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What I Discovered About “Rethinking” Theatre Marketing in a Pandemic

By Roger Gonzalez  

This past week, I spoke at the TRU (Theatre Resources Unlimited) annual Marketing panel. This is the second annual panel I’ve participated in, and I love that it forces me to rethink what new, hot marketing topics theatre marketers should be thinking about. But a year is a long time, and this year was remarkably life-changing. I don’t need to tell you about the pandemic, the recession, the quarantine, the stay at home, the racial unrest, the political upheaval, and generally the dozens of things that changed so dramatically in the past year. In fact, when TRU’s Bob Ost reached out to me, he was uncertain if there was anything new to really talk about, given that live-theatre was still vaguely in the future. But my feeling was, and is, that we can always talk marketing even when it seems that the whole world is on shut-down with no major changes in in the horizon. In fact, that’s the best time to talk. That’s exactly when you need marketing the most. So I said, yes, let’s do it, even if we don’t have all the answers, which maybe I don’t (don’t hate me for not having a crystal ball).

And just as we agreed to move forward, just a few weeks later, changes began unfolding. Within days, a few public press conferences, and announcements from government officials followed, and we learned that venues would indeed begin the opening process. For Off/Off and Off-Broadway, the dates seem to loom closer than the Fall 2021 dates being thrown around for Broadway. And on the day of the panel (March 25th), it was announced that theatre workers would soon be getting their vaccines. The conversation was all over social media, even though details were still mostly lacking. For me, the challenge was to talk on subject with what TRU described as the theme of their marketing panel for 2021: Rethinking Marketing Strategies to Reach the Wider Virtual Audience.

Rethinking. That word stood out for me. I literally sat down at my sofa one afternoon and started thinking, er, rethinking.

The more I thought about it, the more it occurred to me that  little had actually changed. Sure, performing live-theatre is going to be a major safety challenge as we reopen and  that won’t satisfy everyone. Audiences are still very much split on returning to live venues, with some saying they won’t return for some time, and others anxious to don a mask (or two) and sit in a theater and start watching anything.

A year ago, digital platforms like Zoom were unknown. Now everyone seems knows how to use it. Restaurants survive on takeout, retailers on e-commerce, and mask-wearing became political. So how is it possible that "little has changed,” you may ask? 

Allow me to explain.

As a marketing consultant, a producer, development consultant, publisher, actor, and stage-director working with hundreds of theatre companies, playwrights, and other marketers outside of the entertainment business, as well as being a college professor teaching marketing, the realization surprised even me. That’s because while the way we do marketing may have shifted,  marketing principles have not changed that much. After some “rethinking,” it occurred to me that if you apply five basic principles to your theatre marketing that existed a year ago to today’s approach, you will always have a better chance at succeeding than if you panic, complicate the process, and jump into a reactive mode of marketing. You still need a marketing plan and strategy. You just have to update it to accommodate all the external and internal changes that have happened. 

So, here they are. Give them the attention they merit, and spend time doing your own “rethinking.” And please, don’t hesitate to share or discuss. Here goes:

5 Things about your pre-pandemic Theatre Marketing that remain exactly the same one year later.

1. You still must offer a good product, meaning your show, event, or whatever you are presenting or trying to sell. Whether it’s a workshop, class, online course, online symposium, or conference, quality is paramount. Why would anyone want to pay anything (even if it’s free which involves investing your time) for a bad product? A playwright friend of mine says he hates Zooms and so do I...bad Zooms. Another playwright I know also hates Zooms and says she’ll wait for theatre to reopen. Bad idea. The reason we may hate Zooms is because they are not often well-executed. But if you set your mind to creating a great Zoom presentation, or even a better Zoom presentation than the other gal, then you are elevating the platform. To me, that’s worth it. Zooming is not live-theatre and never will be. But shit is shit, and gold is gold no matter what platter you serve it on. Sure, I prefer live theatre, but I’ve walked out of a few live shows in the past because they were awful. If you can provide good production values, great acting, excellent direction, and all the things that make a story worth seeing, people will see it and enjoy it. Give that some thought before you throw some actors together on a live-stream with shaky wifi reception, give them minimal direction, and a script that they can barely read, much less perform. Make your story, and story-telling as great as possible.

