of segmentation
Katy Raines finds out what dandruff has got to do with the arts
egmentation seems to be as you’re increasing the ‘hit’ rate the thing (apart from social of the people you are talking to. networking) that everyone’s Another key benefit of talking to Sinto at the moment – partly, your customers in a more targeted I suspect, since Arts Council England way is that you will build better published their Arts Audiences: Insight relationships with them. This can segmentation findings last year, and help in building their psychological we all want to make sure we’re on loyalty, as well as their behavioural track. loyalty, which can demonstrate itself So this short article is an attempt in their advocacy of your organisation to demystify segmentation and show to others they meet, as much as by you that you’re probably already increased visits or purchases. For more doing it, but may not know it (more information on customer loyalty, you about the dandruff later ...). can refer to JAM 34, April 2009.
What is segmentation? Who do we segment? Segmentation involves splitting It’s really important to get one customers or potential customers distinction clear from the outset: into groups (or segments) within which set of people are you If you’re really which customers are likely to share interested in segmenting? a similar level of interest in your Market segmentation is where sophisticated, you product or service. This is either to you look at the whole population and offer them a different offering, or to segment it in order to find the most could get your communicate with them about the likely people to use your product. same offering in a different way. Usually in the arts this means finding database segmented the ‘best bets’ to try to attract Why do we segment? new audiences for what we do. using ‘cluster analysis’, There are two main reasons that There are many pre-existing market organisations segment the market segmentation tools such as ACORN but it’s also quite and their customer base: cost and and Mosaic which can help you effectiveness. segment the market without spending possible with a good Cost: most organisations don’t a fortune. Arts Council England’s Arts have the resources to tell the whole Audiences: Insight segmentation is box office system and world about what they do, and one of the most useful for identifying even the big global corporations potential new audiences. an inquisitive mind. would segment the market before Customer segmentation is undertaking any promotion. where you look at only your customer Effectiveness: by understanding base and segment people on the more about your customers and basis of what you as an organisation talking to different segments in the know or want to know about them. most relevant way (possibly with Usually in the arts this is where you different product offerings) it is more analyse your customer database (if likely that they will respond and make you have one) and decide on ways a purchase. This means that your small of communicating differently with marketing budget can go a lot further, customers in order to encourage
6 > JAM 37 repeat attendance. If you’re really much more shampoo than they Amazon.com, for example, offers sophisticated, you could get your would if they simply made one recommendations based on your database segmented using ‘cluster ‘all purpose’ shampoo. behaviour, but which are specific to analysis’, but it’s also quite possible In the arts world, we’ve largely you. This customisation of content, with a good box office system and concentrated on three main bases especially in websites where you an inquisitive mind. of segmentation: demographics are recognised (either by a login or (e.g. over 65 or under 25, with/ a cookie) is particularly powerful On what basis do we segment? without children), behaviour (visitor’s in building relationships with In theory, you could segment people frequency of attendance, how much customers, and is often talked about on any basis in which they may differ they spend, when they attend) and as the concept of a ‘segment of one’, from each other which is useful to attitude/motivation (people who implying that each individual customer you: age, gender, hair colour, height, share the same views, attitudes can receive their own customised weight, ethnicity … and the list goes and beliefs). Segmentation is about communications and offerings. on. You only need to take a look at deciding which aspects of the the range of shampoos on the shelf customers’ demographics, behaviour The segmentation process in Boots to see how many segments and/or attitudes are worth pulling out Once we have divided our customers the shampoo companies have as a common group of people. up into these clusters of similar identified: people with red hair, blonde Technology is now making it types, we need to decide which of hair, dandruffy hair, brittle/dry hair, possible for segments to be much the segments to approach, and coloured hair, frizzy hair, curly hair, etc. smaller, and to target people much design a particular communication By segmenting the market into these more accurately based on their that best meets their needs. This is different types they can offer specific behaviour, rather than grouping called targeting. products to meet an individual them into segments where certain One mistake that I see many segment’s needs, and hence sell assumptions have been made. organisations make is that they
JAM 37 > 7 > FEATURE
segment and then forget to prioritise How often should you segment – they try to communicate with all the your audience? segments equally (albeit in different Some organisations segment ways). This is going to bleed you dry their audiences annually. Tyne and financially, and wear you out at the Wear Museums have an annual same time. You need to select the benchmarking survey, which includes segments you’re going to concentrate both demographic and behavioural on, and design communications information about their visitors accordingly. The following three-step (collected via face-to-face interviews). process shows you how to do it. They use this to both monitor their Define the criteria on which performance against targets, and you will segment and create to inform how they prioritise their the possible segments. What your segments for future communications. purpose is will determine on what In other cases, segmentation is basis you segment your audience. often ‘fit for purpose’, i.e. a new For example, if your purpose is to segmentation for each campaign sell more tickets for the forthcoming or season you are communicating. contemporary dance production, If you’re interested in a practical you will probably create a segment case study of how one organisation of people who have attended similar has begun the segmentation process, productions before. However, you see the Town Hall and Symphony Hall may also create other segments case study in this issue of JAM. In the based on previous attendance. For meantime, I’m off to check which example, your ‘dance’ segment could shampoo I should be using … be split into people who have seen the forthcoming company before and people who have not. Assess the segments you have for size (are there enough people to merit targeting them?) and attractiveness (are they likely to respond?), and decide which ones you will target. Develop customised communications or offerings to suit the segment. So, you can either customise your marketing communications (create different direct mail letters or adverts, choose different media channels, etc.) or your products – for example, you Katy Raines might create a package for families Partner, Indigo-Ltd that includes a free workshop for e [email protected] the whole family with their tickets w www.indigo-ltd.com for a production. twitter IndigoLtd
