Many of our programs rely solely on ticket sales to fund our programming, and some days I feel more like a small business manager than a teacher. My biggest endeavor every year is making sure our ticket sales will cover the cost of the shows we produce. But even while I want the ticket sales to balance my financial bottom line, I want people in our audience because I want my students to know that their hard work matters, that the story they are telling can impact others, and for our community to see the great work happening.
Being a high school program, we have discovered that our primary audience base is the school district. By the school district, we mean all the students, teachers, staff members, and parents from all the different schools in our district. Knowing your primary audience base allows you to target your marketing efforts, and develop specific techniques for each group. For example, when marketing to elementary schools we make sure "family-friendly" is prominently displayed, but when advertising to our high school students we leave that off to focus on other engaging elements of the show. We target our school district audience in five key ways. (I'll admit I am no marketing expert, but these methods have helped us grow our audience, and I hope there is something here that might work for you!)
1. First, and perhaps the most standard marketing option, we get permission from our central office to send paper flyers home to all elementary and middle school students with show information and to advertise with each school's Parent-Teacher organization. The paper flyers are simple: printed in black and white on colored paper. Two of our elementary schools have gone green and send home all information electronically, and for those, we can actually send out a color version of a small poster. (We found that flyers for high school students don't work because our high school doesn't have a home room or system for sending home paper information.)
We earn this permission from office by explaining the show's interdisciplinary nature: "Mary Poppins" is an adaptation of a novel, speaks to gender roles and classes in the Victorian era, etc. We have also agreed with our central office only to advertise shows that would be appropriate for the age group. For example, we are advertising "Mary Poppins" to all the elementary schools and middle school, but not our one act "Fire in the Hole" because "Fire in the Hole's" content is not appropriate for elementary students. To help communicate which shows are appropriate for which audiences, we stamp all of our marketing material with ratings, like G, PG, PG-13. My administrators and I jointly decide on appropriate ratings and any content warnings. When shows are family-friendly, we make sure that is prominently advertised on flyers going to elementary and middle schools.
To further target our family audiences, we offer a friends-and-family-four-pack ticket package for matinee performances, and this is highlighted on the flyer that is sent out. The friends-and-family-four-pack is a discounted ticket price because they have to purchase 4 tickets. To further incentivize matinee attendance, we add a bonus feature called "Meet the Characters." "Meet the Characters" is the way we really say "talk-back." Many of our audiences had no idea what the word "talk-back" means, so this is how we say it without having to explain to the public at large what a talk-back is. After the last curtain call of the matinee, actors exit to the wings, and our stage manager announces that "Meet the Characters" will start in 5 minutes. This five-minute window allows audience members who want to leave that opportunity and for your crew to join you in the wings. When we are ready to begin, our cast and crew come and sit on the edge of the apron. We choose a host for the session, often our stage manager or production assistant, who solicits questions from the audience and chooses who from the cast and crew will respond to the question. Sometimes we'll even do a backstage tour as part of "Meet the Characters" if we find we are not getting a whole lot of questions.
2. Second, we donate show themed bookmarks to all the school and community libraries. We use SmartPress as our printer and 3,500 bookmarks cost us under $200. The bookmarks almost look like small posters for our show. This works especially well when the show is a literary adaptation our musical "Mary Poppins" and play "The Three Musketeers." If you can't afford to purchase the bookmarks, print it in black and white on colored card stock and break-out the paper cutter. We distribute these bookmarks to each location about two-three weeks prior to opening.
3. Third, our cast and crew write handwritten letters inviting different district staff to come see the show. We provide all district employees one free ticket to see our show. This offer includes bus drivers, lunch servers, and custodians. Many employees will bring spouses and family along, meaning more ticket sales, but perhaps most importantly, they turn into amazing publicity for our show. The best publicity is word of mouth, and when the district staff enjoys your show, they will come back to your community and talk about it. This is especially effective if your show is over two weekends, and there is a week in the middle to develop buzz within your school community.
To write the letters inviting district staff, I provide a basic template and all students must handwrite the letter. This letter provides the basic show information of when and where but it is also used to inform teachers of the show's interdisciplinary opportunities. In writing this letter, I challenge my cast and crew to answer the questions, "Why is this show important? Why is it worth seeing?" Then I ask my students to tailor each letter to their teacher, "Why would this particular teacher be interested in seeing this show?" To be honest, sometimes there is no amazing interdisciplinary connection, but a simple "it would mean a lot to me if you came" can do wonders. You will quickly discover who their favorite teachers are, so use a spreadsheet of district staff to make sure one teacher doesn't end up with ten letters. It is also worth assigning your best students (or seniors) to personally invite your administrative team, central office, and school board. When actors are not on stage in rehearsal, this is an excellent time to write letters.
A bonus from the letters we discovered is that some teachers will even offer extra credit to their students for seeing a show if it has a specific disciplinary connection. After receiving several handwritten letters from students working on our one-act "Monster" last year, our English department learned that the one-act focused on how Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein." The entire department ended up offering extra credit to all students who saw our show as "Frankenstein" is part of the junior year curriculum.
4. Fourth, we connect with our art departments to create an art display for the lobby. Artistic inspiration can be quite literal in its connection to the show by drawing iconic characters, scenes, etc. Or the art can explore and reflect the primary themes of your show. Last year for our play "The Man Who Came to Dinner," which takes place in the 1930s, the art was winter scenes painted in the art deco style of the show's time period. In "Mary Poppins," we explore the central question, "What is the right ladder to success?" Therefore the art could depict what success means to the artist.
As "Mary Poppins" is family-friendly, we reached out to one of our elementary schools to make the art display, and first and second-grade students designed kites. We hung about 100 kites in our lobby, and those students came with their families to see their work displayed. It hung in the lobby, which is also a common space for the school, for the two weeks of the show and it caught many high school students attention as well.
5. Fifth, we perform sneak peaks of our show at the elementary schools. Two of our elementary schools are within walking distance of the high school. With each principal, we arrange a good time to come and perform 15-30 minutes of our show and offer a Q&A session afterward. For many elementary students in our district, this is their first exposure to and it is completely free for them to participate. When pitching to the principals, make sure you pitch what you are offering them, not what they are offering you. After trying this a few times, some principals have invited us to perform for even longer. If you have a social media page, take plenty of pictures to share the great experience.
What other ways do you publicize and energize your school based audience?