In the aftermath of COVID-19 and with prices rising across every aspect of daily life, it might feel harder than ever to balance the costs of managing an arts venue with the income potential. But audiences are still eager to attend the theater, to support culture and community, and to make the most of a great night out with concessions, merchandise and upgrades. So how do you counter the negatives, accentuate the positives, and keep driving revenue across every sales channel?

Explore ideas for identifying your priorities, using data effectively, and targeting offers to the right members of your audience, with a practical Revenue Maximization Audit designed for theaters and arts centers. Work through it independently or gather your team to consider how you set targets, interpret data and deliver campaigns — and where there could be opportunity to achieve even more.

Download the Spektrix Revenue Maximization Audit to review your approach to ticket revenue, subscriptions, donations and secondary spend; and access personalized recommendations to work more collaboratively and use your audience insights for maximum effect. Or come chat with the Spektrix team at INTIX 2024 in Las Vegas, Booth #309, to learn more about recent success stories across our user community.

The 3 Pillars Underpinning Revenue Growth

Let’s start with the fundamentals — three pillars which form the basis to a strategic, data-driven, outcome-focused, collaborative approach to revenue generation. By keeping them top of mind, you’ll find yourself thinking outside the box, throwing away the things you’ve “always done” a certain way, and looking at your venue and upsells from an audience member’s perspective.

  Know your priorities.

Pretty much everyone working in a theater is extraordinarily busy. There are numerous great things you might do, but it’s almost certain that you can’t do everything. Make sure you know what matters most to your organization so you can choose the initiatives that will have the biggest impact on your patrons, your team and, of course, your revenue.

If you want more audiences — is your focus on first timers or repeat attendees? If you want a more diverse patron base, will you prioritize a certain age group, zip code or social demographic? They’ll each need different messaging, and a different approach — so make sure your goals are specific enough to really drive decisions.

Know your audience.

On its own, every data point has value — from ticket purchases to giving history and merchandise sales. But the risk is that you throw everything at everybody — inviting the same people to book the next event, make a bigger gift, buy tickets sooner, pre-order champagne and more. By working together across teams, you can connect data points and refine your asks, so you know exactly what’s most likely to resonate with each patron.

Track current patron engagement across touchpoints, and use that data to predict future behaviors. Look for the propensity to increase spend, donate or join a loyalty program.

Know what works for you.

Not everything will work the first time. Some attempts may work better than expected. So how do you make sure you’re testing what works effectively? Align targets across teams to get the right offer in front of the right audience members and measure success venuewide — not only against departmental budgets.

Download the Revenue Maximization Audit and work through it with your team, keeping these principles in mind. Where do you have opportunities to achieve more?

In Practice: Drive Ticket Revenue

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Katonah, New York, ran a campaign to re-engage lapsed audiences. They spent time identifying the audience group who they felt would bring the greatest potential return on investment, settling on people who’d purchased tickets within the last five years, but not within the last two. Through further segmentation and behavioral analysis exploring booking patterns and price sensitivity, they devised targeted promotions to bring audiences back to their program of music and events.

Soho Theatre, London, England, wanted to direct customers more easily to relevant events in their busy program. Working with web agency Cog Design, they ask new patrons what types of events are of interest to them. They use this data to populate a personalized “Recommendations tab” on their website. Drawing on CRM data to create a more targeted online experience helps focus patrons’ attention and guide their event choices.

In Practice: Drive Audience Loyalty

Performing Arts Houston, Texas, wanted to boost income lines for both marketing and fundraising — increasing ticket sales and growing donations. They settled on memberships as the way to go but guessed that a lot of patrons would need persuading of the benefits. By offering a wide range of membership options — ranging from $25 through to $10,000 — they create an offer that’s attractive to new members and benefit from occasional high-level gifts, just because the option’s there.

The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Devon, England, used data to identify the right audience groups to target for subscriptions, memberships and donations. By combining ticket sales data, integrated partner data and offline inquiries, they can quickly map next steps and follow up offers to each audience segment.

In Practice: Donations and Secondary Spend

New York Theatre Workshop launched an online merchandise shop, fully integrated with Spektrix, right before the holiday season. By promoting posters, playscripts, T-shirts and gift vouchers alongside ticket purchases, they were able to increase income through a whole new revenue channel at a time when patrons are actively seeking the perfect gift.

Two River Theater, Red Bank, New Jersey, asks online ticket buyers to support their work with a philanthropic donation. Most patrons receive a broad invitation to support the new season of work. Those booking for Shakespeare performances see a targeted message, asking them for a gift of $11 in honor of their 11th Shakespeare season.

Drive Revenue — With Your Whole Team’s Involvement

The most successful organizations see revenue maximization as a challenge to be shared with their whole team. Rather than hiding your plans away behind the boardroom door, or in a strategy document on your desktop, share your challenges and priorities with your peers, your leaders and your ticket office team. Frequently, the people who work front of house, behind the counter and on your concessions stands are there because they care deeply about your organization. They might be regular patrons, performers, future arts leaders or former members of your junior ensemble. By empowering them to help your organization succeed, you’ll likely grow both job satisfaction and revenue.

Help your team see the value of their work, and use their enthusiasm to drive data collection, upsell donations or merchandise, or tidy up customer records. Individual encouragement, team challenges or healthy competition can help to capture interest, as well as showing them the impact of their work — improved email engagement rates attributable to better data or a rising income line based on their shared efforts. Or simply explain the challenges you’re facing, and explore their ideas. After all, they’re the people talking to your patrons every day.

Join Spektrix in Vegas as they delve further into the idea that “Success Starts in the Box Office,” part of the INTIX Global Village.

Download the Revenue Maximization Audit to start mapping your own initiatives, celebrating your successes and identifying untapped opportunities to grow your income streams.

This article was sponsored by Spektrix.