Focus Areas
Email Marketing, Marketing, Public Relations, Communications, Digital Marketing, Technology, Facebook Advertising, Social Media, Web Design
About
Ceci Dadisman is a marketing professional with more than 15 years of experience creating effective communications campaigns utilizing innovative, forward thinking methods. She is nationally recognized as a leader in digital marketing and specializes in multichannel communications campaigns.
A frequent public speaker, Ceci’s recent and upcoming engagements feature national conference appearances at NTEN, Museums and the Web, National Arts Marketing Project, Arts Midwest, American Alliance of Museums, OPERA America, Midwest Museums Association, and Chorus America in addition to many other local and regional events. Known for her easy-going and vernacular style, she creates open learning environments with an emphasis on information sharing and useful takeaways.
She is a member of the National Arts Marketing Project Advisory Committee and the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts Visiting Committee, and is a mentor in West Virginia University’s Creative Consultant program. She also teaches the arts marketing course at West Virginia University’s College of Creative Arts and is on the faculty of Chorus America’s Chorus Management Institute.
Ceci was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA and graduated from West Virginia University’s College of Creative Arts. She currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
Connect With Ceci
Article Archive
When A Ballet Master Goes Viral
If you’re active on any social media platform, you’ve probably seen this TikTok of ballet master Tomas Karlborg from Staatsballett Berlin. @staatsballettberlin Ballet master Tomas Karlborg taking the lead during #worldballetday #ballet #staatsballettberlin #balletdancer #ballettok #balletclass #balletchallenge #ballerina #Dance ♬ Tomas Karlborgs Variation – STAATSBALLETT BERLIN This is not a new video — it is from World Ballet Day 2021 — but it was recently posted on TikTok. (If you’re a ballet…
AI For Arts Marketing
You’ve almost certainly heard of AI by now and the myriad tools available (free and paid) that can help do everything from writing emails to chatting with website visitors. You may have even tried out some of them like ChatGPT. I’m always interested in how technology can help us run better marketing campaigns, so I’ve been testing and cataloging some of the options that are available. This first post in a series…
Why You Shouldn’t Rely On Words Like “Today” Or “Tomorrow” On Social Media
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been reminded why we shouldn’t rely on relative time-based words and phrases like “today,” “tomorrow,” or “next week” when posting on social media. Why, you ask? Because I’m just now seeing #GivingTuesday posts from a variety of organizations — some of which I support and actively engage with on social platforms. Here are just a couple of examples: We can clearly see that they were…
New Canva Features
I know many of you use Canva , so I’ve got some great news for you! Canva is a great tool for nonprofits to create everyday design assets such as social media posts, digital display ads, email headers, etc. Best of all, the premium version is free for nonprofits! (If you aren’t taking advantage of this already, run — don’t walk — to sign up!) (Note: It is important to use a…
Let’s Talk About TikTok
Ok folks, let’s talk about arts organizations on TikTok. In the past few months, I’ve noticed more and more establishing a presence and totally rocking it! I’ve been in the industry for the advent of nearly all the major social media platforms (and some not so major, and even more now-defunct) and I think that TikTok has the most distinctive style and voice right from the very start. There is no potential…
A.D.E.I has to be more than checking a box
My colleague and frequent collaborator Ann Marie Sorrell is fond of saying that engagement with diverse communities must be more than “checking a box” and she’s absolutely correct. Ann Marie and I are long-time collaborators in this work, starting with a multi-year initiative many years ago at Palm Beach Opera. As National Black Business Month has just concluded, I’m reminded of an article in The New York Times which brought this concept…
Email Inspiration
I nerd out a lot about email marketing. Why? It is the most versatile and personal digital communications channel we have. We can segment our list to send highly relevant messages and see data on who opens them, which links get the most clicks, and more. Because we’ve had access to email technology for the longest, we tend to maintain the status quo in favor of newer channels like social media. I’ve…
Pew Research Striking Findings
If you have read my previous posts, you know how much I love the Pew Research Center — there is so much great data from which we can learn. Recently, they put out their Striking Findings for 2021 and there are a few highly applicable stats therein. 1. For the first time, the number of Americans who identify as non-Hispanic White declined between 2010 and 2020. When thinking about diversity and inclusion…
To Text Or Not To Text
That is the question. Whether ’tis more effective to send SMS messages to your patrons, or to take a stance against it and by opposing, miss out. With 97% of Americans owning a mobile phone, texting is a way to reach a large portion of our audiences. Also, our inboxes overwhelmed with work and personal emails which can make texting a better way to get a message out to a targeted audience….
