Do This One Thing to Make the Biggest Difference in Your Sales and Fundraising
Episode 5 • 30th April 2024 • The Offstage Mic • Aubrey Bergauer
00:00:00 00:38:44

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For anyone who asks, “What’s the one thing I can do to increase revenue, ticket sales, audiences and donations,” this episode has your answer: copywriting.

For almost every arts organization, writing better, stronger copy is the free solution to upgrade every public facing channel you have, from website to program book, social media to fundraising appeals, subscription brochures to press releases.


The words you use are so powerful, and harnessing better copywriting is key to making every word work harder for you.


This episode covers four tips for you to implement right away to immediately start seeing more revenue—all at absolutely zero cost to your bottom line.


Example content referenced in episode:


Transcripts

Aubrey Bergauer:

Hey everyone, I'm just returning home from a trip

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to a few places on the book tour.

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This was a three legged trip.

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So the first stop was Brno

in the Czech Republic.

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I was speaking at a conference there for

arts management students and I just have

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to share it because this is pretty cool.

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The conference was started by a

student herself 10 years ago now.

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This was the 10th year.

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She's been doing it, and it has

grown into this arts management

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conference for all kinds of

students across the Czech Republic.

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I didn't even know that they were

teaching arts management as a discipline

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in that country, so I just thought it

was really amazing that there are so

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many arts managers studying this there.

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I would say there were

probably a hundred maybe or so.

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At the conference.

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So very cool.

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And then after that I was off to Vienna.

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That's the closest major airport.

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It was really the practical reason I

was there and I was able to meet with.

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the Friends of Vienna State Opera,

and then got to see a performance at

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Vienna State Opera, which just the

music making was, gosh, just wonderful.

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So really fulfilling

to be able to do that.

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And then I hit Washington, D.

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C.

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on my way back, first speaking

at WOCO Fest, which is put on

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by the Boulanger Initiative.

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And if you are not familiar with that

organization, Google them, follow them.

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They do really cool work to advocate

for women composers and gender

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marginalized composers, and they do

that work in a bunch of different ways.

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So just really impactful for

the field specifically for the

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classical music people listening.

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And then I spent the final two days in

DC doing some onsite work with a client

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orchestra who is getting ready to join

the run it like a business academy.

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So some work to kind of prepare

for that before they got going.

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So yeah, a week and a half, a lot of

stops, great places, great people, great

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food, and of course, lots of talk about

running it like a business and the book.

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And then later on the

academy of the same name.

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And so now it's good to be back home for a

bit, asleep in my own bed, before the next

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book tour stop comes in, in a few weeks.

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So that's what's been

going on in my world.

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Today we are talking about a topic

that is, in my mind, the singular

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most important thing you can do.

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If you want to increase ticket

sales, subscriptions, and donations.

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If you want to grow your audience

and grow your donor base.

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So let me say that again.

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This topic we are covering today is the

singular most important thing you can do.

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You can improve upon, optimize,

spend time getting better at.

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That is how important this thing is.

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And it is a topic that comes up

all the time, literally everywhere

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I go, whether abroad as in this

recent trip or here in the U.

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S., but it comes up kind of indirectly.

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Okay.

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What are we talking about?

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The topic today is copywriting.

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And before you like fall asleep or

decide this is like the least sexy

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thing we can talk about, it's not.

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It's, you just heard me say, I think it

is the singular most important thing.

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So the reason it comes up indirectly is

because Almost nobody ever says, Aubrey,

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how do I get better at copywriting?

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Instead, it comes in the form of,

Aubrey, we need to grow our audiences.

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We need to get more people in the doors.

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Aubrey, we need to raise more money.

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Stat.

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We need to convert more people

to subscribers and donors.

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And my favorite, except not favorite,

and I'll tell you why in just a moment,

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is when they say, Aubrey, what's

the one thing we can do to increase,

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fill in the blank, revenue, tickets,

audiences, sales, donations, et cetera.

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What's the one thing.

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Now, the reason this is not my

favorite question is because

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There is not one thing we can do.

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Change takes multiple small steps

that together make a big difference.

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The research bears this out, and just to

finish this digression here, as humans,

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we want big, grand, sweeping solutions.

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We want one thing.

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We want a silver bullet solution.

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That's human nature.

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But it doesn't work that way.

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And like I said, the

research bears this out.

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Change is about multiple small steps.

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That means manageable.

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That is good news for us,

manageable, small, but together

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make a big, big impact.

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So if I had to answer the question,

though, of what's the one thing we

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can do to make a difference in all

these different areas, it would be

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this topic of copywriting hands down.

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Why?

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Why am I so into this?

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Because we use the written

word so much in the arts.

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Let's just name a few of

these places, website.

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More people visit the website

than we serve via any other means.

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If you don't believe me, go look at the

numbers, go look at your Google Analytics.

