As you know, I am one of the experimenters among us. I attempt different services and programs (in addition to my main services) to find out what works and what doesn’t in regard to audience development education.

My latest experiment for 2014 is the Tip of the Week Club. After 5 months, it is still on training wheels. I have some core people that have signed up, but I definitely would need to see more interest to warrant continuing this program next year.

I am not afraid to share with you why this program might be having challenges out of the gate. It could be that it is still new and not enough people know about it, even with my various attempts to get the word out.

It may be that the format isn’t what people were expecting, which is a weekly tip based off of what seems to be relevant for the time of the year or a response to what was happening during that week. This format might be too varied, or as one person mentioned, discursive. Maybe the program would be better with a little more structure.

Or, perhaps, people are too busy to listen to the files (around 3-6 minutes of audio each week). I add fun music before and after the tip, but maybe people don’t like the music since it takes more time.

I am in the evaluation stages. I am not ready to give up on the concept, and I will see it through until the end of the year no matter what, even if I end up completely alone (the tips will keep for a resurrection at some point).

The program only costs $1.50 a month. Perhaps people don’t see the value at such a low fee. There seems to be a fine line between making it affordable to everyone, and being too low of a price to make it worth the effort to sign up. However, due to some people still associated with the program, I may not be able to change the price until next year, if the program is to continue.

I will be emailing the club members for their feedback. The good news is I know everyone who is signed up, so I will be  more comfortable doing this step.

So, I am curious, dear reader, to get your thoughts about this scenario. I have some ideas on how to make the program better for the rest of the year, and I would love your feedback!

• Create monthly theme topics to have each month be structured with tips toward a specific goal. Example for June: Tips for building audiences for events.
• Shorten the tips to 2-3 minutes maximum.
• Spread the word that I have a voicemail hotline for people to send their challenges to me.  I would have a bonus tip added on during these weeks.
• Collaborate with more arts agencies to get the word out.
• Change tip of the week to be an Ask Shoshana format?
• Figure out how to change the pricing structure so the current members keep their subscription price through the year.
• Have special sign-up times during the rest of the year.  I would need to figure out how to make these special.
• Create more of a community feel by adding online hangouts for fun networking sessions, perhaps quarterly.
• Have a year end telephone/webinar share party to talk about the tips that the members have attempted.

I am being transparent so you can see what an easy evaluation process looks like, and also to give you the background you need to consider commenting.  What do you think?  All comments are appreciated.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

PS  Tip of the blog: Evaluate and don’t be afraid to ask for help.