BALTIC overhauls systems with new technology firm

EXPERTS at a specialist tech firm are using the latest technology to help BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art drive visitors to the gallery, as the venue hosts its inaugural biennial exhibition, the BALTIC Artists’ Award 2017, this summer.

Gosforth-based ION was appointed by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead to deliver a customer relationship management (CRM) system to centralise silo systems and help increase customer engagement through direct email marketing.

BALTIC receives 500,000 visits annually made up of those from the North East region but also national and international visitors and has welcomed 7million visits to date. Using the CRM system Salesforce, integrated with profiling tool Culture Segments, it will enable BALTIC to deliver highly tailored communication to specific segmented audiences.

Through a series of simple profiling questions which BALTIC asks visitors as they sign-up to the mailing list, it can deliver relevant and valuable information.

Marketing and Communications Manager for BALTIC, Rob Young said: “Traditionally, BALTIC has used several customer relationship tools- a ticketing solution, e-mail push platform and CRM Microsoft database product – which took a lot of time and effort to manually maintain.

“The solution ION has developed for us merges these tools and databases together in a strategic approach to help better serve existing and potential visitors. We hope to encourage return visits and increase ticket sales by better understanding their needs and what motivates them to participate or engage with what BALTIC offers.”

The ongoing relationship with BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the inclusion of Salesforce will aim to support the iconic landmark in its ambitious five-year business planning process.

Young added: “We are delighted that our partnership with ION will aim to streamline this core objective. We see using Salesforce and Culture Segments as assisting BALTIC’s communications on a team level to meet our objective targets in line with our business plan for 2018-2022. We are working on this planning process this summer so this is a great time to embed the system within working practices.”

The CRM will also help to improve communication, segmentation and the day to day management of BALTIC’s data to better inform product and exhibition launches as well as grow ticket sales for the organisation, a registered charity.

ION founder and Managing Director Rob Mathieson said: “Forward thinking organisations such as BALTIC are being quick to grasp the opportunity that technology offers to get closer to existing and potential customers.

“We are delighted to help BALTIC maximise its potential with a solution that enables them to embrace evolving client trends in the increasingly competitive arts and culture marketplace and we are excited to take Salesforce to new jurisdictions.”

The client win for ION is a boost to the tech firm as it approaches its first year in business. The company currently employs a team of four and is actively seeking to recruit as the business grows further.