8 > JAM 37 > CASE STUDY Segmentation in practice: getting started
Joanna Sigsworth and Katy Raines outline a pragmatic approach to customer segmentation
own Hall and Symphony Hall (THSH) in Birmingham are two large-scale receiving Tvenues presenting over 620 varied performances a year, focused largely on music. Since the re-opening of Town Hall in October 2007, the organisation was keen to undertake a comprehensive segmentation of its customer base to better understand its audiences, and to further develop its audience-focused approach to its communications. Despite still being in the early stages of this project, the initial segmentation has fleshed out a whole set of factors about audience attendance patterns, which will now inform a tailored new approach to our marketing and communications. The basic stages of the segmentation project were: creating the segments, understanding the segments, selecting the motivation for attendance at the Frequency and testing the segments and event, rather than a technical art-form By looking at typical customer monitoring the segments. So far, THSH definition of it. We found that people frequency patterns, we then defined have completed stages 1 and 2 of this were attending largely in one of three what a ‘oncer’, ‘irregular’ and ‘regular’ process, and are about to embark on interest strands: attender were for THSH. re-modelling their communications in • Serious Classical: Western classical order to test and monitor. music events that appeal to The segmentation model classical music fans, but that have By combining the interest strand 1. Creating the segments a lower likelihood of appealing to profiles with the frequency profiles, We began by undertaking behavioural crossover audiences. we were left with 11 unique customer segmentation through data analysis • Populist: Mainstream events in all segments. using the box office system. This genres that have mass/populist One of the key findings of this helped us to define broad segments, appeal. exercise was for THSH to understand based firstly on art form and then • Serious Non-Classical: This is its large Populist audience better – we on frequency. As we have found incredibly mixed in terms of knew relatively little about them in that the best predictor of a person’s genres, but was broadly serious comparison with the smaller but more likelihood of re-attendance is their non-Western classical music. loyal Serious Classical attenders. past behaviour, it made sense to Once we had clusters of customers begin the segmentation at this point. Ninety percent of the audience based on their behaviour, we attended within one of these needed to understand more about Art form interest strands (i.e. didn’t cross over each cluster so that we could test Key to this segmentation was re- to another strand), which gave us our assumptions, and begin to categorising all THSH’s events into confidence that we had identified create communication approaches three broad ‘interest strands’ based on specific clusters of customers. appropriate to each cluster.
JAM 37 > 9 > CASE STUDY
INTEREST STRAND PROFILE
Crossovers Serious Serious Populist (2+ of the other Classical Non-classical standards)
Oncer Segment 1A Segment 2A Segment 3A
FREQUENCY PROFILES Irregular Segment 1B Segment 2B Segment 3B Segment 4B
Regular Segment 1C Segment 2C Segment 3C Segment 4C
2. Understanding the segments each segment’s attitudes to and Through the segmentation In order to obtain a detailed perceptions of what THSH had to process, we are confident that we understanding of each segment we offer, as well as their attendance have a bespoke and robust model that undertook secondary and primary at other arts organisations and has identified real clusters of people research. communication preferences, so we who share similar behaviours, profiles undertook some primary research. and attitudes. THSH is now planning Profiling the segments This took the form of a simple web stages 3 and 4 – the selection of (secondary research) survey to assess current attendance at segments, testing, monitoring and For each segment we identified: other arts organisations in the region, refining communications – aiming to • size and value to the organization other leisure behaviour, perceived complete them by December 2010. (from box office system) frequency/loyalty to THSH events, The project is still in its early stages, • typical art forms/genres attended and media consumption. but is already paying dividends with and any crossovers Again, what we found was that much more to come. • typical purchasing behaviour people in the same segment had • geographical profile very similar preferences, habits and • demographic profile (from behaviours in relation to these areas, ACORN) but were considerably different from • Arts Council Arts Audiences: the other interest strand segments. Insight comparison For example, Serious Classicals read completely different newspapers We found that the interest strand from Serious Non-Classicals; they profiles we had created corresponded had different interests in their leisure Joanna Sigsworth very clearly to other similarities time, and frequented different Marketing Manager, Town Hall & between the people in those cultural establishments. Symphony Hall, Birmingham segments. For example, Serious We also conducted in-depth e [email protected] Classicals were different from Populists focus group research with four key in many ways: they were a different segments for which we had very age and had different ACORN and Arts little information. What we found Audiences: Insight profiles. reinforced everything we’d learned about the segments so far, and Understanding the segments confirmed that they were indeed (primary research) quite distinctly different groups of Katy Raines The one bit of the jigsaw that was people, while being largely similar to Partner, Indigo-Ltd missing for us was the specifics of the others in their segment. e [email protected]
10 > JAM 37
> JUST> A FEATUREMINUTE 0 ( Just a minute6 A column to get to know other AMA members in What is your first When and why did you 10 memory of the arts? 40 join the AMA? just six questions I think that my first memory I joined the AMA last year of mainstream arts would be to learn more about arts seeing The Nutcracker on Ice at Radio marketing in the UK, as I recently City Music Hall; but my first memory started my new job at the UK Centre of carnival arts would be seeing Peter for Carnival Arts. I was recommended Minshall’s mas band River on the to join by mentor Emma Courtney Queen Park’s Savannah stage, in Port who is also a member. of Spain, Trinidad.
