Don’t survey your Insiders. Do this instead.

In a recent study, Capacity Interactive partnered with 48 arts organizations to better understand ticket buyers. They received 17,000 survey responses from recent patrons regarding media consumption habits, device preferences, and influences on purchasing. The purpose of the study: create marketing insights based on these responses.

For arts administrators who are seeking to reach newcomers, this study may not be the most useful resource.

Classical music audiences have been declining for decades. Our Loyalists are aging out (50% of CI’s survey respondents were over the age of 65) and we’re not replacing these Loyalists fast enough to sustain attendance. Alarmingly, more than 48% of the US population doesn't feel welcome in the classical music world.

Basing marketing strategy on responses from Insiders won’t uncover insights that will help us bring in Outsiders. (These respondents are Insiders who have so much affinity with an arts organization that they’re willing to spend the time to complete a survey—not an easy feat in today’s busy world.)

One of CI’s favorite findings was that the most influential source of information impacting ticket buyers’ purchasing decisions was content from the organization itself. Their conclusion: organizational content should be a major focus of your marketing strategy. This likely works for Insiders—but not for newcomers. Why?

First, since Outsiders aren’t following you on your social platforms, your content will only reach your Insiders. This doesn’t spur growth. And even if it does reach Outsiders, they won’t find it relevant—unless it is designed to show them how your offering is relevant to their life.

Second, research in the wider world shows that user-generated content is currently the most powerful tool at our disposal:

• User-Generated Content typically gets 600-700% more engagement than branded content

• 97% of all online shoppers who have interacted with UGC are more likely to convert

• 93% of shoppers find user-generated content useful and rely on it when making a purchase decision

• For 86% of millennials, UGC has become a key indicator of brand quality and trustworthiness

Context is Key

But more importantly, business theorists tell us that oceans of data, such as what social media platforms our customers are on, what devices they use, where they find out about our events, or where they consume their news and media, still doesn’t tell us why they buy.

Correlation does not equal causation. A survey cannot provide the rich context we need for decision making in both marketing and strategy. Without enough context around customer motivation—functional, social, and emotional—we simply cannot confidently predict or influence customer behavior.

The Jobs to Be Done methodology was developed to address this limitation, to help innovators create new products they could be confident would succeed. This confidence comes from deeply understanding the real life customer—their struggles, their anxieties, the path they take towards making a purchase—through comprehensive, one-on-one customer interviews.

Call it customer centricity to make it feel more accessible, but the Jobs to Be Done approach is so much more than that. It helps marketers powerfully connect to their target audiences with empathy and relevance—building a level of trust that data mining never will.

Embrace the Hate to Innovate

Perhaps even more important than understanding your Insiders is talking to your haters. Take it from Nintendo, Dollar Shave Club, and Aubrey Bergauer: It’s a conversation that’s worth its weight in gold. While your loyal audiences can be counted on to tell you what you want to hear, the haters will tell you what you need to hear. Unpacking why you failed to attract Outsiders is the only way to understand how to engage them in the future. Let’s get the Wallace Foundation to fund this as an audience-building initiative!

Smarter Not Harder

Arts administrators: It’s time to work smarter, not harder. I’m not saying do more; I’m saying start thinking differently. It’s no longer enough to think one season at a time, which results in a dangerously myopic view of our audiences. We need a paradigm shift.

The time to plan for the future of the classical music world is now.