2. Marketing Improv Is Hard
Ok so this is an extension of the first point in some ways. The biggest hurdle in marketing improv is the fact that many people won’t know what improv is. To overcome this you’ll need a very clear message in your marketing materials. Is your selling point comedy? Is it a play made up on the spot? Do you promise audience interaction? Whatever you’re offering make sure that you express it clearly so that you appeal to your target audience.
But here’s a thought I definitely needed time to think about when I started promoting improv shows, and that is this:
What is your show about?
Think about it. If you were going out for a fun evening with a friend and they suggested you go see a movie you would probably ask what is the movie about to help you decide if you wanted to see it or not.
If your friend asked you to go out for a meal, you may enquire what type of food are you going out to for? Fish and chips, steak, Italian…
Hey you like sports right? Let’s go to the sports! What do you mean which sport are we going to see?
The point is that whatever activity you’re going to do it’s usual to have an idea of what it is you’re agreeing to go to, and especially if you’re going to have to spend money to go to it. With improvised theatre this leads to the question that many potential audience members will face:
What is the improv show going to be about?
And of course there’s not usually an answer you can give. In your marketing materials for Macbeth you can show imagery of witches or daggers and anything vaguely Shakespearean and audiences will get a sense of what they’re in for.
In an improv show, unless it’s an improv show themed on a specific fictional work, it’s fairly impossible to accurately express what audiences can expect to see with imagery.
How do you represent a show that can literally be anything? Do you club together a random selection of images to show off infinite possibilities? Do you use illustrations or photos where there are all kinds of costumes and references to films and other exciting scenarios? Will this mish mash of ideas actually help you draw a crowd or will they just confuse people as to what your show will be? It would almost be like the advert for the restaurant that shows a chicken pie in a burger bun with a scoop of ice cream on top with a sprinkle of broccoli. Also there’s the risk that if you show off lots of imagery that is supposed to represent what audiences will only see in their minds eye that these elaborate images could be seen as false advertising.
If you show photos from a rehearsal or previous show they usually show performers in street clothes or logo shirts on a blank stage. This can be good, but risk looking like a rehearsal and may not hold up next to the show photos on the flyer for The Lion King stage show.
We often show chairs as a staple fixture of improv shows, but whilst those in the improv world get why we use chairs as iconography this falls back into the problem that most people don’t know what improv is.
So what’s the solution? Hard to say, but this is where it’s really important for you to figure out what the vibe or target audience is for your show and make your message really clear.
