If you're planning on attending a large open arts festivals like Edinburgh, you may be interested in some stats. Edinburgh is by far the largest arts festival by any measure. In 2011 it featured 41,689 performances of 2,542 shows across 258 venues. 1.8 million tickets were issued - and whilst that may sound like an impressive number, that's actually only an average of 43 people per show. Ask yourself how many seats are in your venue, and how many venues have a lot more than yours? In Edinburgh, the big names fill the 500+ seater venues, which means the actual average audience for an average show is going to be a lot less than 43. Also bear in mind that 1.8 million tickets issued is not the same as 1.8 million tickets sold. That number is assumed to include free shows and comp tickets for press and arts industry. According to a Scotsman article last year, the average ticket price has been dropping, and is now under a tenner. So, you're looking at a small average audience and those that are paying aren't paying much. Doom and gloom? Not at all. Fringe festivals are still the most amazing experience for any theatre company. Being the most competitive market for arts in the world in which every member of the company needs to 'pitch in' to survive is one of the best educations in the reality of putting on a show you can get. You just need to be prepared for the competitive nature before you arrive.

Assembled below are tips from promoters, venue press managers, and reviewers to give you a heads up on how to best market your show on the fringe. It’s mainly about Edinburgh, but the advice is good for all fringe festivals.

One of the best ways to get the most out of Edinburgh is to first off know what you want out of Edinburgh. Some take shows to get exposure for new writing, a performer or production company. Some use it as the launchpad to a wider tour. Some just for the thrill of taking part. Consider the Edinburgh Festival as a trade show for the performing arts. The price of your exhibiting is the price of staging your show, offset by the sales of your tickets. But just like a trade show, you need to make sure you come home with the right business cards tucked in your pocket.

Consider Your Budget

Many people underestimate the costs of doing any kind of marketing of their show, allowing only the minimum for printing flyers and posters; or expecting that the 'co-op' marketing that the venue are charging them is supposed to cover all activity. It won't. And if you invest nothing in marketing, you're likely to see very little in ticket sales on your show. Even if you have one of the best written, best directed, best acted or best designed shows on the fringe, unless you invest time and money in marketing your show in advance of your arrival at the festival, it's unlikely the word will get around about how good it is until the festival is almost over. You won't be on reviewer's radar. You won't have preview stories in the press. You won't have any of the buzz required to get ticket sales starting early, and you'll probably be in the all-too-familiar situation of papering your first week of performances to avoid the embarrassment of playing to empty houses. Your marketing budget doesn't need to be huge; but should be carefully planned and wisely spent.

Make Sure You Have Great PR

One of the most important parts of your marketing arsenal is your PR guy. They are worth their weight in gold if you pick the right one. Make sure you find someone who has plenty of previous experience at the festival you are going to and hasn't already got too many other acts on their plate to look after. Ask to see what they have done for clients in the past, and ask for references if you can, so you can see whether their clients really were happy with them.

If you are doing the full run of the festival, expect to pay around £1000 for their services - and this will include all the pre-publicity work as well as handling the media on location. The really top-flight PR guys, will charge four or five times that amount, but around £1000 is about right for a good service. If your budget is really tight, you may be able to negotiate a deal which just involves getting your press releases out - but bear in mind it really is worth going for the full service if you can. Even if that means dropping an advert in the Fringe programme.

You can, of course, DIY your press work - but make sure you understand how to deal with the press before embarking on such a task. Festivals stretch the resources of all publications, and it's much easier for you to research the dozen or so publications that can have a noticeable impact on your show than it is for the publications to try and deal with communication in thousands of different formats. At Broadway Baby, for instance, we have an email dedicated to press releases which we use to identify which shows we're going to cover. Sending mass emails to every address you can find or phoning the advertising phone number is likely to have a negative effect on your chances of getting coverage. A good PR guy will know each of the publications and how to deal with them.

