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volume four ~ issue eleven
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Welcome to our E-Marketer of the Month for November featuring Bonnie L. Vorenberg, a specialist in senior theatre and the President of ArtAge Publications (a senior arts resource center) who uses online tools to reach her core demographic - seniors!
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Featured E-Marketer: Bonnie L. Vorenberg
President, ArtAge Publications
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Bonnie L. Vorenberg
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Bonnie L. Vorenberg is a nationally recognized pioneer in senior theatre. For over 28 years she has done groundbreaking work as a teacher, writer, director and speaker in the field of senior theatre.
In addition to being a founding member of Senior Theatre USA and a past Chair of
the Senior Theatre Focus Group for the Association of Theatre in Higher
Education, Bonnie is also the President of ArtAge Publications and its Senior Theatre Resource
Center which distributes the largest collection of plays, books and
materials for mature adults involved in theatre and the arts.
In the Q & A that follows, she discusses how ArtAge is making excellent use of online marketing tools while catering to an older demographic.
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Q & A with Bonnie L. Vorenberg
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Recent issue of Senior Theatre Online
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To begin, Bonnie, tell us about ArtAge. What is the organization's mission? Whom does it serve?
ArtAge Publications (and our Senior Theatre Resource Center) is a central clearing house for information about senior theatre. We offer the largest collection of senior theatre plays, books, and materials to customers worldwide - most of whom are mature adults actively involved in senior theatre programs. We also help professionals who work in senior settings like senior centers and retirement housing or in theatrical settings like community theatres, college/university theatres and allied arts/aging organizations.
The ArtAge mission is to inspire the development of senior theatre. Though it is still a grassroots movement, we see growth in all geographic areas and in an ever-expanding amount of theatrical programming everywhere seniors gather. There are over 700 performing companies across the U.S. and several more in Canada and around the world.
How does e-marketing fit into ArtAge's overall operations? How do you use online tools to support ArtAge's activities?
Slowly, almost without noticing, ArtAge has come to depend on e-marketing. Our website, which was launched in 1999, is one of our most important marketing tools, proudly coming up #1 on Google searches for senior theatre. The site is a central focal point for information about the field and also houses our online store where we offer the largest collection of senior theatre plays, books, and materials to customers worldwide.
We also publish a monthly e-newsletter, Senior Theatre Online, which always links backs to our Web site - forcing us to make sure the site is always updated! The e-newsletter announces news and events, highlights performance groups, and direct readers to new products for sale. It also features "Bonnie's Column," my personalized reflections and insight into the field of senior theatre.
As an organization that caters to an older demographic, was it difficult to make the leap into e-marketing? What factors helped convince you that building an online presence would be useful to ArtAge?
With over 25 years experience working in senior theatre, I've watched seniors change. Just a few years ago, only a small number of seniors had e-mail and they often used it cautiously. When we first considered moving to PatronMail and ending our paper newsletters, I was scared. We had about 1,000 e-mail addresses, but would those seniors even open their e-mails? I battled my worries and sent my first e-newsletters at the end of 2005.
Now, most of our customers have an e-mail account. Our most recent e-newsletter was sent to over 1700 recipients. A total of 31.1% opened the e-newsletter; 6.1% clicked. Many mature adults are even comfortable enough with the Internet to buy plays and books online. Two years ago, most of our orders arrived by phone or mail. Now, most arrive by PayPal! Phone calls are down and faxes are almost non-existent. In September, 66% of our orders arrived via PayPal and only 1% were paid by check. Seniors have joined the electronic age!
How are your e-mails received? Have you been able to quantify the success of your e-newsletter? Is there anything you have been surprised to learn about your audience's reaction to e-mail marketing?
It is always exciting to publish an e-newsletter. We know that it will bring a flurry of orders, referrals, and calls for information. Senior Theatre Online keeps our name in front of customers in an active way, complimenting the passive marketing done with our Web site. Since we started using e-newsletters, our business has really developed - more readers turn to us when they need a speaker, a writer, or an expert in the field. Our Web presence has certainly heightened our visibility.
Surprisingly, despite catering to an older demographic, we exceed the PatronMail benchmarks for our e-newsletters! More of our customers open and click through Senior Theatre Online than the PatronMail averages. Our average open rate is 30.64% and our click-thru is 8.73%, compared to PatronMail's averages of 25.88% and 3.95% respectively.
Also, we've found that our most successful 'send day' is Friday, despite industry recommendations that e-newsletters get sent mid-week. Perhaps this is a reflection that older readers have a slower schedule on the weekend with more time to spend on their correspondence. And our e-newsletter is a perfect way for our customers to stay up-to-date and inspired about the world of senior theatre!
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Improve your E-Marketing with books by Eugene Carr, President, Patron Technology
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Wired for Culture: How E-mail is Revolutionizing Arts Marketing (Second Edition)
Learn how to get started with e-mail and do MORE marketing for LESS money and get BETTER results.
- Essential tips for great e-mail marketing
- Why an investment in e-mail marketing will provide a spectacular return
- What arts patrons do online, and why arts e-mail is so powerful
Web Sites for Culture: Essential Principles for Great Arts Web Sites
Provides a structured way of thinking about how to build and improve your arts Web site. You'll learn:
- The basics of site strategy, conception, and design
- What most arts sites are lacking
- What it takes to run your site once it's launched
- How to get properly listed on Yahoo! and Google
Sign-Up for Culture: The Arts Marketer's Guide to Building an Effective E-mail List
Learn how to grow your e-mail list!
- 20 top ideas to build your list quickly
- How arts patrons behave online and how to market to them
- What goes into an e-mail acquisition plan and how to create one
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$15 each from Patron Technology (click here to buy)
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If you have interesting and creative initiatives that you would like to have featured
or know of an arts marketer that you would like to recommend
for one of our upcoming editions, please contact info@patrontechnology.com.
Watch for the next edition of our E-Marketer of the Month
coming December 12, 2006.
Patron Technology
850 Seventh Avenue, Suite 801 | New York, NY 10019 | 212-271-4328
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