A common goal among theatremakers is simple: ensure the largest possible audience is viewing your work. However, getting more eyes on your content and more people in your theatre seats can be tough, which is why having a theatre marketing strategy is crucial for organizations of all sizes; and that strategy should include a robust online motion.
Through an array of online marketing strategies, you’ll be able to boost ticket sales quickly, ensuring that you’re hitting your objectives, hosting sold-out shows, and keeping patrons and staffers happy all year round.
Take some time in the near future to scan over your theatre’s website or show site. Ask yourself if it’s representing your work well and if it’s doing everything it can to help you and your team sell tickets. If the answer is no, it’s time to revamp.
A website worth its salt should have the following:
Your website is often your patron’s first impression of your theatre – so it should be up-to-date and well-designed.
Before implementing any targeted ad campaigns, you’ll need to take a step back and truly understand your audience and their behaviors.
Utilizing data from previous ticket purchases, social media insights, post-show surveys, and person-to-person communications can help you better understand who is visiting your theatre. Once you know who you’re talking to, you can create content that truly resonates with them. Additionally, knowing your audience can help you learn where you might be lacking, helping you implement new strategies to gain the attention and patronage of specific demographics.
Pro Tip: Targeting the audience you want is key to gaining and retaining patrons. You can do just that with OTS’ Custom Fields and List Segmentation. Add Custom Fields in Patron Profiles, saving key information about patrons to use for later theatre marketing strategies. This way, you can keep track of birthdays, anniversaries, a patron’s favorite types of productions, likes/dislikes, and other personal details to create personalized and unforgettable experiences.
Keeping a consistent online visual brand is key to gaining more patrons and selling more tickets. This should be implemented with visuals across the board, from your theatre’s general logo to posters and marketing materials for every show you do, along with typefaces in programs, signage, and the like.
In short, consistency leads to pattern formation, meaning patrons can more easily spot your theatre among ag strategies. Familiarity is key; a sea of marketing leads new and existing patrons to click on your content first.
In the dynamic world of theatre, you have endless content to promote on social media. Whether that’s your dynamic show posters, behind-the-scenes footage of tech week, interviews with cast and crew, or educational material for theatre lovers, make sure you’re consistently pushing your content on all your social media platforms.
Consistent and quality content will help you increase engagement and gain followers. More followers mean a greater potential for selling more tickets.
We mentioned earlier that any great website has a convenient and seamless ticketing platform. You’re far more likely to boost your digital ticket sales if your site isn’t clunky or hard to navigate. Some important components to consider when updating your ticketing website include:
Regarding promo codes, enticing deals are always a great idea when you aim to sell more tickets to more people.
Consider timely and tempting promotions—like a percentage of prices for your first 100 patrons or specific discount deals on slower performance days. Additionally, encourage larger Average Order Values by promoting bundle deals for those who either buy season ticket passes or large orders to a specific show.
Your email subscribers can be a major asset to your theatre, so make sure you communicate with them clearly, concisely, and consistently.
Ensure you’re enacting automated email marketing on key days or time periods – long before tickets are on sale, during the sales, and after. Creating this type of automation path will help reassure new audience members about the caliber of your communication while maintaining key relationships with existing patrons – keeping your organization top of mind for all.
No matter your marketing objectives, a partner in the fight can make it all the more manageable. That’s where On The Stage (OTS) can help.
With the OTS Marketing and Promotional Suite, you can:
So, what are you waiting for? Book a personalized demo with On The Stage today.