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Check out their FAQ page for more!
Stay tuned as we feature more useful online services for the arts.
(or… How we got over ourselves, experimented in web marketing and sold out 3 out of 5 performances at Rogue 2007)
by Marcel Nunis
(independent playwright/director/producer)
(reprinted from theatrejnerique.com)
EDITOR’S NOTE: We have included this article under the B.I.T.S. (Butts In The Seats) section. To read the first part of this series.. click HERE & HERE.
Mind you, even though the intent was to Create excitement (or at least intrigue) with the creation of a brand new play there was really no “diabolical” plan on how this would be accomplished. So, everything was just one step beyond the “willy nilly” stage. What would be the “hook”… apart from the fact that it was a new play? It was 4 months from “premiering” at Rogue 2007… and a completed play didn’t even exist yet.
Epiphany: You can’t sell a product that doesn’t exist!
Then… BOOM… one morning (after a 4 week drag) there was a sudden burst of creative energy in play writing. Within 7 days the play (at least the first draft) was completed. I can only guess that my creative doodling with the video helped unblock me.
*The success of our “art” has always been dependent on “buzz”.
So, now I had a product. (Yeah, chide me for calling it that… but ultimately, if you are selling tickets to a show… you have a product.) Now the promotional thrust began to take shape. 2 words came into play AWARENESS & INTRIGUE.
LET US BEGIN WITH AWARENESS
The show had been cast by this point (3 months and counting) and workshop readings were underway. I had asked the cast to post about their experience as the process of creation was taking place… warts and all! (The workshop and rehearsal process turned out to be a “love fest” but that’s beside the point… if things got challenging and ugly they had the freedom to blog about it.) Though it did take a while… the cast did finally warm up to the idea.
Blogging
Theatre J’Nerique has had a website since the late 90’s. It was pretty much a “static” site that operated as an electronic billbord of sorts. Since we hadn’t produced for a while all the “news” there was at least 3 years old.
Adding a blog to it (which is really easy to do) made the site a lot more interactive and immediate. The fact that readers can comment also gave the potential audience member a direct buy-in into the show. * The idea is that if you follow something long enough… you’ll want to catch the “final product.”
(* All “art” is the skillful craft of manipulating thought and emotion.)
Poster
A poster had already been created for the show. (2 and a half months before.) Instead of limiting it to just a “hard” print form… a digital form was also created and placed on our blog. Readers were actively encouraged to “steal it” for their own blogs or sites.
MySpacing
I had my own MySpace account that I never paid much attention to. I didn’t much care for their blog format (Blogger and Wordpress seemed more accessible and immediate) and it always seemed like more of a “dating network for a 13 year old mentality”. On the plus side… everyone and his uncle has one and it seemed a great way to send out bulletins to a “captive audience”… if for nothing else maybe a way to get more readers hooked on to the blog at the company site.
The “target audience :
a. the usual suspects (local theatre nerds)
“Friending” target A:
Start with your friends in theatre… then move to “harvest” their friends. (Chances are they are into theatre themselves.)
b. a brand new audience.
“Friending” target B:
Hit “locals” (within a 50 mile radius) who are involved in other disciplines of the arts – poets, musicians, etc. (You’ll be amazed how many of those in the other disciplines have never been to theatre… this gives them the perfect reason to check it out.)
Then, just about anyone (within a 50 mile radius) that would respond to your request to “add” them. The rationale was that if only 20 percent of your “friends” took notice of you… that’s 20 percent more than you had before.
“Other” Sources:
Apart from MySpace bulletins… articles and notices were also posted in local “citizen journalism” e-zines and email forums from time to time informing of something “interesting” was occurring at our site. (BTW… owning our own domain provided a central and easy to remember location for people to check in to see what was happening at their own convenience.)
Video:
During the workshop period it was also decided that another VIDEO should be produced and posted. This brought even more immediacy to the awareness that “something exciting” was brewing and in the works.
AWARENESS COMPLETE
Two months before mounting the show our site was averaging 200-300 hits a day. All of this was successful in creating “intrigue” and an audience “buy-in” for the show.
