Scanning the environment

To be successful you need to understand the marketing environment and the markets in which you operate.

Identifying and collecting information about your audience and potential audience, fellow arts organisations, your staff, funders and partners is a crucial starting point to effective marketing planning. It means you can recognise opportunities in the marketplace, and prepare for threats that might affect your organisation.

Being aware of what is happening around you will mean you can plan an effective marketing strategy with the most appropriate tactics.

When scanning the environment, you must consider where the information will come from. There is likely to be lots of useful information already available to you, but you might also decide to carry out your own research to gather the information that you need. It is likely that you will collect data from a wide range of sources.

Information currently available to you

Conducting your own research