relationship marketing – life in the trenches - Creative New Zealand

fuel4arts.com 

arts + markets + audiences 

…tools & ideas to take your work further 

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING 

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING – LIFE IN THE TRENCHES 

Author: Penn Trevella, Marketing Coordinator, Royal New Zealand Ballet 

2003 

Introduction 

A 30 minute Google surf on relationship marketing yields a swag of articles with 

impressive, if not a little daunting, titles such as “How to Lap the Competition”, 

“Wow Your Customers”, “360-Degree Customer Care” and, drum roll please, “If 

the Phone Rings, Answer It”. 

Flicking through the articles my eyes begin to glaze over with page after page of 

evangelical marketing speak and glorified tales of life-changing business to 

customer experiences such as the “heartwarming tale of a man, a lost luggage 

tag, and some fabulous brownies”. 

While the articles manage to heighten customer relations to the realm of trench 

warfare, what they are saying is one very simple thing: the customer is the most 

important part of our business. 

What is Relationship Marketing 

Relationship marketing, or customer relationship management (CRM), is about 

developing service processes based on the principle that the customer and their 

needs are the central component from which your business activities evolve. 

While traditional marketing theory focuses on bundling together groups of 

customers with similar characteristics, relationship marketing recognises that 

each customer is a unique person with individual needs. 

Relationship marketing within the context of the arts can be divided into two 

areas of customer focus: 

- service quality and ensuring customer satisfation throughout the organisation; 

and 

- enhancing the artistic experience that each customer receives. 

Published at www.fuel4arts.com with permission from the Author, July 2003 Page 1 of 6 

© Penn Trevella and Australia Council for the Arts, 2003

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Relationship Marketing and the Arts 

Arts marketers know that their product has a number of unique characteristics 

that require different handling than traditional consumer products. These 

characteristics are ideally suited to a relationship marketing approach. 

Art is Intangible 

The experience of art is intangible; there is no ever lasting physical product. 

Once the curtain falls the show has gone for ever. Sure, you could come back to 

see the same show the following night, but the experience will always be 

different. The visual arts are the same. Even though the work itself has a physical 

form, the real value is ultimately derived from the emotion that it stirs within the 

person gazing upon it, rather than physical ownership. Relationship marketing is 

an opportunity for arts marketers to enhance the emotional experience that their 

customers receive. 

Arts Involves Individual Interpretation 

Art is a personal journey. We all come from different backgrounds and all have 

vastly different collections of life experiences. An artistic work asks each 

individual to interpret what it is presenting to us. The context for each individual’s 

interpretation comes from the knowledge and experience they have gathered 

over their lifetime – this is why we all have different opinions. Relationship 

marketing acknowledges that we are all different and recognises the need to 

provide an information system that caters to these differences. 

Art Appeals to All 

Arts marketing is about access, enabling the greatest possible slice of the 

population to experience what we have to offer. This means an arts organisation’s 

potential customers are of all ages and come from a range of cultural and 

educational backgrounds. 

Given this diverstity of backgrounds, the information required by customers for 

them to make the decision to attend, and then to maximise the personal benefit 

they gain from the experience, will vary immensely from person to person. 

Therefore arts orgainsations need a strategy that acknowledges that they have a 

wide base of potential customers and enables them to provide specific 

information to individual customers. 

The Entertainment Industry and Spending More Effectively 

“In fact, some marketers claim that as a result of changing households, complex 

products, new ways to shop and pay, intense competition, and declining 

advertising effectiveness, mass marketing is obsolete.” 

- Kotler and Scheff, 1997. 

From sports and movies, to a night in watching the telly, the arts are now up 

against all activities that people have to choose from in their leisure time. Arts 

marketers need to develop smarter and more adaptable tools to be able to match 

it with competitors with far greater resources. 

