The Extra M - Live Blog from Houston Part 2

The morning session for the National Arts Marketing Conference (hereafter NAMC) was on Word of Mouth Marketing.

Here is my key takeaway for you . . .

The idea of word of mouth isn't new.  People have been talking about what they like and dislike since the beginning of time.

The idea of word of mouth "marketing", this idea that there is a science behind making word of mouth happen, is the new thing.

Word of Mouth Marketing can be cored down to two basic elements:

1.  Have something worth talking about

2.  Giving your audience as many tools as possible to talk about it.

The tools you know about, email, blogs, etc.

But the key is ALWAYS the first thing.  In this world where there is too much of EVERYTHING (theatre, music, dance, etc.) to survive and thrive there must be something about the art itself and/or the organization creating the art that is worthy of conversation.

The problem is it takes a very mature artist and/or a very mature arts org to be honest about what is remarkable in what they do.

It takes maturity because sometimes the honest answer is there is NOTHING remarkable about what we do or how we do it.

It's a hard answer . . . but it also the one that most likely leads to growth and change.