Katy Davies works in media and PR for The Love Bites Plays. Here she gives some thoughts on how the company approaches their brand identity.

Setting your company apart as ‘different’ or ‘new’ in what is essentially an extremely competitive market can be challenging. Like us, if you’re not a West End show, chances are you won’t have a huge number of tickets to give away for press nights with the promise of outlets promoting your brand on various websites and newsletters. You may just be looking to break even! So, first and foremost, you have to think about your audience – the people going to pay to see your show. I’m talking about getting them through the door, and not by producing crowd-pleasing, safe theatre. They have to invest something in you before they buy a ticket: a belief in what you are trying to achieve. It’s generally not enough to be ‘different’ – everyone has something new. It is only by making an effort to engage in communication and to provoke an emotional response that you get a sense of how people relate to your brand. Some of this you can influence, some of this you cannot.

The media is a key audience for your brand. We place huge importance on grass roots support – depending on which venue we’re in we approach local bloggers, people who may or may not be theatre reviewers, and get them to come down to see the show and then hear what they think. Read as much as you can of trade and consumer press – get to know journalists, what they like, what they don’t; be familiar with regular features in publications and know what channels could place your brand. Do your research – invite other theatre companies to your show, get them to cross-promote on social media and blog about shows you have seen. Sign up to newsletters and mailing lists of theatre companies you admire and see what works well for them.

These ideas are nothing new. If you are having trouble honing your brand, ask yourself these questions: when did you start out? What was your original intention? How has the external environment changed? If you started as a student company five years ago, maybe it’s time for a brand refresh. Have a look at what else is out there to see what’s working well, and what isn’t, and adjust accordingly. What are people saying about you – or what aren’t they?

The Love Bites Plays brand is something we’ve tried to integrate across marketing communications since we came into being five years ago. The name of the company came directly from the format of each show – short, bite-sized plays about love, enacted over an evening. So immediately we wanted our brand to reflect the collaborative nature of what we do. We commission new artwork for each event. We use different illustrators to give a fresh response to the show. We want the brand to reflect the uniqueness of the diversity that each show has to offer. We get buy-in from our collaborators (past, present and future): playwrights, actors, illustrators – you have to start building relationships internally before you can even think about presenting your brand to external audiences. If your collaborators aren’t kept in the loop, feel valued and part of something, you’re going to have a tough time convincing people who’ve never heard of you to come and see your show. Slowly but surely, you will build up a loyal base.

Social media offers instantaneous, free feedback about what you’re doing. If you’re not getting hits on your blog, either you’re not marketing it effectively or people don’t find it interesting enough. Perhaps it is too corporate or doesn’t get under the skin of what people want to hear. It’s important to talk with your audience and not at them.

Try stuff out – if it works, great. If it doesn’t, try something new.

The next Love Bites Plays show, The Apartment, is at Etcetera Theatre 9 – 11 May.

Image: Joly Braime

The first workshop I attended today was a session on Marketing in the Royal Opera House’s beautiful Ondine & Petrushka Trust Room. The session was extremely interesting, but with lots of workshops and exhibitors to visit, I sadly didn’t get to stay for too long!

The main topic of conversation in the workshop was on audience segmentation. It was interesting to discover how large organisations market their events/content to people who will be most interested.

I discovered that mass marketing is not the way forward. Though it may seem like the easiest option, it is often expensive and time-consuming, it ends up not being the most effective way to advertise. It is better to target to segmented audience types.

Workshop attendees were given the opportunity to discuss how they think that the Royal Opera House and Target Live advertise to different audiences. Almost everyone in the room suggested targeting different audiences by their age group would be the best way to get people to attend a show. Surprisingly, this is not how shows are advertised as not every one of the same age group will like the same things!

Amongst many other things, I discovered that though marketing can be expensive it is still a great industry, essential to the success of the theatre industry as a whole.

This was a great session, in which I learnt a lot in such a short period of time – it was almost like a taster to working in marketing!

When the young people involved abbreviate the Young Everyman Playhouse to YEP and pronounce it “yep”, it sounds like an affirmation. Yep, I am young and ambitious and theatre is what I want to be involved in. Yep, I balance this with school/college/university and I am proud of everything I have achieved.

