VAULT Festival just kicked off! With over 170 shows is one of London's most exciting art festivals. Are you performing at VAULT Festival and need some inspiration on ways to reach your audiences? Find below some marketing tips that will help you spread the word about your play.
Be Local
Walk around Waterloo, visit cafe and pubs on Lower Marsh street, talk to shop owners introduce your self/team, maybe even offer them a free ticket to your show it they are happy to put a poster up or display some flyers. Similarly, always carry a poster or two and some flyers with you, and if you visit art spaces, bars, theatres, places where you audience is likely to be, kindly ask them if you can leave a poster or some flyers.
Be Social
Look for other theatre companies that perform at the Festival, especially the ones that you are sharing a venue or you are performing the same days and interact with them on social media and in person. Support other performers at VAULT festival by letting your followers on social media know about their show, it's likely they will do the same.
Be around
If possible spend some time at the venue, hand out some flyers and introduce your show to people hanging out there having a drink, they are most likely potential audiences. It's important to try and engage a conversation rather than simply hand out a flyer, but be respectful if they don't want to interact, and please don't just drop hundreds of flyers around the venue.
Be Funny
When posting on social media avoid publishing only posts where you ask people to buy tickets. Share interesting content, even if it's not directly related to your play, use visuals (images, GIFS, videos, be funny and try to encourage interaction. Be consistent with your social media accounts and if possible post at least one tweet a day during the festival and 3-4 Facebook posts a week.
Be Nice
If you ever worked at an arts festival, you know it's really hard work. Long days, heavy lifting and a lot of audience interaction, dealing with complains and answering the same questions questions such as 'Where is the toilet' - even though there are directional signs all around. Be nice to staff, introduce yourself and your team, say thank and why not "bribe" them with some sweets. They could be your best promoters and recommend your show to friends and audiences.
Don't forget to have fun and enjoy the festival.
Check out the full programme here
If you need marketing or design support for VAULT Festival, future tours, Edinburgh Festival Fringe or other festivals drop us an email at info@pulpandpith.com to discuss all the different ways we can work together to support your show.