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How many people visit your

website in a year versus how many

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people buy tickets, for example.

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Way more people visiting the

website than anything else.

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It's the first stop.

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So, so much written word.

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That's the majority of what's on

our website, word and images, right?

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Program book.

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Words all throughout.

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It's literally called a book.

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It has a lot of words.

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We write a lot of copy.

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Social media.

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So much copy.

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We're going to talk

about that a lot today.

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We're going to talk about all these today.

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Press releases.

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That's written word.

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Email blasts for sure.

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Every piece of marketing collateral.

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Postcards.

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Season brochures.

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You name it.

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It's all very copy.

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I was going to say copy heavy.

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Probably true.

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Copy heavy.

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We're going to talk about why

there should be less of that, but

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why every word really matters.

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Digital ads copy is often more important.

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Listen to this.

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This is important.

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Copy is often more important

than the creative itself.

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So to define it for the people who

aren't doing digital ads or doing

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ads, creative just means like the

image, the visual that goes with it.

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So which is true for whether it's

a print ad or any other media.

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But oftentimes, the copy is more

important than the creative, and we tend

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to kind of flip that and over index on

like how much we care about the image.

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Important, don't get me wrong, but

truly, if we get the words right, it's

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gonna be a strong ad, is the point.

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Talk about donor communications.

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Just about every donor communication as

well is full of copy, full of written

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word that Includes our solicitations,

the appeal letters themselves,

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even the acknowledgment letter.

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Wow, is that an opportunity

for better copywriting?

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Usually they tend to be

quite stale and clinical.

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Donor benefits, when we're talking about

the benefits and messaging the benefits

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for our donors, that's copywriting,

emails for donors, brochures that they

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receive, campaign case for support.

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The words matter there for sure too.

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website yet again, and on and on and on.

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The words we use are so important.

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Okay, here are three things you need

to know about copywriting right away.

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The rest of the episode, we're going to

talk about tips and what you actually

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need to do to improve this skill.

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But three things you need to know

about copywriting right away.

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The first is The written word is

the most public facing and wide

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reaching tool we have available

to us at arts organizations.

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No matter if you work at a symphony,

orchestra, opera company, ballet,

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dance company, theater, Museum,

gallery, zoo, aquarium, no matter

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where you work, the written word

is the most public facing and wide

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reaching tool we have available to us.

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Number two, getting better at

copywriting costs you nothing.

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This is so important and why this

is even more critical for us.

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Everyone is reaching out to me asking,

not just, what's the one thing, what's

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the one silver bullet solution, often

they reach out to me and like the other

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half of that sentence or question is.

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And I have no money, so I

need it to be cheap or free.

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I just wrote a whole blog

article on why scarcity mindset

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is killing arts organizations.

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So go to my website, aubreybergauer.

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com slash writing.

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If you're listening to this near the

release date or Google scarcity mindset

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is killing your arts organization

and my name and you'll find it.

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So don't go there now.

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Don't go there now.

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Let's stay here with me, but pull up a

browser tab and come back to it later.

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Okay.

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The point is always trying to cut,

cut, cut, cut, cut is not going to

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bring your organization to health.

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But making minimal investments will.

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But despite all of that, I am

here for free solutions too.

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I like a good free solution

and that's what this is.

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And I have to say, I have been there

when I had zero dollars in the budget,

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like leading an organization in total

crisis and just thinking, I don't

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have Like literally a dollar to spare.

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In that case, keep listening,

friend, because copywriting is

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your cheapest ticket, and by cheap

I mean zero, dollars to spend.

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Okay.

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Costs zero dollars to update

the words we use to create.

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An emotional response that

drives a desired transaction.

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That is what good copywriting

does, and transaction could be a

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purchase, it could be a donation.

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Or in the case of PR, the desired

action is we, somebody writes about

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it, somebody covers us, somebody

tells a story about our organization.

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We want people to maybe action, like

if it was social media, the action

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is we want people to get curious.

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We want them to want to know more.

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We want them to get excited.

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You know, all of those things

are desired actions that we

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use our words to try to elicit.

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That's the whole point of copywriting.

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And just to drive this home, there

is not another singular solution

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or singular skill that achieves all

of that for literally zero dollars.

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Like I cannot think of one.

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That is why copywriting is so important.

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I can't stress it enough.

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This skill, this episode is so important

for you to be able to achieve your

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financial goals at your organization.

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Okay, so point number three, I said

there's three things you need to

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know about copywriting right away.

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Point number three is So why don't

we talk about this more as a sector?

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And I think it goes back

to the earlier point.

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People want big solutions, big solutions.

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And me saying, update the words you use

and you're going to have a slam dunk.

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I don't know.

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Like it just feels not grand

enough maybe in some ways,

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but don't fall into that trap.

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If you get better at copywriting,

you will start making more money.

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I guarantee it.

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Also, why don't we talk about this more?