What is your proudest How did you get into 50 moment? 20 arts marketing? From a work perspective I would have to say that my my proudest moment is secondary school foundation being part of history in the making has been preparing me for my arts and having the opportunity to do the marketing career. Bishop Anstey High PR and marketing for the launch of School has a reputation for being a the first national carnival arts centre, strong supporter of the arts and for which is based in Luton. encouraging their students to not only take their academic learning seriously but also to embrace the rich culture that it is embedded in. I was And what is your always drawn to PR and marketing but 60 greatest indulgence? it is when I joined the Copyright Music My indulgence has to be a Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago savoury snack from my home (COTT) as their Communications country – Trinidad and Tobago – Officer that I knew that I had found called mango chow. This is prepared the sector I strongly wanted to not with half ripe mangoes with salt, just work in but advocate for. black pepper, garlic, hot peppers and coriander.
What attracted you to 30 the arts sector? The attraction to the arts sector is the fact that I get to work and socialise at the same time. It is a fantastic feeling to be able to work in a sector that I am passionate about Tracey-Anne Gill and be able to make contributions for PR and Marketing Executive, UK its growth and development. Centre for Carnival Arts e [email protected]
JAM 37 > 11 AMA museums and galleries marketing day
Exploring relevance
Museums and galleries marketing day 16 March 2010 at the Wellcome Collection, London Sponsored by
he AMA’s annual day The morning will focus on how to conference for museums and make sure your marketing planning galleries professionals will is relevant and up to date. The Texamine such questions as: keynote will present a round-up of • How do we remain relevant in a fast- the trends that are having the most changing world? impact on the sector and develop • What can we do to make sure our our understanding of the implications offer doesn’t get overlooked or left in terms of practical and strategic behind? planning, with some top tips on how • How do we reach people in the to translate the latest theories into places they are hanging out, in actionable plans. private and public, in virtual and real The afternoon will focus on how spaces? to make sure that your organisation remains relevant. With so much In an ever-changing society, where change going on, how do we ensure technological advances and political that our cultural establishments and economic factors are shaping maintain their position in today’s visitor expectations, experiences society? How do we use our and behaviour patterns, the sector knowledge of social behaviour to faces a wide range of challenges and adapt the way we communicate with opportunities. This conference sets our potential visitors and participants? out to explore the trends that are How do we measure our relevance having the most impact on the sector and use it to demonstrate our value and to generate a range of responses in a way that our colleagues, visitors to ensure that our organisations and and funders cannot ignore? our marketing practices are relevant to today’s society.
12 > JAM 37 > FEATURE
There will also be the opportunity to attend practical seminars about reviewing and refreshing your marketing strategy and integrating the latest technology into your campaigns, in the light of all this insight. By the end of the day you should be able to match your strengths to relevant trends and opportunities and go away with some practical ideas of how to refresh your message and deepen your dialogue with your visitors, participants and the wider community.
