Audience Engagement

Through conversations with members, there appears to be a distinction between Audience Engagement which we are referencing as the focus on marketing, publicity and ticket sales and Audience Development which we are interpreting as taking your audiences on a journey with you, building lasting relationships and growing participation in your activities.

This guide was created in collaboration with SCDA members to bring together their experiences as well as provide some  tangible suggestions of ways in which a club can approach this subject.

There are so many questions we could ask ourselves, these are just a few to consider

How do we reach people?

How do we get them to buy a ticket?

How do we stand out?

Publicity

• What is your ‘unique selling point (USP).  How are you different from other live entertainment in your area?  This could be the kind of plays that you produce or the link you have to local people, places or organisations
• Understand what you are aiming for – do you want to create a loyal audience for your club who attend regularly or do you expect that your audience will change depending on the production or activity you are offering?  Promoting the cast members may work for your regular audience but  may not ‘sell’ it to non-regulars who want to hear about the content.
• Once you know who you are trying to reach, which methods of communication are likely to be the most effective?  It can be tempting to be all over social media but is that going to reach all the people you need it to?
• Consider the themes in your play – are there local organisations that you could connect with who might be particularly interested in the content?
• What local publicity avenues are there for you.  We know of a club that gives 2 free tickets to their local pizza delivery business and they add a flyer to each pizza delivered.  Are there similar opportunities in your local area?
• Do you have local press or local radio – what relationships can you build with them to ensure coverage before, during and after your production?
• How do you get support from other people involved in Amateur Theatre?  Can you organise group ticket deals with other clubs in reach of you on a reciprocal basis?
• A picture is worth a thousand words.  If you put low quality photos into the public domain, it will give people the impression that the performance will be low quality.  Make sure that your pictures are clear and tell a story.

• Are there online groups or noticeboards where you can advertise.  Scottish Amateur Theatre Facebook page and amdram, https://amdram.co.uk/ are a couple of free online ones as well as of course advertising through SCDA media media@drama.scot 

Selling Tickets

• Using a ticket agency will incur a fee but they are convenient and will also provide you with information that could be useful such as mailing lists.  (Just remember that you need to take care when retaining and using an individual’s data outside of these packages as people need to be able to both consent and opt out of future advertising with you).  TicketSource is a popular choice with clubs but you should look for the system that best suits your needs.
• If you are concerned that some people may struggle to book online, why not arrange a series of booking times in convenient  locations where a member of your team can have a laptop to do the online booking and take payment – this saves you running two separate systems.  Clubs who have made the transition to online booking systems report back that it hasn’t been as difficult as they thought it would be.
• Having a card reader is important – many people use cards to make payments. If you want to allow people to pay in cash or bank transfer, how can you make that as easy as possible
• Can you run promotions?   Some examples are early bird prices; 2 for 1 on quiet nights such as mid-week; bring along a new audience member paying for a full price ticket and get 50% off your ticket and loyalty cards.   Unless you sell out every performance it is better to fill the seats even if you don’t get the full price for them. 
• Would it be possible for you to provide your local food bank with some tickets on a quiet night.  Not only would that be a positive message, it would generate local goodwill and may be a story for your local paper?
• Does your ticket include a programme or will that be a separate cost for people?  Be open and honest about what people get for their money. 
• If you do produce a programme whether it is free or sold, it  is an opportunity to recruit people into your club and/or to sell your next production.  Make sure you include this in your marketing plans.

There is a general downward trend in audience numbers for live theatre in general.  There has never been a better time to put more focus on your audience engagement.  We believe that developing relationships with your audience is much easier for amateur theatre clubs than professional theatre but we can’t take any of that for granted.

 Please refer to the Guide for Audience Development for some ideas about how to nurture and retain your audiences.