Nonprofit organisations, management and marketing strategies for survival: the case of philharmonic bands

Philharmonic bands, as nonprofit organizations (NPO's), need to adopt a perception of themselves as self-sustaining systems and implement a viable business plan that plausibly demonstrates how the organisation can deliver products and services valued by its surrounding environment and thereby obtain the resources necessary for growth and sustainability. There is a gap in the literature, especially in the field of philharmonic marketing. Therefore, this study seeks to contribute towards boosting knowledge about marketing in the philharmonic band sector, leading to continued research in this artistic field that has so often proven crucial to community development. It seeks specifically to analyse strategies for capturing and maintaining the loyalty of potential musicians as well as the tools deployed by entities to promote and stage their activities and attract audiences, sponsors and services. This research adopted qualitative methodology with information being collected through a questionnaire with open questions sent by email to a selected sample of 200 philharmonic bands in Portugal. The results indicate that philharmonic bands currently find it more difficult to attract members, the attraction process has become more demanding and so they must become more efficient in this task. This analysis found similarities in the strategies applied by philharmonic bands to capture resources and for promotion, particularly focusing on potential musicians, resources, audiences and investors.