Katherine Dimsdale Programme Co-ordinator, AMA e [email protected]
JAM 37 > 13 > FEATURE Culture segments: the quest for the holy grail
Andrew McIntyre of Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (MHM) on the development of a new, universal segmentation system for the cultural sector
s marketing types are target, reach, attract, meet the needs used in the media planning and optimists by nature. It’s what of and develop relationships with advertising industry to target, reach makes us go back into work our audiences? The prescription calls and attract new customers. Ueach day. We honestly think for large doses of audience insight, Programmers and educators, on we can make a difference. But even swallowed in handy segment form. the other hand, started with a very the most cheerful among us can’t Segments are the perfect compromise different question: ‘how can we ignore the creeping crisis. Our box between the audience as a great big engage existing audiences more office databases are clogged up with homogeneous mass and the audience deeply?’ To answer this they asked so-called ‘bookers’ that don’t seem as a million individuals. Segments agencies like MHM to create bespoke to book. Our mailings are forensically group people together in ways that segments based on audiences’ targeted yet often produce frankly make sense of the market. needs, attitudes and behaviours. The underwhelming response rates. And resulting segments have helped the our campaigns and media buying can Different objectives, different organisation to meet those needs and sometimes be a tad predictable. solutions to build strong relationships. Segmentation should, in theory, Each approach can be From best practice to give us a shared understanding phenomenally successful at common practice of our audiences and a common addressing its own objective. But The best practice of 1999 that language to describe them. But each is pretty useless at addressing produced stellar results has become nothing’s ever as easy as that, is it? In the other objective. So using one the merely common practice of 2009, practice, marketers and programmers of the various external marketing producing run-of-the-mill results. For have different objectives and, segmentation systems on offer from most of us, it has become more and inevitably, have adopted different Target Group Index (TGI), Ark Leisure more difficult to sell tickets, attract and completely incompatible or even the Arts Council can certainly attenders and engage audiences. And segmentation systems. help you plan your next media if we’re being really honest, the cost of Marketers started with the simple campaign, but can’t really help you to marketing has, in many cases, grown question, ‘how can we find more develop your next exhibition. Many faster than our audiences. This is an audiences?’ To answer this they turned have tried, and failed, to take these uncomfortable truth and is enough to to external, UK-wide industry standard external systems and use them in their test most optimists’ resolve. systems like Mosaic, ACORN and TGI. internal planning. Invariably, they are So, what can rescue us from this These segment the whole population too generic and lack essential detail. malaise? What can help us to better into broad types and, crucially, are As Penny Hamilton, Head of Public
14 > JAM 37 and Regional Marketing at The British works well for visitors who are already whole sector, a shared language for Library, says, ‘this sort of generic at Tate, we’ve had trouble identifying its audiences. Instead of external information is completely irrelevant future visitors, or targeting specific marketing segments and internal to our programme planners who need markets using the original model as all engagement segments, we need to gain a better understanding of the our media planning is based on TGI.’ universal culture segments. visitor experience on the ground – i.e. We need segments that cover what are the motivations and needs Incompatible the audience we’ve got and also the of the people who come to our The reality is that these different audience we’d like to get – segments venues and how we might be able to systems were designed to do that are defined by our sector-specific develop programmes and services fundamentally different jobs. audience needs but still link to that would appeal’. They can’t be cut-and-shut together industry-standard profiles like TGI. We Conversely, the bespoke internal into strange Franken-segments. They need segments that keep the faithful engagement segmentation systems can’t easily be bridged, overlaid or coming but that swell their ranks that Morris Hargreaves McIntyre grafted onto each other. They don’t with new converts – segments that has developed for Tate, British align and it’s not even that easy to maximise brand loyalty inside while Museum, Southbank Centre and compare them. raising brand awareness outside. We others help them to meet visitors’ But, when we use these need segments that tell us the why every need but can’t tell them where incompatible segmentation systems and how as well as the who and what. to advertise. When briefing media in different departments to pursue Our sector needs its own planning agencies, there is no easy or different objectives, it does nothing segmentation system instead of obvious bridge between the subtleties for shared audience focus across borrowing the one used to sell fridges. of sector-specific, internal visitor the organisation. In fact, in practice, But we need to bridge the gap between segments and the generic nature of it often serves to further alienate our insightful but incompatible commercial systems like TGI. marketing from other departments segments and their standardised but Claire Eva, Head of Marketing at and means we don’t even have a often irrelevant segments. Achieving Tate, explains the dilemma: ‘The MHM shared language. this will require us to go back to the segmentation revolutionised the way drawing board and design a whole new we understand our audiences at Tate, A shared language system from the ground up. and has had a huge impact on how we What we all need is a shared This is the elusive Holy Grail of plan our visitor services, interpretation segmentation system that gives the segmentation in our sector and a and marketing creative. Although it whole organisation, and indeed the hugely ambitious objective.