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I think, kind of as a result of what

I just said, is that it's not taught.

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It's not taught.

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If somebody listening to this has

an example, please message me, DM

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me, tell me, because I'm curious.

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But I cannot think of an arts management

program that has a class on copywriting.

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Like I said, maybe I'm wrong, and if

so, amen, please tell me about it.

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I want to hear about it.

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But, It's just not taught.

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It's taught maybe for programs that

are like, if you're getting a marketing

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degree and there's tons of online courses

about it, but it's just not taught.

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I teach it too in my run

at like a business academy.

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But as a general statement for so many

of us coming up into this field of

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arts management, Copywriting just was

never a part of any of our training.

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So here I am, I'm teaching it now,

we're here, or at least giving you

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some pointers and tips that you

can start using right away because

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I believe it's just so important.

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If you only do one thing to improve

your sales and donations this year,

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make it up leveling your copywriting.

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I am here to tell you that if you get

super serious about your copywriting,

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really believing every word matters

and using these tips to help you

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do that, it will make a difference.

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The more places you do this and

employ these tips and strategies

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we're going to talk about, the

better results you will have.

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So nobody say, Oh, I updated a page

on the website and it didn't work.

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No, no, no.

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You just heard me give a laundry list

of places we have words that we use.

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So today could honestly, honestly,

I think be the best free resources.

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You've been given, at least

for me, in terms of the return

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ratio it will bring you.

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In fact, there is so much

value in this episode.

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I'm actually adding this in.

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I recorded the whole episode and it was

near an hour or so long, so I decided

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to break it up into two parts to make it

more manageable for you as a listener.

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So here I am circling back

to tell you it's good.

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There's a lot to cover now in two

parts to make it digestible and

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implementable for you and your work.

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So share this with somebody

in your organization.

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Share this with somebody who you

think it could be helpful to.

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And now I'm going to share with you how

we're going to do this starting right now.

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I'm Aubrey Bergauer and

welcome to my podcast.

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I'm known in the arts world for

being customer centric, data

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obsessed, and for growing revenue.

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The arts are my vehicle to make the

change I want to see in this world, like

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creating places of belonging, pursuing

gender and racial equality, developing

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high performing teams and leaders, and

leveraging technology to elevate our work.

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I've been called the Steve Jobs of

classical music at the Sheryl Sandberg

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of the symphony I've held offstage roles

managing millions of dollars in revenue at

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major institutions and as chief executive

of an orchestra Where we doubled the size

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of the audience and nearly quadrupled the

donor base And now I'm here to help you

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achieve that same kind of success in this

podcast We are sorting through the data

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inside and outside the arts applying those

findings Findings to our work, leading

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out with our values and bringing in some

expert voices along the way, all to build

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the vibrant future we know is possible

for our institutions and for ourselves

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as offstage administrators and leaders.

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This podcast is about

optimizing the business around

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the art, not sacrificing it.

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You're listening to the Offstage Mic.

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Have you read CoreStorm's new

State of the Arts report yet?

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It's a data driven resource for all

things arts education in the past year.

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This one is for all the executive

directors of non profit arts

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organizations, teaching artists, and other

leaders in the arts and culture community.

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Imagine tapping into more than 10

years of exclusive class registration

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data to uncover invaluable

insights for your organization.

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CourseStorm has done the legwork

so you can make informed decisions.

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Things like what day and time

is best to hold your class.

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When do most people register?

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And which digital marketing

channel is most effective?

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Discover the successes and

strategies of arts education

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programs that not only weathered the

pandemic storm, but are thriving.

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Yes, you heard that right.

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Thriving.

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I love that the State of the

Arts Report shares experiences.

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Exclusive data from the top class

registration software company, CoreStorm.

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I got to see trends discovered

from CoreStorm's analysis of more

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than 1 million class registrations,

and you'll want to see them too.

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So, if you're ready to elevate your

education program, don't miss out

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on this state of the arts report.

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Visit corestorm.

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com slash soar.

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That's slash S O A R, like the

acronym for State of the Arts, and

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download the free report today.

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Novo Music: And we're back.

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Today on Top Tunes, the music production

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Aubrey Bergauer: Is it just me,

or does this sound terrible?

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Novo Music: Wait, I think I heard of

someone who might be able to help us.

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There's this company called Novo Music.

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They provide across the board audio

solutions, from recording repair,

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to audio editing, to original

music and sound design and beyond.

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Aubrey Bergauer: Well,

what are we waiting for?

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Novo Music: Today on Top Tunes, the

music production Now that's better.

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Now that's better.

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Novo Music conducting

your creative vision.

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Find out more at novomusic.

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co.

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Aubrey Bergauer: So here we are.

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Let's talk about nine

copywriting tips for you.

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I want to say up front, this is not

an exhaustive list of all you can do,

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but there is a lot of good value here.

