Digital Strategy

NOT thinking about websites like a 9-year-old

3 October, 2024

I sat down to write about what I learned from building a website with my 9-year-old. Then I realised that was beside the point.

Who strategises the strategists?

25 July, 2024

It's been half a year or so since I launched this website of mine, and I thought it might be interesting to share some of the thinking that went into it. Why is this website the way it is? What's the digital strategy behind it?

Sharing box-office data publicly will improve creativity and diversity

September 2024 • The Stage

Compared to other creative industries, people in theatre are very secretive about their sales figures. More openness will create more opportunities for everyone — but particularly small and independent players trying to break in for the first time.

Escaping the cult of content

September 2024

The idea that content is important for websites verges on dogma these days. So maybe it's time for some heresy, too.

Automation without AI — a beginner's guide

July 2024

When you hear the word automation, these days your mind probably goes straight to AI. As more and more companies rush to incorporate AI into their digital products, it’s easy to feel like that’s the only way to innovate with technology, and like you’re falling behind if you’re not using AI for something. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to automate without using AI. In fact, some of the most effective automations might not even involve technology at all.

What peanut butter packaging can teach you about user experience design

June 2024

Much like pasta, I am a total glutton for peanut butter. I eat it for breakfast almost every day. I also splurge on the fancy peanut butter that's made from just peanuts and salt, and one thing all the fancy peanut butters have in common, I've noticed, is their lid design, which is a beautiful example of a great UX thinking.

Four essential questions to ask about your ticketing system

April 2024

At the Ticketing Professionals Conference 2024, I put together a panel discussion about what a ticketing system is and what it should do for your organisation. there are a few things everyone agreed were critical. So if you have a ticketing system at your organisation, here are a few questions you should definitely be asking yourself about how well it's working for you.

How product thinking helped us build an interactive, self-guided tour for a cathedral, in less than two weeks

March 2024

In 2022, Durham Cathedral launched a brand new website. In 2024, they now have a brand new interactive, self-guided tour, too - thanks to a bit of clever content strategy and just two weeks of extra development.

What pasta packaging can teach you about user experience design

January 2024

Fancy packaging design comes at a significant cost to the user experience of your pasta box. And if prioritising visual design over UX design can so brutally mess up the relatively simple user journey of pasta, you'd better believe it can do even more damage to the UX of your complicated website.

Five questions to ask before you automate something on your website

November 2023

The more advanced our computers get, the more tempting it is to streamline things that maybe shouldn't be streamlined to begin with. Here are five questions to help you decide whether your automation project is actually a good idea, or whether it's going to do more harm than good.

What cathedrals can teach you about your venue's ticketing website

October 2022

Cathedral websites, it turns out, face a lot of the same challenges as theatre and other venue websites. But cathedrals have addressed those challenges in some original and often really innovative ways that you almost never see in the arts. So what can cathedrals teach you about your own arts website?

Why you should get rid of your What's On page

August 2022

Almost every (British) venue website you look at has a "What's On" page listed prominently in the site navigation. Here's why that might not be the best idea.

Theatres must get used to social distancing — it's what audiences want

October 2020 • The Stage

Audience surveys by Indigo, SOLT and YouGov couldn't be clearer - if theatres want audiences to return, they will need social distancing in place.

Theatre's attempts at online ticketing are Kafkaesque - it's time for smarter systems

January 2020 • The Stage

Now that you can buy anything online with just a few clicks, why is booking tickets still so difficult?

Think big, start small — how to incorporate automation into your work

Arts Marketing Association Conference 2024

As AI and smart devices spread into every area of our lives, it’s easy to feel like you’re falling behind if you’re not automating something. At the same time, automation often seems like a daunting technical undertaking, beyond the means of small arts teams stretched for time and money. Here are a few simple steps to help you dip your toe in the automation waters. By starting small, you can test the effectiveness of automating particular tasks in a lofi way. This will also help you identify where to best invest your digital development budget when you’re ready to turn your baby-steps into more serious strides.

Big ideas: why theatres should publish their sales figures

Future of Theatre 2024

Why the theatre industry should build a shared, totally transparent repository of granular, week-by-week, up-to-date sales figures for every show and venue, that anyone can access.

What is a ticketing system?

Ticketing Professionals Conference 2024

You probably use a ticketing system every day, but if your life depended on it could you describe what a ticketing system actually is? "Something that sells tickets" covers everything from Taylor Swift selling her arena tour to the person running the raffle at the village fete, and omits features most modern ticketing systems boast as standard. Yet making the description more complicated raises more questions than it answers. Does a museum need to offer reserved seating? Does an arena need to offer timed entry slots? Does the village raffle need CRM? Does a ticketing system need to do any of this? More importantly, how are we supposed to build better ticketing systems if we can't even agree what a ticketing system is to begin with?

Why are you automating that?

Arts Marketing Association Digital Marketing Day 2023

The more advanced our computers get, the more tempting it is to streamline things that maybe shouldn't be streamlined to begin with. Here are five questions to help you decide whether your automation project is actually a good idea, or whether it's going to do more harm than good.

Ticketing without a ticketing system

Ticketing Professionals Conference 2023

Ronnie Scott's, the iconic London jazz club, doesn't have a ticketing system. Yet they still manage to sell out almost every show, every night of the week. In this case study, you'll find out why a well-established venue would choose to work without a ticketing system - and what you can learn from their unusual approach.

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Why you should get rid of your What's On page

Arts Marketing Association Conference 2022

Almost every (British) venue website you look at has a "What's On" page listed prominently in the site navigation. Here's why that might not be the best idea.

What cathedrals can teach you about your ticketing system

Ticketing Professionals Conference 2022

Like any venue, cathedrals regularly sell admission tickets and host ticketed performances - and the pandemic forced them to find new, digital solutions for doing so. As a result, in the past two years several cathedrals launched new websites that creatively tackle a number of common ticketing problems. This session will look at some of the best examples to draw valuable learnings that any venue or visitor attraction can apply to their own digital operations.