JAM 37 > 15 > FEATURE
Join the quest using multi-basing and super-weighted And how can we engage existing But cometh the hour, cometh the profiles to map our internal segments audiences more deeply? ambitious organisations. In the autumn to external TGI. The grail may be within our grasp. of 2009, we began to put together a partnership of over 30 of the UK’s Culture segments leading organisations from the arts, The resulting Culture Segments Find out more about Culture culture and heritage sectors – from the system will be a national sector- Segments at www.lateralthinkers.com British Museum to the British Library specific segmentation, backed by and from the Wales Millennium Centre a national primary data set. It will to the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. be compatible with the proprietary Led by Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, systems widely used in media planning the partnership will undertake a major, like TGI and Touchpoints while being fully representative UK Population unequivocally sector-specific. Survey combining nuanced questions It will take account of the about cultural behaviour and differences between museums, motivations with TGI-style questions galleries, theatres, orchestras and about attitudes, lifestyle and media heritage sites while providing a consumption and underpinned by common base. It will be further full demographics. modifiable to become even more It will go way beyond the basic bespoke for individual organisations. questions asked in previous surveys This will allow organisations to like the DCMS’s ‘Taking Part’ and be measure, identify and target market far more sector-specific than basic potential, to calculate penetration and TGI. It will, for the first time, explore to benchmark against peers and the and map the public’s motivations and wider sector while having segments propensity for engagement across that make sense across departments the cultural sector and map the best within their own organisation. ways of targeting and reaching them. In short, the Culture Segments To ensure TGI compatibility, we are system will answer both of the Andrew McIntyre working with arts media planning fundamental segmentation questions: Director, Morris Hargreaves McIntyre partners, Total Media and Telmar, How can we find more audiences? e [email protected]
16 > JAM 37 Case study: segment evolution at the Southbank Centre
We’ve gone through a series of segmentation models certainly been successful in driving up ROI, its inherent in our past life at Southbank Centre. When the weakness is that it is reactive rather than proactive. It organisation was a very different beast, working in tells us who bookers are, rather than why they book, art-form silos, we naturally had models that reflected what they think and how we can develop them. this. So, while our internal classical music segmentation model was very robust with excellent insights, it sat In search of the grail alone, assuming our audiences’ relationships existed in So, having reached the inherent limits of external art-form bubbles (which we know to not be the case). It systems like TGI and of internal systems based on the missed a key trick: encouraging audiences to cross over box office, we had to look elsewhere for our holy grail ... and engage with our wider programme. Working with MHM, we developed a bespoke We then set about mapping the external segmentation model that delivers the arts focus we marketplace, prospecting for new audiences. Initially, require and links our internal database to the external we used the Mosaic system heavily. It’s a UK marketing environment: a system that combines attitudes industry standard but in the end we felt it wasn’t and behaviour and that can inform our internal specific enough to arts and culture and in practice programming and our external campaign planning and we’re not really akin to the finance sector. media buying. We first brushed with Target Group Index (TGI) three This has been quite a journey for the organisation. years ago. This was a huge step forward with much more We have learned from our experiences and used relevance for our product and audiences. TGI includes them to inform each step we have taken. This means questions about attitudes and about culture in its that internal buy-in for every step of that journey broadest definition. The organisation’s understanding of has been very strong, with everyone from marketers the wider audience took a leap forward. But we struggled to programmers adopting a common language to with TGI’s lack of granularity. The top-level power of describe a shared understanding. And that, in the end, the system externally was difficult to map back to our is what makes segmentation successful. internal box office database. TGI was simply not specific enough for individual campaign planning, media buying, target setting and product planning. In the context of the complexity of our product offering, TGI was not deep enough. Meanwhile, in parallel with the external work with Mosaic and TGI we’d used a straightforward internal Selena Virrels segmentation model based on the recency and Head of Marketing, Southbank Centre frequency of ticketing transactions. While this has e [email protected]
JAM 37 > 17 > CASE STUDY Friends, fans and followers
Millicent Jones illustrates how to target and personalise digital marketing communications
he Royal Liverpool concerts. Our updates are primarily going on in the building that day, or Philharmonic manages a around events going on sale, awards what we’re working on at the moment, 1,750 seat venue, Liverpool we’ve won, press reviews, etc. or who’s having lunch in our café bar. TPhilharmonic Hall (which We‘ve recently reviewed our We also decided to try using a small presents 250+ events annually), strategy around using these tools as team of people to update the site on a the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic there were a few things that were rotating basis, to give it a more varied Orchestra (the UK’s oldest surviving bothering us: the fact that we had flavour and to make it more personal professional symphony orchestra) two pages (which made us appear and less a press release outlet. This and its associated ensembles, and an somewhat schizophrenic as a brand will be tricky in terms of maintaining a extensive learning and engagement – and which is part of a wider issue consistent ‘tone’ but it will also allow programme connecting thousands of for the organisation) and the fact people outside to come into contact local people to the organisation. that we were using these pages to with different members of staff rather communicate to our fans in a ‘press than the monolith of the organisation. Facebook release’ kind of way. We also clarified We will also ask some of our orchestra The Phil has been actively using social our objectives in using Facebook, musicians to provide Facebook media (Facebook and Twitter) for namely to deepen engagement with updates when it makes sense (when around 18 months. Due to the fact that existing audiences, engage new they are on tour, for example). we are both a venue and an orchestra, audiences and drive ticket sales. The process of moving all of our we started with a Facebook page We’re currently in the process of existing fans into the new page for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic consolidating our Facebook presence will be tricky, but we’re planning Orchestra, then added a page for to a single page with fans – The several promotions to drive existing Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. We Liverpool Phil. We’ve decided to fan sign-ups and create new ones. currently have 804 orchestral ‘fans’ and do everything we had been doing These include inviting the first 200 1,349 Philharmonic Hall ‘fans’. previously, but change the way we people who ‘switch’ to a pre-concert We use these pages to list all post updates to the page, so that reception, then running a competition our events with accompanying these updates become a way to let to win a night’s hotel stay, and tickets promotional images and to post video people ‘into’ the organisation. This for all fans once we’ve reached the trailers and video footage from live might include talking about what’s 2,000 mark.