Press Releases - Basic Rules

There are long-standing basic rules regarding the writing of a press release, and some quick research on Google will help for those unfamiliar with the conventions. Send press releases as text in the body of your email. There are thousands of shows all sending multiple releases to the media, so dealing with attachments pushes your release further down the to-do list. PDF documents laid out with pictures and multiple fonts may look pretty, but they're a pain to deal with when all you want is to copy the blurb out to put on the listing. Even the 'sell your show' guides written by the festival press department get this wrong. We really don't want PDFs with photos and quotes on them. If you really want to format your release to match your show 'brand' (more of that below), then make use an HTML email so the text of your release is still just text that can be copied directly out of the message.

For maximum usability, press releases should be written in a way the publication can simply copy / paste as much as they need. That means the first paragraph should summarise the whole show, and each further paragraph expand on the detail, so paragraphs can be cut from the bottom without losing any of the meaning. This is a press release 101-rule that seems to have been lost over the last couple of decades.

Never send unsolicited file attachments greater than a couple of hundred kilobytes. If a publication requires a high-resolution version of a production shot, they will ask for it - never send those big files unannounced.

Many publications will release guidelines for their press releases. Broadway Baby’s are here.

Targeting the Press

Know which publications are at the Fringe before you get there, and agree with your press agent which ones are on your priority list. There is a lot to be said for targeting the free press first (such as Three Weeks, Broadway Baby, etc), rather than putting all your effort into high-profile targets like The Scotsman or the nationals. The Scotsman have certain rules which could delay publication of your review if you are up for a Fringe First: you may get a reviewer into your show in the first week, only for them to sit on publication until the final week of the festival. Free publications and websites are typically far quicker to press, and if you need pull-quotes early in your run then try and tempt those reviewers on one of your first few performances.

Be realistic. You are one of more than 2000 shows trying to lobby journalists who can only see about 4 or 5 shows in a day, then still have to write up a (hopefully witty and insightful) review for each. Even Three Weeks, with over 120 reviewers on their team, struggle to cover everything these days. Only a fraction get coverage in the first week. Your pre-Fringe activity, and who and how you've targeted the press will have an impact on whether you appear on a review-scheduler's list. Sometimes it can be a simple as your image being so striking that it'll look good on the pages of the publication, regardless of the show. Quite often it is because you're doing something of note - either because of your cast, writer, director or production company, or because the material you're doing has caught the attention of the public (or, at least, is likely to catch the attention of the public). Think about your unique selling points - your "USPs" - and make sure that you are highlighting them in your press communications. Spend time on your photography. A badly-lit snap from your rehearsal room is probably not going to inspire The Scotsman to run a full-page editorial on you.

With the above in place, draw up a list of the publications you absolutely have to talk to. Resources will be too limited to get distracted by the press who aren't going to have any impact on your show, so the monthly magazine about farm machinery from Estonia that wants to do an interview with you because your press shot has a particularly fine example of a tractor in the background, is probably not worth worrying about; not least because their publication date is after the Fringe is over. The Internet has also become a great leveller in giving citizen media a voice, and whilst this is no bad thing (it is, after all, where Broadway Baby started), be wary of enthusiastic punters who want to sap your time for the promise of being featured in their blog. Politely direct them toward the press resources on your website, and keep yourself focused in getting the pull quotes from the publications that can help sell your show. The "Hackney Marshes Badger Blog" probably isn't going to do that.

There's no point sending a hi-res image to a radio station. Do your homework. Online publications are easy to research. Printed publications also have websites and PDF editions. Local radio stations are practically all available streaming online. It doesn't take too much work to read, listen and watch what they do and then think what is it you have they might be interested in. Think about what you're sending them. With radio, for instance, they don't want listings, they want stories. They need interesting people who can talk about a subject that may be interesting to their listeners. What's the angle? What's the 'voice'? Publications like Broadway Baby, on the other hand, are listings-centric. For the Fringe we already have basic listings information, but is there any way to enhance that? A better show image? A better description than the brochure word-limit would allow? We also encourage our readers to add their reviews of your show, and that content goes on our homepage and out on our Twitter stream. If your audience are singing your praises on our site, that's even more buzz going out about your show.

Talk to your press agent and agree a plan - some of your strategy will be directed by their own relationships with the media covering the fringe, a lot will come from the USPs of your show, and which publications are likely to be interested in those USPs.

