Shows
The Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 73: Janice Hibbard Discovers What Works To Market Her Show From the Ground UpIf you ever feel like arts marketing is something that only an expert can tackle, this episode is for you. I’ll be the first to admit there are very smart people who have a thorough understanding of how to build an audience. A few of them like Alli Houseworth and Matt Lehrman have been guests on this podcast, but what can regular folks do to move the marketing needle?
If you don’t have the resources and pedigree of someone like that at your disposal, do you just give up? Of course not. You experiment and just...2015-09-1651 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 72: Promoting In a Fringe Festival As an Out-Of-TownerThe Indy Fringe Festival starts up this week. There are a lot of shows that I’ve been hearing about for weeks now, and some of them really have me chomping at the bit to see them.
The kicker here for someone in Tim’s position, though, is: all of the shows I’ve been hearing so much about are local. The IndyFringe is roughly 50% local shows and 50% acts from out of town. (In fact I saw on the Fringe line up that Tim is going to be here, so I know exactly what kind of hurdle he’s f...2015-08-1111 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 71: Shara Ashley Zeiger Shares the Secrets to Selling Out Her Extended Off-Broadway RunIt feels very appropriate to have Shara Ashley Zeiger as my guest on the Sold Out Run podcast because in this episode we talk about her recent… sold out run. In fact it was an extended run that sold out, and she was kind enough to share a little about how the all the various ingredients – including promotion – came together in that production to generate all that success.
If her voice sounds familiar, you might recognize her from her online radio show The Shara Ashley Show or from some her commercial voice over work. In this episode of the...2015-05-2037 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 70: How Ken Davenport Tests and Why This Broadway Producer Is Jealous of Regional TheatresA few weeks ago, I got a notice through Twitter that someone mentioned me in a tweet. That’s not at all unusual, that happens fairly regularly. But what was unusual was that I was mentioned by Ken Davenport.
I’m guessing many of you listening recognize that name, but in case you don’t he’s a Tony award winning Broadway producer whose credits include Kinky Boots, The Bridges of Madison County, Macbeth starring Alan Cumming, Blithe Spirit starring Angela Lansbury. He’s one of the co-founders of TEDxBroadway. Combined, Ken’s productions have grossed more than $100 mil...2015-05-1333 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 69: Why William Rader Got Into the Online Ticket Space and What You Can Get Out Of ItYou’re probably already familiar with some of the major players in the online ticket space. Vendini. Brown Paper Tickets. My guest today is William Rader, and none of the available ticket services were doing exactly what he wanted them to do. So he got to work creating one that did.
WellAttended is the name of his service, and he’s going to tell you more about it in this episode. My intent in bringing William on to have this conversation is not to tell you you have to use WellAttended.
What I do hope you’...2015-04-2838 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 68: Thom Britton Talks About Failing To Plan For SuccessThom Britton reached out to me recently to talk about a problem that is usually overlooked here at Sold Out Run. Almost everything I create here is about growing your audience larger and larger. The assumption is that we always want more people.
Well, after many years of dedication Thom and his cohorts at Danger Circus have the opposite problem: more people wanting to see the show than they can accommodate. So Thom graciously agreed to come on to talk about what sort of problems they’re dealing with today, and because I just couldn’t let him...2015-04-1650 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 67: Arts Journalists Tell You How To Send Them Press ReleasesA few weeks back I wrote a post on the blog about exactly when I send press releases to media outlets, and what I say when I’m reaching out to them.
Almost immediately after I hit publish on that post, I started wondering how actual arts journalists would grade this approach. I know a few here in Indianapolis, so I sent out a few emails asking these people who are on the receiving end of all these press releases if they would be game to leave a comment with their take. And several of them did....2015-04-0321 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 66: Krista Layfield Manages a Theatre That Exists Exclusively Inside a Parent OrganizationI had the pleasure a little over a year ago of appearing in a show at the Lilly Theatre here in Indianapolis, which is a theatre that is contained within The Children’s Museum – a very large, well-respected… children’s museum… here in Indianapolis. It was a great experience for me as an actor, and one of the many pleasures was meeting Krista Layfield.
She is the theatre manager of the Lilly Theatre, and in no small part due to her involvement, it was one of the most professional, tightest run productions I’ve ever been a part of. Bec...2015-03-1031 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 65: What Show Sponsors Get and How Much Money That’s WorthThis episode I want to talk about a question that was sent in by a listener. (Thanks, Jaco!) He asks about what to offer… he calls them investors, I use the word sponsors a lot… but these people that give you some money for the purposes of putting on a show. What can you offer in exchange for that money, and how do you figure out how much it’s worth?