As we got closer and closer to mounting the show a promotional VIDEO was produced which was sent out on bulletins on MySpace.
AND IN THE END…
… our run at the 2007 Rogue was a success. Through the buzz we had created via various means we sold out 3 of the 5 performances that were slotted to us. Plus good audience reviews also helped.
We didn’t have to sell our souls either… all we did was pour in an equal amount of energy and creativity into creating buzz as we did into creating our show.
TALE END – marketing a new play!(or… How we got over ourselves, experimented in web marketing and sold out 3 out of 5 performances at Rogue 2007)
by Marcel Nunis
EDITOR’S NOTE: B.I.T.S. = Butts In The Seats. To read the first part of this series… CLICK HERE! BTW these principles can be applied to ANY form of Arts marketing.
As a creator of new works it used to frustrate me to no end that theatre companies would not even look at a new piece unless it had already been produced. So, in the 1990’s I formed my own production company. Well, that solved that problem… sort of.
Over the years as an independent producer I learned that one has to wear hat upon hat in order to be effective in the real world of the arts. This is also crucial to make the arts part of the real world. I, at first reluctantly had to learn skills which (shudder) was not part of my craft. (Come on… just let me write… that’s all I wanna do!) In time, I got over it and embraced those other skills (graphic & web design, etc) as part and parcel of my chosen gig.
FAST FORWARD… to the Fall of 2006. I was writing my first new play in 5 years. I had come head on up against a mutha of a creative wall in the writing. While waiting for that engine to be jump started again, I decided to begin marketing the not yet completed new work. (This is a trick that I have employed for years. It’s called “PUT YOUR BIG FOOT IN YOUR BIG MOUTH SO YOU HAVE TO DELIVER THE GOODS!”) Works like a charm every time… at least where completing the piece is concerned.
sidebar: I had read somewhere that playwrights are notorious for doing this. British playwright Alan Ackbourn would actually book a London theater for a run just to force himself to write the damn play.
OPEN MOUTH… INSERT FOOT
I had already begun blogging about my frustrations on my personal blog… this post is an example. I decided that (to really motivate myself with the possibility of grand humiliation) I would go full bore and blog about it on the theatre company site. I had recently redesigned the company site (adding a blog to it) and figured that at least our stalwart supporters would find reading about the “process” mildly interesting.
I had also recently acquired some great video editing software (don’t ask how… for lists of free software click here) and decided to teach myself this new skill. So, with a borrowed DV camera I produced THIS VIDEO and uploaded it to Daily Motion and YouTube. I also embedded the video on the company site. All this cost me was the investment of time (2 days.) Surely this would create tons of interest in this brand new (and not yet completed) project.
::crickets chirping::
OK… we hadn’t produced a show in a while (3 years to be exact)… so, a total of 7 regular readers to our site saw the video in the first week… and a couple of curious YouTubers. It was time for a strategy.
STRATEGY – creating a promotional thrust.
I didn’t just want to hook in the usual suspects (theatre nerds) but also perhaps bring in a BRAND NEW audience to my (yet completed show) that was slated to be mounted at the 2007 Rogue Festival in March. (If you are shooting for grand humiliation… go big, I say.) So, I devised a promotion strategy.
sidebar: In so doing I was reminded of this… Every discipline of the arts is a medium of communication.”
Anyway, this is what I came up with:
Create excitement (or at least intrigue) with the creation of a brand new play!! (Note: The exclamation points… this generally means “create excitement”… at least I was excited by this. BTW… if you are not excited about your own “product”… don’t expect anyone else to be.)
How Would I Accomplish This? The Internet. (Afterall, not everyone is surfing for porn… you’re reading this, right?) This “new media” has hardly been tapped by the arts community (at least effectively)… if nothing else, this would be a worthy (and affordable) experiment.
TOOLS I WOULD USE…
BLOGGING: From the standpoint of a potential audience the interactive nature of blogging provides a personal “buy in” to a project. (Come on… how many of us buy those “special edition” DVD’s just to watch those “making of” mini features before actually watching the main feature?) So, in effect I was using this tool to give readers a “making of” as it was happening and creating a personal “insiders scoop” to the show.