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Nine tips to get you going and start

driving more emotional connections

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and Ultimately, the desired action,

desired behavior, whether that's

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ticket sales, subscriptions, donations,

whatever it is you're trying to achieve.

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And if you want more on all this, I'll

say we talk about copywriting a lot

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in my Run It Like a Business Academy,

as well as look at actual examples

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and materials you're working on.

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But this gets you going

right here, right now.

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There is no need to take notes on this.

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I have got it all for you in a

free download, so I'm hopefully

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making this easy for you.

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You've got the resource.

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It's called Do's and Don'ts

of Copywriting, 9 Tips

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to Level Up Immediately.

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Go to my website to get yours.

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It's aubreybergauer.

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com slash 26.

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That's number 26 for episode 26.

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And let's talk it through.

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So tip number one.

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Talk like your customers talk.

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What words do people use?

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This is what you need to ask yourself.

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What words do people use

in regular conversation or

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posts online that you like?

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Not just arts posts.

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Don't let arts posts be your inspiration.

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You got to think outside of that.

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And your customers are not saying, buy

tickets now, get tickets this weekend.

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Did you see the effusive?

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Blah, blah, blah.

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Don't miss this.

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Like that's not how people normally talk.

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I have more examples for you

as we go through here, but.

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Okay, so here's a hint.

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Your customers are not saying, I'm

really looking for my springtime saga.

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Okay, I just, I picked this up off

of a major orchestra's website.

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Venture into timeless springtime saga

and bask in sunny orchestral landscapes.

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Customers are not saying, I

just want to journey into love

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and adventure into fantasy.

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Just grab that from a actual

major opera company's website.

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I don't know, adventure into fantasy,

To me, it sounds like something else,

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not an opera, to be honest, but okay.

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I literally copied and pasted both of

these from major institutions websites.

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So just like, basta, basta, enough.

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Stop doing that.

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It's not helping you, and I'm not trying

to make fun or throw people under the bus.

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To be fair, I am constantly working on

this myself in my own business, too.

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Just the other day, I had this

mini panic or epiphany, maybe, as

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I was working on SEO, search engine

optimization for the podcast, actually.

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So this is a little meta what I'm

sharing here, but like what I was

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doing with some batch editing, I was

looking at all the different topics

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and keywords in upcoming episodes,

just to kind of give some context here.

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For this example, SEO, search

engine optimization, is all about

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the keywords people would use if

they were doing a Google search.

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So it's really, it's right on this

topic of talk like your customers talk.

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That matters for SEO.

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And SEO is very important

for podcast discoverability.

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It is definitely important for

the content on your websites.

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That's why I share this example.

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So every episode I am, what I'm doing

on the backend is I'm listing out what

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the top keywords are for that episode.

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So today, the main keyword is copywriting.

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For example, we are using that

word a lot and besides being.

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Just topic driven, though, maybe, for

example, people are searching or Googling

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copy ideas in the arts, or probably

more so, how do I write a fundraising

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appeal, so that when I say words like

copy plus writing, or help it improve

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your fundraising, when I say those

words, So, over and over again, and that

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then becomes part of the transcript.

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That helps the SEO.

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Okay.

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So it's really about thinking

like, what are people going to say?

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Another one for the whole season

of the podcast is business.

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I talk about running it

like a business, driving.

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I'm trying to drive awareness for my book.

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That is a big goal here this season.

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So that word business, business,

business, I'm saying a lot.

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I talk about the business side of

the arts, all that kind of stuff.

387

:

And then I had a moment of realization.

388

:

So here was my panic slash epiphany.

389

:

I thought, Aubrey, what if what people

are actually saying and actually searching

390

:

for, whether they Google it or searching

on Spotify or whatever podcast app you

391

:

or other people use, what if they're

actually searching for arts management?

392

:

Like are people searching

for business and arts a lot?

393

:

Like is that what people are Googling?

394

:

And I'm like, Oh, maybe not.

395

:

Maybe people are searching for arts

management or arts administration.

396

:

Now, I still need the keyword

business for book sales, so that's

397

:

not really going to go away for me.

398

:

And it's also an

important branding choice.

399

:

So there are other things that

drive our copy sometimes besides

400

:

just SEO and how people talk.

401

:

So all this business talk for me is

not going to go away anytime soon.

402

:

soon, but for me, it revealed

an opportunity or something I

403

:

think maybe I was missing out on.

404

:

If I am able to work in more words like

arts management, maybe in my show notes,

405

:

I've already said it a few times in

this episode, for example, that could

406

:

be the key, potentially, the theory

would go, could be the key to getting

407

:

my podcast in front of more people who,

you guessed it, work in arts management

408

:

and are my potential customers,

clients, book readers, and on and on.

409

:

Hopefully, you're tracking on all this,

but what if you're thinking, you know,

410

:

I'm not sure how my customers talk.

