Breaking a few more rules
I've been thinking about how things are different in theatre now. It plays directly into my "Naked Theatre" concept (no, I haven't forgotten it, I'm just letting it stew around for a while until I arrive at a more succinct definition), and I'm thinking today that nowhere is the new reality more evident than in marketing.
I've been reading with great interest Rebecca Coleman's blog over at The Next Stage about marketing theatre. It's some good stuff, but it's a little scary too - I'm already actually doing most of that stuff, and it's still no guarantee that the people are going to come out.
Her main point, though, that you have to have something about you that makes you unique, is, I think the touchstone of the entire argument. You can argue about the semantics of your Facebook prescence all you want (I have) but it ultimately is no more than just good sense to do all the things you should do - and that's all. It's not that all the things you should do will actually help you, all you can do by doing the things you should do is make sure that you're not hurting yourself by not doing them.
Sound confusing? How about putting it this way - what makes you unique is what makes you successful - the rest is gravy. You have to be unique, and somebody, somewhere, has got to be turned on by your uniqueness. If you want to make a living in this business, whatever makes you unique had better be a turn on to a lot of people. It's why a show without a single poster will play to thousands while a show with a $10,000 marketing budget will play to the crickets.
Now I'm not saying this means you should start doing nothing but Norm Foster plays, just because that's what a lot of people like to see (no offense, Norm!). Somebody else is already being unique by doing Norm Foster plays - namely Norm Foster. At Grinder, we aren't going to be the next Norm Foster. We are going to be the next Grinder Productions. We are unique. We are Theatre that Dares to be Different. It's time we used our uniqueness to turn a few more people on.
Another day, another theatre truism turned on its head. What's next?
I've been reading with great interest Rebecca Coleman's blog over at The Next Stage about marketing theatre. It's some good stuff, but it's a little scary too - I'm already actually doing most of that stuff, and it's still no guarantee that the people are going to come out.
Her main point, though, that you have to have something about you that makes you unique, is, I think the touchstone of the entire argument. You can argue about the semantics of your Facebook prescence all you want (I have) but it ultimately is no more than just good sense to do all the things you should do - and that's all. It's not that all the things you should do will actually help you, all you can do by doing the things you should do is make sure that you're not hurting yourself by not doing them.
Sound confusing? How about putting it this way - what makes you unique is what makes you successful - the rest is gravy. You have to be unique, and somebody, somewhere, has got to be turned on by your uniqueness. If you want to make a living in this business, whatever makes you unique had better be a turn on to a lot of people. It's why a show without a single poster will play to thousands while a show with a $10,000 marketing budget will play to the crickets.
Now I'm not saying this means you should start doing nothing but Norm Foster plays, just because that's what a lot of people like to see (no offense, Norm!). Somebody else is already being unique by doing Norm Foster plays - namely Norm Foster. At Grinder, we aren't going to be the next Norm Foster. We are going to be the next Grinder Productions. We are unique. We are Theatre that Dares to be Different. It's time we used our uniqueness to turn a few more people on.
Another day, another theatre truism turned on its head. What's next?
Comments