[ RYLANDER THEATRE MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES & TACTICS] Archway Partnership, UGA School of Public and International Affairs Michael Kolzet, Megan Miller, Brent Wetmore

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary

Section 1: Clarify Customer Profile

The Rylander Response Survey

o Survey Administration Audience Members

o Survey Administration Website Users

o Data Compilation & Analysis

PRIZM Data

Section 2: Marketing Programs

Analysis of Current Marketing Programs

Customer Segmented Marketing Programs

o General Marketing Tactics

Tactic 1: Bring a Friend Promotion and Papering the House

Tactic 2: Website Modifications

Tactic 3: Increase Product Offerings

o Friends of The Rylander

Tactic 4: Up-sell Current Friends of the Rylander

o New Senior Citizen Clientele

Tactic 5: Target Senior Centers & Social Groups

o Tourists and Rylander Visitors

Tactic 6: SAM Short Rail Excursion Promos

Tactic 7: Special Events- Peanut Festival and Others

o New Young Adult Patrons

Tactic 8: Free Student Night- Expanded

Tactic 9: Leverage GSW Partnership

Tactic 10: Social Media - Facebook

Tactic 11: Cross - Promotions

Tactic 12: Local Movie Theatre Advertisements

Section 3: Development Strategies and Tactics

Analysis of Current Development Strategies

Answer the Question: Why should I contribute to the Rylander?

Tactic 13: Illustrate the Rylanders Contribution with Stories & Stats

Tactic 14: Communicate Mission & Impact Consistently and in Multiple Ways

Tactic 15: Give the People More Value

Make it Easy for People to Donate

Tactic 16: Facilitate Website Donations

Tactic 17: Point of Purchase Solicitation

Tactic 18: Pre-Performance Enlightenment

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Build Strong Relationships with Donors through Acknowledgment & Communication

Tactic 19: Say, Thank you

Tactic 20: Create a Donor Display

Tactic 21: Stay in Touch- Dont Just Ask for Money

Increase Sponsorships, Grants and Other Contributed Support

Tactic 22: Go Big or Go Home Business Sponsorship

Tactic 23: Leverage GSW Partnership to Go for Grants

Section 4: Conclusion/Next Steps

APPENDIX:

1. Target Americus Companies

2. Rylander Response Survey

3. Rylander Theatre Background

4. Graduate Assistant Bios

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Rylander Theatre is in a period of transition and is seeking to grow by attracting new

patrons while maintaining current supporters. To do so the Rylander must clarify current

audience demographics while simultaneously increasing and diversifying its audience and donor

base. To achieve these goals, we recommend that the Rylander consider the following

strategies:

1. Utilize the provided demographic/psychographic survey to define current audience

members, gauge marketing program effectiveness, and tailor future performance

seasons to fit audience interests. By creating a baseline marketing metric, the Rylander

will find out pertinent information about existing patrons and identify the most effective

channels of communication to engage this core audience. Additionally, through social

media and online survey tools that encourage new demographics to provide feedback,

the Rylander can actively tailor its production schedule and develop marketing tactics

geared toward the next generation of audience members.

2. Implement marketing tactics highlighted in this plan which target specific existing and

potential customer segments including students, young adults and senior citizens. Many

of the marketing tools suggested overlap and therefore General Marketing Tactics

were identified to focus the next steps of the Rylander.

3. Increase donations by highlighting the ways in which the Rylander contributes to the

Americus community, streamlining the donation process, and making more personal

connections with individual donors and corporate sponsors. Documenting and

measuring the Rylanders contributions to the community make the Rylander a stronger

contender for contributed support from foundations and corporate sponsorships. By

streamlining the donation process and creating more incentives for donors, the Rylander

can increase donations thus assuring future funding for marketing initiatives and

performance series.

Implementation of this marketing and development plan will take significant human resources

and organizational commitment. By effectively delegating aspects of this plan to interns and

volunteers, this plan is actionable and will support the Rylander in navigating through this

transitional period.

Further, the authors feel that it is important to clarify that this document provides a

comprehensive list of generally accepted theatre marketing and developing tactics- that in some

instances we have discovered cannot be applied to the Rylander in the current environment.

These tactics have been included for the sake of completeness and in the hope of potentially

being applicable in the future. We hope them to spur a different viewpoint regarding

development during the coming years. We would also like to express that this plan is meant to

illustrate the numerous opportunities available via specific tactic recommendations. If a specific

recommendation is identified for further in-depth analysis please contact your Archway

Professional.

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SECTION 1: CLARIFY CUSTOMER PROFILE

THE RYLANDER RESPONSE SURVEY

At this point in time, it is difficult to make any recommendations for marketing and development

initiatives because little data exists that could be used to analyze the effectiveness of current

programs. To overcome this hurdle, staff should prioritize the implementation of a customer

survey that we have dubbed The Rylander Response Survey (see Appendix). Information

collected using the survey will provide a snapshot of:

Current customer demographics

The effectiveness of marketing programs

Customer satisfaction with and ideas for performance offerings

Survey Administration Audience Members

Administering the Rylander Response Survey at each Presenters Series performance and as

many Sumter Players and private events as possible will provide valuable information about

current Rylander customers. The survey may be administered during performances at the

Rylander or via e-mail. If the Rylander chooses to administer the survey by e-mail, staff and

volunteers should collect contact information including e-mail addresses from Patrons during

events. Participation can be incentivized using a free ticket raffle.

If the Rylander chooses to administer the survey during events a copy of the survey should be

inserted into each playbill so that every audience member gets a portion of the full survey to

complete before the performance. Pens or pencils should be on hand for audience members

who may need them. Ten minutes prior to curtain, an announcement should be made to point

out the surveys, explain their importance and ask audience members to complete them and turn

them back in. Audience members should be further informed that in gratitude for their feedback

they will be included in a drawing to receive 4 free tickets. Five minutes prior to the show start,

an announcement should be made to pass the surveys to the aisles for collection by Rylander

staff and to be entered into a drawing for those that choose to participate. The drawing for the 4

free tickets should be made from the stage before the show or during intermission. A concerted

effort should be made to collect surveys from every single audience member.

Survey Administration Website Users

The Rylander Response Survey can also be made available to patrons on the Rylander website

and Facebook page by using SurveyMonkey.com for little or no cost. We recommend moving

the survey option to a more visible place on the Rylander home page incentivizing participation

by entering survey names into a monthly drawing for 4 free tickets to any Presenters Series

performance. Web survey results should be kept separate from surveys administered at

performances.

Data Compilation & Analysis

SurveyMonkey.com offers a Select annual subscription for $204 which automatically produces

graphs and reports. We recommend that the Rylander purchase this subscription to facilitate

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compilation and analysis of survey data. Interns should be used to input survey responses into

SurveyMonkey.com for ease of analysis. Once this information has been compiled for the

majority of the season (the makeup of theatre attendees will vary based on the show type and

may not be representative of all potential Rylander consumers), it should be reviewed to shape

future marketing programs. It can also be forwarded to the Athens Archway office where it will

be imported into excel and statistical programs (MiniTab or SPSS) for more in-depth analysis

and feedback.

PRIZM DATA

Attempting to conduct a comprehensive demographic study of the area is cost and capacity

prohibitive. However, extremely reliable market segmentation informa