411

:

I think, I think this is a hard

exercise often, and if you need more

412

:

inspiration, I would say go to like the

general inbox for your organization.

413

:

So you know how sometimes

customers send us glowing emails?

414

:

Sometimes they're not glowing,

but oftentimes they are glowing,

415

:

you know, they really enjoyed

whatever event they attended.

416

:

Look at those emails and see

what types of words they use.

417

:

Usually it's probably pretty

plain language and that's okay.

418

:

And that's part of the key.

419

:

And we'll come back to using

more plain language in a moment.

420

:

But anyways, point number one,

talk how your customers talk.

421

:

Number two, when writing copy, start with

the juiciest, most interesting line first.

422

:

So, this is important.

423

:

The first line of copy, it doesn't even

matter the medium, whether it's the

424

:

first line on a page of a website, the

first, the headline on a postcard, the

425

:

first line of the fundraising appeal, the

first line in the social media caption.

426

:

The first line is not

to convey understanding.

427

:

Okay, let me say that again.

428

:

This is so important.

429

:

The first line is not

to convey understanding.

430

:

The purpose of the first line of copy

on whatever it is that you're writing

431

:

is to get the person to keep reading.

432

:

That's the sole job.

433

:

This is called the hook.

434

:

Now, there are two ways to go about this.

435

:

Maybe more than two, but two

that I'll name right here.

436

:

The first is name exactly

who you are talking to.

437

:

Make it very clear.

438

:

Two, make it thumb stopping, right?

439

:

If it's social media, you want

the scroll to be thumb stopping.

440

:

I didn't make up that term.

441

:

So here are some examples.

442

:

I pulled up the analytics on my

top performing social media posts.

443

:

So we'll use these as examples.

444

:

One of my top performing posts

recently, this is like my probably

445

:

second most performing post, at least

in recent months, is an Instagram reel,

446

:

and here's the first line of copy.

447

:

On the reel it says, On my first day as

CEO of an orchestra, the board chair told

448

:

me they had just considered shutting down.

449

:

Okay.

450

:

That reel has over 122,

000 views and counting.

451

:

Why is it effective?

452

:

The hook makes it thumb stopping.

453

:

It invited the reader into

a story first and foremost.

454

:

There is drama.

455

:

You are asking, what happened?

456

:

Literally it says in the reel

after that, what happened?

457

:

See caption.

458

:

Okay.

459

:

So full credit here to Johanna at

Classical Content who made this and does

460

:

my brand management on social media.

461

:

I will talk more about the full

team in a future episode because I

462

:

realized recently I really should.

463

:

doing what around here, but for now,

absolutely give credit where credit's due.

464

:

Johanna does this.

465

:

To give another example, the maybe I

don't know if it's most popular post

466

:

I've had, definitely most popular.

467

:

And like recent last few months is another

Instagram reel and it's, it's this.

468

:

me speaking.

469

:

So it's footage of me giving

a talk, a public talk.

470

:

So we had the captions on the screen.

471

:

So what the user, reader, is seeing

as the hook, as the first line, is

472

:

me saying, at the symphony, we cannot

play Beethoven faster and save money.

473

:

That's the hook.

474

:

At the symphony, we cannot play

Beethoven faster and save money.

475

:

The clip goes on to talk about

why we need a great newcomer

476

:

experience to get people to come

back and ultimately make more money.

477

:

So that's the.

478

:

point of the whole reel.

479

:

It has over 200, 000 views, nearly

6, 000 likes, almost 400 shares

480

:

at the time I'm recording this.

481

:

It really took off.

482

:

For me, that's a strong piece of content.

483

:

So why?

484

:

What's about, what about the hook worked?

485

:

I would say it starts with the problem.

486

:

It's hard to save money at an orchestra.

487

:

It is hard to find deficiencies.

488

:

All of this, you know, I later, I

talk about within the rest of the 60

489

:

seconds or however long the reel is,

but it really begs the question, if

490

:

we can't save money playing Beethoven

faster, What do we do about it?

491

:

So clearly I am talking to people

at orchestras and the caption, this

492

:

gets into one of this, name exactly

who you were talking to, the caption

493

:

of The Real literally lists people.

494

:

It says, is your orchestra,

philharmonic, ballet, theater, or arts

495

:

organization welcoming to newcomers?

496

:

Like, literally says who the

audience is for that post.

497

:

And the audience, reader, user,

has to keep watching to find out.

498

:

Doesn't, by contrast, the reel

doesn't start with, the hook doesn't

499

:

start with, here are the three

F's of the newcomer experience.

500

:

That is what I say later in the reel.

501

:

That's the whole point.

502

:

Here are the three F's of

the newcomer experience.

503

:

Here's how you make a

great newcomer experience.

504

:

It doesn't start with that.

505

:

So how often do we see a version of this?

506

:

Starting with the what is

another way to say all this.

507

:

The bad hook or lack of hook

would be to start with the what.

