Tech Theatre Tool Kit

Theatre Marketing
Designed and Created
by Brandon Goodman
Houston Texas
brandonkgoodman@katyisd.org
 Theatre Marketing Unit
Week Days Objective Standards Essential Questions Paperwork Notes
Sound Design TH:Cr3.1.I. TH:Cr3.1.II. How does sound design affect a
Feb 18 - 21 4 Research TH:Cr3.1.III. production?
TH:Cr3.1.I. TH:Cr3.1.II. What editing tools have you
Feb 24 - 28 5 Sound Design Work TH:Cr3.1.III. used through this process?
Final Sound TH:Cr3.1.I. TH:Cr3.1.II. How can you apply these skills
Mar 2 - 6 5 Presentations TH:Cr3.1.III. to everyday life? Production Week
Spring
Mar 9 - 13 Break Spring Break Spring Break Spring Break Spring Break Spring Break
Theatre Marketing TH:Pr6.1.I. TH:Pr6.1.II.
Mar 16 - 20 5 Overview TH:Pr6.1.III. What is the value of the "Ad"? Production Week
Hypothesize the cost of a
TH:Pr6.1.I. TH:Pr6.1.II. production - were you over or
Mar 23 - 27 5 Playbills and Budgets TH:Pr6.1.III. under value?
Mar 30 - Apr Social Media Plan for TH:Pr6.1.I. TH:Pr6.1.II. How can social media affect
3 5 Ads TH:Pr6.1.III. attendance?
Theatre Marketing - 3 weeks

Theatre Marketing can take on many different platforms to advertise a

production. From radio shows to twitter, it's all about getting the
information out there! It is always best practice to start advertising your
show at least two week before the curtain; however, some start as early
as the project’s inception.

We will be creating mock advertisement playbills and posters to see what

really grabs an audience's attention.

The can be digital or hand drawn.

It all starts with a concept

Each theatrical production has a team of designers who have worked very
hard on collaborating their ideas to formulate the style and look of a
production.

Advertisers must take this into account so that the target audiences are
impacted with the visual stimulation of what the show represents.

Let's look a few examples and see what we find!

Examples
What draws your eye to the poster?

Is the text easy to read?

If you had to guess what the show was about,

what context clues can you use to determine
the topic?

What colors draw you in?

Examples

What draws your eye to the poster?

Is the text easy to read?

If you had to guess what the show was about,

what context clues can you use to determine
the topic?

What colors draw you in?

Examples

What draws your eye to the poster?

Is the text easy to read?

If you had to guess what the show was about,

what context clues can you use to determine
the topic?

What colors draw you in?

Examples

What draws your eye to the poster?

Is the text easy to read?

If you had to guess what the show was about, what

context clues can you use to determine the topic?

What colors draw you in?

Anatomy of a Show Poster
● Commanding Image
○ Image or shape that pulls the eye to the poster
● Show Title
○ Always include the name of the show
● Theatre information
○ Date
○ Time
○ Location
○ Where to purchase tickets
● Billing
○ Author, Composer, Publishing Company
■ These are often written into the contract
agreement when licensing a show.
○ Sponsors Logo, if any.
● Where to find more information
○ Website, QR code, phone, etc.
Your design time

Select a play or musical that you are familiar with.

Compile three slides of research on the show:

1. Theme of the production
2. Style of the designers
3. Past marketing materials (for reference)

Create a set of marketing materials for the production.

Presentation Guidelines
Create a digital or hand drawn poster for your production.
- Must include the anatomy of a show poster.

How will you send out the poster for advertising?

- Since we don't have a budget, what are some ways we
can deliver the message without breaking the bank?

We will post our designs on twitter along with a survey on

what our audience sees when they view our work.

1. We will post your designs on the department’s twitter

2. Post marketing materials with a custom hashtag for
each show
3. Create survey via twitter to get feedback on our designs
4. Evaluate what works and what can be improved
Unit Breakdown

Week 1 - Research and drafts

Week 2 - Finishing touches and posting on Twitter
Week 3 - Twitter analytics and survey responses
How to create a survey

Twitter Poll
Create a Twitter Poll
1. Tap the Tweet compose icon.
2. Tap the Add poll icon.
3. Type your poll question into the main compose box. ...
4. Insert your first poll option into the Choice 1 box, and your
second poll option into the Choice 2 box. ...
5. Tap + Add a choice to add additional options to your poll.
What should we poll?

With a partner, discuss what questions we should ask

about our show poster.

We will compile these answers as a class and pick 5

questions we want answered in our poll.
Poll Question Ideas

Does the image give you a strong sense of the play?

Is the text easy to read/follow?

Can you easily find where to purchase tickets?

Do you find the color choices appealing?

Would you see this production solely based on the poster?

Twitter Analytics
How to Use Tweet Activity

The main use of the Tweet activity dashboard is to find out how
many people are seeing your Tweets and how many are engaging.
The specific metrics Twitter gives you are:

● Link clicks - Link clicks are the highest level of engagement. When someone
clicks your link, it means the Tweet’s copy and image were so compelling
they wanted to learn more.
● Likes - Likes are lower on the engagement totem poll because the action
requires the least amount of effort. However, it’s still very useful to help
you figure out what content is having an impact on your followers.
Twitter Analytics Continued:

● Retweets - Retweets are a level above likes. Retweeting doesn’t require too much
effort beyond hitting a button, but it gets your content in front of more people.
This can make it more valuable than a like.
● Replies - Replies are right up there with link clicks as the most valuable types of
engagement. When someone replies to your Tweet, they took the time to actually
stop in their feed and read it instead of just scroll past.
● Engagement rate - This is a helpful stat that’s easy to overlook because most
people just look at their total number of engagements. Engagement rate measures
your total number of engagements divided by your total impressions.
Time to Post!

We will post our posters via twitter! Each day we will look at some of
the poll answers and reactions to our posters.

Should we do a week long engagement or just a post and run?

What would a week long engagement look like?

What results do you hope to see?

The results are in!

Looking at our analytics:

● Which poster was the most liked/retweeted? Why?
● Based off our your poll, what do you want to change
on the design?
● Did you meet your own expectations during this
lesson?
What do we do with the data?
● We can see the level of activity from the analytics page, but
what can we do with that data?
● What does the poll provide us? Was this information valuable?
● What would be a marketing campaign example look like after
we analyze our data?
● If you were a marketing manager for a production, what ideas
do you have for growth?
Post to Google Slides

Must Haves:
● Image of poster design
● Elements of research 3 Slides
● Screenshots of twitter analytics
● Poll Results