In an increasingly expensive marketplace marketers must be able to measure the 

effectiveness of the tools and mediums they are using. Traditional mass mediums 

such as print advertising, radio and television are undoubtedly effective tools for 

raising awareness but research shows that awareness alone is not enough to send 

customers scurrying to the box office. 



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As advertising rates increase and the sheer quantity of advertising sky rockets, 

organisations must review the emphasis and financial commitment they give to 

gaining mass market exposure and look more seriously at communication 

techniques that are more directly and specifically targeted at their customers. 

Relationship marketing based tools such as opt-in email systems and customer 

focused newsletters are examples of communications that can be delivered 

directly to your targeted audience and designed specifically for their needs. 

Relationship Marketing as a Commitment to Service Quality 

Relationship marketing involves implementing specific service quality processes 

designed to ensure on-going customer satisfaction. 

A person’s relationship with an artistic product begins at that first moment of 

awareness – catching a glimpse of a poster on the street, reading an article in a 

magazine, hearing a friend talk enthusiastically about a show. Between that 

moment and the actual artistic experience there are a multitude of interactions, 

both direct and indirect, that need to be managed effectively and efficiently to 

ensure that the customer will be receptive to a positive experience. 

From a customer’s point of view, the artistic product and their reaction to it is 

what matters. Therefore, as marketers, it is our job to create an environment 

that gives each customer the opportunity to receive the best possible experience. 

The battle for customers can be so hard fought that it feels as though you have 

had to personally persuade each of them to come through the doors. Having 

endured such a struggle, it is heart-wrenching to receive complaints of ticketing 

errors, rude theatre staff or unacceptable lines at the bar at interval. Unfortunate 

incidents taint the experience of an evening at the theatre and subsequently 

effect the customer’s willingness to attend in the future. 

The artistic product will always be at the core of what we do as arts marketers. 

However, acknowledging the importance of service quality and customer 

satisfaction, as the foundation for the presentation of an artistic experience, 

increases the likelihood of customers returning in the future. 

Service Quality – the Building Blocks 

Every interaction that you have with a customer adds to the mental image 

(positioning, in marketing lingo) they retain of your organisation. Therefore, 

every interaction is an opportunity to enhance the customer’s mental image of 

your organisation. Alternatively, a bad experience can undo all of the good work 

that has been done. 

Map out all the possible points of contact between your organisation and the 

customer from the first moment they become aware of your show to when they’re 

in the theatre. These points of interaction range from personal contact, such as 

ticket sellers, ushers and theatre staff, to event listings on the Internet, or 

advertising in print, TV or radio. 

By going through this process you can quickly see that there are numerous 

potential points of interaction that a customer must navigate before they make it 

to your show. The challenge is to develop processes to ensure the highest 

possible levels of service quality at each point. 



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Relationship Marketing to Enhance the Artistic Experience 

The second area of relationship marketing particularly relevent to the arts 

involves developing ways in which the actual experience can be enhanced. 

For arts marketers this means providing customers with the information that they 

as individuals require to maximise their personal experience. 

I first started thinking about the use of information as a tool for enhancing 

customer experience a couple of years ago when we conducted focus groups with 

subscription ticket purchasers. Our subscriber base had stagnated. So we decided 

to ask our customers how we could revitalise the way we marketed our 

subscription packages. 

Sitting in on these sessions, hearing the commitment that many of these people 

showed to the art form and the pride which they felt towards our company, was a 

humbling experience. 

Two things surprised me: the level of knowledge they had built up over the years 

of attending our shows, and the types of information that they were particularly 

interested in. 

Many had specific information needs, such as listening to the musical score, 

wanting to know more about the history of the production or watching videos of 

the choreographers previous work, and before attending each show researched 

their personal areas of interest. They were acumulating a level of information that 

enabled them to receive the maximum level of personal return from the 

performance. 

While I’m aware that subscribers are our most committed customers and 

probably quite different from the bulk of our single ticket purchasing customers, it 

made me consider the type of information we were providing and the way we in 

which we were providing it. 

