Why Audience Growth Starts with Clear Accountability—Not Just More Tactics

As we’ve seen time and time again (most recently highlighted in the study we released in January), US audience members are growing despite an overall decline in ticket sales overall. This means that more individuals are attending events, but each is buying fewer tickets. At the same time, we’ve also found an uptick in new buyers within our audiences. As a result of these trends, it’s more important than ever to invest in retention strategies to counteract declining loyalty, while also strengthening audience acquisition efforts to capitalize on the growth of new attendees.

Today, we want to talk not about what strategies or tactics you’re using to acquire new audience members and retain existing audience members, but instead—who is accountable for acquisition & retentions strategies within your organization.

Accountability is when individuals and teams take ownership for their actions, decisions, and outcomes—both positive and negative—and are answerable to colleagues, leadership, audiences, and other stakeholders. It’s about delivering on commitments, being transparent about progress and setbacks, and learning from results to improve future performance. Henry Evans, author of Winning with Accountability, says, “Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the result.”

Think about it—do you know who is accountable for audience acquisition and retention at your organization? A lot of organizations we work with divide up responsibilities in a marketing department by specialty. The strategists (usually marketing managers or directors) are often divided by whether they work on single ticket campaigns or subscription/membership campaigns.

But what if responsibilities were divided according to who is accountable for acquisition, who is accountable for retention, and who is responsible for the research to support these campaigns? In an environment where subscription sales continue to decline while sales to new audience members steadily grow, it’s time to rethink how we allocate resources. If our strategists were focused on building data-driven, research-backed campaigns specifically to engage new audiences OR to retain existing audiences—rather than simply selling tickets to one show or a subscription packages—both the number of unique audience members AND overall ticket sales would increase.

This is why we propose that every organization appoint an Acquisition Artist, a Retention Rockstar, and a Data Diva—individuals with specific accountability for their areas.

Meet the Acquisition Artist: The person accountable for acquisition.

The Acquisition Artist is responsible for getting new people in the door. This means leveraging research to understand the target audience for acquisition, and creating campaigns specifically geared towards people who have either never attended the organization or are long lapsed. This person reviews research on recent new audience members to craft look-alike campaigns to target underrepresented segments of the community. The tactics in focus here may be efforts such as advertising, community engagement, and list trades for mailings. And, once the new audiences are in the building, this individual works with the front of house and audience services team to make sure the experience is top-notch for them.

Meet the Retention Rockstar: The person accountable for retention.

The Retention Rockstar is responsible for getting current audience members to return and become loyal members of the organization. This person creates campaigns that steward audiences down an engagement path with the organization—from being a single ticket buyer, to a frequent attendee, to a subscriber/member, to a donor. They leverage segmentation and marketing automation workflows to personalize communications based on where a patron is on their journey with the organization.

Meet the Data Diva: The person accountable for research & analytics.

Of course, the central part to any acquisition or retention campaign is research. The Data Diva is the person who either conducts or commissions research to support acquisition or retention campaigns. They are experts in understanding patron data, they excel at translating data into insights, and they know the right type of research to support the department’s key audience questions. They provide answers to the Acquisition Artist and Retention Rockstar’s questions so the campaigns are as effective as possible.

NOTE: Depending on the size and resources of your organization, these people may not be three separate people! Maybe one person wears all three hats. The point is that you DEFINE these three points of accountability and make sure each area is well-nurtured for the sake of building and maintaining your audience.

In a landscape where audience behavior is shifting and traditional models like subscriptions continue to decline, clarity of accountability isn’t just helpful—it’s essential. By defining and formalizing who owns audience acquisition, who leads retention efforts, and who drives the data strategy behind them, organizations can better align their tactics with the realities of today’s audiences. Whether these roles are spread across a team or concentrated in a few versatile leaders, what matters most is that these responsibilities are named, nurtured, and empowered.

Because at the end of the day, success in growing and sustaining your audience isn’t just about having the right tactics—it’s about having the right people accountable for making them happen.

We can help

JCA offers data-driven, research-backed marketing consulting & interim staffing to make sure you’re reaching your audience acquisition and retention goals.

Not sure where to focus for audience growth? Our consultants assess your needs and provide guidance for next steps. Need immediate help? Our interim Acquisition Artists, Retention Rockstars, and Data Divas are ready to step in while you manage staffing or larger initiatives.