The business world is waking up to the fact that there is a huge volume of data available today to inform them about their customers and their consumer behaviour.  Supplement that with socio-economic profiling tools, data from inter-actions through websites and social media, analysis of purchasing decisions and pricing, and there is an astonishing amount of intelligence about customers, actual and potential.  

Ironically, the arts and entertainment sector were there before…

It is Autumn 2011.  All the September indicators confirm that the UK economy is flat-lining in terms of growth, while inflation continues upwards on prices, unemployment increases, and there is a decline in the retail and services sector; and yet this is before the impact arrives of many of the UK government and local authority cuts.  All the evidence is of concern to us in the arts. 

For arts organisations facing the need to earn and raise more because of funding cuts, this…

I spent most of May and early June working in Spain, first with Tim Roberts (@artsoz) from Australia on the speakers’ tour to launch the Spanish version of our FULL HOUSE book, published as AFORO COMPLETO by the Fundacion Autor, then with Carol Jones (Chapter, Cardiff) and Debbie Richards (…

The frequently asked question: how is our social media marketing strategy working? needs a considered answer.  Ron Evans has been working on a solution to this.  He has devised a system for individuals or groups of arts organizations to be evaluated (via individualized score reports) on their use of all of their online marketing, leading to them making substantial changes/improvements to their behavior over time.…

These are challenging economic times in many countries.  Economic commentators in the UK and the US for example are talking about the length of the recession and defining it as "depression".  Predictions of 2013 or later before an upturn, and real potential for a worsening before it gets better.  In the UK, the impact of the cuts to the arts and the public sector are only just starting to arrive.

That the likes of Live Nation internationally and the West End of London are reporting…