18 > JAM 37 Twitter suggests that a lot of people are a ‘live chat’ feature on our website As well as becoming a source for using their work email accounts to which is regularly used by patrons to people to find out about shows (we receive our monthly newsletters and ask questions about what we do. tweet every time a new performance that perhaps this is the only account goes on sale), Twitter is a great way they check regularly. This is the total All of these tools help us to to monitor buzz and respond to opposite to how our Twitter audience communicate with our audience in queries. The 140 character restriction behaves – looking at Bit.ly stats it is a more personalised, direct fashion. to a certain extent prevents formal clear that tweets have a very short They also enable us to have two-way language: Twitter seems to encourage shelf life of only a few hours. rather than one-way conversations spontaneous queries and comments. Trying to figure out who Twitter and enable us to increase the Recently we’ve had everything from users are could be really useful but, transparency of the organisation. questions about upcoming recordings, as the service changes and becomes More conversations and involvement feedback about hall acoustics and more understood, the make-up of with our audiences can only be a ‘Meeps!’ of excitement over the our audience on it may change good thing! upcoming Debbie Reynolds’ show. very rapidly. Previously we could assume that the people who followed us on Twitter Emails were probably the most tech-savvy of In addition to Facebook and Twitter, our audience, but as Twitter becomes we have a robust programme of more popular this assumption has email marketing that is driven by become redundant. However, it seems audience segmentation in terms of that our Twitter audience is different event attendance history; and we from our email audience. On Google use the date-of-birth information we Millicent Jones Analytics, the click-throughs from collect to send out emails on patrons’ Executive Director, Marketing, email newsletters have two peaks – birthdays, offering them a free ticket Communications and Fundraising, the Friday when we send them out to a selection of concerts (a two-for- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the following Monday. This one offer in disguise). We also have e [email protected]
JAM 37 > 19 > CASE STUDY So I think I’ve got a segmentation … but how do I colour it in?
Penny Mills and Bryony Duncan outline five steps to put your segmentation into action
ou’ve done some database Step 1 Colour in the picture and get to know your segment better using mining, audience profiling or existing information or by generating new insights. Some of the kinds of primary research and observed information that can bring your picture to life are outlined in the following table. Ypatterns that indicate audience groups you’re interested in, giving you Type of information What it can contribute How to use/access it the bones of a segmentation model. The groups have passed the first tests Geo-demographic Geographic information • Mosaic or Acorn profile the of segmentation – each is distinct profiling using related to lifestyle, postcodes of your identified group enough and reflects shared needs and Mosaic or Acorn behaviour, socio- • Compare the profile to benchmarks economic and socio- • Use the detailed group and type a common response to an offer. So, cultural preferences, information to inform the offer, what next? consumption patterns message and communications channel Here we suggest how you can colour and media usage • Map the postcodes by group or type in your sketches of each group, engage your colleagues in recognising them Demographic Information about age, • Reports come as a radius around and keep your new segmentation live and geographic socio-economic status, your venue, for particular postcode and relevant. We consider two kinds of information from income, education, sectors or a local authority area Target Group Index media preferences, • Match characteristics of your segments and describe the steps you Area Profile Reports ethnicity, etc., related to segment to postcode sectors might take. Included are some quotes art-form attendance by and check all characteristics for and examples from Sound and Music postcode sector more insight (SAM), a pioneering contemporary music organisation, combining Segment matching Information about • See which segments most closely producing, programming, information using ACE Arts attitudes towards the match the characteristics of and services. Audiences: Insight arts, predicted level your own segment and draw out population of engagement and additional useful information about segmentation preferences arts attendance behaviour Segment one: dabblers Maybe a familiar group to you, but Enhanced Information on any • Include questions in your regular they attend only one kind of event understanding aspect of the segment, audience monitoring to learn more or very occasionally. Your challenge through audience typically preferences, about your segments is to find ways of deepening their research identity, perceptions • Identify individuals in your database/ engagement or building their loyalty and attitudes dataset that fit your segment criteria or frequency by getting to know them to involve in qualitative research, e.g. a focus group better. For example, at Sound and • Or commission some qualitative Music they identified a group called research using a sample from your ‘experience seekers’ who’d come to database the weird and wonderful, but not in a more mainstream venue. Sound and Music used a range of information to develop their segments: • Geo-demographic • An e-survey of members • Depth qualitative research profiling and analysis of and face-to-face audience to dig deeper, e.g. into box office, mailing list and research at events providing lifetime experiences member data to identify quantitative information of new music and different behaviours and about demographic expectations of new characteristics compared characteristics, audiences to benchmarks motivations, preferences and information sources
20 > JAM 37 Where can I find this information?
