Just for a moment, stop and think about all the time you’ve spent creating and perfecting your newest showcase: The brainstorming, pre-planning, and scheduling. The auditions, casting, and rehearsals. The chaos of tech week – and now, finally, show time! That’s days, weeks, even months of planning. So why should your marketing strategy be any different?
Indeed, the same care and attention should be given to the announcement and promotion of your show. After all, multiple touchpoints and reminders to patrons will help you grow awareness, increase buzz and general engagement with your theatre, and create a steady stream of ticket sales revenue. In short, promoting your show shouldn’t consist of a single email or social media announcement; it should be a structured, well-timed campaign to help you reach your ticket sales and engagement goals. On The Stage explores the benefits of a drip email campaign, as well as a few best practices to keep in mind when crafting your upcoming promotional strategies.
A drip email campaign, in its simplest form, is a type of marketing strategy where a series of pre-constructed messages are sent to people over time based on specific actions, behaviors, or time intervals. Like water dripping from a faucet, emails are sent out gradually, keeping your theatre top of mind and your audiences engaged and excited about your work … without spamming them. There are a variety of benefits to this type of marketing.
Instead of a single overwhelming e-blast, a drip campaign sends emails to existing and potential patrons based on their engagement or a specific timeline. This consistent messaging helps drive ticket sales steadily over time, ensuring that your box office sees sustained activity, not one-time or last-minute surges in activity.
Drip campaigns can be personalized based on previous attendance. This targeted marketing for an upcoming show makes emails more relevant and tailored, encouraging patrons to open the message, click the link, and buy the tickets.
By spreading content out instead of throwing all your promotional information into one email, you build hype and anticipation for your show and give your audiences compelling reasons to buy tickets not once, but over time. This helps with advanced ticketing and improved box office forecasting.
These emails can include direct links to your ticketing platform, making it easy for patrons to purchase tickets without needing to call your theatre or visit the box office. This, in turn, reduces staff burden during peak sales times and helps you focus on what matters: making great art.
Drip campaigns can follow up with established ticket buyers to offer discounts or promo codes for future shows, encourage the purchase of season ticket subscriptions, or solicit donations, building long-term theatre marketing success and a loyal patron base. Win-win-win!
The last thing you should be worrying about during tech week is filling the final seats of your theatre come showtime. Drip marketing campaigns include reminder emails close to show dates, pushing last-minute ticket sales to help fill seats and maximize box office revenue.
Digital marketing campaigns, especially via email, allow you to collect valuable data. For example, you can track opens, clicks, and conversions via drip email campaigns, which then provide valuable insights for theatre marketing. After reviewing the numbers, you can refine future marketing strategies based on which of your emails led to the highest conversion rates, helping you fine-tune for maximum success.
Understanding the benefits of email marketing is important – but so is perfecting that email sequence. The key is striking at the right times, and not oversaturating your messaging to the point of spam-levels (which can lead folks to unsubscribe from your emails and newsletters). If you aren’t sure how to structure your email sequencing, try the following:
Before tickets go on sale, let patrons know what to expect, and when to expect it. Offering a save-the-date or pre-announcement also lets patrons save up funds to purchase their tickets, increasing accessibility, and block off their weekend to ensure they’re able to make it. No conflicts, no problems!
Once tickets go on sale, make sure you’re letting everyone – and we mean everyone – know about it. Your email messaging should be concise yet thorough, explaining the logistics (where and when) while sharing the ticketing link and building buzz all in one fell swoop.
Ideally, you’ll already be running out of tickets when your show dates approach, but even if you aren’t, gently remind potential patrons that they haven’t yet purchased tickets to your (amazing, spectacular, mindblowing) showcase. Build upon urgency and let folks know that both time and tickets are running out. ‘Act fast,’ should be the name of the game in this message.
You’d be surprised how many folks you can grab with last-minute sales! After all, life is hectic – and people may have simply forgotten to finalize their purchases. If you’re struggling to sell out, now is also the time to utilize last-minute promo codes for those on the fence. Incentivize purchasing those last tickets!
As you start on your drip marketing journey, consider the following before messaging is sent out:
In short, combining cadence, strategic timing, precise audience segmentation and thoughtful personalization, your theatre marketing emails can boost your ticket sales, enhance your audience engagement and support the box office long-term.
Marketing your production shouldn’t be an afterthought – it should incur the same care and time as other aspects of your showcase. In short, a one-time announcement simply won’t do justice to the months of planning and creativity that go into creating your show! That’s where a strategic, thoughtfully executed drip email campaign becomes invaluable. By staying top of mind with your patrons through consistent, well-timed messaging, you not only increase ticket sales but also cultivate a more engaged and loyal audience. What more could you want?
It’s clear: A strong marketing strategy is key to your theatre’s success. But where to start? With On The Stage, of course! On The Stage offers an all-in-one platform designed specifically for the industry, with built-in marketing, audience segmentation capabilities, and automated drip campaign features, too. With OTS, you can create, schedule, and send targeted emails and promote your shows, drive ticket sales, and enhance engagement without lofty expenses or marketing expertise.
If you’re ready to build your next show announcement into an all-out campaign, partner with On The Stage today.