Cath Hume with colleague at the AMA conference

The AMA's Cath Hume (r) and Magdalen Barlett, CEO of Afrocats, recording a podcast at the Arts Marketing Association’s Digital Marketing Day, 2024

Photo: Kitty Lineker, Lineker Photography

Features

Digital marketing: Trust your team

The future of digital marketing isn’t just about mastering new technologies, it’s about making connection, says Cath Hume of the Arts Marketing Association.

Cath Hume
5 min read

As digital technologies reshape how cultural organisations connect with audiences, there’s a risk of losing sight of what matters most: human connection. At the Arts Marketing Association’s Digital Marketing Day, marketers from across the UK cultural sector explored how organisations can harness digital tools while keeping audiences at the heart of their approach.

Understanding your audiences

For leaders, supporting marketing teams to develop genuine audience understanding should be the foundation of any digital strategy. “As humans, we have the power to make everyone feel seen and heard. We just have to be awake to their needs in ways that machines never can be,” observed Trish Thomas, head of digital innovation at London Museum, in her keynote address.

This human-first philosophy is increasingly crucial as organisations navigate rapid technological change.

“You’ve got to be where your audiences are,” explained Florence Symington, director of brand and audiences at Royal Armouries. “Spend time in the places your audiences are – that might be digital, but it’s also about understanding the experiences they’re having.”

This deep understanding led to their TikTok content reaching 9.5 million views and converting into physical visitors.

Developing genuine audience understanding

Developing genuine audience understanding should be a priority. This means moving beyond traditional demographic targeting to consider how people actually engage with your organisation.

As highlighted during the day’s sessions, artificial intelligence is already helping some cultural organisations identify engaged audiences through behavioural patterns rather than just wealth indicators – potentially transforming how we think about donor development and audience relationships.

However, digital engagement requires nuance. One speaker noted that “it’s really difficult to read a room if the room is always moving” – referring to the constantly shifting landscape of social media algorithms and user behaviours.

This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for marketing teams, who need the freedom to experiment and adapt their approaches.

What leaders should look for

Several key indicators show if your organisation is taking a human-centred approach.

  • Audience research driving decisions Trish Thomas explained that London Museum’s digital transformation shows how research should shape content strategy. Their discovery that audiences “couldn’t find a way in” to collections led to creating new entry points connecting historic content to contemporary stories.
  • Team empowerment Marketing teams need freedom to test and adapt quickly. Royal Armouries’ approach to TikTok demonstrates this – rather than complex sign-off processes, they trusted their communications officer’s expertise to create authentic content.
  • Clear measurement beyond numbers Success indicators should focus on engagement quality and meaningful connections rather than just reach. Look for evidence that digital content is building relationships, not just broadcasting.
  • Content credibility Consider how your content demonstrates what Google terms the “EAT framework” – Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. These human qualities remain crucial for cutting through digital noise.

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Delegates at AMA’s 2024 Conference. Photo: Kitty Lineker, Lineker Photography

Supporting your marketing teams

Leaders can help their teams succeed by providing:

  • Permission to experiment Create a culture in which teams can learn from failure. In fact, if you’ve got that permission in your team, if you’ve built up a supportive environment above you and around you, that gives you the strength to make that impact and difference.
  • Clear guidelines With tools like AI becoming commonplace, teams need practical guidelines that enable safe and effective use rather than prevent adoption. The AI Sector Support Group’s draft AI policy can support this.
  • Resource allocation As social media platforms evolve, organisations need to make shrewd decisions about where to invest their energy. Several organisations reported reconsidering their presence on certain platforms, highlighting the importance of focusing resources where they can most effectively reach and engage audiences.
  • Trust Give teams time to understand platforms and build authentic content. We need to be ok with the fact that not everything will work but unless marketers can trial things we won’t be able to identify activity that helps us engage our audiences.

The future of digital marketing

The future of digital marketing in the cultural sector isn’t just about mastering new technologies – it’s about using them to enhance human connections and experiences.

As Trish Thomas reminded attendees, “Our adaptability, our ability to understand context and nuance and to be relatable is our strength.”

For leaders, the challenge is to create environments in which marketing teams can harness digital tools while staying true to their organisation’s human core. This means providing clear guidelines, appropriate resources and the freedom to innovate – always with audiences at the centre.

We’d love to hear what you think about the human-centred approach to marketing and communications as AI becomes more of a day-to-day presence for everyone, share a comment or get in touch with us.