Mosaic or ACORN profiling: audience development agencies can advise on or provide this profiling – visit www.audiencedevelopment.org.uk to find your nearest agency. TGI Area Profile Reports can be requested through audience development agencies and are free for ACE funded organisations. Population Statistics are accessible at www.statistics.gov/neighbourhood Arts Council England’s Arts Audiences: Insight population segmentation can be found at www.artscouncil.org.uk/audienceinsight. For more information about the terms used in this article visit www.aduk.org and use the jargon buster. Finally, Audiences London’s guide to audience monitoring is free to download at www.audienceslondon.org/freeresources.
Step 2 Segment two: lurkers organisations or experimenting with Involve your colleagues Another group could be more new marketing channels. Finally, your to make your segment real and clarify your offer. Get as many speculative, but you think they’d return on investment will probably be colleagues together as possible, show be interested in engaging with your lower and slower, so be realistic with them the pictures and tap into their organisation. You have an idea your SMART objectives. hunches, feelings, expertise, knowledge about their characteristics and the Once you’ve done some and creativity. Explore ways in which offer you’d make, but little concrete investigation, go back to the drawing your organisation can engage them and information. So, now you need to board and redo your sketch … Happy respond to their needs. Build up collages check out your assumptions. segmenting! of the segments (what they do, like, think You can follow the same steps as and where they live), or give them names. outlined for the ‘Dabblers’, but you’ll find that colouring in the picture takes longer and might require Step 3 more primary research and some Define your messages more intensive consultation. Finding and marketing channels. out about and engaging with this Think benefits (not features). Consider whether the message is about segment will require extra resources, customer service, accessibility, price so you need to be sure that they’re incentives, added value or simply a important enough and relevant to more personalised communication. your organisation. Also, consider From your information, how and where whether you are able to do or offer are they most likely to engage with your something different to attract them. message – at home, online, in venue, on Successfully engaging them could the street, in a social media community involve outreach work, community or reading a particular publication? engagement, partnering with other
Step 4 Now test out your conclusions and refine your picture. If you can select people from your database according to your segment criteria you can use Penny Mills direct marketing. Try out two different approaches to see which is most effective and track Director of Client Services, the campaign through your box office system or a ‘call to action’ which you can monitor. Audiences London Remember to consider what kind of response rate would be a success. Or you may have e [email protected] identified an organisation, magazine, website or social networking site appropriate to your segment where you can put a call to action. Alternatively, if you know which streets they live on, pop something through the doors. Finally, you might consider trying a new kind of event or picking a new venue which you feel would particularly appeal to the group. Once you’ve tracked the impacts of these activities, go back to Step 2 and accessorise your picture with your new insights. Ask yourself whether the return on investment has been worth it.
Bryony Duncan Step 5 Research Manager, Audiences London Define marketing objectives for your segment. Keep your objectives e [email protected] SMART, i.e. how much and how many. Check that these marketing objectives align with your organisation’s overall objectives. And, finally, put setting objectives for your segments at the heart of your marketing planning. And thank you to Johnny Gibson and Shoel Stadlen of Sound and Music.
JAM 37 > 21 > MARKETING TOP TIPS 10 TOP TIPS for successful segmentation
Don’t do it unless everyone agrees it is needed. It’s vital to get whole- company buy-in from the outset as the implications extend beyond the 1 marketing department.
Don’t expect your usual research agencies to be able to cope with 2 segmentation. These studies require different skills.
The data won’t give you all the answers. It is critical that you have a hypothesis about how some of the segments might look so that you can 3 judge the output against them.
Qualitative and quantitative segmentations rarely match perfectly. While broad groups identified in qualitative research should emerge, the 4 nuances of a qualitative segmentation will often be lost.
There is no such thing as the ‘statistically right answer’. Different 5 software and methodology produce different answers.
Segmentation is as much an art as a science. Politics and pragmatism will 6 often have as much of an effect on the solution as statistics.
If you need to segment more than one group, make sure that they link together. The only way anyone is going to understand and embrace a 7 segmentation is if it is simple and useable.
Be prepared to delete lots of respondents. Survey data relies on producing an overall ‘average’ score. And while we would hope that all 8 respondents answer the surveys correctly, the reality is that many don’t.
If you want staff to engage with the segments, you have to bring them to life. Anything that moves is better than anything that is static, and 3D 9 is better than 2D.
The segmentation solution is only the start of the journey, not the end. Segmentation should only ever be a tool, not an end product in its own 10 right.
Source: Incite Vision, Segmentation newsletter, spring 2009. © sugarfree/istock www.incite.ws/clientUpload/insight/documents/Divide%20and%20Rule.pdf
22 > JAM 37 > RESOURCES
Mosaic or ACORN profiling is available through audience development agencies for reasonable costs – visit Resources www.audiencedevelopment.org.uk to find your nearest agency.
