Don’t skip the foreplay

For our production of BONNIE & CLYDE, we had Bonnie’s costume made and shot these photos two months in advance of opening. The show was a huge success. And hella sexy.

The title of this post is just good advice in general, but here’s how it relates to marketing:

Sometimes people approach me wondering if I can help them spike ticket sales a few days before opening, or once a show has already opened. And while there are sometimes ways to do it (mostly at that point it’s about sharing word of mouth), there’s very little I or anyone can do. And while it’s not always the case, the people who ask me what they can do tend to have one thing in common: There’s been very little lead time in their marketing efforts.

Your marketing plan for any show, particularly one that is new or lesser-known, will benefit from a significant buildup and hype leading up to it. The last thing you want is to start your marketing too late.

Essentially, it’s like foreplay. The buildup adds to the fun. It adds anticipation, excitement, and a sense of focus on the main event. Marketing adds a similar amount of focus and encourages your audience to look forward (with different body parts…I hope).

I start posting about our shows 9–12 months in advance of our productions. And yes, if we have more than one production coming up in that period, which we usually do, I attempt to give the same amount of lead time to each production.

“What? That’s crazy!” you say. While it may sound extreme, it works. Music Theatre of Madison’s shows that had significant lead time had the most successful box office returns. And not by a narrow margin. Unless you are a theatre with a devoted base who comes to everything you do, or your subscribers took up all the seats months ago, you have to plan ahead.

How do you do this? Once again, it’s time to harness the power of the internet!

Social media is our best tool for building excitement. We are frequently told that word of mouth is the best marketing tool available to us, right? Now ask yourself: How many of your Facebook friends or Twitter followers do you actually see in person?

If you start using social media several months or even a year in advance, people a) know that the show is happening b) begin to build a familiarity with what it’s about c) start to plan ahead, and d) know that YOU as an organization are excited about it and working to make it great.

This, I realize, means organizational foresight that some companies don’t have. That’s a bigger issue, but one that, I have to say, will only help you if you can manage to acquire it. Perhaps by thinking about marketing your pieces ahead of time, you can begin to think about the other elements that put a show in place. In other words, work backwards.

Here are a few ideas that I’ve used that have been successful in building anticipation and the proverbial “buzz” about a show:

• Have a graphic and web page ready well in advance of the event. The website should have a date when tickets will be available and/or a link to where to purchase them, a description, and links to places that you can learn more about the playwright(s), content, and ideas behind the piece.
  An example: www.mtmadison.com/lizzie (my theatre company) or www.newlinetheatre.com, a company I’ve followed for many years whose brilliant Artistic Director does extensive research to help his artists’ and his audiences’ understanding of the piece.
• Set a Google alert about other productions of the play, the subject matter, the playwright, and/or the ideas the play is focused on. When an article comes up, post it and remind people about your show. Everyone should know what the show is about long before they even consider buying tickets to it.
• Post photos and bios for your cast members as far in advance as possible, both on the website and on your social media pages.
• Create rehearsal videos and photographs and share them with informative captions and context.
• Make time for publicity photos. This will allow you to have a photo ready available for press, and will paint an advance picture of the show for your audiences.

One of my favorite publicity photos for MTM. Also hella sexy.

These things not only create buzz, they ultimately enhance the audience’s experience.

Important: If not shared, social media posts will only reach your immediate followers. So get your cast, crew, board members, friends, and creative team on board to hit that share button.

Warning! Warning! These types of posts don’t count unless they are accompanied by the more focused strategies above:

Come to the show! It is so good!

Get your tickets before they sell out!

This cast is amazing!

(You can add minimal effectiveness to the above posts by using photos…minimal.)

The Bottom Line

Building lead time and helping your audience understand the experience can mitigate last minute ticket panic. You are responsible for telling a story in your marketing. If ticket sales are low, there could be a variety of reasons, but we (and yes, I too have had the low ticket sales panic) have to ask ourselves: Have we been telling the story and providing adequate information for our audiences in advance? Have we taken every opportunity to make sure that our followers and friends understand what is familiar and appealing about this piece?

Just like foreplay doesn’t guarantee good sex, lead time doesn’t guarantee great ticket sales. But the odds of success go up significantly.