Audience profiling - Audiences South West

This section will help you to find out more about existing and potential audiences by exploring:

- How to find out more about your local community

- Where to find national data on audience attendance

- How to collect and use data from your existing audiences

- How Audiences South West can help

- Audience research training opportunities

The arts sector has a wealth of audience data, gathered from many sources and surveys. Useful information ranges from the high-level DCMS Taking Part Survey, that explores national participation in the arts, to the individual name and address files you take from your customers and in many cases you can access the data and use it at little or no cost.

Why is audience data important to my organisation?

Audience data is fundamental to any successful organisation. As well as supplying the evidence required by government and others of impact, reach, inclusion and access, data is a valuable tool to gaining understanding of the people who are engaging with us and provide an insight into how we can reach others.

Audience data isn’t a luxury, it’s a business necessity, and you can capture what you need for your business no matter how limited your resources.

As well as audience data, Audiences South West can help you get to know your attenders, lapsed attenders and non-attenders better through our Focus Group Service.

How can I collect data about my current audience?

There’s isn’t a ‘must do’ standard of data collection to which all organisations must conform – the most important thing is collecting what has a real practical value for your organisation at a given moment. However, accurate attendance and revenue figures, names and addresses (especially the all-important postcode!), communication preferences (with email address) and Data Protection permissions are the minimum fundamental and practical data to start with.

Customer data needs to be collected using a standard methodology and you need a statistically robust sample in relation to your overall visitor numbers. If you’re unsure about how to do this, you can book an advice surgery with Audiences South West here, come on our practical training seminar Using Audience Data or get in-depth support from Audiences South West here.

Some key principles of good data collection* to remember are:

Practicality – the benefits of having the data should outweigh the practical difficulties in obtaining it
Relevance – any data captured should have clearly identified practical application
Quality – the data should be robust, accurate and produced using transparent and objective methods
Consistency – the data and methodology of collection should be standard, repeatable and regular
Coherence – the data should be comparable with other data-sets

For further useful tips on data collection visit the Audience Data UK website www.aduk.org.

*Principles based on standards maintained by the Office of National Statistics, the European Statistical System and other recognised bodies.

How can I find out about my local community?

One of the best sources of demographic data about your local community is the website of the county or unitary authority where your venue – or the venues you are touring to – is located.

Audiences South West can provide a demographic breakdown of the residents in your county or town and relate to your own patron data: click here for more details.

The key local authorities in our region are shown on the map below:

Where do I find national & regional data?

As well as the county and unitary authority websites we recommend above, you can get detailed local, regional and national data from the following sites:

Government Offices

Research Resources

Local information www.upmystreet.com
Office of National Statistics* www.statistics.gov.uk

*The Office of National Statistics' site provides a wealth of information but two datasets researchers might find especially helpful are the Time Use Survey, results of a piece of research quantifying how people actually spend their time, and Neighbour Statistics, an information service which divides demographic data into individual wards.

How can Audiences South West Help?

The agency can help you find out more about your existing audiences and how you might be able to reach others via a number of services:

Audiences South West can provide a demographic breakdown of the residents in your county or town and relate to your own patron data: Audiences South West Demographic Breakdown

We can also provide you with analysis of existing audiences so that you can get a better understanding of your audience and explore some of the ways this may impact your marketing.

For information on this and other ways Audiences South West can help book an advice surgery or you can contact us.

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Intro Welcome We can help Your audience FAQs Hints and guides Mailing list Contact us Links and stuff Audiences South West worked with 9 organisations in Gloucestershire to introduce an Arts Ambassadors scheme with a difference. 33 people aged 22 to 79 were recruited to reach out into social networks across the county by passing on publicity, enthusing about their own experiences and offering introductory incentives. After 12 months: Ambassadors had generated over 1,750 recorded visits to the county’s arts events 35% of visits were made by first-time attenders or people who hadn’t visited that venue for more than two years 28% of visitors had already made repeat visits If you’d like to know more about Arts Ambassadors let us know.	Where to find out about your audience
	This section will help you to find out more about existing and potential audiences by exploring: - How to find out more about your local community - Where to find national data on audience attendance - How to collect and use data from your existing audiences - How Audiences South West can help - Audience research training opportunities The arts sector has a wealth of audience data, gathered from many sources and surveys. Useful information ranges from the high-level DCMS Taking Part Survey, that explores national participation in the arts, to the individual name and address files you take from your customers and in many cases you can access the data and use it at little or no cost. Why is audience data important to my organisation? Audience data is fundamental to any successful organisation. As well as supplying the evidence required by government and others of impact, reach, inclusion and access, data is a valuable tool to gaining understanding of the people who are engaging with us and provide an insight into how we can reach others. Audience data isn’t a luxury, it’s a business necessity, and you can capture what you need for your business no matter how limited your resources. As well as audience data, Audiences South West can help you get to know your attenders, lapsed attenders and non-attenders better through our Focus Group Service. How can I collect data about my current audience? There’s isn’t a ‘must do’ standard of data collection to which all organisations must conform – the most important thing is collecting what has a real practical value for your organisation at a given moment. However, accurate attendance and revenue figures, names and addresses (especially the all-important postcode!), communication preferences (with email address) and Data Protection permissions are the minimum fundamental and practical data to start with. Customer data needs to be collected using a standard methodology and you need a statistically robust sample in relation to your overall visitor numbers. If you’re unsure about how to do this, you can book an advice surgery with Audiences South West here, come on our practical training seminar Using Audience Data or get in-depth support from Audiences South West here. Some key principles of good data collection* to remember are: Practicality – the benefits of having the data should outweigh the practical difficulties in obtaining it Relevance – any data captured should have clearly identified practical application Quality – the data should be robust, accurate and produced using transparent and objective methods Consistency – the data and methodology of collection should be standard, repeatable and regular Coherence – the data should be comparable with other data-sets For further useful tips on data collection visit the Audience Data UK website www.aduk.org. Principles based on standards maintained by the Office of National Statistics, the European Statistical System and other recognised bodies. How can I find out about my local community?* One of the best sources of demographic data about your local community is the website of the county or unitary authority where your venue – or the venues you are touring to – is located. Audiences South West can provide a demographic breakdown of the residents in your county or town and relate to your own patron data: click here for more details. The key local authorities in our region are shown on the map below: Where do I find national & regional data? As well as the county and unitary authority websites we recommend above, you can get detailed local, regional and national data from the following sites: Government Offices The Department of Culture Media & Sport - Taking Part Survey Arts Council England South West Regional Development Agency South West Tourism Research Resources Local information www.upmystreet.com Office of National Statistics* www.statistics.gov.uk The Office of National Statistics' site provides a wealth of information but two datasets researchers might find especially helpful are the Time Use Survey, results of a piece of research quantifying how people actually spend their time, and Neighbour Statistics, an information service which divides demographic data into individual wards. How* can Audiences South West Help? The agency can help you find out more about your existing audiences and how you might be able to reach others via a number of services: Audiences South West can provide a demographic breakdown of the residents in your county or town and relate to your own patron data: Audiences South West Demographic Breakdown We can also provide you with analysis of existing audiences so that you can get a better understanding of your audience and explore some of the ways this may impact your marketing. For information on this and other ways Audiences South West can help book an advice surgery or you can contact us. Top 2002-2008 © Audiences South West. E&OE.

Where to find out about your audience