In this episode:
I hit on several ideas in this episode for things you can offer a sponsor in exchange for their financial investment in the...2015-02-2526 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 64: Excerpts From the Big List of Theatre Marketing TacticsIf you’re new to Sold Out Run, I make a marketing calendar available to download for free on the website. It’s a spreadsheet that lets you plan out when all the marketing activity for a show needs to be done. You can see how all the pieces fit together in one place, and make sure that you aren’t forgetting anything.
The next step is to customize that calendar. Some of the basic tactics shown there won’t apply, and there’s other tactics you’ll want to add.
I created a big list with ov...2015-02-1016 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 63: Kelly Gualdoni Talks About What Theatres Can Learn About Marketing From the Corporate Marketing WorldKelly and I come from the same school of thought in marketing: tell a story. And that’s not the only lesson she brings from her corporate marketing experience into the world of promoting theatre.
In this episode:
what theatres could be learning from “corporate” marketing – it involves knowing who you’re audience is and how to reach them
how to define success on Facebook – anyone can be active on Facebook, but how do you know if the time your spending is getting you anywhere?
even your target audience needs to see your message more than once – conventio...2014-12-1838 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 62: How To Promote Subscriptions and Keep Current SubscribersSeason subscriptions are great for you, but are they great for your audience? The key to gaining and keeping subscribers is to make sure you provide them with something they feel is well worth their financial investment. Notice I didn’t say you need to provide them with something you feel is worth their financial investment.
In this episode:
are traditional subscriptions dead – yes, but who says you have to be traditional? Here are some alternate subscription offerings to consider
finding out what your audience values – you know what I’m going to say here, ri...2014-10-2118 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 61: Joni Lambert Customizes My Marketing Calendar Template to Fit Her Show and Gets Press CoverageJoni Lambert is not a marketing expert. She’s an artist who wanted to promote her show. With a little online searching she stumbled upon Sold Out Run, and that led her to completely sell out her show more than a week before she opened. I wanted to know how she approached her marketing, and I’m guessing you might, too.
In this episode:
why Facebook didn’t work for her – I mention Facebook a lot here on Sold Out Run, but as Joni’s experience shows every audience is different. No single marketing tactic is r...2014-10-0224 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 60: Curtis Shepard On His Experience Finding an Audience As a Stranger In TownA mutual friend introduced me to Curtis Shepard, and I’m very glad she did. Fringe festivals area a hectic time, and without that introduction I might not have made it out to see Curtis’s show Unmasked. (That’s marketing lesson #1.)
Curtis is a thoughful, articulate guy who doesn’t have a big marketing machine behind him. That makes him a fantastic candidate to bring on the podcast and talk about how he approaches promoting a show in a town where no one knows his name.
In this episode:
promoting a debut –...2014-09-0333 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 59: Bob Harbin On Casting Your Production Team and Picking Up the Phone To Find an AudienceIn just a handful of years Bob has earned a reputation for consistently putting on quality productions, and the crowds that his shows draw are a testament to that. I wanted to bring him on and pick his brain about how he approaches finding the audience for each show.
In this episode:
casting more than your cast – just as you look for how the actors in a show are going to work together, you also need to look at how the members of your production team (including marketing) are going to work together
power of th...2014-08-2049 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 58: Katie Angel On Educating Your Audience On Your Art Form Before You Start DifferentiatingI wanted to bring Katie on the show because a lot of people in the general public have misconceptions about what her productions (burlesque) entail. This presents unique marketing challenges, and we dig into how Katie tackles these.
Extra bonus this episode: In the comments below I invite you to share the bravest thing you’ve seen someone do on stage. On 9/3 I’ll be selecting one commenter at random to call and chat with for 30 minutes. You’ll get to pick my brain about theatre marketing in general or whatever production you are currently promot...2014-08-0639 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 57: What’s the Best Way To Use Flyers?I have a great listener question in this episode. Joni shares that booking agents she’s worked with swear up and down by using flyers to promote shows. She’s running into legal issues and wants to know what’s the right way to use them. The short answer is I think flyers can be a fantastic promotional tool, although I’m not a fan of how most people use them. I share my thoughts, and of course if you have a theatre marketing question of your own you can ask it here.