508

:

In my case, it would have been

leading with the three Fs.

509

:

For a lot of arts organizations,

the post, the caption starts with

510

:

what's on stage this weekend.

511

:

Don't start with that.

512

:

Start with the hook.

513

:

That first line matters.

514

:

The point of the first line

is not to convey information.

515

:

The point of the first line is

to get people to keep reading.

516

:

That's not just social media.

517

:

That's All these other mediums

we've mentioned already.

518

:

Point number three, good copy includes

or alludes to what your customer

519

:

needs, wants, or has questions about.

520

:

If you're not sure of their

questions, here's all you have to do.

521

:

Invite some friends to come to a

performance or exhibit or whatever

522

:

you're offering and have them tell you

what they didn't totally understand.

523

:

That is like the like minimal version

of user experience research, but just

524

:

have them come tell you what they

didn't understand so you can start

525

:

to incorporate some of that into your

copywriting across all these channels.

526

:

And I have been doing a lot of

work on this this year especially.

527

:

The prompt I've been asking myself

is not just what do they need,

528

:

want, or have questions about, but

I've been asking myself What is

529

:

keeping my audience up at night?

530

:

What is keeping my audience, whether

that's listeners, potential customers,

531

:

clients, members of the Changing the

Narrative community, potential Run It

532

:

Like a Business Academy participants,

what's keeping them up at night?

533

:

That's how I'm trying to get at this

question because sometimes You know, if I

534

:

just ask myself, what are their problems?

535

:

What are their needs?

536

:

What are their wants?

537

:

For me, at least, sometimes that's

not, I guess, the right thing

538

:

to really stimulate my brain.

539

:

Like, like, what are the, what

does my audience need or want?

540

:

That's hard to like, kind of

get the gears turning for me.

541

:

It's maybe too clinical, or

it doesn't always get to the

542

:

simplest version of the answers.

543

:

But when I, like, make that question,

what's keeping them up at night?

544

:

For me, when I was chief executive

of an orchestra, it was, how am

545

:

I going to balance the budget?

546

:

And like, that suddenly for me unlocks

something different in my brain.

547

:

So yes, sometimes it's what

people need or want is to grow

548

:

audiences, increase revenue.

549

:

But, you know, I don't know, maybe you've

noticed this, maybe not, but I have been

550

:

starting to shift in my own copy over

the last couple months, I would say, to

551

:

trying to like really hone in on this.

552

:

I've been there lying awake at night

thinking about how to balance the budget.

553

:

And, you know, like that kind of theme is

more and more in the copy you see from me.

554

:

Even Talking about that social media post,

that Instagram real example I just gave.

555

:

It's, it was this exact strategy.

556

:

It was all very intentional.

557

:

And that paves the way for me to

then share, how did I overcome that?

558

:

What solutions are there that I

now offer to help arts managers and

559

:

executive directors in the field?

560

:

So, write answers to what your customer

needs, wants, or has questions about.

561

:

That's the whole point of this tip.

562

:

So, one more example, I, as I was looking

at top posts I've had and that have

563

:

done well, when I was looking at the

LinkedIn analytics, I looked at my top

564

:

performing posts over the last year.

565

:

So, over the last 12 months, this post

I'm about to share about had almost

566

:

40, 000 impressions and my next highest

was like 30 something thousand mark.

567

:

And then a big drop off after that.

568

:

So this one really, really

outperformed all the others.

569

:

And what it was on LinkedIn was a

share of a New York Times article.

570

:

This was several months ago now,

but the article was titled a frugal

571

:

opera superfans surprise gift, 1.

572

:

7 million for the arts.

573

:

New York Times did a

good job with the title.

574

:

That's very clickable.

575

:

So that certainly helped

this post, no doubt.

576

:

But the hook I wrote, as

we're talking about this tip.

577

:

Writing answers to what your customer

needs, my hook was This is why planned

578

:

giving is one of the most important things

fundraising teams should be working on.

579

:

That was it.

580

:

That was the first sentence.

581

:

So if my customer is professionals

working in the arts, that's a lot of you

582

:

listening right now, what do people need

or want who are working in the arts?

583

:

Definitely raising more money, right?

584

:

And that hook absolutely speaks

to what people need or want, which

585

:

is more major gifts right away.

586

:

It was a surprise gift.

587

:

That was the article headline.

588

:

So just all that together really spoke

to the need of the customer, my audience.

589

:

Now, sidebar, my entire last

episode was on major gifts.

590

:

So if you're hearing this and you're like,

I also need more major gifts right now.

591

:

Yes, that speaks to my need and want.

592

:

If you want the playbook on

what to do to raise more major

593

:

gifts, go to that episode.

594

:

It's literally the

episode before this one.

595

:

It's called Major Gift Fundraising and

Star Trek with board member Susan B.

596

:

Nimoy.

