Benchmark Analysis: Digital Marketing

June 2022

As many arts organizations wrap up their most recent season and look towards their next fiscal budget, questions and challenges remain over ticket sales and the return of audiences and visitors. Our latest Arts Leader Survey asked arts leaders to benchmark themselves on how the arts world is addressing slower ticket sales, the allocation of marketing dollars, and overall goals for digital marketing. Highlights from the survey include:

• Over half of arts organizations increased their marketing budgets this year compared to last year. Digital marketing and advertising were the top drivers behind this increase.

• About three-quarters of marketing budgets are dedicated to digital marketing this fiscal year.

• Current digital marketing efforts are centered around emails and social media, with Facebook and Instagram as the most popular mediums.

• Since the pandemic almost all arts orgs have either increased the digital capabilities of existing staff, or hired new staff for digital marketing purposes.