In this episode:2014-07-2311 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 56: Dave Levett Talks About How Even the Smallest Theatre Can Get Meaningful Data About Its AudienceI was spending some time poking around Twitter on the subject of theatre marketing, and I came across Lollipop Marketing. They are an agency out of London with roots in Sydney, and I convinced founder Dave Levett to talk with me about what he’s figured out so far about marketing theatre. We ended up diving into some great tactics and tools that theatres can use to start collecting demographic and psychographic information about their audience – and put it to use.
In this episode:
theatre marketing at different sizes of theatres – the volume of theatre i...2014-07-0146 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 55: How Detailed Should Your Marketing Calendar BeI talk a lot at Sold Out Run about the importance of having a marketing calendar for your theatre productions. (At least if you care about people seeing them.) But what goes on it? You can download the template I use and start making changes, but how far do you need to go with those changes?
The 10-second answer is to make it as detailed as you need to. The 15-minute answer is this episode of the podcast.
In this episode:
do you need a calendar – usually the answer is yes because the...2014-06-1015 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 54: Should You Use Discount Services Like Groupon and Goldstar To Move TicketsSome very successful discount aggregating services have popped up over the last few years, and they offer an interesting outlet to reach a new audience for your shows. As you might imagine there are both pros and cons to working with them, so when you balance all those out are these services a good solution to selling tickets?
In this episode:
what’s a discount service – when your own marketing efforts aren’t enough to fill your seats, a discount service can reach a different group of people by distributing discounted versions of you...2014-05-2016 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 53: Why Taking the Time To Brainstorm Your Marketing With Outsiders Is Worth ItI have a production coming up in about 5 months that I’m promoting, and this past weekend was the brainstorming session to start dreaming up ways to market it. I got a lot of fresh ideas and energy from the conversation, largely because I had the chance to bounce around ideas with people that I’ve never talked to about marketing before. While it’s fresh in my mind, I wanted to record a podcast episode about why I think a good brainstorming session is so productive for your theatre marketing and a few tips on setting up the meetin...2014-05-1331 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 52: Dominic D’Andrea On the Insights Gained While Bringing a Festival To a Town (or Twenty) Where You Don’t Know AnyoneIf you haven’t heard of the One-Minute Play Festival before, please allow this episode to serve as a humble introduction. My guest is producing artistic director and founder, Dominic D’Andrea, who talks about the value that the festival brings to each local host city as well as the larger community.
In this episode:
why a festival like this matters – entertaining your local community is always valuable, but the structure of this event provides a unique insight into the issues each community is wrestling with
promoting an event from a far – not surpr...2014-04-2932 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 51: Chad Woodward and Claire Wilcher From ComedySportz Talk About Promoting a Show That Never Closes and Fighting To Be Seen As TheatreOne of the challenges in marketing a theatre production is that we’re usually on a limited run. As soon as you start to learn which message and tactics are really connecting with the right audience, it’s time to move on to the next show. ComedySportz is an improv comedy show that runs continuously year round, and I bring Chad and Claire on to talk about what’s the same and what’s different about how they promote their shows.
In this episode:
the best tactics to promote an ongoing show – is probably...2014-04-2234 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 50: Raquel Richardson Brings Her Professional Marketing Expertise to the World of Theatre and Talks About Connecting With IndividualsIt was an absolute delight to once again share the mic with my long-time podcasting compatriot. Way back in 2012 Raquel Richardson and I were the regular hosts of the now retired Marketing Brainpower podcast. Raquel is one of the sharpest marketing minds I’ve ever met, and in this episode I convince her to apply her broad marketing wisdom to the very specific field of theatre.
In this episode:
what’s working in marketing – content is still your best bet, and advanced media forms like video and podcasting are making a splash
actual...2014-04-1538 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 49: Beth Williams of AUP Talks About What She Took Away From the Open Book Project and Which Tactics She Used to Successfully Promote Her Latest ShowAt the end of last year I did a series of blog posts where I chronicled the process of promoting a show at a small professional theatre as it was happening. I called it the Open Book Project, and I went into great detail about my thoughts and conclusions from the process. In this episode I bring on Beth Williams from the theatre that participated in the project to find out what she took away – and how the marketing went for their latest show.
In this episode:
the best takeaway from the Open Bo...2014-04-0734 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 48: The Myth of Market SaturationBased on the responses I’ve been getting from readers here at Sold Out Run, there are a lot of people who are looking around their community and concluding that there are more theatres than their market can comfortably support. How do you thrive as a theatre company when there just aren’t enough people in your area to fill the seats?
