Situational Analysis & Marketing Goals
The current state of professional performing arts
After a year of having to close doors and shut everything down, the desire and willingness for audiences to come back into venues is starting to emerge. While it does appear that it will be a cautious and slow process to gain the trust and confidence of the public, the more progress that is made to ease the minds of audiences and remind them of the joy that live performance brought them in the past is bound to come back.
That being said, the innovativeness and creative pivots that professional performing arts organizations have been able to display across the world has absolutely reinvigorated new hope that the live performance medium (and especially in traditional classical arts capacities) can and will evolve to thrive with a new generation of audiences.
Organizations such as CityMusic that are ready and open to transforming how they present music to their community will continue to stay top-of-mind and receive ongoing support.
Strengths
CityMusic has become a long-standing staple in the Cleveland area. Its legacy and notoriety has allowed it to not only withstand the current downturn of live and in-person performance opportunities but also created enthusiasm within the organization itself to evolve and propel into a new generation of performing arts. Because CityMusic has made an active effort to stream performances, build a consistent podcasting presence, and invest in both a new web presence and digital marketing resource shows the ability for this organization to continue to thrive.
CityMusic has also a great job at building a strong following on Facebook, which is still the largest social media platform out of the many that continue to grow. By tapping into this 6k+ audience in new ways and finding a more tailored approach to engage audiences on other platforms that CityMusic is building up, there is a lot of potential for quick digital growth.
Weaknesses
One of the weaknesses of CityMusic from a digital standpoint is a lack of consistent content that is keeping audiences engaged. While building this strong following on Facebook is definitely a plus, the issue with Facebook Business Pages gaining so little organic traction means that in order to truly build a community online, CityMusic will have to actually shift the main focus of ‘posting to Facebook’ to other areas such as Instagram, Smail and SMS marketing, and developing a strong socialization strategy.
Opportunities
CityMusic is embarking on new and innovative programming that will keep audiences intrigued and interested in ‘what’s next’ for the organization for years to come! Likewise, even with the weaknesses stated from a digital marketing standpoint, there is ample opportunity for growth and consistency. Just because main platforms weren’t being utilized to their full potential in the past, does not mean CityMusic cannot improve and still gain the full capabilities from them moving forward.
STRATEGIC MARKETING GOALS
Present professional and memorable performances and programming to the community
Develop long-standing relationships with current patrons
Cultivate ongoing interest that will bring in new patrons
Continue to engage the community in a digital component to keep CityMusic relevant and contemporary
Create opportunity for new programming that serves the Greater Cleveland community at large
