Communications
Formerly the Marketing section, this area now covers both internal and external communications. From newsletters to publicity, find everything you need to stay informed and connected.
Websites
Having a central online presence is not only useful for your audience, it’s an important way to legitimize your company or your work as an artist. Websites play a huge role in the visibility of you and your company within the performing arts, and also give potential audiences an insight to what you do. Websites have become more necessary than ever for every type of business, and this holds true for even the smallest of theatre companies. The good news is, it’s never been easier to get a website of your own.
Publicity
“If you build it, they will come,” may have worked in Field of Dreams (1989) but theatre audiences generally don’t go to see shows if they don’t know they are happening. Not only do you have to build the production, but you also need to tell people about it. An effective publicity strategy or campaign is how you reach media and audiences.
Media Release
Also known as a Press Release, this is a tool that you send directly to the media to inform them of all the key details of your production. There are many different styles and approaches to formatting a Media Release/Press Release, but the essential information to communicate is more or less the same.
Publicity Schedule
If you do not have room in your budget to hire a publicist, there are many different ways you can build a publicity schedule for yourself.
Social Media
These platforms are social, so it's helpful to design your content with engagement in mind. Rather than thinking of social media as a place to simply broadcast information, how can you invite members of your online community to like, comment, share, and interact with you and others around your online presence? Can you ask questions? Encourage discussion? Incentivize engagement? All of these are important to keep in mind while creating and planning your social media content.
Newsletters and eBlasts
A newsletter (or e-blast) is a structured form of correspondence sent to a bulk of email addresses. It can be a useful tool for you to communicate with your existing audience base. That base might be a mailing list you’ve accumulated from ticket buyers to past shows, or a core group of family/friends who support your work.
Promotional Kits
A promo kit (short for promotional kit) is essential for creating and driving buzz during the lead-up to your performance. Some people use the terms ‘press kit’ and ‘promo kit’ interchangeably; the main difference being that the former refers to content going out directly to media outlets for distribution, while the latter refers to all distribution channels (including, but not limited to media outlets). 'Media Kit' is another term often used to refer to the content going out to media outlets.
Marketing Strategy
A marketing strategy is simply a road map of specific ways and methods you will use to promote your show and/or organization. Just as a blueprint is used by architects to illustrate their building plans, a good marketing strategy will allow you to illustrate how you will effectively communicate with audiences that will come out to see and benefit from your performance. Let’s take a look at creating a basic strategy.
Advertising
It may be self-explanatory since we see hundreds of ads every day, but it’s important to note the difference between advertising and publicity. Unlike publicity, advertising is what you say about yourself as opposed to what other people say about you. This means that advertising is often (but not always) something you have to pay for. While many independent theatre production budgets are small, depending on your resources and the needs of your project, certain kind of advertising may be helpful and accessible for you.
Event Listings
Event listings can be a great way to let the public know about your event. Some listings are paid, or are only available to those with paid memberships, some may ask you to create an account with their site, and others may have no cost or account associated with them at all. Most news outlets have some sort of event listing, whether that be online or in print. Because of the high volume of submissions to listings, most outlets have specific ways they ask people to submit their information.
Talkbacks
A talkback is an opportunity for the community to literally "talk back" in response to the art. Ideally, both the artists involved and the audience are able to engage in the conversation. This can be programmed as an add-on event to a performance/exhibition, or you may choose to schedule it separately from your showing times.
Feedback Forms & Surveys
Feedback forms, or audience surveys, are a great way of engaging your community and learning how you can better serve your audience at any point of the process.