Taking the mountain to Mohammed

Five years ago, it all seemed so simple. A single mailing list and a fax machine were the way to get publicity for your theatre, arts festival or event. The technological boom and changing media climate has changed all that, and it is now up to press, media and marketing officers – or the producers themselves – to keep up. A Google search will reveal plenty of media local to your venue. From the BBC radio station to the community newsletter, there are opportunities to get publicity, but how do you make sure you get the coverage you want and deserve? There is no way of guaranteeing it. Journalists have a habit of being called away to something else and ruining that run of interviews you have just organised, and it is always for the show that needs a kick-start in ticket sales. But there are ways of maximising relationships with contacts and using new technology to give you an advantage in the battle for space.

Cutting paper

Ditching the paper press release works very well. The speed of communication means the days of printing and faxing out press releases has gone. The rush-rush-rush culture means that journalists want an instant response. If they want an extra quote, comment or image, they can get it much faster. Press-wise, it can also work well. When a news story gets pulled, the sub-editor or page designer is left with a sudden gap. Having that database of pictures and pre-written press releases at the click of a button (and making sure the sub-editors know you have it) is a godsend. You can often get a bonus half-page feature placed with the minimum of effort. Giving journalists a secure section of the website with images ready for download and ready-prepared press releases increases the chances of getting extra coverage. We have just started that here in Norwich and so far, it has had 100% positive feedback.

This may give the impression all press journalists are lazy. Far from it. The benefit of getting those nice long reads in the local paper cannot be underestimated, especially for those more traditional theatrical productions such as classic dramas and operas. But what about other shows or events, especially if your target media have a younger or more niche readership and may be a bit put off by theatre productions?

Spread the word

Radio works well. The BBC’s remit means they are always keen to cover arts and entertainment, especially at a local and regional level. There is also a trend with many to resurrect the local arts and music programmes that were a mainstay of the schedules a few years ago. That is a great opportunity to get some extra airtime, especially if daytime programming backs them up by repeating or reusing the interviews. Commercial radio can be a tougher nut to crack. We have all read the headlines about jobs going and fewer journalists and presenters being around. How many times have the news desks said: “We would cover it but we just do not have the staff?” Well, the mountain can go to Mohammed: get the interviews to them.

Digital editing equipment and software is no longer the preserve of only the professional radio operation. As a theatre, we now do radio interviews in-house. Often performers do not want to do a long series of question-and-answer sessions, but five minutes in their dressing room just doing one quick chat can give the sound bites you need for the local radio stations. Editing software can be picked up really cheaply – or even for free – and clips can then be sent out direct to radio newsrooms straight away. The cost implications of the recorder and software are offset against the cost of radio airtime, and you have got a sure-fire way of getting your product out to more people. With the technical know-how, you can even set up an area of your website where the radio stations can download these interviews direct. If not, just email out the clips. Make sure they are in the MP3 format and stations can play them instantly.

Proof positive

It all looks good on paper, but does it work? Well it appears to. The recent run of ‘Eurobeat’ was a show perfect for commercial radio coverage, as it is aimed at a younger audience. The stations locally loved the show and its concept of text-voting for the winner at each performance. With the rush of interest from the media, the cast faced being bombarded with interview requests. We selected key personnel to do one interview each in-house, which were then broadcast the following breakfast time on five of our local stations. [[there are ways of using new technology to give you an advantage in the battle for space]]

This also spun off into helping other theatres drum up publicity on the run. The audio was available to them, with the clips being used on radio stations around the country. Kim Morgan, who looked after the tour PR, said, “The audio clips were essential in helping to spread the word and explain the interactive fun of the show.” It can even help cast-members who want a bit of extra publicity. Eurobeat performer Scott Garnham is already embracing the multi-media revolution, and is going to use the audio on his website alongside print and video material to showcase his work to producers.

It is also effective with work that is harder to sell when it comes to getting media coverage. David Mamet’s ‘Sexual Perversity in Chicago’ was the first production from The Actors Company – a Norwich-based repertory company supported by the Theatre Royal. The production won rave reviews, but, on paper, it does not really tick the boxes of content for a showbiz bulletin on commercial radio. Some nice sound-bites from the local actors can make a difference. We attached some scripts to the clips as Word documents. It got coverage on all the local radio stations and, in some cases, more airtime than some of the other shows in our spring and summer programme. Because it was one of our in-house productions, we could also invite websites to come and film some footage and we got some excellent coverage.

There are a few hints and tips here on getting more coverage. Not all of them will work all of the time, unfortunately, or I would have sold them by now and retired to a quiet Caribbean island. More seriously, it seems that if you do as much of the work as you can for the media and provide them with the resources, those extra column inches and minutes of airtime do seem to follow.