When I’m building an ad campaign for a show or concert, I’m not thinking about one audience. I’m thinking about many. Everyone is being invited to the same concert, in the same venue, on the same night, but the reason someone decides to buy a ticket can vary wildly from person to person.

And that’s where I think arts marketing can get sharper.

Too often, campaigns rely on one primary message repeated several times: the artist, the title, the date, the time, maybe a quote or a nice production photo. Those pieces matter, but they usually speak most clearly to the people who are already close to saying yes.

What about everyone else?