2. Find your audience(s). This is still the biggest challenge we face. Even before the pandemic, identifying, finding, and serving the right audience for your show was a mighty challenge. Getting them into the theater was even harder. But now you may find that you actually have some advantages on both the live and virtual platforms. Whereas live theatre restricts your audience to geographic limitations, virtual theatre can be enjoyed by anyone around the globe with access to wifi, a device, and a link. This means you can brand your work, your company or yourself, and build a following bigger than ever before. Last year, you might have been struggling to “put fannies in your seats,” a phrase I’ve always despised for being so narrow-minded. This year, the world is your oyster…identify your ideal audiences, talk to them, embrace them with the story behind the story, and present your product. It’s a different type of targeting, but the principle is the same. Identifying audiences is still a priority, but now the net is larger, requiring a slightly different angle of approach.

3. Figure out how to reach/engage those ideal audiences. If you’ve identified them, where are they? Are they in Facebook groups, on Instagram under a particular hashtag, on a certain website, or other platform? Can you identify that audience because they are following a certain influencer? And if so, what are some ways you can engage them in the conversation and generate interest in you, your theatre company, and your show, or event? Once you matched your product to the right audience, you must decide on the best way to reach those audiences and hook them. Post, talk, engage, and bring them into the fold. Make them life-long followers. You can choose to do it with no-cost organic posts, or low-cost email marketing, even paid advertising. You will need to determine what works best, and what you can afford. And remember, don’t always be selling...engage with stories, and conversations first. Repetitive selling is desperate and annoying. 

4. What does that audience would want or need that you can deliver. Why would they see your show? If you can put your finger on that want or need and deliver, you’ve won half the battle. That aspect has never changed. Maybe the need or want has changed, but your ability to connect and deliver is still the same challenge. Think about this, maybe your audience no longer wants to see your show live, but is willing to see it online. Maybe your show fulfills something that can only be delivered in a live show. It really depends on your ability to understand this challenging attribute. Follow that lead. Do your homework.

5. Deliver with a communications strategy that engages that specific audiences’ needs or wants. Make sure your message is clear and convincing. Make sure you begin communicating early enough to hook them when  you’re not selling. Then find the right way to communicate your message and proceed to deliver a good product.good product. To do this, you will need to think, plan, strategize, and execute. You need to start the process early...maybe even months or years before. Very importantly, you will need a new, updated marketing plan. (another article coming soon).

Sure, this still may not answer every question you have, but trust me, this is exactly where to start. Human nature hasn’t changed all that much, good story telling is still good story telling. Many little elements have changed, but at the core of all your theatre marketing, these simple 5 principles still apply today and tomorrow. Audiences may have also changed; how you deliver your show is now constantly evolving, ticket pricing could be reconsidered, the competition is different, casting, union requirements, safety issues, media coverage, and what we define as the theatre experience has undergone huge shifts. This is all true (Coming soon, we will touch on these subjects). But if you root yourself in sound marketing principles, the rest falls in line. 

Let’s get started here.

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The Do or Die of Choosing The Right Ticket Service for your Show.

Choosing the right ticket service for your theatre production is a key component of your success, not just for selling tickets, but building a following. We can’t cover it all here today, but these are some essentials to get you started.

Usually, producers fall into the easiest or best-known ticketing service they end up finding. If a show is in a theatre festival, or working with a venue that has an arrangement with a certain ticket service, then the choice is already made on your behalf. But for most theatre companies, self-producers, and limited engagement productions, choosing the right ticket service is often a step under-researched, or left for the last minute. That’s a mistake. Choosing the right service may be a “do or die” decision.

