ABSTRACT
Marketing in the arts, as in other spheres of activity, remains an approach that puts the focus of an organization's planning and decision making firmly on the needs of the customer. Being 'marketing oriented' is about adopting an external focus under which an organization recognizes that, in order to achieve its own objectives and be sustainable in the long term, it must identify, anticipate and deliver what customers want. It is a total approach to management that, to be effective, must reach far beyond the marketing department and have an influence on what an organization creates and how it manages its resources. The roots of marketing orientation date back to the 1950s when manufacturing industries needed to attract mass markets for increasingly mass-produced products. The success of 'customer at the heart' strategies in this field led to the spread of marketing into other areas including capital goods, and services such as banking and insurance.