I thought maybe this phenomenon was just happening in Indianapolis, but I’m getting emails from people (even from other countries) that are painting a picture very similar to what we have here. There’...2014-03-3122 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 47: Promoting Your Show on Facebook – Events vs. PagesPreviously I’ve shared on Sold Out Run how powerful Facebook events are. Although there are still a lot of things that creating an event can offer, it isn’t quite as powerful as it used to be. Status updates on your event used to appear to everyone who had been invited to the event – whether they had responded or not.
That is not the case today, and the battle between events and pages isn’t quite so one-sided anymore.
In this episode:
how events are different than pages – events are similar...2014-03-1729 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 46: Georgeanna Smith of NoExit Performance on Capturing the Interest of the Local Press and Building Relationships Within the Arts CommunityNoExit Performance is an Indianapolis-base theatre company that has been mentioned by several previous guests of the podcast. The company has experienced some remarkable growth in recent years, largely because they have been so successful communicating their voice to the community. Local arts writers consistently look to NoExit to see what they are doing.
Georgeanna Smith, the company’s artistic director, lets me pick her brain to try to figure out how all that has happened.
In this episode:
organizational hierarchy – what works for artistic creation and what works for busi...2014-03-1043 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 45: Don’t Lose Ticket Sales To Promotion FatigueEver see a movie trailer so many times that you actually got sick of it? The first few times it seemed interesting, but after too many viewings you wouldn’t have gone to that movie if they paid you. That’s promotion fatigue, and you want to avoid making people feel that way with the marketing you are doing with your show.
Thanks to Joel for his email that inspired me to talk about this subject. He’s in a community with 20 amateur theatres all vying to serve a population of 50,000. Your exact numbers may be dif...2014-03-0324 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 44: Catherine Cardwell On Group Sales and the Differences Between Marketing an Established Theatre Versus a Young TheatreIn this episode I welcome Catherine Cardwell. I’m excited to bring her on because of the variety of perspectives she has in promoting theatre. By day she handles group sales and season tickets for Indiana Repertory Theatre, and by night she wears a few dozen hats as a cofounder of EclecticPond Theatre Company.
In this episode:
how big do you need to be for group sales – on day one of a new theatre company you’ve got other fish to fry, but at what point are you big enough to start dedicat...2014-02-2435 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 043: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Free TicketsGiving away free tickets can be a polarizing topic. Most (although not all) theatres would prefer to be selling all of their tickets, but when does it make sense to give away a complimentary ticket?
I’m not focusing in this episode on press passes (always good) or providing comps for your cast and crew (an operational issue – not marketing). I’m talking about giving away tickets to people in your local community with the objective of growing your audience.
The real problem with giving away tickets is that it has the potential to dev...2014-02-1730 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 042: Anatomy of a Press ReleaseA good press release is going to make life as easy as possible for the journalists you are inviting to cover your production. There are some standard practices for the type of information that needs to be included as well as how the release should be formatted.
I am not a journalist. I am not an editor. My degree was not in journalism. I don’t want to imply that I am giving you the best or only way to put together your press releases. I’m just sharing what works based on my personal expe...2014-02-1025 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 041: Kayla HulenIn this episode I pick the brain of Kayla Hulen, the social media general behind the sold out run of Footlite Musical’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Not content with the already sizable time commitment of stage managing, she jumped in and started engaging in the online conversations about the production. (She’s a professional marketer by day.)
In this episode:
what theatre can learn from “business” marketing – the right technology allows you to engage with people and quickly build a community
how to reach beyond the local theatre community –...2014-02-0334 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 040: Promoting a Well-Known ShowProducing a well-established show can make your job as a marketer easier, but it’s not guaranteed. You’re automatically alienating a contingent who believes they’ve already seen everything anyone could do with this show – a group who make up some of the most frequent theatre goers in your community. Some of them are also the linchpins for your local word-of-mouth.
In this episode:
make the show unique – their are clever ways to keep the script intact, but present the material in a way that no one has seen before
create scarcity wi...2014-01-2720 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 039: How Much Should Marketing Affect Show Selection?Being able to promote a show (or choosing one that’s so popular it doesn’t require much sophisticated marketing) isn’t the only consideration when selecting a show. There are artistic and logistic concerns, but usually we want an audience to come see our productions. Instead of picking a good show and hoping for the best, it’s worth understanding in broad terms what it will take to promote the show so you can make an educated decision about what you can expect when you put that show on the stage.
