The best marketers in the nonprofit arts world can’t make people buy tickets to something they don’t want to see, says author Alan Harrison in this article. "Chasing dollars for that uber-intellectual vanity piece that has nothing to do with the community (no matter how “important” it is to your artists) never works."

In Harrison's view, "Arts marketers can only market the organization’s reputation, the impact it has on the community, and maximize the revenue efforts by placing that image in front of the people who are likeliest to respond to it. Then people might put money toward that company"—buying tickets, or becoming a donor.