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
Retargeting Website Visitors With Direct Mail
Disclaimer: I receive no compensation or consideration from Modern Postcard, nor are any links affiliate links. You’re probably familiar with retargeting visitors who come to your website with Facebook content or Google advertising. This is when you place a pixel on your website that tracks users and then deploys content or advertising to them on another digital channel. What if you could send your website visitors a postcard in the mail? My…
Your New Digital Whiteboard
Disclaimer: I receive no compensation or other consideration from Miro, nor are any links affiliate links. If you’re missing your office whiteboard, I’ve got a digital solution for you! My go-to solution that enables a team to collaborate, brainstorm, or ideate in real time online is Miro, a collaborative online whiteboard software. Miro gives you an endless canvas on which you can create patron journeys, mind maps, wireframes, and more. I have…
The Data Doesn’t Lie
Now is a great time to dig into some data and use it to inform your fundraising and communications campaigns. Here are some recent reports which might be helpful: Culture Track: Culture + Community In A Time Of Crisis Key Findings With lead funding from The Wallace Foundation and Barr Foundation, and additional support from Art Bridges and The Terra Foundation for American Art, Slover Linett Audience Research and LaPlaca Cohen have collaborated on a national research and strategy initiative to support the cultural…
Yes, People Will Pay For Digital Content
There is a lot of talk about whether patrons will pay for digital content. I’ve always been (even pre-pandemic) in the camp that people will pay for great content. There is data coming out which shows definitively that people are indeed willing to pay for this type of content and some that shows they actually are. The recent special edition Culture Track data shows that people find digital content to be quite…
4 Emails To Send That Don’t Ask For Money
Communications that don’t involve asking for money (donation, ticket sale, etc.) are important to keep patrons engaged and deepen their relationship with your organization. Here are some ideas for emails that don’t involve donating or purchasing but serve to educate and entertain. Automated Welcome Email An automated welcome email can come in two forms: when someone signs up for your email list, or when they sign up for a particular program, purchase…
Special COVID-19 Edition Of CultureTrack Is Here
The folks at LaPlaca Cohen are working on a special COVID-19 edition of their indispensable Culture Track survey. The key findings are now available for download with the full report arriving later in the month. By conducting survey research and qualitative research among both arts audiences and the wider U.S. public, this study is designed to deepen our understanding of how arts and culture organizations can help their communities during these times…and how…
What Is That Traffic From “l.facebook.com” In Google Analytics?
If you’ve been looking at your Google Analytics data (which I know you are), you’ve probably seen traffic coming from “l.facebook.com”. You might be asking yourself, “What the heck is that?” Well, it is traffic coming through something called a “link shim”. Link shims were created by Facebook to protect you from malicious links. When you click on a link in Facebook, it checks that link against a huge list of malicious…
Gathering Data From Virtual Programming
As it becomes more clear that social distancing practices aren’t going to end anytime soon, our attention is turning to how to leverage our online offerings to build future audiences. Many organizations have widely shared free and open content online which has turned out to be a good vehicle to reach current and new patrons. In addition to making it easy to experience the art, this type of deployment removed the barrier…
Virtual Museum Tours Are So March
In the beginning of all the closures, most museums heavily promoted their virtual tours. (Or, if they didn’t have one already, they created one.) Many saw increased engagement in the tours in those initial days but, if you have been looking at your data, you probably have seen a drop-off in virtual visits. First off, let me say that I think virtual tours are great evergreen content to have and you should…
Which Is Better: Plain Text Or Designed Emails?
A new experiment looks for definitive data on whether a plain text or a designed email will result in more donations. KUOW Public Radio is Seattle’s NPW news station. Their independent, nonprofit newsroom produces award-winning stories, podcasts and events. For a time sensitive fundraising campaign, KUOW decided to test their usual email design against a more simple, stripped down, less designed version to see if it would lead to more donations. You’ll…
To Google Grant Or Not To Google Grant
Google Grants have been around for a decade already and are still a great way for your organization to appear at the top of search results. That said, unlike in the early days, there are more requirements to keep the grant in compliance and that has caused many organizations to let their grants lapse. If you don’t have a Grant and are considering applying, or if your organization’s is currently inactive, here…
If You’ve Got A Date, You Can Automate
Automating emails can be a huge time-saver, not to mention provide more relevant messages to the recipients. In addition to the standard automated emails sent when people sign up for your list or after a transaction, you can use date-based emails to reach your audience at the right time with the right message without having to lift a finger. Let’s take a look at 3 date-based automated emails you can set up…
Time To Say Goodbye…To People Who Never Open Your Emails
I’d be willing to bet that not everyone to which you send emails opens them. Am I right? If this is the case, you’ve probably got some people on your list who haven’t opened any of your emails for a year or more. If someone falls into that category, odds are it is either an inactive email address or they are simply not interested in what you have to say anymore. Most…
What To Do When You’re Dark
I don’t have to tell you about the immense toll the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our industry. In light of so many organizations going dark for an undetermined length of time, the question arises as to how to keep in touch with patrons through this uncertain time. I have a few ideas to share with you: Release recordings of performances for people to watch from home. Whether it is an entire…
My Favorite Digital Marketing Tools
I’m often asked what tools I use to manage digital marketing campaigns. Well, the wait is over! Let’s dive right in. Airtable I love Airtable so much that I’ve devoted an entire post about what makes it so awesome. I use it exclusively to manage campaigns and content calendars. I won’t rehash it all here — just go read the post. Buffer For Facebook, I always recommend using their native post scheduling…
How To Get People To Open Your Emails
Short answer: Send them content they find interesting. Long answer: SendGrid’s 2019 Email Benchmark and Engagement Study data has been published and it has some important insights for arts organizations on why people open or don’t open emails. The two top reasons why people open your emails are quite simple: they like hearing from you and the content is stuff they want to read. I would argue that those things are inextricably…
Print With A Purpose
We tend to question whether or not we still need to place print advertising. The efficacy of newspaper ads depends on your market and target audience. That said, I just saw a really great use of a print ad that is totally outside the box. Love Beauty and Planet recently placed an ad in the New York Times that isn’t just an ad, but it is actually wrapping paper. Not only does…
It Isn’t Only About “Young” People
A recent article in The Economist predicts that 2020 will begin the decade of the “young old” (or “yold”). This refers to a Japanese term used to classify people aged between 65 and 75. We tend to think of “young” audiences as people below the age of 40 but many of us have audiences where the average age is above 70. We can’t forget about the people in between. The yold are…
Spoiler Alert: Multichannel Communications Work Best With Donors
If you’ve been reading my posts over the years, you know that I’m an advocate of multichannel communications campaigns. It is important to communicate on a variety of channels (social media, email, direct mail, etc) because each channel reinforces the others and strengthens your content. Your patrons will likely see your message on more than one channel before they take an action. A recent article in Forbes provides data that shows that…
Ticket Buyers Are Shoppers
A blog post recently published by the folks at dotdigital shares ideas on how to turn holiday shoppers into year-round buyers through email communications. As I read it, it struck me how these things are pretty much exactly the same for ticket buyers. Our events are products and our ticket buyers are shoppers. (Our websites are e-commerce engines as well. But I digress…) Let’s not forget this. I recommend that you read…