Chasing A Review

A common mistake half way through your run is to send an email to the review publications that haven't yet been in saying something like 'We got five stars from all these publications' (with a list) 'When are you coming?' The problem with that is if you've already got a clutch of great reviews, you don't really need us. We'd rather get a reviewer along to a show that hasn't had anyone in to see it, and in a festival with over 2,500 shows, the media don't want to all cover the same 300 shows.

If you are in your second week with no reviewers booked in, tweet the main publications and tell us. Most editors agree they look more favourably on the underdog than someone bragging about a trophy-cabinet of stars seeking more coverage. All publications have slightly different methods for selecting shows to review. Do your research and find out how each works, and that will save you a lot of effort if getting your show into the schedules.

If your show already has a 5-star review from a publication from a previous run, then be wary of encouraging them back. They may seem like your greatest allies, but the reality is you're likely to get a different reviewer and there's only one direction that rating can go. You're better off using the five-star rating you've already got and concentrating on the media that haven't seen the show.

Engage the media with Social Media

Most of us are on Twitter, and in the lull-before-the-storm of festivals, that's a good time to get some dialog going. Don't just tweet your show name - but do try and tweet something interesting about your show. Be eloquent. The character limit can make you quite creative! Publications like Broadway Baby, Fringe Review and Fringe Guru are happy to re-tweet interesting messages, and that's effectively a free ad going out to thousands of targeted fringe-goers. On the subject of tweets, it's worth getting your venue to re-tweet you, and also if you're going on after the Fringe, get those venues to also re-tweet. Your festival buzz then can move with you rather than left behind at the festival.

Link up your Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, but don't just make them all copies of each other. Your Twitter audience will be different, and expect different things, to your Facebook fans. And don't tweet or update your Facebook status 1,000 times a day. That's a quick way to be 'unfollowed' and 'unliked'. If you have a Facebook 'event' for your show, remember commitment to attend is not equal to actual attendance! If you're counting on selling the number of tickets listed under 'Attending', you're in trouble.

Advertising

The Fringe Programme is probably the highest priority publication to get your advertising into - although at approximately £2,400 for a quarter page, it's also one of the most expensive. If your budget can stretch, you should also look at advertising where your potential audience will be. Think about your show, and who will want to see it. Think of the sort of publications your potential audience read and the websites they visit. The better you target your ads, the more conversions you'll get out of the eyeballs that read your message.

Advertising can clearly work, and you're probably expecting me to say spend all your advertising with Broadway Baby; but actually what I'd advise is to spend your money with those publications that support the Fringe, including Broadway Baby. The main reviewing publications are largely volunteer operations and non-profit. If any of them do make any money (which is rare), it goes back into building better coverage. We do this stuff because we love fringe theatre, and although we have significant costs such as hosting, travel and accommodation, we don't have the ability to sell tickets so our only chance to cover costs is to sell some ad space. Each publication can offer different options, such as traditional banner ads, featured listings or sponsorship options. So please do support the media that are supporting the Fringe. In doing so it means we can keep getting better covering the shows you create. Publications that are members of FMN show a long-term commitment to fringe coverage, so that's not a bad place to spend some of your marketing budget.

One point of note. There are some glossy publications out there that are seemingly about the fringe, but really only publish preview blurb and heavily-sell their advertising. Since the Fringe Programme does a better job of listings, my advice is to steer clear as their only interest is a commercial one.

You can also use Google or Facebook Ads to target your message. Facebook has some particularly powerful targeting methods that let you specify the gender, age, location and interests of your advert audience, and also link it to a Facebook event for your show.

When it comes to setting a budget for your advertising, our suggestion for Edinburgh shows is to allocate 10% of your anticipated average ticket price as the cost of filling a seat. If, for instance, you expect your average ticket price to be £12 and you are in a 140 seat auditorium for 24 performances, you can work out your ad budget to be £1.20 (10% of £12) x 140 seats x 24 performances = £4032, which will be enough for a Fringe quarter page programme ad, some ads in the fringe press such as Three Weeks and Broadway Baby, and campaigns on Google / Facebook.

You can see our own advertising rates here.