In this episode:
...2014-01-1315 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 038: Jessica ReddenJessica Redden is an account executive in the events and entertainment division of Bohlsen Group. Jessica is the type of person you would be working with if you had a significant PR budget for your production, and she was kind enough to answer a few questions about media outreach. From her bio on the Bohlsen Group website:
Her proficiency in media relations has garnered national coverage for clients by CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal and others internationally.
In this episode:
why it’s hard to do PR...2014-01-0622 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 037: Thomas CardwellIn addition to a charming British accent, Tom brings his experience with theatre both in the UK and the states to the podcast. In particular I wanted to bring Tom on as a guest because EclecticPond Theatre Company is bringing Shakespeare to a new, younger audience. That’s a topic that seems to be of particular interest to a lot of the Sold Out Run audience.
After we finished recording, Tom apologized for straying from a strict discussion of marketing a few times during our call and venturing into more creative aspects of theatre. I as...2013-12-3053 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 036: Goals That Set You Up To FailAt this time of year, it’s useful to reflect on how things have gone over the last 12 months and what you’d like to change moving forward. Usually this takes the form of setting goals for the coming year. That type of striving to improve can be good, but if you aren’t careful about the goals you set you’re inviting failure and frustration.
The good news: it’s easy to fix.
In this episode:
the trouble with most goals – why so many typical goals are going to leave you gn...2013-12-1928 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 035: Following Best Practices Could Kill YouI sincerely hope that I’ve said at least one thing on Sold Out Run that you don’t agree with. I’ve shared a lot of strategic and tactical ideas on theatre promotion, and I hope you embrace no more than 90% of what I suggest. If everyone is following the same best practices, then we all start to look the same. That is death to both your arts community and your particular organization.
There was no episode last week because of the U.S. holiday Thanksgiving. In the spirit of that holiday, I want to ext...2013-12-0522 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 034: How To Get the Theatre Marketing Help You Need When You Need ItThanks in large part to the Internet there’s more information about theatre marketing out there then you could ever hope to incorporate into you own promotions. So how do you navigate that ocean of data for the bits that are going to help you out with your particular marketing challenges?
In this episode:
addressing your immediate concerns – you can’t take action on every marketing tip at once, so how do you get the ones that will be most helpful to where you are with your marketing plan
get the right depth...2013-11-2236 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 033: How To Wrap Up Your Theatre Marketing CampaignOver the course of a theatre marketing campaign you develop a lot of material and hopefully a few insights about promoting a show. Don’t let all of that hard work just fade away. If you are intentional about how you wind down this project, you can capture the fruits of your labor so they will be easy to tap into when you’re marketing future productions.
In this episode:
archiving your digital assets – the right way to make sure you can easily access your marketing materials and insights when you need them la...2013-11-1427 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 032: Filling Up Your Audience’s BucketThink of your audience’s desire to see your show as an empty bucket. Each time they see your poster, here an ad on the radio, or see a rehearsal photo on Facebook a few more drops go into that bucket. When the bucket is full, they will buy a ticket. But how much marketing do you need to do to fill up someone’s bucket. The answer is different for everyone, but with a little organization you can get a pretty good estimate.
In part of this episode I walk through a worksheet that help...2013-11-0728 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 031: How To Prioritize Your Marketing ActivitiesMarketing would be easy if you had unlimited time and unlimited money. You could implement every marketing tactic for each of your productions and know that you had literally done everything you could to promote your show. Unfortunately no one in theatre marketing (or any other kind of marketing) has either unlimited time or unlimited money. You’re only able to focus on a small fraction of the available promotional strategies on each production – and how do you choose?
In this episode:
which tactics to prioritize – the short answer is the ones that w...2013-10-3131 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 030: Repurposing ContentVery popular with traditional businesses – especially online – repurposing content is the practice of taking really great promotions that you’ve created and modifying them to be used again in slightly different ways. You don’t have to start from scratch, but you’re just making some adjustments and edits to tailor the content for a particular audience and channel. It can save you a bunch of time and create compelling marketing pieces, but when done wrong it can drive people away.
In this episode:
what is repurposing content – what it looks like and how it’s...2013-10-2436 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 029: What Presales Mean To Your MarketingPresales are great for cash flow, but they can also make your life a lot easier as a marketer. Strong presales can be both a powerful marketing tactic and a critical source of information about your audience.