How many people were sitting in the darkened theatre, attending their first ever 

ballet, hunched over a programme trying to make sense of what was happening 

on stage 

In order to better understand how information could add to the enjoyment of our 

shows we embarked upon a number of projects: 

- A quantitative research project exploring ballet knowledge, motivations for 

attending, current information sources and areas of particular interest to 

customers. 

- Analysis of web site statistics to determine what information current users 

were accessing. 

- Relaunching our web site with increased focus on dancer information, daily 

casting details, up-to-date images and reviews, and comprehensive booking 

information. 

- Daily updating website content to encourage customers to visit the site 

more often. 

- Establishing an e-bulletin with unique behind the scenes information to 

bring customers closer to the company. 



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Customers Know What They Want - Give it to Them 

"A Relationship Marketing initiative should start with the recognition that 

technology now enables companies to understand, motivate and serve the 

individual customer as never before." 

- Ian Gordon, Relationship Marketing 

One-on-one communication is the most effective relationship marketing 

technique. If arts organisations had unlimited resources they would be in personal 

contact with each customer on a regular basis, informing them about upcoming 

shows, passing on information they know is of interest to them and answering 

any questions. 

With limited resources, the arts have traditionally relied on newsletters, email 

updates more recently, and direct mail to stay in touch. While these methods are 

a cost efficient and effective means of communication, they are not completely 

ideal, as they do not allow the customer to have any say in the type of 

information they receive. 

This is a major disadvantage as the increasing amount of information people are 

being bombarded with on a day-to-day basis means communication must have 

real relevance to grab attention. 

Unless you are prepared to produce print material customised to individual 

customers, the internet and email is the relationship marketing communication 

channel. 

Technology 

While collecting email addresses and adding them to a database is not new, best 

practice CRM allows customers input into the type of communications they 

receive. 

Opt-in email systems, where customers can build and alter their personal profiles, 

allow far more personally specific communication to be created at very low cost. 

Typically, by accessing their profile, customers are able to select the type of 

information they receive, the frequency, and the email format they receive in the 

future. 

Taking it to another level, this technology can also now be integrated with text 

messaging services so customers can be reached while they’re on the move. 

Potentially the most powerful tool for relationship marketing in the arts though, is 

the integration of email and text messaging communication with the box office 

system. 

Combining box office data such as previous shows attended, the type of tickets 

purchased and the timing of the transaction, with information collected through 

each customer’s database profile, enables marketers to create even more highly 

personalised, targeted, and persuasive communications that can be sent at very 

low cost. 

In addition to providing another layer of customer information, one of the biggest 

advantages in linking customer communications with the box office is the capacity 

for call to action promotional offers to be far more timely and accurate than non 

box office based data. 



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As all ticket purchase transactions are conducted through the box office system, 

the information you are working with is as “real time” as possible. Access to this 

up-to-date sales information significantly reduces the chances of customers being 

sent sales offers when they have already purchased tickets to the show, and 

therefore increases the likely success of the offer. 

Every seat that goes unsold represents lost potential revenue for arts 

organisations. Access to these types of technology and communication tools, 

combined with smart thinking, gives arts marketers the ability to stimulate 

customer demand right up until the moment the curtain goes up. 

Useful Web Links and Publications 

http://www.bornkicking.com/benefits.php 

http://www.clickz.com/ 

http://www.crm2day.com/ 

http://www.emarketer.com/ 

http://www.peoplesoft.com/media/en/pdf/crm/olm_ds_0603.pdf 

Gordon, I. (1998), Relationship Marketing: New Strategies, Techniques and 

Technologies to Win the Customers You Want & Keep Them Forever, John Wiley. 

Kotler, P. and Scheff, J. (1997), Standing Room Only, Harvard Business School 

Press, Boston, MA.

relationship marketing – life in the trenches - Creative New Zealand

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