The Young Everyman Playhouse is the youth theatre programme at Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse theatres, open to anyone aged 11 to 25. At a time when many young people are clamouring for more involvement in theatre, YEP is pretty spectacular in its scope. Far from providing an opportunity for kids to act on weekends, the programme is organised into strands that encompass every aspect of running a theatre. Young Actors act, Young Writers write, Young Technicians work with lighting and sound and Young Communicators focus on the promotion, advertising and marketing of shows.

“A bit of everything is needed to involve more young people in theatre,” said YEP Director Matt Rutter. “We need to have cheap tickets and shows that are relevant to young people. Theatre that is made by young people has an appeal for young audiences, and that’s what we need because they are the future theatregoers, performers and directors. In the next ten to 15 years it will be them who take over from us. YEP is great because it gives them confidence, a skills base, and allows them to progress to where they want to go.” His aims are high, and he truly believes the programme can have an effect on theatres as a whole. “We’re hoping to embed these young people within theatres. At the moment, we’re still in the beginning phases so the programme is led by me artistically, but next year we will be transferring the artistic leadership over to them, with the new Young Programmers strand. We’re aiming for a holistic, all-encompassing feel. We want them to have a voice at every level of the theatres.”

17-year-old Hannah McGowan certainly feels her role as Young Communicator has given her a strong voice. The Young Communicators organised the launch of YEP, designing the logo and all the prints. The programme mirrors the way theatres advertise and promote their own shows, and after working with YEP their work feeds into the wider programme and they become involved in marketing for the main house shows.

“It was something I wouldn’t usually go for,” said McGowan. “I study drama at college, I act. But it was in a theatre and I figured you should know more about what goes on in the theatre than just what you want to do. Then when I started, I fell in love with it straight away. It was something different, I didn’t need any experience, and you learn so much from it.” She sees these lessons as valuable life skills that she can transfer into other areas. “There are things I didn’t know about theatre until I started, which I can now take into college coursework. It sets me apart, and it’s easy to balance YEP and college. It’s going to open loads of different doors for everybody who’s involved.” She also appreciates the cheaper tickets that are offered to her. “We’re really lucky to have the £5 ticket deals. I can afford that, compared to going somewhere else. Theatre is inaccessible to me outside of the Everyman and Playhouse, it’s too tricky with money. Here it’s plain and simple.”

Young Actor Nick Crosbie, 19, has found YEP a valuable step towards becoming an actor and the perfect way to spend his gap year. “I auditioned at drama schools last year and didn’t get a place because of lack of experience. So I took a gap year this year and came to YEP, where every week we do new stuff, we dedicate a whole week to shows, and I can gain that experience I need. I’m looking forward to auditioning for drama school again next year and seeing what improvements I’ve made.” He elaborated on his experience with YEP. “We have three seasons. In the first season we do workshops, which vary – we could be doing improvisation for one night, stage combat for another. The second term is show term. We did Intimate, which was an experimental piece of theatre about young people dealing with war. We’ve all been to the theatre and sat down and seen a show, but this play was different. The audience walked around and took part in it. We also did You Are Being Watched, which was like a comedy spoof on James Bond, similar to Austin Powers. We performed that in the middle of the shopping centre, in front of four hundred people! In the third season we come up with ideas and we perform whatever we want to do. It could be stage combat, monologues, comedy sketches, anything. I’m so much more confident with my acting now.”

Perhaps what characterises these young practitioners above all is how strongly they feel about the way in which YEP has enhanced their career prospects. 20-year-old Jamie Thompson is a Young Technician, working through an eight-month programme in which they run the technical side of all the YEP performances. They also work quite closely with the Playhouse technicians, getting hands on experience assisting with various performances that come into the Playhouse.

“I entered the programme with no experience; we all learnt from a basic level. It was a lighting course originally but as it went on, other people wanted to learn about sound, so it expanded through the students in the group. I sort of fell into it through people that I knew and other places that I’d volunteered at. I met people from Playhouse and they explained what it was. I was really interested in the opportunity, it sounded like a gateway to contacts and experience that I wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere else. I was right – through this, I’ve gained some great contacts and I’ve started getting work through them. I’ve been working with different independent theatre companies, radio stations, and venues. It’s made a huge difference in terms of my future career prospects. I’d finished college and I had no sense of direction. This has put me into so many different things I can work on. It’s expanded my knowledge tenfold without a great deal of pressure, since the environment is very relaxed and supportive.”

