It’s a tricky business advertising your show on the Fringe. So many ads, so many shows so many publications, how can you make sure your paid for space converts viewers to ticket sales.

The sad reality is that you can’t exactly. Not unless you build in voucher codes, backlinks, timed offers and wherever that’s possible please do so. It will help for further campaigns and find the right fit for your show. The management guru Peter Drucker has a phrase ‘What gets measured, gets managed.’ In the unpredictable world of the Fringe, these details are like gold dust.

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Off to a flyer? Courtesy of Jungleboy on Flickr

Five star show!

Stand Up comedy!

Physical-theatre 3.15!

Awardwinningsketchtroupe!

How much can you actually say to a passing punter on the streets before they’ve passed you by? Not very much really. It makes it kinda tricky when it coms to flyering these people. I’ve seen lots of creative attempts at this during festival time from outrageous poses, to playing dead, to performers covering themselves in flyers hoping you’ll pick one off them and make their show the show to see. All of these tactics fail and fail miserably.

The thing is your flyer doesn’t sell your show.

The person holding it does.

Your show flyer is a key to open doors or at worst a foot to stick in doorways. It’s an opening – and then once you’ve got your opening  - a reference point and as you get your sale… Continue reading →

Ah the ultimate get rich quick at the the festival scheme – the publicity stunt.

Edinburgh is perfect for PR stunts, there’s already an air of anything goes, so the unexpected is…um expected. Get it right and a good stunt can catapult your show into the most talked about event at the festival but get it wrong and your show could be be the most talked about event down the police cells – mind you if you can conduct an interview behind bars you might just get away with it but more on that later.

Ok what makes a great stunt? Below I’ve put what I believe are the elements of an ultimate publicity stunt at the Fringe. Get all of these right and you’ll be well on your way to making a splash at the festival.

1. See the stunt and know the show – It’s all very well stopping… Continue reading →

In the immortal words of Canned Heat: ‘Come on, come on let’s work together!’ Too right lads. They might not have been singing about taking a show to the Fringe but with that attitude (and a string of hit records!) they wouldn’t have gone far wrong.

We are constantly reminded about the competition in Edinburgh. You’re one of 2,500 shows, how will you get seen? The short answer is by standing out but you don’t have to do that on your own. Working with the competition and not against it is the first step in raising your head above the noise at the festival.

Themes
Your show might be along similar themes to other shows so why not pitch features jointly, flyer each others audiences in an Amazon style recommendation ‘If you liked this you’ll love this’ or launch themed promotions. Every year there’s a bunch of themes that come… Continue reading →

There are tons of extra promotional opportunities at the festival and the Fringe Society has recently posted the latest bunch online. If you haven’t seen them yet check them out here: http://bit.ly/cpMWOB

Before you make a mad dash for the High St, however, it’s worth putting a few extra things in place to make sure these opportunities are just that. Often they’re fun but remember the aim is to promote your show and sell tickets so with that end in mind here are a few tips to make the most of these slots.

1. Tailor your content accordingly

Most of these showcase opportunities will be limited timewise so it’s best concentrating on the best bits (most suited really) of your show for this. It’s easy for comedians who can tell a few jokes or musicians who play a few songs but if you have a show where the content doesn’t… Continue reading →

A publicist may be somebody in your company that is dedicated to looking after PR activity. You may, however, hire a professional publicist to look after your show so below are five things you need to know before using a PR/Publicist:

1. How many Fringe groups are they representing?

Don’t be afraid to ask this and push for a straight answer. If your publicist is representing 15 different shows then you’ll only get a 15th of their time. Of course many publicists work with a team so find out how big that team is as well as how many shows they look after.

2. What’s their track record?

Ask potential publicists whether they have worked the Fringe before, who they worked for and for a reference from previous clients. In this case it’s best to get to speak to past clients directly rather than receive testimonials.

3. What do you get… Continue reading →