In this episode:
social proof – how social proof is powerful before your show opens (and why we need it as a society)
what elements lead to strong presales – the people, venue, and story can all fuel your presales
seeding conversations – the people spreading word of mouth aren’t professional marketers and need all the help you can g...2013-10-1720 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 028: What to Measure Besides Ticket SalesMany theatre companies use ticket sales as their primary (and something only) metric of success. It’s critical as a financial and operational number, but it doesn’t give a very nuanced picture of how you are meeting any objectives you have to create a meaningful relationship with your audience – which can be critical to long term success in the performing arts. What else can you be measuring to make sure you are headed in the right direction?
A recent email from a follower of Sold Out Run had a few questions about proving that an org...2013-10-1037 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 027: Marketing Your PromotionsYou need promotions that are interesting and creative enough that even people who are not interested in buying a ticket to your show will talk about your promotions. That can take the form of contests, special appearances, creative sourcing of costumes and set pieces, or anything else that stands out as a novel way to let people know about your production.
I share in this episode that I’m exploring the idea of introducing some smaller products. Reaching a New Audience is a fantastic solution for anyone who wants some help coming up wit...2013-10-0331 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 026: Alli HouseworthI’m very lucky to have Alli Houseworth as a guest on this episode of the podcast. She’s worked on promoting productions both from within a theatre company and as an outside specialist through her consultancy Method 121. Her Digital Lobby Enhancement work with the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has been covered in the Washington Post. She teaches on arts marketing and technology at both Columbia University and American University.
I took a lot of notes from this episode. I feel like Alli brought a nice balance of talking about general ideas that apply...2013-09-2644 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 025: Finding the Niche Audience For Your ShowIt’s easy to say that you should seek out those individuals who will feel like your show was written to speak to them personally. The people who resonate with this production in particular on a level deeper than just appreciating good theatre are your niche audience. They will love being in the audience and go on to become advocates for your production. But how do you start with just a script and a list of showtimes, and figure out who makes up your niche audience?
Briefly in this episode I mention that I’m...2013-09-1926 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 024: Marketing AuditionsPromoting our performances is obviously critical to success in theatre, but it’s also important to know how to marketing your auditions. Auditions can be crucial to getting good talent, but there utility doesn’t stop there. In this episode of the podcast I talk about why and how to make a splash with your auditions.
The inspiration for this episode was an email from a reader who is having challenges getting a turnout for auditions. After recording this episode I also noticed on the theatre’s website that their audition notice includes a full rehear...2013-09-1232 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 023: Shoshana FanizzaThere are many reasons I’m pleased to welcome Shoshana Fanizza to the podcast. One is that she started her own company, Audience Development Specialists, that she has been running since 2008. Another is that she champions the idea of developing a relationship with the right audience as opposed to just selling a ticket. Perhaps most importantly, though, Shoshana comes at the idea of connecting with your audience from a completely different angle than I do.
In this episode I also briefly touch on a concern that reader Caleob brought up. His theatre company does not ha...2013-09-0533 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 022: Bill WilkisonBill Wilkison is nothing if not an artistic renaissance man. He is an actor, director, writer, and genuinely kind and generous human being. One of the reasons I was so eager to get Bill on the podcast is because he’s also a talented visual artist. He is sought after in the Indianapolis area for his ability as an artist both with set pieces and promotional material.
Bill shares some great insights in this episode. I particularly loved the fact that someone who creates great posters dreads the idea of going out and trying to pu...2013-08-2938 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 021: Marketing Observations At FringeA Fringe festival is an interesting microcosm of the theatre world. Everything happens on a compressed timeline in a restricted geographic area, and you can gain some interesting insights by observing how people behave. I’m recording and publishing this episode smack in the middle of the 2013 IndyFringe Festival, and this is what I’ve observed.
Good marketing requires knowing what your audience is looking for and creating an offer that caters to that need. A Fringe audience wants to see something they couldn’t see elsewhere. Assuming you deliver that on stage, how do you con...2013-08-2223 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 020: Lou HarryIt is a delight to have Lou Harry in this episode of the podcast. He made me laugh out loud repeatedly while we were recording, but beyond just being entertaining he also has some unique insight on theatre and the arts in general. He wears the hats of both a playwright and an arts critic.