Thompson’s clear pride in what he has achieved and the emotive way he discusses the Young Everyman Playhouse conveys just how much potential the programme has. “It gives you a great feeling when everything comes together and you can see the finished product, the shows and events that we’ve worked on. Being a part of that gives you a feeling that is indescribable. It makes you so proud. I’ve been able to work with some absolutely brilliant people. I feel such a high sense of achievement.” YEP truly is an affirmation of this achievement.

Find out more about Liverpool Young Everyman Playhouse scheme by visiting their website.

Image credit: Brian Roberts

Here is a little large round up of the most common mistakes made by arts organisations, individuals and companies when using Twitter. Feel free to add your own in the comments afterwards, and if you want the roundup of points, skip to the bottom.

1. Re-Tweeting praise

- Have praise for your work? Storify it.

We all like praise of our work, but we don’t like someone shouting out that praise all the time. Re-tweeting praise from Twitter users about your shows, event or general engagement might be tempting, but it just looks like you’re boasting. If you want your followers to see what other people are saying about you, create a Storify collating all those tweets about reviews or comments, and then send out the link to your followers. One tweet, no hassle, happy followers.

An example of too much re-tweeting praise:

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2. Mention someone

- Want everyone to see your tweet to/about someone? Stick a dot in front of their Twitter handle e.g. .@ayoungertheatre Hi!

This really is a technical mistake that far too many people just don’t realise, and keep doing. The difference between mentioning someone in a conversational manner, and wanting to mention someone to your followers. We all know that by putting a Twitter handle at the beginning of a tweet you’re directing a tweet to them, but so many people also do this when they’re talking about someone and want to share it with all their followers. By mentioning someone at the beginning of a tweet only those who follow both Twitter users will see the tweet. If you want everyone to see the tweet you must put something at the start of the tweet to break this. Something as simple as a dot or dash will work fine, and then everyone will see what you’re saying about that person. Examples below:

Here you can see the Finborough Theatre mentioning one of our reviews, but only their followers who follow both @finborough and @ayoungertheatre will see this tweet. Much better to have everyone be able to see this if it’s promoting a good review:

Here is how they should have done it such as Barbican Centre demonstrates. By putting a dot in front of @back2blackfest everyone will be able to see the tweet:

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3. Hashtags

- Only use hashtags for events lasting more than a week. Make it unique and brief.

Everyone is on the hashtag bandwagon, but are we using them correctly? A hashtag is denoted by the use of, you guessed it, a hashtag # to tag a tweet with a certain topic, or for tagging shows. The mistake is using a hashtag when there really is no need to. If you have a show that is lasting months then using a hashtag is a good idea to keep track of show tweets, and to give your followers a chance to engage with it. If your show or event is on for less than a week then there really is no point in using a hashtag, it’s too short a time for engagement, and your followers are less likely to know what it means.

If you are using a hashtag make sure it is unique, makes sense, and doesn’t fill up most of the tweet. An example of a bad hashtag below, it’s far too long and for a show that is on for less than a week:

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4. Show specific Twitter accounts

- Don’t create show specific Twitter accounts, use personal or production companies to build longer lasting audiences

With the Edinburgh Fringe around the corner I’m seeing a plethora of new Twitter accounts for shows. I loathe Twitter accounts that are purely for a show UNLESS it is a huge commercial one on the West End or touring internationally. Why? It’s all about engagement. Creating a show specific Twitter account might be your way of building an online audience, but how do you a) keep those followers after it’s ended, b) get active followers in the first place and c) seem like a human and not just a show? With difficulty.

If you are thinking about setting up a Twitter account for a new show, why not create a personal one that builds an active audience through personal tweets rather than show specific? If you don’t want that responsibility then create a production company account, at least this will have life beyond a show.

Below are just two examples of show specific accounts. In both cases, the shows are running for 5 nights… why would you follow them?

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5. Pls RT

- If your tweet is good enough it will get RT’ed, don’t force it.