597

:

So one more thing on this point though,

arts patrons are probably not lying

598

:

in bed awake at night thinking, what

performance am I going to see next?

599

:

Right?

600

:

Like it's, it's not that dire, but

customers definitely have questions.

601

:

I don't know if that they're lying

awake in bed at night thinking

602

:

this, but they definitely have

questions like, what's something fun

603

:

to do next weekend when I go out?

604

:

Or do I have plans next month

when somebody is coming to visit?

605

:

And if they start scrolling on social

media and see what I'm about to describe

606

:

to you, I'm about to give you some

more examples, this is not addressing

607

:

their question or want or need.

608

:

So I literally, as I was preparing

for this episode, literally open

609

:

Instagram and scrolled three posts

before I got to an orchestra's post.

610

:

And that post had the

caption, Tonight's the night.

611

:

Meet us at, insert

theater name, at 7 30 p.

612

:

m.

613

:

for the final, fill in the blank

series, concert of the season.

614

:

Don't miss guest conductor XYZ name in a

program that will be out of this world.

615

:

Okay.

616

:

That's not what a patron's thinking.

617

:

It's definitely not what they're

thinking lying in bed at night.

618

:

Is tonight the night for the

final concert of the season?

619

:

Okay, so I keep scrolling

just to do this exercise.

620

:

A few handful of posts later,

I see a post from a museum.

621

:

The museum just says, Hey, the

last exhibit might be closed, but

622

:

we still have posters available

for sale in our gift shop.

623

:

Okay, I scroll some more.

624

:

The Next Arts Organization is a major

institution saying, quote, Today

625

:

we remember the late choreographer,

XYZ Name, and his extraordinary

626

:

artistry and distinctive musicality,

gifts so amply demonstrated in our

627

:

current production of Swan Lake,

we keep his family in our thoughts.

628

:

I don't think that's talking

like your customers talk, to

629

:

go back to point number one.

630

:

I also don't think it's solving a problem

or want or need, and I have to be honest,

631

:

I don't know that choreographer's name.

632

:

So, it means nothing to me, and there's

no disrespect meant here at all, and I

633

:

know I don't come from the dance world.

634

:

I just have zero connection to who

that person is, so I actually feel

635

:

like this post is not for me at all.

636

:

And that is a problem for that

institution, because I'm going

637

:

to go out on a limb and say, I'm

probably not the only one who

638

:

has no clue who that person is.

639

:

Like, I'm, I work in the arts.

640

:

I see a lot of names and

I just, I didn't know.

641

:

Here's one more because this exercise was

like literally hit after hit in my feed.

642

:

Few posts later, I keep scrolling.

643

:

Major Symphony Orchestra.

644

:

It's a video with the camera on the

conductor and that person's conducting

645

:

and the caption is Symphony No.

646

:

7 was larger than life at venue

name in this recent performance

647

:

with conductor XYZ name.

648

:

This is also not addressing any

customer need, problem, or want.

649

:

It's not a good hook.

650

:

It's not talking like

people actually talk.

651

:

So I'm just gonna stop there.

652

:

This was a three minute exercise

of just scrolling through my feed.

653

:

Oh, by the way, I refreshed

the feed and then it was an

654

:

orchestra asking for donations.

655

:

Okay, these are not one offs, is my point.

656

:

This is like pretty consistent

in my feed and it's not.

657

:

It's copywriting that's not

helping these institutions be

658

:

as effective as they could.

659

:

Okay, point number four.

660

:

Add urgency.

661

:

So we have this built in with performance

dates and museums with temporary exhibits

662

:

that come to an end, but there's a big

but here because there is a right way

663

:

to do this and a wrong way to do this.

664

:

A right way to add urgency and

a wrong way to add urgency.

665

:

So here's the wrong way.

666

:

The wrong way is get

tickets for this weekend.

667

:

Don't forget to make your donation.

668

:

Okay, nobody forgot to make the donation.

669

:

Nobody was like sitting around thinking,

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me.

670

:

The wrong way is link in bio to donate.

671

:

That organization that I said when

I refreshed the feed, it was an

672

:

orchestra asking for donations.

673

:

Link in bio to donate.

674

:

Now, Linkin.

675

:

Bio is better than putting a URL in

an Instagram caption because URLs and

676

:

Instagram captions are not clickable.

677

:

But Linkin.

678

:

Bio is not the right way either because

social media is not a platform for that.

679

:

So adding urgency on social

media in general is not the

680

:

best way to add urgency.

681

:

This episode is all about copywriting.

682

:

It's just not the purpose of that channel.

683

:

We could do a whole other episode

on, you know, what do we do at,

684

:

what is the purpose of social media?

685

:

But the short answer is it's

for brand building at all.

686

:

Early stages of the funnel.

687

:

Early stages of the funnel.

688

:

Not trying to drive

transactions all the time.