Brand Yourself

Because of the sheer number of shows you're competing with in a festival like Edinburgh, you really have to be creative to get noticed. Although you may think of Edinburgh as just another arts festival, in reality it's a cut-throat market where brand-awareness is paramount. It's a playing field that would give even experienced marketeers a run for their money - and to work it you need to be organised.

To start with, you need to come up with an image, look and feel that will instantly be associated with your show. It will form your poster design, flyers, press releases and be prominent in every scrap of communication between you and your potential audience. It should be striking, relevant and able to tell the viewer what it is through photography, illustration or typeface regardless of the words. You should be able to take the title of your show off your poster and still know what it's about. In every venue, your poster will appear on a wall with many others, so make your design clean and clear so as to draw your audience in from a distance. Make sure your text isn't lost on a busy background. Make sure there isn't too much text. Don't be afraid of 'white space'. Show your potential designs to as many people as possible to get their feedback. And when you're happy you have the absolute best design possible for your show, use the same image, fonts and style throughout everything you do.

If your marketing budget runs to it, think about reproducing your brand beyond posters and flyers. Get t-shirts for your flyering team, beer mats in your venue and flags for Royal Mile performances. For less than a couple of hundred quid you'll have a lot of options in promotional marketing giveaways - a search on Google will provide many hundreds of companies that specialise in branded merchandise, and their websites will give you thousands of ideas. The more you can get your brand seen by the public, the more chance your show will get their consideration when they're thinking of shows to see. But make sure your brand is strong, and it appears everywhere.

Showing Off Your Show

Adverts, blanket postering and good reviews are all great ways of getting your brand out there, but also consider giving your audience a free sample of your wares either before the Fringe starts using a service like YouTube or Festival Previews, or when you're in town you can apply for a slot on the High Street Stage Spaces, or as part of a showcase 'best of' fringe show (there are always many of those every year!). Before considering this option though, experience suggests that a strong comedy sketch or musical number can work well in isolation, but typically drama does less well when a scene is ripped out of context - especially when the material surrounding it is less weighty. On the High Street there is the additional technical challenge of being heard, and shouting your way through a love scene may not do much for your audience numbers let alone your actors voices. If the venue you're in have a 'best of' type show, and your material lends itself to a short extract, ask your venue press office to get you an invitation to perform.

If you are in one of the larger venues, especially one with a busy bar area, you can ask your venue management if you can perform for the bar audience. Some venues, such as C for instance, will even let you lay on themed party nights to really focus on your show. Not only will this give you an extra publicity boost, but also give you an excuse to get closer to all the other companies in your venue; which can have many advantages if they are then also talking about your show to their circle of influence.

Flyering / Papering & Postering

Opinion is very much divided on the effectiveness of flyering the Royal Mile. There is no doubt that you will see some ticket sales as a direct result of standing outside the Fringe Shop handing out flyers, but equally it is a lot of work and you give a lot of flyers out to people who'll throw them away. The point is, if your show lends itself to a particular type of audience, you'll probably get a much better response for less effort (and less wasted paper) targeting that group specifically. If you've got a gay-themed show, for instance, hit the gay pubs a couple of times a week. Visit the gay friendly businesses, and get your posters up where they'll be seen. In a pub, one of the best positions is directly above the urinal!

If you need to paper your house for the early performances, try and make sure the people who'll be able to say good things about your show are the ones you're giving tickets to. In the above example, give the landlords of the pubs & business owners you are flyering a few free tickets so they can tell their regulars about the show for the whole month. No point giving free tickets to tourists who are going home tomorrow - who they going to evangelise to?

I should stress that the information provided above is purely my opinion about what has, and hasn't, worked in the previous festivals. The is no single 'right way' to do a show in Edinburgh or Brighton, but by its very nature a cookie-cutter approach will be lost in the white noise of competition. You should always look for your unique strengths and use them. Identify who your core audience is and market your product as much as your budget can afford. Once you've worked out your numbers, take a step back and do a sanity check. Are you spending more than your ticket price per person to get people in the door? Are you only spending the bare minimum but expecting the house to be full? We hope the above is useful, but above all - enjoy your experience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; it's one of the best on Earth.