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(reprinted from theatrejnerique.com)EDITOR'S NOTE: We have included this article (and a few more coming up under the B.I.T.S. section.) To read the first part of this series... CLICK HERE!
TALE END - marketing a new play!
(or... How we got over ourselves, experimented in web marketing and sold out 3 out of 5 performances at Rogue 2007)
by Marcel Nunis
(independent playwright/director/producer)
As a creator of new works it used to frustrate me to no end that theatre companies would not even look at a new piece unless it had already been produced. So, in the 1990's I formed my own production company. Well, that solved that problem... sort of.
Over the years as an independent producer I learned that one has to wear hat upon hat in order to be effective in the real world of the arts. I, at first reluctantly had to learn skills that (shudder) was not part of my craft. (Come on... just let me write... that's all I wanna do!) In time, I got over it and embraced those other skills (graphic & web design, etc) as part and parcel of my chosen gig.
FAST FORWARD... ... to the Fall of 2006. I was writing my first new play in 5 years. I had come head on up against a creative wall in the writing. While waiting for that engine to be jump started again, I decided to begin marketing the not yet completed new work. (This is a trick that I have used for years. It's called "PUT YOUR BIG FOOT IN YOUR BIG MOUTH SO YOU HAVE TO DELIVER THE GOODS!") Works like a charm everytime... at least where completing the piece is concerned.
sidebar: I had read somewhere that playwrights are notorious for doing this. British playwright Alan Ackbourn would actually book a London theater for a run just to force himself to write the damn play.
OPEN MOUTH... INSERT FOOT
I had already begun blogging about my frustrations on my personal blog... this post is an example. I decided that (to really motivate myself with the possibility of grand humiliation) I would go full bore and blog about it on the theatre company site. I had recently redesigned the company site (adding a blog to it) and figured that at least our stalwart supporters would find reading about the "process" mildy interesting.
I had also recently acquired some great video editing software (don't ask how) and decided to teach myself this new skill. So, with a borrowed DV camera I produced THIS VIDEO and uploaded it to Daily Motion and YouTube. I also embedded the video there. All this cost me was the investment of time (2 days.) Surely this would create tons of interest in this brand new (and not yet completed) project.
::crickets chirping::
OK... we hadn't produced a show in a while (3 years to be exact)... so, a total of 7 regular readers to our site saw the video in the first week... and a couple of curious YouTubers. It was time for a strategy. 
STRATEGY (creating a promotional thrust) I decided that I didn't just want to hook in the usual suspects (theatre nerds) but also perhaps bring in a BRAND NEW audience to my (yet completed show) that was slated to be mounted at the 2007 Rogue Festival in March. (If you are shooting for grand humiliation... go big, I say.) So, I devised a promotion strategy.
sidebar: In so doing I was reminded of this... "Every discipline of the arts is a medium of communication." for more on this go here.
Anyway, this is what I came up with:
Create excitement (or at least intrigue) with the creation of a brand new play!! (Note: The exclamation points... this generally means "create excitement"... at least I was excited by this. BTW... if you are not excited about your own "product"... don't expect anyone else to be.)
How Would I Accomplish This? The Internet. (Afterall, not everyone is surfing for porn... you're reading this, right?) This "new media" has hardly been tapped by the arts community (at least effectively)... if nothing else, this would be a worthy (and affordable) experiment.
TOOLS I WOULD USE...
BLOGGING: From the standpoint of a potential audience the interactive nature of blogging provides a personal "buy in" to a project. (Come on... how many of us buy those "special edition" DVD's just to watch those "making of" mini features before actually watching the main feature?) So, in effect I was using this tool to give readers a "making of" as it was happening and creating a personal "insiders scoop" to the show.
MYSPACE: Everyone has one these days and it's a great way to "harvest" potential audience through "friending" and to send out bulletins to broadcast what is happening.
VIDEOS: With the rise of YouTube the potential grows to create "promotional videos" the way the "big guys" do. Everyone loves visuals... especially if they move.
LOCAL E-ZINES: In Fresno (where we are located) there is a great "citizen journalism" site (that is now owned by the local paper) called FresnoFamous.com where anyone can post articles or blog.
EMAIL DIGEST OR NEWS LETTERS: Again in Fresno (where we still are located) one exist called Mindhub.org that many in the "creative class" subscribe to. (Talk about a potential audience!)
I was still creatively blocked where the actual writing of the play was concerned... so why not exercise my creativity elsewhere? (Really, I didn't even have a title for the play yet.) The choice was between dawdling and picking my nose or perhaps jump start (and perhaps get unblocked) by exercising those muscles in another area of communication.
Find out in Part 2 how I used these tools.
If you have tips and techniques in Arts Marketing on the Web that have been successful for you... send an article 500-1000 words to itworked@junglewebs.com and we may just post it here. Please include: Your Name, Email Address, City and (yes) your Website. Jungle Webs is a webs solution business but one that cares about sharing affordable (and often free) techniques in Arts Marketing on the Web.
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