Mentor: Youngaah Koh, Ph.D.

This senior capstone project presents a comprehensive case study of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s (CSO) digital marketing initiatives, with a focus on evaluating and enhancing their strategies to better engage a younger audience. The research examines CSO’s digital ecosystem across multiple channels, including social media platforms, email marketing campaigns, paid advertisements, and search engine optimization (SEO). Through detailed market research and analysis, the study identifies the organization’s target audiences using demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral data. Two audience personas and corresponding journey maps are developed to further understand user engagement and experience. The project also includes a competitive analysis of two direct competitors to benchmark industry best practices. A full SEO audit is conducted, covering technical, on-page, and off-page elements to assess the visibility and effectiveness of CSO’s digital content. Furthermore, the paper explores the orchestra’s brand positioning, messaging strategy, and the consistency of its voice and tone across digital touchpoints. Social media performance is evaluated for platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, alongside the integration of audio content. Current findings indicate that CSO’s digital marketing successfully maintains its loyal base of traditional patrons while simultaneously working to expand reach and relevance among younger audiences, particularly students in the Cincinnati area. The final report identifies key strengths and weaknesses within CSO’s current digital marketing framework and offers actionable recommendations designed to optimize outreach, drive engagement, and cultivate long-term loyalty among younger audiences.

Explore the Project