Advice on Performance Arts Center Marketing

[sammyg1043]

I'm a college graduate who has been dabbling with internet marketing for the past 2 years. I recently got a job as a marketing coordinator at a performance arts center for my college. That means I'll be the head of marketing for the performance arts center (they never had the position and felt it could help with ticket sales).

All in all its actually a pretty damn good theater that hosts unique shows and some popular artists in their respective genres. But most of the shows are also niche like ukranian orchestra, bollywood show or a salsa music with an artist mainly known by older puerto ricans.

I have developed several strategies that I plan to implement to increase ticket sales but am still looking for unique ways to reach more people and sell more tickets. Some strategies I have are handing out flyers in communities pertaining to the the show's culture (go to ukranian community for ukranian show). Hand out flyers after a similar show. Liven up the facebook account cause it is really dead and even use facebook ads to target people who are interested in things pertaining to the show im promoting.

I have some others but would really like to hear what ideas you guys may have in mind. Thanks

 

[The Magician]

Instead of handing out flyers, which will take a lot of time, I'd advise you find small businesses in the community and ask if you can put some flyers at their point of sale. You'll save a lot of time.

You're right that facebook ads would be a great benefit. You can make them crazy targeted, so it's great for niche shows.

You may also be able to find local facebook groups dedicated to culture groups (like, Los Angeles Ukrainian community, or Indians in Texas, stuff like that) which you could post to.

I'd suggest you fully utilise social media, not just facebook, start building a twitter and instagram. You can use massplanner to grow all the accounts.

Make sure you start building an emailing list. That's crucial, and hopefully they already have one. Have a seperate one for people who are just interested in the centre, and who have actually attended a show.

I'd probably also start a blog so you have constant content to disseminate through social media and search results. You'll also be able to do SEO for the blog and gain some more traffic.

Meetup.com could also work depending on what you're advertising.

 

[sammyg1043]

Instead of handing out flyers, which will take a lot of time, I'd advise you find small businesses in the community and ask if you can put some flyers at their point of sale. You'll save a lot of time.

You're right that facebook ads would be a great benefit. You can make them crazy targeted, so it's great for niche shows.

You may also be able to find local facebook groups dedicated to culture groups (like, Los Angeles Ukrainian community, or Indians in Texas, stuff like that) which you could post to.

I'd suggest you fully utilise social media, not just facebook, start building a twitter and instagram. You can use massplanner to grow all the accounts.

Make sure you start building an emailing list. That's crucial, and hopefully they already have one. Have a seperate one for people who are just interested in the centre, and who have actually attended a show.

I'd probably also start a blog so you have constant content to disseminate through social media and search results. You'll also be able to do SEO for the blog and gain some more traffic.

Meetup.com could also work depending on what you're advertising.

Great advice man! Thanks a lot man. I'll talk to the director and see if she'd be willing to invest in that. But the budget is super tight so I doubt it. I'd rather convince her for Facebook ads campaigns. And of course Facebook groups! Can't believe I forgot about that, it would be a great place to target people.
I am planning to make an instagram for it. They don't even have one! The content would be rather challenging. They only have 2-3 shows a month so I've to find a way to keep followers engaged. Possibly a theme... quotes or clips of best performances ever. Something like that. Or unique cultural performances as well (since one of our center's theme is diversity). It would probably be wise to make a twitter as well.

The center does have a emailing list. I will look more into it once I start and see how the email campaigns are done.

The blog idea is a phenomenal idea! Didn't think of that as well. Something this venue does is rent out for events. It's a vital part of the business so I can do seo so that more people looking to rent out of space for a show or event in the area can find it.

I thought of meetup... But I wouldn't know how to use it for this?

 

[The Magician]

Great advice man! Thanks a lot man. I'll talk to the director and see if she'd be willing to invest in that. But the budget is super tight so I doubt it. I'd rather convince her for Facebook ads campaigns. And of course Facebook groups! Can't believe I forgot about that, it would be a great place to target people.

You don't need much of a budget, $20 a month for MP, $100 a year for domain and hosting, and you're pretty much done for 90% of your marketing. The flyers would cost a bit more, but they aren't really needed. You're right that the FB ads are the most important extra cost to try and get covered.

I am planning to make an instagram for it. They don't even have one! The content would be rather challenging. They only have 2-3 shows a month so I've to find a way to keep followers engaged. Possibly a theme... quotes or clips of best performances ever. Something like that. Or unique cultural performances as well (since one of our center's theme is diversity). It would probably be wise to make a twitter as well.

With IG, I haven't seen a huge change in growth from when I was posting twice a day compared to once every 2 days, so don't think you need to post multiple times a day.

With a couple of posts per show, a weekly blog post, some throwbacks and some quotes you'll totally have enough to keep followers engaged.

The blog idea is a phenomenal idea! Didn't think of that as well. Something this venue does is rent out for events. It's a vital part of the business so I can do seo so that more people looking to rent out of space for a show or event in the area can find it.

I thought of meetup... But I wouldn't know how to use it for this?

Renting out for events is huge, and something I think you should really focus on. Ticket sales are great, but with 2 - 3 shows a month and a limit to how many seats you can sell there is a huge ceiling for growth.

With MeetUp, it would depend heavily on what you were doing. I haven't used it a lot, so I don't know the details, but I'd think about doing free events to attract attention to the centre.

For example, if you've got a ukrainian show coming up, host a free ukrainian movie night and maybe sell confectionary and tickets to the upcoming show.

 

[sammyg1043]

You don't need much of a budget, $20 a month for MP, $100 a year for domain and hosting, and you're pretty much done for 90% of your marketing. The flyers would cost a bit more, but they aren't really needed. You're right that the FB ads are the most important extra cost to try and get covered.



With IG, I haven't seen a huge change in growth from when I was posting twice a day compared to once every 2 days, so don't think you need to post multiple times a day.

With a couple of posts per show, a weekly blog post, some throwbacks and some quotes you'll totally have enough to keep followers engaged.




Renting out for events is huge, and something I think you should really focus on. Ticket sales are great, but with 2 - 3 shows a month and a limit to how many seats you can sell there is a huge ceiling for growth.

With MeetUp, it would depend heavily on what you were doing. I haven't used it a lot, so I don't know the details, but I'd think about doing free events to attract attention to the centre.

For example, if you've got a ukrainian show coming up, host a free ukrainian movie night and maybe sell confectionary and tickets to the upcoming show.

MP? And really solid advice man. The mixture of the blog and social media should be a great way to keep followers engaged and I'll definitely focus on renting it out. The free movie night idea on meetup is an awesome idea too! Will bring it up to the boss. I'm very grateful for your help

 

[The Magician]

MP? And really solid advice man. The mixture of the blog and social media should be a great way to keep followers engaged and I'll definitely focus on renting it out. The free movie night idea on meetup is an awesome idea too! Will bring it up to the boss. I'm very grateful for your help

MassPlanner.

No problem. It was a fun problem to solve. Maybe I should go pitch some local performing arts center.

 

[Faldor]

I'd see if there was a sub-reddit for your city, slowly build up Karma and post about shows. Look into facebook groups for local actors / filmmakers and see if people need an audition or rehearsal space.

Next time you have a show get shoot some video to use on your social channels.