The Ballet Industry Online By Neza Azali Tom Chang Yuan Chen Ljubomir Cvetkovic

Major Players within ballet industry

Basics Customers go online to find information –Schedule of performances –Dancers information –Educational information (classes) –Information about seating Customers go online to buy –Ticket purchasing –Merchandise (souvenirs, CD’s, T-shirts, etc.)

Basics Customers go online to become members –Sites usually have a guest book Customers go online to donate –Different levels of donation –To find out how the donated money is used –To find out how to become volunteers

Who Are The Customers Performance goers –High, or high middle class –Professionals (35 and above) –College students Online users –People who are looking for general information –Donors (mostly performance goers) –Members

Current Strategies To Attract Customers Membership benefits –Priority seating –Opportunity to go behind the stage after the performance –Watching the rehearsal –Meeting the dancers Ticket giveaway –Offering free tickets in exchange for personal information (Boston ballet) –Discounts to students (NYC Ballet)

How They Lock The Customers Keeping the customers informed – ing the customer once they have their personal information –Sending them a newsletter Educating people about the organization –Giving a back stage tour –Opportunity to interact with performers –School outreach programs

How They Add Value Value added from website –Online Merchandising –Online ticket purchasing –Seating charts –Schedule –Educational programs offered

Current Problems Artistically beautiful sites with bad user interfaces Links done With list boxes

Current Problems Horribly designed forms with too much information and small buttons

Strategy Recommendation Web site needs to be designed for easy use and navigation Currently, organizations are doing well with ticket sales Strategy will be needed in the following areas –Donations (because ticket sales only covers 50% of costs) –Increasing membership (same reason as above) –Increasing traffic to site (to increase interest)

Strategy Recommendation (Increase donations) Allow customization software at the website to develop one to one relationships with donors and potential donors –Important because increased interactions typically tends to increase donation amount New and innovative solutions such as New York City Ballet’s initiative in converting beneficiary of life insurance and retirement assets to NYC Ballet

Strategy Recommendation (Increase membership) Chat rooms at website to bring ballet enthusiasts together Affinity programs such as credit cards where spending will benefit both member and the organization (ie frequent flyer miles) Customization software to provide targeted information about ballet, performances, dancers, and shows Online Auctions of costumes or other props that are no longer needed

Strategy Recommendation (Increase site traffic) Video clips of performances Live interview of performers Interlinking with other ballet sites Using meta tags to allow higher hit rate from search engines Educational text about history, performances, and composer of ballets