Helen Ball takes Audience Development back to basics
Helen Ball, Head of Community Engagement at Audiences London, took things ‘Back to Basics’ at one of Film London’s regular Exhibitors Forum events earlier this month.
In an event developed with the team at Film London itself, Helen led the core discussion and encouraged an interactive approach in looking at the audience development and its benefits to film exhibition projects. Film London admitted that audience development is an often overlooked aspect of exhibitors’ work, so Helen highlighted the need to work with audiences, illustrated by the 'the triple bottom line' of: financial survival; making a difference to people's lives; and making great art.
To achieve the right balance the following five characteristics of effective audience development were explored:
• Purpose: activity should be planned and executed with the organisation objectives in mind.
• Relationships: unlike some marketing processes, audience development leads to the development of long-term, mutually beneficial and adapting relationships, rather than single transactions.
• Organisation-wide: embraced by the whole enterprise working in a co-ordinated way, this approach must be held at all levels of management and cross departments.
• Sustainable: methods employed in achieving objectives must be able to continue by having the necessary resources in place.
• Evidence-led: activities carried out must be based on sound research and developed outcomes, engaging in what audiences want and need.
A full description of the day can be found on Film London’s website.