Theatre Marketing – blundering out of the gate

One of my “goals for the new year” was to “become a better theatre marketer”.  So, when it came time for Keystone Theatre to announce a fund raiser, I jumped at the chance, and started coming up with a press release.

This was a bit of a blunder.  I did a couple things I shouldn’t have done:

  • I sent to an existing media list, without double checking to ensure that it was still valid, and happened to include a few really out of date contacts.
  • I sent the email “in the clear”, with the recipients in the “TO” line of the email.  Which is kinda bad form.  It also displayed to everyone that received the message, the out of date recipients.
  • This really wasn’t an event that needed a press release.  Its an event and should have been sent to event listing desks at some of the Toronto weeklies, but not to the entertainment editors.

While this wasn’t a terrible disaster, it wasn’t exactly the best way to get out of the gate.  Its a lesson learned, and something to be very conscious of in the future.