Posters and Advertising
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Theater Administration
Forum Name: Money Talk
Forum Discription: Questions about fundraising and promotion
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5149
Printed Date: 4/16/24 at 10:36am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Posters and Advertising
Posted By: Legacy Theater
Subject: Posters and Advertising
Date Posted: 8/19/11 at 1:59pm
Hello Everyone,
We are trying to promote auditions for our new show and we had a bunch of posters made. We are finding that we are not allowed to put posters anywhere in our town. Grocery stores, recreation centers, town halls, libraries, never mind the big name corporate stores. Anyone noticing the same thing? Has the world gone so social media happy that this is the only way to advertise?
Anyone else advertise their shows and auditions with creative ways? Please let me know!!!
Erika
Legacy Theater Company.
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Erika Hose
President Legacy Theater Company
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Replies:
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 8/19/11 at 4:33pm
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We're still able to post in the library, the rec center, lots of locally owned businesses (especially restaurants) etc. Of course, as you say, most of the corporate stores where everyone actually is don't usually allow it. As far as publicizing auditions the best bet is to compile an email list of actors and potential actors.
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Posted By: SamD
Date Posted: 8/19/11 at 10:03pm
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A lot of businesses have community boards, but even these are going by the wayside. We use our database, FB and local newspapers to announce auditions. Ya gots to move with the times!
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Posted By: dynamicstheater
Date Posted: 11/14/12 at 12:21pm
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Our theater moved away from psters a while back. I found that we just weren't getting enough bang for our buck. Either we were not able to put our poster up, or the poster was getting lost amongst all of the other public bulletins. Our posters were ending up as souvenirs for cast and crew.We rely on emailing our list, website, Facebook, and press releases to every newspaper in the area. It's free, and have been getting pretty good results.
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Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 11/14/12 at 4:11pm
I've noticed something else recently...the funeral homes in town recently started having electronic billboards that they put public service announcements on. Its not ever the first place I think of to 'get the word out', but they apparently want to have a positive presence and non-death association.
I'm sure that this is not the 'creative way' that you wanted, though!
I'd consider announcing auditions on radio...I'd also consider putting audition notices in programs of current plays
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http://www.studio-productions-inc.com
1-800-359-2964
The theater scrim people
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Posted By: drose
Date Posted: 2/01/13 at 1:32pm
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We also print 1/2 page fliers or have vista print business cards printed (color, show logo, dates, times, prices, and box office contact info) and hand those out to the community. We give them out to all the actors to hand out or put in their place of business. In addition, we have actors dress in appropriate costumes (although not necessarily the one's they actually use in the show - too risky!) and wander the farmers market or the like, handing out cards or flyers. We have found this to be very successful in getting the word out about our shows. We do still use posters, but in my opinion, they are not a very successful marketing tool. Community reader boards (manual post and electronic) are great - and the banks in our community are happy to post non-profit event info on theirs.
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Posted By: dbuckley
Date Posted: 2/02/13 at 10:30pm
First post, deep breath..
Advertising auditions and the actual show is two totally differnent scenarios. For auditions you need to know where your potential cast will be looking, and advertise there. We use the community notice board section of the local paper, Facebook, the email addresses of everyone who has ever done anything with us, the website.
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Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 4/02/13 at 11:31am
I'm curious, how many of you ask the actors in the show to post on facebook, social media about the show?
I think we are at a curious juncture in promoting shows. First, the old media is decreasing in value (posters, newspapers, radio). Second, the electronic media (websites) are very impersonal.....and every body says 'personal' is the way to promote....so that leaves word of mouth and social media. I don't think anybody in community theatre really effectively uses social media (surprise me!)... they may have a social media page, but that's about as personal as a website.
So how many ask their cast and crew to post on facebook and social media about a play that they are in? How many ask their cast & crew to 'like' a theatre company's facebook page?
Is there something else that you all do? I'd like to start a discussion on how to effectively use the current tools.
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http://www.studio-productions-inc.com
1-800-359-2964
The theater scrim people
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Posted By: Thudster
Date Posted: 4/02/13 at 3:02pm
That's something I do for my local community theater troupe. I started the facebook page and keep it updated, then share it on my own personal page to get the word out more. I don't know that it's brought in a LOT of people, but I know it's brought in some and gotten the word out to others. I'm also linked to a number of other local community theaters, and we share each other's upcoming auditions, performances, and news.
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"Hey look! That's my dad up there whacking himself with silverware!"
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Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 4/02/13 at 4:45pm
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We create an event page on Facebook and then ask everyone involved to
"invite" all their facebook friends. That has wound up being anywhere from 500 to 1500 people who all got a personal invitation from someone or some organization involved. It's probably loosing effectiveness as FB is flooded with promotional material but it can't hurt. My belief is that it's at least if not more effective than posters at this point.
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Posted By: claymabbitt
Date Posted: 4/03/13 at 9:24am
..and the best part about Facebook events is that everyone sees the updates you post there. Only a fraction of the people who like your Facebook page will see any given status update there, but updates to the event go to everyone who hasn't explicitly said they are not coming. That means people who said yes, maybe, and the vast majority of people (in my experience) who don't reply one way or another. They will all see the photos, links, etc. you post under the event.
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Clay Mabbitt
http://soldoutrun.com - http://soldoutrun.com
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Posted By: dynamicstheater
Date Posted: 5/19/13 at 4:37pm
Other than purchasing local newspaper advertising for our show, we market shows and auditions in much the same way. For our auditions we send press releases to all the local papers,numerous Facebook posts leading up to the date, and emailing our list. We encourage our Facebook followers to share the info so we can increase the coverage. Sometimes that works very well, sometimes not.
The more different ways you can use to get the word out, the better the chances that people will see your message.
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Jim Smoot
Program Coordinator
Dynamics Community Theater
www.dynamicstheater.org - www.dynamicstheater.org
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