While rewarding your loyal patrons and fostering relationships with those “regulars” is important for theatres around the globe, so is the need to reach beyond your existing patron base. Why? Because targeting new audiences is a great way to ensure your theatre’s longevity and higher overall engagement rates.
Marketing efforts to reach new audiences can be intimidating and complex – but they don’t have to be. On The Stage offers easy-to-enact ways to find new theatre audiences in 2025 and beyond.
It’s no secret that social media is one of a theatre’s most powerful marketing tools. As such, it’s time to wield that power in your efforts to find new audiences. Just a few of the many ways you can use these channels to find new potential patrons include:
Local businesses in your city or town can be a goldmine for potential new audience members. Alongside the networking perks of scoring new community partnerships, teaming up with local businesses opens the door to making their customers your new audience members.
Consider partnering up with companies whose products complement your offerings and mission. By linking up with businesses in the creative arts, you have a higher likelihood of their patrons being interested in what you have to offer. Additionally, teaming up with like-minded folks makes joint marketing efforts more manageable and cohesive. Remember – other businesses don’t have to be your competition; they can be your allies!
Speaking of competition, why not link up with other local theatres in your area to up your engagement and find new patrons? Consider cross-promotion efforts or a joint show to maximize revenue and enhance the creative journey.
If there aren’t many similar community theatres in your area, you can tap educational theatre programs near you instead or in tandem. Teaming up with school programs has myriad benefits, including:
We know it to be true: Everyone loves a great deal. You can capitalize on this universal truth by enacting special promotions to broaden your audience and reach underrepresented groups.
Consider offering a first-time discount for new patrons. This incentivizes a ticket purchase. After that, all you have to do is dazzle the patron with an outstanding performance, and they’ll surely turn into a season ticket holder!
Or, let’s say you’ve looked at the data and realized most of your patrons are within a specific age range. Offering special promotions that target potential patrons of a certain age – like senior or student discounts – will encourage a broader range of audience members at your show. To widen your net, you can also offer discounts to specific professions, like healthcare workers. The sky’s the limit.
Some may roll their eyes at the idea of an “influencer,” but you can’t argue that they wield a lot of power – especially in smaller communities. That said, tapping the influencers in your community to help spread the word about your theatre and drum up engagement is an excellent avenue for targeting new audiences.
Pro Tip: When choosing influencers to partner with, ensure their content, mission, and values align with you and your theatre. You don’t want to hitch your wagon to someone who has a ton of followers but posts content you’re not comfortable with or don’t back on a moral level.
Word-of-mouth advertising can be the most effective marketing work for your theatre. Why? Because people trust their friends and family – and if those trusted people recommend something, a new patron is far more likely to lean into that suggestion than they would from a recommendation from a stranger.
That said, encourage your patrons to hype you up in person and on social media. For social media marketing posts, have patrons tag your theatre or use a specific hashtag to drum up engagement.
Another way to target new audiences and incentivize attendance is by offering a referral program. In this instance, your loyal patrons are rewarded for bringing new audience members, and new audience members are rewarded for visiting your theatre. The better the perks, the more referrals you’ll likely see rolling through your doors.
If your theatre has the time and bandwidth, staging pop-up performances is a great way to generate buzz for your theatre, hone your acting and organizational skills, dabble with experimental theatre, and have a great time with your cast and crew.
Scope out unique spots to perform – like parks, public spaces, or unconventional private venues. Ensure the space is OK with your team being there and that you’ll see enough foot traffic to make the endeavor worthwhile. Then, see the engagement, social media followers, and ticket purchases roll in!
Previews are popular because they generate excitement for a future performance. To hook new audience members, offer free or heavily discounted previews of an upcoming show. This tactic has a two-fold benefit. Firstly, you’re enticing new audience members to buy tickets to your full show. Secondly, you’re helping your cast and crew prepare for opening night and allowing them to perform to an audience earlier than anticipated. Win-win!
If you’re looking for extra guidance on tapping into new markets and gaining new audience members, On The Stage can help. On The Stage empowers thousands of organizations with ticketing, box office, marketing, fundraising, and reporting tools in one robust platform – for free. Just a few of the perks of partnering with On The Stage include:
If you’re ready to reach new audiences and elevate your theatre experience, book a personalized demo with On The Stage today.