And while I don’t know if he would use these words to describe himself, after talking to him in this episode I see him as an activist for the arts. He endeavors to (and succeeds at) creating and consuming valuable art. He...2013-08-1535 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 019: Calls to Action – Beyond the “Buy Tickets Now”Recently I got a comment on a previous post from a gentleman by the name of Matt McKee that caught my attention. In the comment he mentioned the line, “What do you want the audience to do after they see the poster / card / image / whatever?” I liked that question so much that I wanted to dedicate an episode of the podcast to it.
Buying tickets to the show is the ideal action, of course, but what if someone isn’t ready to make that level of commitment, yet? What can you do to make a connection with this pe...2013-08-0841 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 018: Stages of the Entertainment Marketing MindsetWhen you are producing a show, it can feel like there’s an enormous about of work to do. There’s just so much to try to get your arms around. Marketing might be the last thing you want to worry about, but I contend that a huge key to the success of your promotions is how you approach marketing in general. How do you feel about marketing your shows?
In this episode I talk about 5 stages of the marketing mindset and how to move through them. You can move from hoping that if you build it they...2013-08-0134 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 017: How To Deal With Overwhelm In Theatre MarketingThere comes a time in the life cycle of promoting a show when time is at a premium. It seems like there are more marketing tasks than you could ever hope to accomplish. So much is happening at a break-neck pace that it’s easy to understand why you feel completely overwhelmed. In this episode I talk about how to slow things down, and get a handle on your theatre marketing.
The results of the podcast format poll are in. I asked if you preferred the episodes where I bring in a guest and talk ab...2013-07-2536 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 016: How To Delegate Theatre Marketing TasksThe only thing worse than trying to handle all of the promotion for a show yourself, is to delegate it to other people – only to see the ball get dropped. Selecting talented people is only part of a successful delegation. You also need to have them working on the right things with the right set of expectations.
When I originally started preparing this episode, it was going to be a comprehensive overview of strategies to cope with the overwhelming prospect of promoting a show. There are so many things you can and should be doing, tr...2013-07-1835 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 015: Hope BaughI’m very pleased to welcome Hope Baugh to the podcast. It’s not just because she’s delightful to talk to. (She is.) Hope provides a perspective that we as promoters of live theatre desperately need to understand. What makes someone decide to write a review of live theatre? Since it’s impossible to see every show, how does this person decide which shows to attend? Perhaps most importantly, how should you invite them to your production?
Hope is a devout fan of live theatre. Her blog, Indy Theatre Habit, includes reviews of local producti...2013-07-1147 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 014: Scott CramtonScott Cramton runs the Murder Mystery Co., providing both public and private interactive improv performances across the U.S. Over the last dozen years he’s had the opportunity to experiment with marketing and advertising options to figure out approaches that work extremely well… and a few that might bankrupt you.
At the end of the interview, I ask Scott to share some of the biggest wastes of marketing money he’s seen over the years. He had several, and the insights that this conversation opens up around advertising in general are very helpful to keep i...2013-07-0442 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 013: Casey RossThis week I welcome writer, actor, director, and producer Casey Ross. We talk primarily in the episode about her role as a writer and how wearing that hat affects her thoughts on marketing. Casey is a Fringe veteran and we talk a little bit about her upcoming show and the approach she’s taking to promote it.
Thanks to everyone who has liked the Sold Out Run Facebook page. My personal Facebook friends are now outnumbered there by people who only know me through this blog and podcast. When viewed as a microcosm of how Sol...2013-06-2727 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 012: You Don’t Know What Will ResonateMuch like you can get a few laugh lines when you weren’t expecting during a performance, you may very well find that you’ll get reactions to different marketing tactics that are better or worse than you expect. That doesn’t mean you throw your hands up and swear off marketing. It just means you don’t want the entire marketing campaign for your show to hinge on a single promotion. Just like you wouldn’t want your entire production to live or die on the audience having a specific reaction to a single line.
If you c...2013-06-2018 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 011: Zach RosingZach Rosing brings his multimedia experience to the podcast. We talk about what it takes to make a good promotional video. Production value – the sound quality and lighting – do have a big impact on how your video will be received, but it is not the most important ingredient in an effective video to market your show.
This episode is a little longer than normal, but I don’t think anyone will mind because the information just keeps getting better and better as the episode rolls along. One of my main takeaways from the show is that y...2013-06-1343 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 010: How To Recognize When To Change Your Marketing TacticsWe all fall into that rut. We find a few good marketing tactics like posters and emailing cast announcements then decide that we’re going to stick with them forever. They probably even work – but not was well as they once did. And not as well as another tactic might. So how do you know when you should pull the plug on an old favorite marketing tactic? In this episode I talk about the indications that let me know I needed to update a major marketing component of Sold Out Run.