689

:

So that is a huge takeaway I

hope you get from this episode.

690

:

I wish we could get into it more here,

but for the time we don't, there's

691

:

way more in my academy about this.

692

:

So for now, what do we do for urgency?

693

:

Urgency is more effective for

sales, collateral, printed pieces.

694

:

Brochure.

695

:

Postcard.

696

:

Appeal letters.

697

:

For sure, a deadline is

helpful to add urgency.

698

:

All of that are better channels

to add urgency than social media.

699

:

And on the website, like I said, we have

this built in with our performances.

700

:

Like people have to come by, you

know, they have to come on Saturday

701

:

if they want to see it on Saturday.

702

:

So it's actually really built in to what

we do, which is, is pretty nice, I think.

703

:

And we don't have to kind of like

overemphasizes it, but I'm trying to stay.

704

:

So the right way would be.

705

:

To calmly state, runs through x date.

706

:

Series of performances exhibited

at the museum runs through x date.

707

:

A wrong way is to add exclamation points.

708

:

So exclamation points very quickly,

okay for people, not great for brands.

709

:

For brands, it's forced enthusiasm

and people Like, smell it.

710

:

Like, we intuitively

know when we see that.

711

:

So the research says, exclamation

points, like, okay for

712

:

people, not great for brands.

713

:

Another right way to add urgency

is don't just make posts about

714

:

what's happening next weekend.

715

:

So we need a 30 day sales cycle.

716

:

I talk about this in my book.

717

:

It's chapter, I forget, three or four.

718

:

There's a whole module about building

30 day content cycles, whether

719

:

you're at a, you're Big organization

or small organization and how you

720

:

do that, depending on the size in

my run at like a business academy.

721

:

So I wish we could unpack more of it here.

722

:

But for now, 30 days is the

consideration window, even if people

723

:

are waiting till the last minute to

buy that research comes from Google.

724

:

So Having that kind of content cycle

is really important in a more subtle

725

:

way to drive the urgency that we need.

726

:

A final way I'll say is if it's not

ticket sales but donations you're writing

727

:

copy for, I mentioned the deadline is

important there, so share facts like

728

:

matching challenge through Y date.

729

:

No, not a bunch of exclamation

points or anything like that.

730

:

Matching challenge through Y date.

731

:

Okay, just the facts.

732

:

Does anybody remember Dragnet?

733

:

It's like, just the facts, ma'am.

734

:

All right, we will come back to Dragnet

in part two of this topic on copywriting.

735

:

for listening.

736

:

We're going to end here today.

737

:

And as I mentioned, there is a whole

part two of this episode coming out

738

:

where we get to cover tips number five

through nine to uplevel your copywriting

739

:

immediately so that you start right

away increasing your sales, donations,

740

:

all the revenue to your bottom line.

741

:

I want you to have all the tips from

this episode at your fingertips.

742

:

So next time you are writing something,

whether that is copy for the website,

743

:

collateral, brochure, social media,

your next fundraising appeal letter,

744

:

email, whatever, You can refer to

these pointers and level up what

745

:

you're putting out into the world to

get the results you want and you need.

746

:

So go to my website and get the

free download for this episode.

747

:

It is called the Do's and

Don'ts of Copywriting, nine

748

:

tips to level up immediately.

749

:

Head to aubreybergauer.

750

:

com slash 26.

751

:

That's number two, six for episode 26.

752

:

And to best use this, I would say

next time you're writing something for

753

:

your organization, my recommendation

is either to first look at the list

754

:

and scan the tips and then instantly

that puts your brain in the right

755

:

brain space to write great copy.

756

:

And of course you can refer to the

list and tips as you need as you go.

757

:

Or if you have something already

written, website pages, for example,

758

:

probably already done up and running.

759

:

The other recommendation or option is

to use these tips and compare against

760

:

what's already there so you can make

smart choices about what to keep,

761

:

what to cut, and what to modify so

that copy is working harder for you.

762

:

Again, it's at www.

763

:

aubreybergauer.

764

:

com slash 26.

765

:

That's all for today, folks.

766

:

Thanks so much for listening.

767

:

And if you like what you heard

here, hit that button to follow

768

:

or subscribe to this podcast.

769

:

If you're new, welcome.

770

:

I am so glad you made it.

771

:

And if you've been listening

for a while, I love so much that

772

:

you are getting value from this.

773

:

So if that's you, please take just two

seconds to leave a quick one tap rating.

774

:

Full on review isn't even

required if you're short on time.

775

:

To all of you once more, thanks again.

776

:

I'll see you next time right

here on The Offstage Mic.

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The Offstage Mic was produced by me,

Aubrey Bergauer, and edited by Novo

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Music, an audio production company of

all women audio engineers and musicians.

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Additional podcast support comes

from the Changing the Narrative

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team and social media brand

management by Classical Content.

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This is a production of

Changing the Narrative.

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