JUN
20

Promoting Your Production

By Lori Conary, Submissions Editor, Pioneer Drama Service 

We don't have to tell you how much hard work is involved in producing a show.  You have a lot of people putting in their time and effort to make it the best show possible, so don't skimp on one of the most important, but often over-looked, aspects of a successful production:  developing your audience.  After all, you want everyone's hard work — including your own — to be appreciated!

Some forms of publicity, such as hanging posters, wearing t-shirts or buttons and having an article in a community newsletter, are common sense.  But there's a great deal more you can do...  even with little or no budget!

Today's high-tech world affords the opportunity for an abundance of free publicity that was never available before.  Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many other social networking sites give you the opportunity to shamelessly promote your show to a captive audience.  The problem with these sites is that your information is going out to people who already know you, so encourage your actors and crew to do their own posts and tweets.  That way you can garner publicity from people who might otherwise not be aware of your group or production.

Another shamelessly easy idea, especially if you are working with a summer day camp, is to get your students to promote the show to their friends, families and neighbors.  Have each of them type out a short letter that they can give out.  (See sample.)  Who can say no to the adorable 10-year old neighbor kid who’s ringing your bell and not even selling wrapping paper or cookies?!

There are also ways to promote your production through businesses and community events.  Table tents or posters can be used in local restaurants, and the local frozen yogurt shop will probably let you have a stack of flyers to give their customers.

If there is a July 4^th parade in your area, you can work with organizers to participate.  Get your actors to dress up and hand out fliers to parade goers.  If you are doing a musical, you can sing one of the musical numbers while marching.  (Just make sure to check with the publisher regarding appropriate royalties if you use music from a show.  Pioneer will let you do it at no charge since it’s promoting your show!)  The same will work for festivals, malls and sidewalk sales.  By getting some of your actors to be present in costume, you will generate a lot of interest.  You can also talk to festival organizers or mall management about setting up a booth to sell tickets.

Taking advantage of traditional media still ranks as some of the best free advertising available.  Yes, you can pay to advertise in the newspaper or on the radio and television, or you can use Public Service Announcements (PSAs) which are a great way to get your information out to the general public at no cost to you!

Start with writing a simple press release announcing your show, including the dates, times, location and ticket prices and sending this to the local papers.  The more local the paper, the better, especially if you live in a large city.  But don't stop there!  Contact the arts and entertainment editor of this paper to see about getting some type of feature article.  Think of an angle that you can use to capture the editor's interest, such as something special about one of your actors, community assistance that you are getting on the show (e.g.  an artist in the area is painting your backdrops or the local second-hand store is donating props) or donations you are collecting for a local charity in lieu of part of your ticket price.

Another way you can get free space in your newspaper is by creating a small, eye-catching PSA advertisement (no larger than one column wide by 1 or 2 inches long) and sending this as camera-ready artwork to the newspapers.  There's no guarantee it will get in, but editors love having small pieces like this that they can fill space with in a pinch.

To reach an even broader audience, radio is a great medium to use.  You can write and send in small 15-second and 30-second spots that can be used as air time filler.  Radio and TV stations are bound by FCC licensing regulations to provide a certain amount of community service programming each year.  Most fulfill this obligation through the use of PSAs, and many have community bulletin boards that they air regularly.  Don't be afraid to call your local stations and find out what is available.  If they have a morning news show, they might even be able to do an on-air feature with some of your cast, especially if you have a unique angle to promote.

Sure, all this takes a lot of time, but it doesn’t have to be done by you.  See if there are parents willing to volunteer their time (or office photocopier!)  to support your cause.  Or, have some of your actors with smaller roles make table tents or posters while you’re rehearsing scenes they aren’t in.  You can probably even find a college student home for the summer willing to put in 10-15 hours a week as an unpaid intern to get good experience and have something to put on their resume.

Remember, the more you publicize your production, the more support you’ll generate for the hard work you’re all putting in and the more likely you will be able to fill those seats!