Uses for custom Marketing Fields

There are 9 marketing fields, plus tags, 8 of which are customizable. Of these 8 fields:

• 2 are alphabetic
• 2 are alpha/numeric
• 1 is a Text field
• 3 are drop-down lists
• one field, Age Code, is predefined in Theatre Manager.

These fields can be custom labeled to reflect the information chosen to record. For more information on customizing the marketing field label please click here.

It is not always easy to initially define a use for these marketing fields. The following examples come from practical uses that our customers have made of them.

Source: Most users will set aside one field for 'source'. Specifically, a code that indicates how the customer first came to be in the database. This can be useful when analyzing marketing efforts. For example; if the local paper is called 'The Rag' and the organization advertises in it weekly, number the ads as 9701, 9702, etc. for each ad in 1997. If the customer first came to be in the database because of ad #4, their source would be TR9704. This allows examination of the effectiveness of different media, ad placement, size, etc.

Year Youngest/Year Oldest: For our children's theatre venues, some keep track of the year when the youngest was born. This allows them to manage the transition of their 'little' customers through the theatre seasons. There comes a point when children feel they are to old to come to shows and would rather be with their friends ... until they have children of their own and the cycle begins again and the organization can now market to Grandma!

Government Officials: City/municipal, Provincial/State, Federal. This could be a marketing field to record the patron’s political affiliation. At a glance the system can produce a list of all patrons who are Federal Officials. Create a mail list of these patrons for special invite purposes etc.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical - useful to record a patron overall preferences or type of performance they generally like to attend. However, using a Mail List to maintain this information is more beneficial.

County/Township: A marketing field used to record the county for patrons. Information that is not readily recorded in the address section and could be useful for grouping patrons based on their location.

Patron Type: A marketing field used to record the type of patron account. For example, corporation, foundation, granting agency, individual, school, etc.

School District: A marketing field used to record the school district and age category for patrons. Information that is not readily recorded in the address section and could be useful for grouping patrons based on their location and age category.

This is really general but certainly there is no limit to the types of marketing fields that can be created.