Julie Aldridge - Arts Marketing Association
Recent statistics show that over 3 million people in the UK are online. Every day we are contacted by commercial companies using new technology, whether as banner ads on websites, emails inviting us to take advantage of special offers, or text messages offering us new mobile phones. Even television programmes entreat us to vite for our favourite Pop Idol by SMS (that's text messaging to you and me) and it seems about time that the arts did something to catch up.
Julie Aldridge of the AMA has pioneered using new technology on behalf of the AMA, and in an extremely vauable half day seminar she shared her secrets, her triumphs and her mistakes, to equip us to follow in her hi-tech footsteps.
Those present ranged from email virgins, to people whose website were so advanced they "seomtimes dissapeared up their own bottoms". However the course was so well structured that I suspect everyone went away having learned something, and with a practical opportunity to change their online marketing. The practical exercises also allowed us to learn from each other's experiences as well as Julie's.
Julie began with a run down on the benefits of onlin marketing, or as she called it "how to convince your manager". These included: reduced costs, increased reach, interaction with customers, immediate communication, faster access to information, wider choice and easier access to purchase.
She then talked us through effective marketing techniques for websites and they way they have developed over the last few years. Instead of the simple online brochure, websites have developed in sophistication allowing enormous levels of interaction and personalisation. The second time I logged on to Amazon.com I was greeted by name, and various books were brought to my attention. Spookily enough I was interested in them all, and added them to my wish list, so that it could be emailed to my friends in time for my birthday. How effective is that?
Next Julie offered us practical ideas that we could implement tomorrow, starting with websites. How could we make them magnetic? - that is attractive to people - sticky? - that is keep people on the site - and elastic? that is keep their interest and keep them coming back for more. At every stage Julie offered us simple step by step guidelines so that by the end of the afternoon I felt even I was capable of achieving this, and raring to go.
Email is another new technology tool, and one that more people have in the arts than websites. Julie explained how she personalises bulk emails, which should increase the readership, and how she designs and sends email bulletins. She then treated us to tales of using and sending efliers as well as giving us some valuable 'dos' and pointing out some even more valuable 'don'ts'.
The secret of the success of Word of Mouse was that it gave everyone something they could take away with them and implement immediately, by making a few simple changes and without taking too much time. But it also gave us something to aspire to and showed us how the arts can match and even beat other commercial sectors as their own hi technology game.
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