I just got back from the Huntington Estate Music Festival. A great five-day program, organised by Musica Viva, is performed by musicians from all over the world in the wonderful barrel room at Huntington Estate in Mudgee NSW. Over the last two decades, they have been building an audience that continues to come back each year (and invites friends and family to come along as well)… they’re a loyal tribe! Each year, I notice how they do many little things to help foster the loyalty.
Here are five key things they do:
It all starts with a great product
No matter how lovely you are, you need to have a great product that people will buy, again and again. Mostly trusting the quality of the key component – the program. This year the festival sold out before we knew the program or musicians. Carl Vine regularly puts together a great program that is mixed with a range of music and instruments. The food is good quality, but not overdone. The wine is excellent and free flowing. As an audience, you rarely feel limited in experience and you have the trust that it will be the same or better the next year.
Start the festival with feedback
If the previous festival had feedback forms, they communicate back to the audience at the start of the next festival how they listened and changed. At the end of the 2010 festival, they said how they needed to grow the audience. This year had more than 100 new patrons, mostly generated by the 2010 audience introducing friends to the festival. As an audience, we were thanked.
Invite introductions
The host, Nicky, includes in her introduction how she knows everyone’s name (from organising the tickets and seating) and many of the faces (from seeing them over the years), but doesn’t have all of them connected. She invited people to come and chat to her so she can join the names and faces. It means that many people at the festival feel they know her, connected, and integral to the festival rather than an attendee. The musicians wander around the festival and sit with the crowd to eat, so you can easily chat to them. This creates a greater connection to the music than you usually have when you attend a concert and it is quite magical. The Musica Viva staff all had name tags so you knew who they were and could easily talk to them. The Huntington Estate & catering staff all wore branded t-shirts so you knew who to ask for help.
Listen & adapt during the festival
Each year and each day during the festival, they are adjusting so that it is constantly improving. Feeding 500+ people when they flood out of a concert is no easy task, especially when the clouds above have also opened and it is an outdoor eating environment. The process was regularly adjusted through the festival to be more efficient. New tents sprung up, seating was changed, extra staff appeared to assist in the more difficult situation. The continual adjustments made during the festival showed their focus on the experience for the audience.
Apologise for issues & show how they were fixed
Whenever something went wrong (which is always going to happen at an event that size), they fixed it, apologised and explained how it was fixed. They were upfront and honest about what was going on. What little things can you do to foster loyalty and build your tribe?
