I mentioned this in the previous thread but felt it would make for mucy better conversation and feedback if I made it its own thread.

I am planning on creating and sending out press releases a few weeks prior to my upcoming theater show. My wife and I will be doing 2 matineee shows at an old restored theater in April.

I have not done that many press releases in the past so I am rather new at it and have a few questions to ask of those who have done many of them or have used them before.

- How far in advance is the best time to send your press release, or does it vary depending upon each media type?

- What "hook" can I use in the press release to get the editors interest the most? Do I even need one? I was thinking of the fact that we are one of few husband and wife magic teams in the area and perhaps the fact that the theater dates back to the 1700's. Any thoughts on this?

- Any suggestions on the best way to get your press release noticed and into the right hands?

- Do I need to contact a photo editor separately if I want to try and get photos done for the show or will the paper etc. handle that with the editor I contact?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and suggestions. I want to make sure I am mazimizing all possible channels to get the seats filled at both performances.

Kyle

Hi Kyle:

Rick Allen is the man you want to contact. If you don't already have it I would suggest you get your hands on his "The Ultimate Publicity Secret Weapon" package as he covers the publicity area completely in this guide. I would also suggest you listen to MagicBroadcast.com this evening as he is Dean Hankey's Special Guest and will be covering this topic extensively. Tell him MagicalPirate sent you.

Martin

Kyle,

You just hit post #4000 for you on The Magic Café! Congratulations! That is a major contribution to the history of magic.

Now back to your topic:

I have not worked Penn is some time but, I expect you need to be well into action 6-weeks before show time.

Since the theater goes back to the 1700, look into the history of acts appearing there. There are two major hooks there. One is that on this date 200 (any number will work) years ago ____ and ____ appeared in this theater. (The act does not have to be remotely related!) On that date in 2005 see Kyle and Kelly ... The other route is that on X day in 1956 ____ appeared at the XYZ theater. After 99 years Kyle and Kelly will mark the first return of that type entertainment in River City. You can bet that there is some historial or arts society that will take the credit for you. Find them and let them! They can get press and letters to the editor that you can't. Offer to appear with them on the local "morning coffee" chat TV show. They can get the booking better than you can. You're just their guest!

Good media companies search for press material. There is little to no help at all for the bad ones. Always make it easy. Give them photos and hope that they would like to shoot their own. Odds are that if you get a photo, you furnished it.

As for pushing advance ticket sales, nothing is cheaper for the results than eating lunch with the local civic clubs and being the entertainment. Hit them with an uncomplicated 10 minutes of magic only that will blow their socks off. And then let your sponsor do the talking. (Same drill I give my politicians: Be Sincere, Be Brief, and Be Seated. I suppose you knew that I am also a registered lobbyist and was a former booking agent and personal manager prior to becoming a marketing professor.) Never refuse the help of the mature ladies in the community they have the time and connections to get people there.

If you need to dicuss some of this more privately email me at
StrategicManagementRelations@RLSanders.com

Good Luck!

Bob
MagicBySander

Hi Kyle-

4000 Posts-I'll be 108 before I reach that!!!!!-Well done

Anyway-Just last weekend we did a sucessful Theatre show in a 800 seat Town Hall

Our first Newspaper promo was 8 weeks before show time with a Large Pic of me Floating the Local Mayor who just happens to support a local Camp for kids with cancer-So this was our line in!
We contacted the local council to see if he was keen for this promotion-He Was!!-We also contacted the newspapers & performed this in the council chambers one lunch time.
We also contacted the local cancer society etc & offered a portion of our proceeds to go to the society.

With 2 weeks to go we had more newspaper promos-more on the show but still with the theme of donating to kids with cancer etc-

Show week we run 2 large newspaper ads ourselves & distrubuted thousands of flyers postal drop which worked as we ask the audience how they find out about our shows so we can improve next time!!-We also did free promos at the high school assemblies etc& all this came together on the night with a full house

We paid a lot of costs ourselves but regrouped these & also did a collection at the end of the show plus our donation to the society etc-we all came out on top!!

In short -have a line of approach-use a foundation or similiar & people will support you-but don't promote the show on this line alone

I like the idea of your old theatre approach

Good luck!!

-Brent

Brent,

Thanks so much for the kind words. I love the Café, love posting and I really enjoy learning here and helping others grow their magic.

Thank you also for your great ideas. I may be able to do some of them. Part of the problems lie in the fact that the theater only seats 200 and I am doing 2 shows. This is at $5 a ticket and a 50/50 split agreement with the theater. With that in mind, I am trying to do everything I can do while keeping my advertising budget as low as I can.

being a graphic designer, I am saving a ton by creating and desgning my own flyers, ads and posters which have already been created and sent out to the theater owner. I am going to run a bunch off this week and get them into some schools in the area that I have connections with. The owner also has some connections to schools as well.

I also knoiw their is a famous food place right near to the theater. I am going to try and see if I can get in there to place some flyers and perhaps do a little magic as well.

I already posted my information to over 15 online event calendars and that was done at no cost to me. It gets the name out there and information for anyone doing a search.

Our information and full color photo is up on the theater website and we will get an even bigger spot on the site as it gets closer to the show date.

I also want to perform in the lobby at a few of their family shows they have coming up. It is most ideal cause people are not allowed to the theater until closer to curtain call. This means they must wait in the lobby. This would be a perfect means for me to do some magic and hit the patrons of the theater and get them wanting to see the show.

The theater also has classes down stairs on acting, drawing etc. Onee class is an art class for ages 7-12. Since I am both an artist and a magician. I was thinking of going in to talk about my art and also perform some magic for the kids and get that class interested in the show as well.

I was very intersted in how you got the press coverage. I just got good news today that one of the local free parents magazines got our blurb and are requesting photos to go with it. I replied back and also hinted at the fact of how cool it would be to do an article about the show and also tie it in with the fact that I have been teaching children magic for over 10 years now. If nothing more, our photo and blurb will be in the paper. If it goes well, I may get an article out of it.

I want to prepare a press release but I do not know that much about doing them or how best to get them to the right people. Can you or anyone share with me some inside information on that? Would the hook of us being husband and wife magic team and the history of the theater be a good enough hook? When do we send them and to who?

I can ask the owner if he is running an ad or maybe I can do the same if I find it cost effective enough to do so.

What other ways did you do to get people to your show? Can you think of other ways I can do the same. I am eagerly marketing, but do not want to overlook anything.

Thanks again.

Kyle