Twitter is all about connections, and networks. By putting a tweet out it should filter out through your networks and reach potential new audiences in an organic manner when it is re-tweeted. You should never force tweets. If your tweet is good enough your follows will re-tweet it for you. Don’t beg for a re-tweet.

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6. Communication Within

- Communication between departments is key. Breaking news on Twitter isn’t always good.

This really is a simple one, but we hear about this more and more, a lack of communication between departments or people. If you’ve got big news, perhaps you’re announcing a new show, or just have something to communicate to your audience make sure that it is ready for an online audience. We’ve seen press announcements made via Twitter before press releases are sent, we’ve even seen closure of whole shows announced on Twitter before the cast even knew.

I never thought I’d say this but there is a time and place for Twitter, are you sure that tweet is of the right time?

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7. Creative flair/voice

- Don’t forget the creativity within the organisation. How does this transcend to Twitter?

I have spoken about the need for stories and creativity on our Twitter accounts. Perhaps we’re past this as audiences see Twitter for theatre as a marketing tool they are actively plugging into, but we shouldn’t forget about our organisations creativity. Bring a certain Twitter voice to your organisation that is personal, professional but creative. Think creative with your tweets, tell stories, anecdotes and feed off the creativity of your stages. Failing that, at least try to be human.

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8. Book Tickets Now!

- Twitter doesn’t sell tickets unless you have a star name. We won’t buy tickets when you tell us.

Most theatre Twitter accounts are in the hands of the marketing department whose job is to shift tickets at all times. This is fair enough but am I really going to follow the call to action to ‘book tickets now’ for something you’ve tweeted about? Unlikely. That is of course, unless you have a big star name, or is for a highly anticipated show, the sort of show that will sell out within minutes of going on sale. Only then do you have a valid enough call to action, otherwise try different approaches to get your audiences to buy tickets such as email campaigns and online advertising.

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9. Scheduling Tweets

- If scheduling tweets be careful what message you’re promoting. Open 24/7 or clashing with other tweets?

A common trick of the trade is to schedule tweets to ensure that you’re being an active Twitter user. There are many tools to do this such as Hoot Suite and Tweet Deck. This is great for when you’re not in the office or have something that needs announcing at a specific time (maybe tickets for a new show go on sale at 00.01 on the day?). The problem with this is simple, if Twitter is about communication and engagement and you’re scheduling tweets for ‘out of office hours’ what happens when someone replies asking a question? Your active account is not replying despite a tweet being sent.

This argument can go further. Scheduling tweets for different times of the day might engage those you don’t normally during working hours, but can it promote the wrong message, that you are available at any time of the day? Or that you’re scheduling tweets in the first place. There is a thin line between being a human and a robot.

Lastly, if more than one of you uses a Twitter account be sure that you know when tweets are scheduled. Nothing worse than several tweets about different topics at once.

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10. Links

- Linking to your website or content? Get the link right!

Driving people to your website and content is one of the most important elements when using Twitter (aside from engagement and communication). Ensure you are getting your links right. Many organisations forget to put spaces between their tweet content and their link making the link unusable. Others forget links altogether, or use the wrong ones. The worst is when tweets link through to a Facebook account because they’re on automatic link-up. Remember the purpose of Twitter, and use a service like bit.ly to shorten them (whilst watching stats). If you’re really up to speed on online engagement you’ll include meta data in your links so you can follow users through your website.

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10 Common Mistakes With Arts Organisations Using Twitter- Roundup

1. Don’t re-tweet all your praise. Storify it.
2. If you want to mention someone and let that followers you to see it, remember to stick a dot in front of the @user
3. Hashtags work best for long events. Make sure it is unique and short (and understandable!)
4. Don’t create show specific accounts. Better to come from a persona/production company to build a sustainable online audience.
5. Begging for a re-tweet. If your tweet is good enough it will get re-tweets without you needing to push it.
6. Communicate with departments when announcing things on Twitter. Don’t cause clashes.
7. Always remember the creativity within your work, this should extend to Twitter too.
8. That dreaded phrase “Book Tickets Now”. It’s a weak call to action and we won’t buy tickets.
9. Scheduling tweets might mean your followers will expect a reply outside of working hours.
10. Always check your link works before putting it into a tweet.

Have more common mistakes? Leave a comment below.