#ShowTheSalary
It’s no secret that many of us in the industry have been pushing organizations to list the salary range when advertising a job. This week, New York City has passed a law that employers must include the salary range in a job posting beginning in April 2022. The bill, which passed on Wednesday in a 41 to 7 vote, says employers failing to list minimum and maximum salary ranges for New York…
Research Data On Vaccine Mandates
As organizations return to in-person events, many are deciding whether to have a vaccine mandate for staff, artists, and/or ticket buyers/attendees. My colleague Drew McManus is compiling a database of vaccination policies from all types of organizations. Organizations that have not yet implemented a vaccine mandate, especially for patrons, may be feeling some hesitance fearing push-back. Pew Research Center has recently published data on the public’s comfort level in engaging in certain…
Self Serve Advertising Is The Future
Let’s talk about advertising. No, not digital channels. I want to talk about traditional channels. For most organizations, running ads on traditional channels like radio, TV, or even billboards is still a part of an effective communications campaigns. However, those channels are usually expensive and time-consuming to book. I’ve got nothing against ad reps but, without fail, there is a lot of back and forth during the process and they will try…
Tools To Help De-Jargon Your Messaging
Note: There are no affiliate links included in this post. In my war against jargon, I’ve come across a couple of tools that can help simplify our messaging quickly and easily. Neither are free, but they are affordable and you may find them well worth the cost. Both of these first options are AI powered copywriting assistance. They will take copy you provide and improve, expand, or, for today’s purposes, simplify it….
Only 7% Of The US Population Is Not Online
New data has come out from Pew Research Center with current statistics regarding the percentage of people who do not use the internet. That number has been steadily falling in the past 20 years and now sits at just 7%. We anecdotally tend to think that many of our older patrons do not use the internet. The data show that, whilst the number of people over the age of 65 who do…
Cialdini’s Universal Principles of Influence Expanded and Updated
Author, expert, and researcher Robert Cialdini has published a new and expanded edition of his seminal book INFLUENCE. His Six Principles of Persuasion are essential learning for us as marketers. He recently was interviewed by Roger Dooley of Neuroscience Marketing. I found it to be incredibly useful and interesting and I think you will, too:
Why Plain Language Is Imperative For Our Survival
I’ve been on a war against jargon for a long time. Recently, I’ve come across a couple of things that reinforce the fact that we need to stop using jargon along with overly ornate language. I’d like to share them with you here. We must understand that not everyone has a doctorate-worthy vocabulary level. Even for those who are exceptionally deft with language, messaging that is around 6th-8th grade level resonates because…
Social Media Accessibility Checklist
I recently tuned in to a live LinkedIn presentation by one of my favorite people: Scott Stratten. (If you were at the NAMP conference in Louisville in 2011, you’ll remember his amazing keynote. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend watching as it is still just as applicable — and hilarious — today as it was then.) He shared a highly useful resource in Alexa Heinrich’s Social Media Accessibility Checklist. Whether…
What Butter Can Teach Us About Marketing
I’m about to share a link to a video that is about artisanal butter made in France. Hang with me and watch at least the first minute. At the end of that minute is what I want to talk about here. “If I make a product that’s only marketing, I’m not interested.” Butter artisan Jean-Yves Bordier is clearly passionate about his product. He creates something special and unique — something with emotion….
When A Slow Page Load Time Is Brilliant Marketing
It is imperative that we look outside of our industry for trends, best practices, and sometimes things that are just plain cool. For the month of February, the Heinz website took 57 minutes to load. Yep, you read that right — 57 minutes. Usually that would be an incredible fail, but not in this case. Here, it is super clever marketing. Fans of traditional Heinz ketchup bottles will know that pouring the…
Tracking Blackbaud Donations Using GTM
If your organization uses a Blackbaud product, you know that it is tough to track conversions. The folks at LumenAd have created a handy recipe to do it using Google Tag Manager. What’s in this recipe: + Two Google Tag Manager Triggers + Two Google Manager Tags All four work with each other to track the Donation Confirmation of MOST Blackbaud donation pages and allows you to trigger a pixel based off of…