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Welcome to our May E-Marketing Organization of the Month, featuring PatronMail Client: Jazz at Lincoln Center.
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Client Feature: Jazz at Lincoln Center
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Sara Jensen, Applications Manager for Jazz at Lincoln Center
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PMail Client Since: October 2005
Starting e-list size: 20,500
Current e-list size: 29,270
Jazz at Lincoln Center began with 3 concerts produced by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the summer of 1987. The following year Wynton Marsalis was named Artistic Director and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra was formed. After 5 successful years of the August concert series, a year-round jazz department was created. In 1996, the department became its own independent institution, the newest constituent organization on the campus of Lincoln Center in over 20 years - finally named Jazz at Lincoln Center.
In October 2004, Jazz at Lincoln Center moved into its new home, the Frederick P. Rose Hall, in the new Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. The 100,000 square foot performing arts facility includes an education center and three performance venues, a year round jazz club, recording and rehearsal studios and a Jazz Hall of Fame. Jazz at Lincoln Center now produces nearly a thousand jazz events, publications/services a year.
With a strong technical and IT background (as well as music degree!) Applications Manager, Sara Jensen supervises and supports all applications used across the organization including their fundraising, box office, facility management and e-mail software. In the Q & A below she discusses the challenges in consolidating and maximizing the valuable information available to the organization through their varied databases and applications.
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Q & A with Sara Jensen, Applications Manager
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To begin, Sara, who are your audiences and what are your primary tools for reaching them?
Because of our extensive and varied programming, our audiences are very diverse in gender, race and age. We have programs for people as young as 8 months in our WeBop! series for infants/toddlers (with their caregivers) as an early introduction to jazz music. Our educational programming offers something for all age groups up through adult jazz education.
Our new Swing Club targets the 35 and under crowd and our Jazz Student Ambassador program encourages students the opportunity to be JALC spokespeople on campuses across the tri-state area, promoting Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola.
Our primary outlets for communicating the breadth of our programs are print advertising, direct mail, publicity outlets, targeted e-blasts, our Web site and various promotional partnerships that tap new audiences such as record labels promoting our latest releases (Higher Ground CD), beverage companies, restaurant partners, print partners, etc. Our education programs and children concerts allow us to nurture the future jazz audiences of tomorrow through innovation and interactive courses and concerts.
Are there technical challenges in managing communications with these diverse groups?
We have different systems and databases tracking our different audiences. Donors, ticket holders, educators, students and media contacts are all organized in separate databases which we use to help us communicate with each particular group. However, this means that there is a lot of cross-over between the groups and managing this information is one of our big challenges!
That said, using PatronMail has been a huge help in managing this since it acts as a clearing-house for all of our contacts: we can segment our lists in different ways and our customers can easily update their info and preferences just by clicking an easy link.
Through this integration process, we have also been able to learn more about each consumer profile and are better equipped to target our offerings based on their select interests.
How else has e-mail been helpful in reaching your different audiences?
With a proper e-mail system, we have been able to build brand consistency and streamline our communications. Not to mention the ease in sending out information in a timely fashion! It has also meant that different departments can access our full lists (in one place) and use it for their individual needs.
Our development department uses it to communicate with their constituents to remind them about invitations, special events and offerings. Marketing sends out a monthly newsletter with insider information and educational content about jazz music, appropriately tailored for the membership audience. Our education department segments by program or location. For example, we have band directors across the country that participate in our Essentially Ellington High School Band Competition & Festival who get targeted e-mails throughout the school year that keep them up to date on the festival and preparatory workshops.
We also send promotions to New York City-based educators that offer steep discounts to our events or publications as well as special offers and reminders to our current subscribers.
You have recently launched a new festival celebrating New Orleans. Tell us about the festival and how e-mail was helpful in promoting it?
We recently held a festival celebrating New Orleans with more than a dozen different events held in Louisiana and New York. The New Orleans Festival in New York featured two separate concerts in both our Rose Theater and Allen Room. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Odadaa! premiered a newly commissioned piece by Wynton Marsalis called "Congo Square" celebrating the heritage of Congo Square in New Orleans' historical Armstrong Park. The piece was commissioned by the State of Louisiana prior to Katrina and the world premiere was held at the end of April in Congo Square!
Although we promoted all of the events via print and e-mail, the e-mail campaigns gave us great flexibility in design and allowed us to link to samples of the music so that potential patrons were more informed to make their ticket purchase decision.
We had media alerts, special invitation reminders, family BBQ gala invites, hotel discount packages and free concert notices going out by e-mail left, right and center!
How do you plan to further integrate or build your e-marketing efforts over the next year or two?
Our primary focus is to house a well-maintained database that continually updates the buying behavior and interest of each patron. The more information we gather for each profile, the more effective we can be with our electronic communications. We all know that e-marketing is the most cost effective outlet for disseminating information, and we want to gain as much information to be used as effectively as possible to meet the goals of the Jazz at Lincoln Center institution.
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June 5-8 - Denver, Minneapolis & St. Louis - E-marketing Seminars with Gene Carr
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SUPER CHARGE YOUR E-MARKETING
Tips, Techniques, Facts & Stats
Every Arts Marketer Needs to Know Now
Monday, June 5: Denver, Colorado
(Denver Museum of Nature & Science)
Tuesday, June 6: St. Louis, Missouri
(Repertory Theatre of St. Louis)
Thursday, June 8: Minneapolis, Minnesota
(Mixed Blood Theatre)
Morning Session 9:30am to 12:30pm
E-Marketing Fundamentals
Top ten tips for effective e-marketing. You'll learn what works and why, and you'll have the facts and statistics to back it up. If you're looking to make a case for e-marketing to your board of directors, you must attend this seminar.
Afternoon Session 1:30pm to 5:00pm
Advanced E-marketing Skills and Techniques
You'll hear case studies and learn advanced techniques for improving your e-mail marketing and your Web site, and about the newest e-marketing techniques such as blogging and podcasting.
Click here to learn more and to register.
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Please watch for our next Monthly Update, coming June 27, 2006.
Our mailing address is: 850 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019
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