Another notable winner from our recent “Spring Into Summer” App Downloads Contest was the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. Kathleen Hoeper, Director of Marketing & Community Relations, provided some great feedback about how they use their app and how it is promoted. Their app promotion strategy feedback was previously published in the contest winners announcement; however, we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight it along with examples of their marketing graphics.

“To boost app downloads, we had a contest that we posted on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, on our website and email newsletter, and a printed newsletter we gave out at our farmers market booth at the end of April. We gave away a Dubuque Symphony Orchestra canvas bag as an incentive. We told people to download the DSO app through the month of April. Then we sent out a push notification through the app the first week of May inviting all of our app users (new and old) to email us for a chance to win.”

This approach gives patrons a tangible incentive to download the app. Making sure that people opt into Push Notifications for the contest helps extend your reach for other messages in the future.

A holistic approach to making sure people knew about their own contest, promoting it on every social, electronic, and print medium, helps make sure everyone is aware of your app. If you only promote it on one medium, you’re missing out patrons who aren’t active on or exposed to that medium.

“I’m really enjoying using the push notifications feature in engaging our patrons beyond the ticket sale. We’ve used it to invite our audience to our Soundbites lunch and learn lectures, encourage patrons to visit our Facebook page to view photos and videos, share Spotify playlists of pieces featured in our upcoming concerts and ask for song requests in programming our Ultimate Rock Hits concerts.”

They’ve also embraced the idea of using their app for more than just pushing ticket sales. This is important because if patrons only ever receive messages letting them know they can buy tickets, fatigue might set in leading to them ignoring the notifications. Using Push Notifications to let patrons know about new content, free events, contests, and other fun things can keep people engaged and excited about what your Organization is up to.

“We’ve also gotten great feedback on the personalized At-The-Venue messages, welcoming our audience to each performance. The ease of app setup and editing has been a BIG help in getting the word out about our symphony in a wonderfully designed, user-friendly way!”

It can’t be said enough. Geofence messages are a great way to remind audience members that they have your app on their phone when they arrive at your venue. When they open the app, they’ll be able to access the At-The-Venue content you’ve setup including Things To Know, Program Notes, Artist Bios, the Social Feed, and Offers.

Check it out!

Click here to download the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra App