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It’s almost 2017! And while I generally fall in the “thank goodness” category (start watching this clip at 24:00), I think it’s important to take a moment and give thanks for many of the good aspects of this last year. 2016 was filled with new adventures, new speaking engagements, new clients, and new cultural organization insights. I celebrated one year of Know Your Own Bone Fast Fact Videos, and I am so excited for everything I have in store for you all coming up in 2017. I have permission to share a lot of great, new data for cultural organizations and I’ll be out and about doing some exciting keynoting this coming year.
It’s that time of year where I reflect on the year’s most popular posts. Of course, this method favors those posted in early 2016 (as they’ve have the most time to rack up shares), but I must say that I like the list! For those interested, here were the most popular posts of 2015, and these were the most popular posts of 2014. I have a nice round-up from 2013, too. Oh hey – 2012, anyone? I could keep going, but I’m simply stalling at this point, right? You guys want to see the list. So, on that note…
Here are the most popular Know Your Own Bone posts of 2016:
The Value of Shared Experiences Within Cultural Organizations (DATA)
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the nuance of our content that we forget why people visit us and why they most value us: Cultural organizations are facilitators of shared experiences. The data supporting this finding brings up an interesting question: Do people feel differently about the visitor experience based upon what they believe to be the best part of the experience? And, what – if anything – does this portend in terms of optimizing the visitor experience? Here’s the data-informed value of shared experiences to cultural organizations.
On Museum Layoffs: The Data-Informed Importance of Marketing and Engagement Departments (DATA)
When we go through rough times, it’s our AUDIENCES that are most important to our survival. While understanding that any layoffs stink and that organizations often do everything in their power to avoid them, here are four reasons why we need to think twice about cutting marketing and engagement professionals – and especially knock it off with our instinct to cut them first. These are arguably the folks who can play the biggest role in preventing further layoffs.
Think Twice Before Saying These Three Things To The Marketing Department
Stop. Just…. stop, please. (Your marketing department will thank you.)
Why Donors Stop Giving Money to Cultural Organizations (DATA)
While it’s great when we can “catch” and cultivate a $250-$2,500 donor, we all have observed that not every donor renews their gift on an annual basis. So, what gives? Here’s why some donors fail to renew their contributions. This post received so much positive feedback that I created a fast fact video on this data to help spread the word on the – resolvable – top reason why donors stop giving.
Real Talk: Why Cultural Organizations Must Better Engage Millennials (DATA)
Millennials are cultural organizations’ most frequent and loyal visitors…but this audience remains underserved. Here’s why that’s a big problem for the future well-being of the industry. This post explains the “millennial problem” facing visitor-serving organizations, and I personally believe that – while it was one of the most popular – this post is also one of the most important that I published in 2016 in regard to shedding light on important data.
Five Data-Informed Fun Facts About Visitors to Cultural Organizations (DATA)
High-propensity visitors are the folks who keep our bread buttered – they are the folks who visit, donate, and reliably engage with our organizations. This video and post covers five, random fun facts about these people – just for fun.
Why Cultural Organizations Are Not Reaching Low-Income Visitors (DATA)
Data suggest that some types of cultural organizations are perceived as more welcoming than others. Here’s how we could do better. This is also an eye-opening post for many organizations – and it draws attention to a big problem in regard to both how cultural organizations are perceived by low-income audiences, as well as an important reason why we aren’t so great – as an industry – at fixing it.
Three New Trends For Cultural Organizations That Are Not New At All
If you work within a cultural organization, then you are probably aware of some of the new, big trends and ideas confronting organizations right now: Making organizations more participatory and social, embracing innovation, securing word-of-mouth engagement in our connected world, and framing collections so that they are right-now relevant. Sometimes it feels like organizations may never be able to adopt these new changes… Here’s the thing, though – none of those are new concepts. Let’s stop being scared of them.
The Surprising Reason Why Organizations Underestimate Attendance Loss During Closures (DATA)
No matter the reason for the closure, data suggest that we dramatically underestimate the overall impact on annual attendance. We are often wrong about the impacts of an unforeseen closure for two, big reasons that are important to understand beyond the framework of attendance and revenue projections. When an organization is closed at a time that it might otherwise be open, visitation generally is NOT displaced to other times of the year. And, to top it off, we lose more people than simply those who had planned to attend the organization that day. The reasons for this happening are important for organizations to understand.
Nonprofit Recognition: What Matters More To Visitors Than Your Tax Status (DATA)
This Fast Facts video covers a big misconception that folks working within cultural organizations (often unknowingly) promulgate: That being a nonprofit is a key differentiating factor to their audiences. As it turns out, data suggest that your organization’s tax status is relatively unknown among visitors and non-visitors alike. Here’s what really matters to audiences about your organization.
Thank you to all of you for reading KYOB in 2016! I have a lot of interesting data lined up for 2017 and I cannot wait to share it with you. It’s been an honor to share with you this year. Happy New Year to you and your rockstar organizations working hard to educate and inspire audiences. Cheers to a great year ahead!