So what service should you choose for your production? Let’s explore just a few options and put the question out there for our readers to offer their best practices. Seriously, I want to hear from as many of you as possible! I want to hear about your experience with Brown Paper Tickets, Telecharge, Telemaster, OvationTix and any others you wish to share. So here we go…

The first consideration I suggest is flexibility. How flexible is your service in terms of selling “general admission” tickets as opposed to assign seating? Can your service handle numerous discount codes, group sales, or changes to the schedule? What fees if any are involved in making these changes and what is the level of difficulty in managing these changes?

For most ticket services, there will be a learning curve. But how much time do you have for learning, when you are already spending hours in actually dealing with the other production issues? Will someone be there to hold you hand?

When I first dealt with Brown Paper Tickets (at the behest of the venue I was using), I found the service to be a bit confusing. I entered everything wrong and only found out when I thought I had completed all the steps. This was discouraging, especially for a computer-savvy person like myself. But in a state of frustration and panic, I luckily discovered that BPT has great customer service. After one brief wait, they were able to jump in and immediately fix my mistakes.  With that done, I was able to start selling almost immediately. We were up and running almost immediately. I’ve since used them several times and for general admission Off-Off Broadway shows, or limited engagements, and they have more than fit the bill.

Another key consideration is cost and payment to producers. With most ticket services, the cost of purchasing a ticket is covered by the consumer (aka ticket buyer). Now this may sound like a good thing, but think of your audience. Can they afford the fee? Will the fee discourage them from early ticket purchases?  It’s a hard call to make, especially given the type of show and the cost of the tickets. With most ticket options, I find it best to reveal the online service charge right away, especially that the fee goes to the ticket vendor and not the production. We also always try to make it clear that some tickets will be made available at the box office for cash purchases. This too requires a little math. if you only accept cash at the door, that’s one thing, but if you use a credit card service like Squareup to allow credit card holders to purchase seats at the door, then now you’ll be the one paying the service fee. As a result, you may want to make early online ticket prices lower, and box-office purchase slightly higher to average out your actual net sales. One last thing regarding payments: always make sure to find out how well the tickets service keeps records of sales, and how quickly they send you your check.  For Brown Paper Tickets, payments come in shortly after a performance closes, but there seems to be no itemization of sales with those checks. Sometimes checks will even be for multiple performances without any explanation. This could create problems with your accounting, especially if you are trying to keep records on discounted sales and other discounted ticketing. If you are working through an established venue or festival and they handle your ticket sales, also ask them to clarify how and when you get paid. Cash flow is a big part of having a successful production. You don’t want a service that takes weeks to pay and holds the money. 

Our last consideration (for now, anyway) is marketing. Marketing should be in everything you do, and ticketing services often offer ways to reach their list of theatre ticket buyers utilizing their websites, third party services, and vast lists of emails that they collect from all the people buying tickets through their service. In some cases, these lists are substantial, in the hundreds of thousands. Some services may even be able to target geographically and or by types of past purchasing patterns. This can help create the perfect list for your show. But as great as this sounds, do understand that the cost for these email marketing services can be quite expensive. Before you choose the right service, do your homework and see if you will be able to take advantage of the list.

One way to research the email marketing is to sign up for their various email lists. Do it early in the pre-production process, and see for yourself what they send you months before you choose that or another service. Are the lists segmented? Do they come often, or sporadically? Are they cluttered or cleanly designed? Do they make the purchasing process easy and accessible? Call these services and find out what it costs to advertise and promote with them. Have this all ahead of time before you begin the process.

Been there, done that? Great! Please comment and tell us your good or bad experience with any of these services? We would love to know. There is greater power in sharing, and this open forum is a great place to begin. Be fair, be accurate, and share your experience with those looking to shop for the perfect service.

This blog is written and created by Roger Gonzalez.

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