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
It can be very easy to be caught up in the push to sell tickets but we should also bear in mind what part we play in the local community and how we fit into the bigger picture
Firstly you need to consider audience expectations, what does your regular audience member expect from the moment they come through the door to the moment they leave – what kind of welcome do you give them? Do they expect certain types of plays? Do they look for regular performers who they have followed over a period of time? What kind of hospitality will they get? All of these elements make up their complete experience and should be considered as part of your audience development and retention. Front of House is a crucial, and often undervalued, part of this process
Secondly, have you considered how to maintain the relationship between your productions – without bombarding people with too much unnecessary communication? Would your audience appreciate a newsletter a couple of times a year with updates about the club or are they more likely to use social media and have more regular shorter updates – how can you make them feel like part of everything you do?
Here are are some things for you to consider
- Could you offer a non-performing membership of your club that automatically provides them with a ticket for each performance at a slightly reduced rate or makes them eligible for a discounted early bird booking. Could this membership buy their tickets in bulk in advance in a one-off payment? This does guarantee some ticket sales and might tempt them to come and see something they might not otherwise consider
- If you have non-performing members, how can you recognise their contribution? Things like printing a thank you to them in the programme can really help build loyalty. What other ways can you acknowledge their support?
- Could you offer a loyalty card – for every 5 shows they get a free ticket to the 6th. They could get their loyalty card stamped with the date at each show they attend.
- Could you offer a targeted additional performance that may not only open up new audiences for you but will provide good news stories. We have a couple of member clubs who offer a ‘relaxed performance’ making activity more accessible and supportive to people who can feel overwhelmed.
- Could you build relationships with other community groups or charities and perform snippets from your production at their location or work with them to get them to and from your venue
- Some of our members run competitions with their local school to design their poster and offer reduced or complimentary tickets to all of the families of participants. If posters are badged with the SCDA logo they will also be eligible for the annual poster competition.
- Could you put in place some kind of system that makes it easy for you to check if any regular audience members don’t attend a performance. A friendly email after the event to let them know that they were missed and you look forward to welcoming them back next time shows that you care.
- Can you build strong relationships with local schools – they are the audience of the future and with dwindling numbers in both professional and amateur settings we need to encourage young audiences to access live performance as early as possible.
- Capturing live feedback from willing audience members straight after they leave the performance can both help with marketing but also show the audience that you are interested in their feedback. You just need a smartphone with a decent camera – don’t forget to get consent so that people know where you will post their commentary
We also know that some people don’t understand the expected behaviour for a theatre audience because it may be their first time in a theatre. How can you sensitively manage things like use of mobile phones during the performance, people having conversations that disturb their fellow theatregoers, arriving late etc. This can be considered as a part of audience development – you want to ensure that all of your audience has a positive experience.
For more advice on how to market and sell tickets please refer to the Guide for Audience Engagement.
Evidence tells us that thanking people and making sure that they understand how much you value their custom, commitment and loyalty increases return business – how do you show your appreciation to your audience?
Thank you for taking the time to read this guide.
