I started my working life in marketing in the cultural and tourism industries and one of the questions I get asked all the time is: “How do we increase engagement and get more people through the door?”
The answer isn’t spending more money or creating viral social media content. It’s understanding your audience, breaking down barriers, and creating experiences worth showing up for — especially in today’s climate.
Cultural life is everywhere, so how do we compete?
Culture is a huge part of our every day lives, what we watch, listen to and share, almost everyone in Scotland has access to a TV, smartphone or a computer. That means we have more opportunities than ever to reach people but also more noise to cut through.
Connecting with audiences and welcoming them into something they’ve never experienced means that we need to know our audiences better than ever before, we need to be intentional, authentic and creative – especially as the cost-of-living crisis means people are far more careful where they spend their money.
So how do you cut through the noise? How do you reach the audiences you know are there but aren’t showing up?
Step 1: Get to Know your Audiences:
In marketing, we call this creating a ‘Buyer Persona’ but really, it just means understanding who your ideal audience is and what motivates them.
Ask yourself:
- What age group are they in?
- What themes or genre would your show or experience attract?
- What are their interests outside of the area that you work in? Are they news buffs? Garden lovers? Heritage tourers? Music fanatics?
- Where do they live? Is this a local community performance or are you looking to bring in tourists and visitors to the area?
Understanding these behaviours, helps you spend smarter, and it means that your messages are reaching the right people in the right places. If you know that your audience are garden lovers, can you take out an advert in a popular gardening magazine that has a high readership in your area? If you know that your audiences are over the age of 35 – then chances are their main social media platform of choice is Facebook, whereas under 25 you are looking at Snapchat and TikTok with young people even using these platforms as their main search engines!
Step 2: Create an Experience
Nowadays, you’re competing with Netflix, YouTube and a thousand other ways that people could spend their evening – you need to give people a reason to leave their house.
Can you show your potential audiences what the experience feels like? Especially for someone new to it? How can you make sure that someone feels like they are welcome at an Opera for example when they’ve never been before?
Can you partner with local businesses to offer dinner and show packages for example or local hotel accommodation to attract more visitors?
Can you bring local food producers or local products into your venue?
These details matter. They don’t just build an atmosphere; they build relationships with your community and word of mouth will always be your biggest and best marketing tool so get people excited about what you’re doing and bring them along with you.
Step 3: Make Accessibility Visible from the Start
Are you alienating audiences that would love to come to your event by not explicitly detailing the accessibility of your event?
So often, accessibility is an afterthought but what if you detailed the accessibility features of your venue and event and made disabled people feel welcome from the start? Businesses are losing roughly £2 billion per month in the UK alone by not meeting disabled people’s needs. Here’s a really interesting article on the impact of the Purple Pound: HERE
Step 4: Work Smarter with What You Have
Budgets are tight and our marketing budgets are often the first area to feel the pinch, but you don’t need a huge spend to make an impact.
Plan Campaigns ahead of time – create as much content as you can ahead of time, by creating a calendar for the run up to the launching of the event, you can free yourself up to engage more with your audiences in real time through all your marketing channels.
Use Scheduling Tools – tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, Agora Pulse or any of the other great options can be a brilliant way to free up capacity. Many have charity and third sector discount packages or have free options too!
But don’t forget to also engage in real time, reply to comments, engage with your audiences and show them the behind the scenes of what you’re doing for the event.
Focus your time on the best channels for you – you don’t have to post on all the channels available; this is where it really helps to know your audiences.
A little side note on TikTok, I get asked this a lot: it’s powerful, but it is high maintenance. If you can’t commit to creating 2 – 3 videos a day, put your energy elsewhere or you’ll be fighting an algorithm built against you.
Step 5: Tell the Real Story
In a world increasingly driven by AI, automation and polished branding, the one thing we all crave is connection.
When people understand your “why”, they’re far more likely to buy into your work, share your message, and show them the real people behind what you do.
Remove the barriers that are created by focusing on your corporate image, you might be ‘delighted’ by something but why should your audiences be delighted? What is the benefit to them when you share your news? What will motivate them to attend your event with this news? Where does it add value?
Share the human side of what you do and break down the barriers of people feeling like something isn’t for them.
A Last Word:
So really the answer, is that you don’t need a massive budget or a viral video. These tips only just scratch the surface of all the areas you can consider when you are breaking down barriers but it’s a little insight into how you can make real connections with your audiences.
Be authentic. Be you. Tell the truth about all the great work that you do behind the scenes and the impact that it has on you and your audiences. People will buy into you; they’ll want to be part of the movement and the ‘why’ behind what you do. Market in a way that feels aligned, impactful and true to your ethos and mission.