TGI Area Profile Reports can be requested through audience development agencies and are free for Arts Council Advertise in JAM England funded organisations. Population Statistics are accessible at www.statistics.gov/ Promote your organisation or neighbourhood Arts Audiences: Insight segmentation is available on your professional services to the Arts Council England website: www.artscouncil.org.uk/ over 2,000 arts professionals audienceinsight and industry leaders in the For more articles on audience profiling, segmentation tools, box office data and area profile reports, visit the Resources UK and internationally. pages of the ADUK website: www.aduk.org/resources
To read issue 24 of JAM on audience and visitor data, go Place an advert here for as little as £150 to www.a-m-a.org.uk/images/downloads/ADUKjam.pdf. + VAT (1/8 page advert on single issue) or All back issues of JAM are accessible at www.a-m-a.org.uk/ enclose an insert for just £250 + VAT. publications_category.asp?id=1 A report of Alan Brown’s conference seminar For the full price list and to get a ‘Segmentation – a potential new model for arts organisations’ is available on the AMA quote email [email protected] website at www.a-m-a.org.uk/images/downloads/ PartThreeSeminars08ConferenceReport.pdf. You can find other reports atwww.a-m-a.org.uk/ publications_category.asp?id=5
Museums and galleries marketing day Exploring relevance 16 March 2010, Wellcome Collection, London Sponsored by
Explore the trends that are having the most impact on the museums and galleries sector and find out how to ensure that your organisation and marketing practices are relevant to today’s society. Keynote sessions … Seminar sessions … • Making sure your marketing planning is relevant • Developing a marketing strategy with impact Heather Maitland, Arts consultant and author Sam Evans, Head of Marketing, Big Lottery Fund • Making sure your organisation is relevant • Integrating new media into your marketing plan Kate Farmery, Head of Public Services, Manchester Charlotte Sexton, Head of New Media, National Art Gallery and Virginia Tandy, Head of Culture for Gallery and Jenny Brown, Consultant Manchester City Council Book now at the member rate of £133 + VAT or at the non-member rate of £193 +VAT Book online at www.a-m-a.co.uk or email [email protected]. For more information go to www.a-m-a.co.uk.
JAM 37 > 23 ADVERTORIAL
Marketers must lead on sustainability
Like a latter-day Johnson and Boswell, Dr Ben Todd of Arcola Theatre and I have been out on the road performing a green marketing double act at AMA network meetings and other choice locations across London and the South East.
he idea has been to inspire discussion on home for sustainability as well. the different ways a green marketing mix According to Ben, there are two divergent can benefit broader audience engagement approaches to adoption. Treat sustainability in the Tand, as Ben pointed out, take advantage of same way you would Health & Safety (forms and tick the biggest and best networked marketing team we boxes, basically) or position it directly as a strand of possibly can to help test out our theories. your core programming. For Arcola their three main One of the main questions we’ve been posing strands of programming – Professional Productions, is whether a venue’s marketing team should be Youth and Community Work, and Sustainability – are the ones taking the lead on green initiatives. now all intrinsically linked, cross-pollinating creative Unfortunately there is no one-size-fits-all simple ideas and creating new and exciting ways to engage solution to the problem of sustainability. Rather, with Arcola’s audiences. As Ben explains it, ‘We’re there’s a need to navigate any number of different identifying a whole new way of engaging audiences, positions. You’ll want to encourage investment in building loyalty and accessing new markets.’ meaningful change, avoid the slippery greenwashed We think you’ll agree that rather than just viewing slopes of a quick carbon neutral cop-out, seek out this as adding another task to the teetering pile of to- new lines of communication and explain what you’ve dos, the opportunity to engage with new ideas and learnt so that others can follow in your footsteps. talk to our audiences in new ways is precisely why we During our mini-tour one theme has become became marketers in the first place. At its best, arts increasingly apparent – if you really want to position marketing is about capturing people’s imagination sustainability as a central part of your venue, it and inspiring them to try new experiences. It’s needs to be embedded right through the corporate exactly this kind of engagement we need to identity. In other words, we’re back to brand – the encourage a cultural shift towards more sustainable natural home of the modern marketing team. practices, and this is precisely where the arts are in a Talking about the Arcola’s own experience, Ben prime position to reach people and help create real outlined how evolving their own sustainable strategy change for the better. has been a long, slow burn in direct contrast to the quicker promotional ‘splash and dab’ of selling theatre tickets. The first lesson they learned after deciding ‘We’re all going to be sustainable – yeah cool!’ was to start asking what that really meant to them as an organisation. The answer was to go right back to Arcola’s corporate branding and mission Tom Hunter statement, so the place where long-term work on Sales and Marketing Director, London Calling building company identity and relationships with e [email protected] stakeholders, funders and audiences becomes the w www.londoncalling.com
Let us know what you think about this and other topics on Have your say at www.a-m-a.co.uk