MYSPACE: Everyone has one these days and it’s a great way to “harvest” potential audience through “friending” and to send out bulletins to broadcast what is happening. (UPDATE: I have since switched to Facebook.)
VIDEOS: With the rise of YouTube the potential grows to create “promotional videos” the way the “big guys” do. Everyone loves visuals… especially if they move.
LOCAL E-ZINES: In Fresno (where we are located) there is a great “citizen journalism” site (that is now owned by the local paper) called FresnoFamous.com where anyone can post articles or blog.
EMAIL DIGEST OR NEWS LETTERS: Again in Fresno (where we still are located) one exist called Mindhub.org that many in the “creative class” subscribe to. (Talk about a potential audience!)
I was still creatively blocked where the actual writing of the play was concerned… so why not exercise my creativity elsewhere? (Really, I didn’t even have a title for the play yet.) The choice was between dawdling and picking my nose or perhaps jump start (and perhaps get unblocked) by exercising those muscles in another area of communication.
Find out how it worked in the third and final part on this site.
So, you are in the Arts (musician, visual artist, theatre group, dance company, etc…) … you want a presence on the net… you are a novice… you are not sure where to start.
“Darn, this is scary! What is CODE or URL or… or… ” It all seems like a daunting task, right? Wait, take a deep breath.
Let us begin with this…
WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR PRESENCE ON THE WEB TO DO?
Now, here are some start-up tips that range from free to affordable.
NOW WHAT DO YOU DO?
Get A Website – The Free Way!
(yeah, we realize we are cutting our own throats by giving you this information… but this site is a designed as a resource… and we’re hoping you will go the “affordable” routes listed below and become happy and loyal customers of Jungle Webs.)
What you should have regardless…
GET YOUR OWN WEBSITE – THE AFFORDABLE WAY
(Sure, it’s a pitch… but also the main reason NOT to look “cheap” to potential audience members.)
Buy Your Own Domain – This really creates a presence! A potential audience member will look at www.yourdomain.com and instantly realize you are serious (and totally for-real) in your art. Plus, it’s a lot easier to remember than something off a free server like http://yourname.somefreewebsite.com. See the logic here? On top of that… buying your own domain costs under $10 a year and comes with TONS OF FREEBIES!
Buy Affordable Hosting – This opens up even more options to your presence on the web. Plus it puts you in control of the image you want to present. Affordable? Yep… our generous and reliable hosting plans start under $5 a month!
Do The Math - here at Jungle Webs it only comes up to $5.51 a month for an entire year! That includes your own domain (www.yourname.com) and economy hosting (our plan gives you a hefty 10 gigs of apace).
How is that for affordable?
MARKETING of THEATRE & THE ARTS
(or… the Internet – it’s not just for porn anymore)
As a playwright, director and producer in the theatre I was plagued for years with these nightmare questions:
Let us first admit to our own sins. Yes, there does exist a snotty “holier than thou” attitude in the world of the arts. We roll our eyes over a marketing budget and campaigns. We protest with excuses like… “That’s going to cost too much!” or “This show is brilliant enough to sell itself!” Then we capitulate “within reason” insisting on “traditional arts marketing” (posters, flyers and press releases) and exercise care not to “go overboard and compromise our art” through “aggressive and crass” commercialization.
Our show opens and performances are barely selling a third of the house with audience members made up mostly of family, friends and “supporters”. Our show eventually closes and we are relieved that it broke even.
In the meantime, another company’s show opens. We hear the first weekend is bringing in “sold out” crowds. We turn up the second weekend to “support our comrades” only to be met with lines wrapped around the block. In fact, we are one of 30 people turned away at that performance.
We envy their success (never admitting it outwardly) and inevitably discuss (gossip) in hushed tones about the “pedestrian quality” of THAT show while drowning our sorrows at the local bar without having even seen it yet.
The discussion eventually descends into moaning about “the death of theatre” and how the mediums of film, TV and videos are destroying the communal shared experience of “live” performance.