I also want to ment...2013-06-0526 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 009: Doug PowersI’ve been anticipating this episode because I’ve been promising that it’s coming to readers and listeners who are looking for help promoting a show that deals with unpleasant subject matter. Shows that aren’t necessarily easy to watch can be a tough sell, but sometimes that’s the art we most need to create and the art that most needs to be seen. If that’s the position you find yourself in, how do you promote that show? This is the challenge that Doug took on when he directed a very weighty production of William Mastrosimone’s Extremities...2013-05-2927 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 008: Marketing at a Fringe Festival (Part 2 of 2)As the title implies, this is the second episode of a two-part podcast where I walk-through the approach I took when promoting a show at the 2012 IndyFringe Festival. The show was very successful at the box office. In the last episode I talked about the marketing approach, including what channels (blog, Facebook, etc.) we wanted to use.
In this episode I get into some of the specific tactics we used to achieve that steady content drip that is so key to successful promotion.
I’ve provided the slides that I used in the pr...2013-05-2233 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 007: Marketing at a Fringe Festival (Part 1 of 2)Being part of any theatre festival is a fantastic opportunity to get exposure to new audiences. The people attending these festivals are clearly interested in discovering new performing arts options in their city. When you get accepted into a festival it would be so easy to relax on your marketing efforts because the festival itself is going to bring you all kinds of foot traffic, but you still need to get those people walking past to stop and watch your show.
Putting a store in a busy mall guarantees that people will be walking past the front...2013-05-1523 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 006: Matt LehrmanMatt Lehrman has been thinking about arts marketing at a very high level for quite a few years. I first came across him a few weeks ago when he was presenting his Audiences Everywhere workshop in Indianapolis. What stood out to me about Matt is that he isn’t content to accept empty seats. He views them as the enemy.
On one level or another, all of us who are involved in theatre marketing feel the same way, but we often slip into the trap of viewing them as an enemy we can never hope to defeat. I h...2013-05-0825 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 005: Brian AtkinsonA few years ago I met Brian Atkinson at a meeting for a production company where we both served on the advisory board. The expertise he brought to the table was in the area of design. He’s been teaching design for almost 20 years, and like so many great teachers he also gets out of the classroom and rolls up his sleeves. He does professional graphic design, including the art for several very successfully marketed stage productions. I wanted to get him on the podcast to demystify the process of working with a professional designer to promote your show....2013-05-0120 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 004: Theatre For Fun and ProfitI’m going solo in this episode of the podcast, talking about money. It’s always bothered me that so many theatres and acting companies (often those that put fantastic work up on the stage) do such a bad job of operating as a business. Just like any other business we are creating a product that people pay for, and we should have every expectation of operating at a profit.
I listened to this podcast after recording it, and I have to admit: I ramble a little bit here. Part of that is because I do g...2013-04-2417 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 003: Lori RaffelA Nice Family Gathering is a show I did back in early 2011, and it was momentous for a few reasons. It was the first time I acted on stage in Indianapolis, the first time I had a leading role in a non-musical production, and the first exposure I had to Lori Raffel. She was the producer for this show (as well as the creative director of the theatre). I got to know Lori even better last year when I appeared in a show that she directed.
Her well-rounded theatre skill set doesn’t end there, though. I to...2013-04-1733 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 002: Ken KlingenmeierActor, director, and theatre blogger, Ken Klingenmeier was kind enough to talk with me about some of his observations about theatre marketing. I met Ken a few years ago, and he is one of the people I tapped for input when I first started putting together Reaching a New Audience.
I mention at the beginning of this podcast that Sold Out Run is undergoing a redesign. Between recording this episode and posting it, the new design launched. I describe the feature allowing you to ask questions in the new design – just change all the verb te...2013-04-1027 minThe Sold Out Run Podcast: Theatre Marketing / PromotionsSOR 001: The First EpisodeI couldn’t be more excited to be releasing the first episode of the Sold Out Run podcast. This is a project that has been months (really years) in the making. I’m still jumping through hoops to get the podcast listed in podcast directories such as iTunes, but the first episode is available for your listening pleasure right now:
In this episode:
What to expect from future episodes of this podcast – short, informal episodes centered around interviews and my take on certain theatre marketing topics
What brought me here – what prompted me to begin blog...2013-03-2716 min