First published on Idek a cultural marketing blog based in Sweden, this article provides a few tips on ensuring your organisation plans its social media presence during the summer holiday season to ensure you don’t lose your audience’s attention, and that small issues or emergencies can be dealt with swiftly and effectively.

Cheek by Jowl (CbJ) is an international theatre company, which operates in-house as an Associate Company at the Barbican Centre in London. As a touring theatre company, CbJ faces the ongoing challenge of trying to capture data, to refine and target their marketing activity, in the absence of any box office information. This case study ... Read more

Open-City is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that aims to be at the centre of creating better places – and a better city. With a limited budget and no specific marketing role within its team, this case study describes how Open-City delivers a marketing campaign and plan, which is shared by all staff and volunteers.

For four weeks in April-May 2013, a new and fairly unknown company – Little Bulb – performed their show Orpheus at the Battersea Arts Centre’s Grand Hall. Orpheus is an unusual concept bringing together the Greek myth about Orpheus and the story of the legendary Jazz musician Django Reinhardt. In this case study, Katie Elston from the ... Read more

In this article, Chris Grady provides an introduction to the basics of developing a marketing strategy for your event, starting with the question: who do you want on your front row? Chris discusses the importance of identifying the five key customers you want to ensure attends your event and consider these people at the very first stages ... Read more

In this guide, Sarah Chambers provides 10 key points to help steel your nerves, get you better prepared and generally ensure a more successful presentation.

This short article from MediaCom Edinburgh reminds us that marketing impact must not be measured on short term evaluation alone. It recommends ‘The Long and the Short of It’ as a good read for anyone interested in better balancing short and long term marketing goals.

Is it really worth spending time reviewing our marketing practice when we are so busy doing what we do? Is pausing activity to review what we do terrifying, unnecessary navel-gazing or an essential process? What is the impetus behind our decisions to take stock and how do we know where to start? Sally Worman embarks on a project of reviewing marketing practice at Norden Farm Centre ... Read more

This non-arts case study demonstrates how an innovative behaviour change campaign from the Scottish Government and The Leith Agency led to a 50% increase in women acting early on the symptoms of breast cancer by going to the doctor.  In an advertising first, the campaign boldly used images of real women’s breasts with visible signs ... Read more

In order to grow audiences it’s important to be strategic in your approach. This article explains how a combination of marketing cycle planning and gathering the right data can help you make informed decisions about communication and marketing activity. You’ll find a series of practical case studies, tools and downloads that can help you be ... Read more

This comprehensive access toolkit from the Independent Street Arts Network sets the context for of policy around access for all and the laws around access. It covers every aspect from actions before the event, to working with deaf and disabled performers, marketing, volunteers, to managing the event itself and reviewing and evaluating the event afterwards.

This one-page guide visually outlines the steps to take when creating a digital marketing plan. From SWOT analyses through to measuring success, each step of the framework recommends different actions to take. Ultimately once you’ve worked through the different stages you’ll have the beginnings of a digital marketing plan in place.

As social media advances it’s increasingly important to understand how to maximise your online efforts. This article presents a practical five-step process for establishing an effective social media presence. Through practical case study examples, techniques and tools, the author shares how culture can be brought into the homes and lives of your potential audience.  

Find out how to build long term marketing plans for your organisation that can deliver real impact, asking the relevant questions like ‘where are we heading’, ‘what’s our vision’, and using Aristotle’s Three Pillars of Rhetoric as the starting blocks that enable you to gain the support of your colleagues.  Find guidance on how to ... Read more

Free up time with a ‘marketing health check’ that will help you prioritise what works and gain the confidence to eliminate what doesn’t. This guide is a transcript from an AMA Conference 2011 session.

Master marketing strategy with this in-depth guide to writing and using strategic marketing plans for arts and cultural organisations.