Theater Marketing

Posted: September 29, 2004

Running a theater is difficult business, no matter what kind of events you are showing. For movie theater owners, studios take large amounts of the profits for the first several weeks of a movie’s run, and then further undercut the theater by releasing the DVD for the movie soon enough after the movie’s theatrical release that many people just wait to buy it or see it on cable.

For theater owners who show plays, music, and the occasional lecture, the main problems can be making sure that people show up. Without the take at the box office it can be extremely difficult to pay the performers, staff, and have enough left over to make improvements or to put something in your own pocket.

Of course, movie theater owners and managers generally rely on the studio to do the theater marketing for a feature film, but making sure that times are listed correctly online and in newspapers can help a great deal in bringing people back to your theater.

For the playhouse theater owner, the cost and effort of advertising the current show generally falls on the staff of the theater itself. Theater marketing, in this case, means making sure that nearby residents know the show is on. This is especially true for an unestablished house, as there will be very few season ticket holders or people who come to almost every show.

One of the best ways to market your theater’s new show is to put advertisements up around town, and in local newspapers. If you live in the city, it is imperative that you get your show listed in their events calendar, and while you’re at it you may want to shell out the dough for an advertisement.

Inviting the local theater critics to an advance screening of the show will not hurt either, as whether they like it or not, people reading the article may choose to come out and see what it is all about.

Advertising online, however, is probably the most effective and affordable approach to theater marketing. For a major or minor theater, marketing that includes search-based online advertising can be very effective in getting people’s attention.

Putting your article where people can see it means that every time someone in your community uses an Internet search to look up local plays, your ad will pop up in front of him or her. This geo-targeted approach to theater marketing is now within the grasp of even the smallest theater, and is changing the way that shows are promoted.

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