Event Marketing from a Chicago Comedy Perspective

By: Colleen Claes

Butts in the seats.  This is the actual phrase used by many performers and producers when promoting and marketing a live show or event. At the end of the day, just getting butts in the seats is the ultimate and most rewarding goal. My all-female comedy sketch group, BLANCHE, took this goal very seriously while producing our first comedy sketch show together, called "That Girl".

While planning, writing and performing a show takes tons of dedication and work, that's really just the beginning. Marketing is equally as crucial. That Second City Training Center was awesome enough to provide us with the de Maat Theatre space and a stage manager for our seven-week run, but the promotions were all up to us. So we, the members of BLANCHE, were sure to dive in and make this a top priority.

What we found was that there were limitless ways to creatively and effectively market a show - especially in today's digital age.

Here are some key tips that BLANCHE incorporated into the promotion of our sketch show - all of which are helpful marketing initiatives that can be implemented by any performer/producer:

1. Have an elevator pitch: Start by carefully and eloquently writing up a proposal for your project that covers the theme, topics explored, and why audiences should be compelled to support said project. Once you've done that, be sure to have a verbal one-sentence summary of what your show or project is all about. That way, when people ask, it's short and sweet and hopefully intrigues your connections to come support it. All of the wording you came up with will also come in handy for marketing materials. Which brings me to my next point . . .
2. Invest in printed marketing materials: This is crucial, because while having a one-sentence verbal pitch to anyone you encounter is useful, the printed thing you put in their hand with all of the details can really seal the deal. Now they have a postcard or a business card or a flyer that they can keep on their fridge or reference when noting down the event in their calendar. With BLANCHE, our design for our posters and postcards was simple enough graphically that we created them ourselves and paid to have them printed. But if you don't feel comfortable with the design aspect, consider any graphic design-savvy people you may know to freelance on your project. Either way, you cannot go wrong having printed materials ready to hand out at all times!
3. Be active regularly on social media: This is so important and at the same time so convenient. Almost all major social media sites are free and easily accessible, so it is worth the time it takes to create accounts for yourself as a talent, your group of collaborators and your project. BLANCHE utilized our Facebook and Twitter accounts the most and kept them up to date on a regular basis by posting a few times a week. Inviting people to the show through a Facebook event was a huge help in getting an audience committed through a quick and efficient RSVP click of the mouse. 
4. Personalize your approach by supporting other projects: Especially when you're just starting out in a creative community, you have to get out there and meet other like-minded artists and start expressing interest in their work. Not only do you organically network and gain connections this way, but you make an important point of tangibly showing support of their projects and initiatives simply by showing up. Whether it's a show, a fundraiser, an exhibit, or what have you, showing up to support your peers makes it that much more tempting for them to show up and support you. Don't forget the personal touches!
5. Get creative, take a few risks: Once BLANCHE had done all of the more obvious things you can do to promote a show, we started to ask ourselves, "What else?" And that led to some fun, creative ideas that we may not have considered right off the bat. For instance, we hosted what we called a "bake give-away", in which we sat in the Second City Training Center during a popular class time and handed out free baked goods to students and teachers walking by. When asked how much it cost, as most people did, our response was: "Just you considering seeing our show and taking a postcard!" The reactions were overwhelmingly grateful and encouraging. (Because who doesn't want a free brownie when you least expect it?) We also took a risk by creating ( clearly comical and fake ) "missing person" ads, which we taped around the Second City community in the Old Town neighborhood. These ads featured our faces in character for the show, "That Girl", and instead of having a number to call, we had the details for our show date, time and location. While risky, it was also out of the box and gave us the chance of catching the eye of a whole new audience that we may not have reached before.

By the end of our seven-week run, we had successfully filled the theater for each show, including nearly selling out one week and completely selling out the last week and having to turn people away at the door.

And thank God - because it almost doesn't matter how funny and entertaining your show is unless there's an audience to laugh and be entertained by it. The experience of putting on our first comedy show would not have been as amazing and fulfilling without all of those butts in the seats.

Collen Claes is a writer, performer and improviser based in Chicago. She has trained in comedy writing and improv at Second City Training Center and improv at The Annoyance Theatre. She can be seen performing sketch comedy with BLANCHE and improv with various groups across town.