Let us take a few steps back, shall we? Perhaps we need to be reminded of several important factors concerning the craft we are engaged in. This cuts across the board… whether we practice theatre as a hobby, armature, professional, or student. These factors concern ANY level of theatre including, academic, community, dinner, repertory, fringe, independent, profit or non-profit. In fact, many of these factors also apply to almost any discipline in the arts.
FACTOR 1- Every discipline of the arts is a medium of communication.
Through our various mediums we utilize creativity to communicate… stories, ideas, issues, etc. Our mediums are dependent on an audience to communicate these ideas to.
CONCEPT: Without an audience… our “art” does not exist.
Just because we rehearsed our show for 4 to 6 weeks does not mean anybody is going to turn up to experience it unless they are aware that it is happening. This is where the next level of “communication” comes into play through effective marketing and creating a buzz.
FACTOR 2 - The success of our “art” has always been dependent on “buzz”.
It can be argued that “showbiz” as we know it today was invented by The Bard and his peers over 400 years ago.
CONCEPT: SHOW-BIZ is is 2 words and equal attention needs to be paid to both!
I’m even willing to bet that in the earliest recorded history of western theatre, buzz was a major factor in getting the word out for a show.
DIOMEDES: We really have to check out that new play at the Theatre of Dionysis!
KADMOS: What’s it about?
DIOMEDES: A guy who kills his father and marries his mother. Totally scandalous!
KADMOS: Yeah, everyone at the market is talking about it! That wacky Sophocles… what will he think of next?!
I will argue that until 40 to 50 years ago, practitioners in the arts were always on the cutting edge of marketing. Until the early 60’s many of the “hit” songs on radio were show-tunes from Broadway shows (which in turn helped sell those shows at the theater box-office).
Then a malaise set in and there seemed to be a collective rise in the “victim” attitude all around. It is true that the popularity of film and TV diminished the box-office returns of “live” theatre. Plus, trends and tastes in music were changing, show-tunes began to lose it’s popular voice and it became expensive to advertise in the (then) new media.
So, do we roll over and play dead or do we pick ourselves up and exercise creativity developing new methods with a brand new affordable medium (hint: the Internet) that puts everyone on a level playing field?
FACTOR 3 - All “art” is the skillful craft of manipulating thought and emotion.
A playwright does it through the structure of plot and design of language. The director does it by conceptualizing an emphasis that he/she wants to explore in the work and communicating it to his/her cast and crew. The actor does it through the physical control of his or her instrument. Designers (set, lighting and sound) do it through the cunning arrangement in their areas of stagecraft.
Let’s face it… there is a lot of creativity and innovation involved in creating our “product”. Shouldn’t the same energy and emphasis be given to selling it?
FACTOR 4 – At least 90 percent of those “great plays” we learn about in theatre history did great box-office!
Sure, there were some that were “closet masterpieces”, flops or were “just ahead of their time” but most of them were successes at the box-office. (Some of those “ahead of their time” flops came back to do boffo box-office.)
Even “great works” have to be effectively marketed to create a buzz to get B.I.T.S. Then, the strength of the show (product) further amps up the buzz to create more “sold out” shows. Really folks, “Death Of A Salesman” (a serious non-musical drama) that “American theatre classic” did good box-office.
Perhaps all of us in the theatre (and in the arts in general) need to rethink how we market our craft. I truly believe that a new day is emerging. The novelty of movies, TV and videos have reached a plateau. Audiences are ready to get out again and partake in “live” performance once more. Theatre can become a vital (and profitable) medium again. It really does not matter the style of theatre you engage in… it can all be vital once more.
We just have to put aside our stuffy attitudes and fears and strike out to once more become innovators. Not just within our craft (and the products we create) but also in marketing them. Perhaps if we are willing to learn once more we can take note of the techniques utilized by our brethren in rock and roll, film, etc and pounce on the new affordable media like the Internet which is capable of reaching out to a new audience.
Our choice is to rise from the embers or to diminish into the ash of irrelevancy.
Watch for more on this site!
