OCT
4

Marketing for Community and School Theatres

By Grey Pratt, Customer Service Rep, Pioneer Drama Service 

Grey Pratt has been involved in theatre for 16+ years, starting from when they were a small child.  Through the years, their participation has included acting, tech, directing, designing, writing, construction, and much more.  The theatre arts have a special place in Grey’s heart, and they invest themself in any facet they can, which has led to the exciting opportunity of being employed with Pioneer Drama. 

Promoting your play or musical can be a daunting task, but it is necessary — for more than just selling tickets.  A good marketing plan can help alleviate stress by attracting volunteers, packing your auditions to the brim with good actors, singers, and dancers, encouraging corporate sponsors, and most importantly, keeping your audience engaged in your theatre program — even between shows!

Of course, most community and school theatres have notoriously low budgets, which makes marketing tough.  We’ve compiled some ways to advertise a show and/or your theatre program for cheap, if not free!

The first thing you want to do is make sure that your internet presence is easily accessed and navigated.  Start with active social media accounts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, plus perhaps a regularly updated blog.  Make sure that if you have a website, it is up-to-date.  We also suggest having an e-newsletter available for your patrons to subscribe to so that they never miss a moment of what’s going on.  (Some email marketing platforms, like Mailchimp, are free up to a certain number of contacts.)  Work on your search engine optimization so local patrons will see you on common web browsers like Google or on apps like Yelp.  It’s all about making it easy for patrons to find you and to find out what’s going on!

Another thing you can do to raise awareness of your theatre program is to host events that invite the public to get a preview of what you’re up to.  Hold a theater workshop, a “sneak peek” dinner party, a backstage tour, or a rehearsal photo shoot.  Or, have your cast visit nearby schools, recreation centers, senior facilities, churches, or other public places.  Patrons love to feel like they are a part of your show and know “behind the scenes” secrets!  Any sort of event is a great way to make the fourth wall fade and bring your audience into your theatre.

Outside of advertising for yourself, reach out to others who can help you, starting with your local news outlets.  Contact your local newspaper, the student-run school paper, television news stations, and/or radio stations (don’t forget your local public radio affiliate).  You should also list your show in any local event calendars, with the local press, the local chamber of commerce, and/or local tourism organizations.  Submit cast photos or head shots for a cast announcement and take videos of rehearsals, set, costume pieces in the making, etc.

We also recommend partnering with a non-competing nearby business to develop a joint advertising campaign.  Is there a restaurant or frozen yogurt shop where you could together develop a promotion?  Create a flyer — perhaps with a discount offer — that promotes both of your businesses, so you both can hand them out to your patrons.  Imagine all the new traffic you could bring into your theatre if the fro-yo place handed out a “Show your receipt and get $2 off your theatre ticket price” flyer.  And they’d love to work with you because they get free advertising, too.  Now that’s a win-win!

All of this will help you before opening night, but that doesn’t mean your marketing stops there!  Host a red carpet event for opening night, offering VIP treatment to sponsors of the show.  Or consider hosting an opening-night afterparty.  For lots of fun, host a karaoke party!  The options are endless and no matter what you do, you’ll be making a permanent impression with both the actors and the audience, creating a community of supporters.

If you have money to spare in your budget (Ha!), you can invest in promotional items like posters, t-shirts, and pins (all available through Pioneer Drama), as well as banners, social media ads, professional photography, local news ads, or radio ads.  You can also invest in merchandise to sell to patrons after the show.  But whatever you do, make sure what you create is not just about the specific show, but also about the theatre.  If you’re investing in advertising, your goal is to create repeat customers who becomes loyal followers.

Put all of this together and you’ve got one powerhouse of a marketing plan!  Done well, marketing takes time, even without a budget, so hopefully you can delegate it to someone else.  But we hope you see that many of these ideas are cheap — or even free — and will help advertise to patrons both your show and your program, in the best way possible.  And again, be sure to keep your marketing active even when you don’t have a show in the works, so patrons stay engaged in your program and your doors remain open for sponsors and volunteers who want to offer support.  The arts you bring to your community are a special gift!  Make sure your audience base is broad and your marketing messaging is as loud as possible so all can share that gift.