Sam Freeman

Storytelling | Theatre | Arts Marketing

Category: Marketing

  • #ArtsMarketing – F**k me I’m Tired.

    #ArtsMarketing – F**k me I’m Tired.

    I’ve become conscious that I’ve not written much on this blog about Arts Marketing for while. A few reasons really – firstly we had an incredibly tragic death in the family (so blogging about work didn’t seem that necessary), secondly I’ve been feeling like I’m drowning at work much of the time so the necessary…

  • How to successfully market a theatre show according to audiences.

    How to successfully market a theatre show according to audiences.

    I recently found this blog post in my wordpress drafts (there’s a few others in there I might dig into at some point soon too) – it was written after a particularly shitty day at work, and then, feeling that it mightn’t be as good as my rage-addled mind suspected – I temporarily binned it…

  • Finding Balance

    Finding Balance

    Recently I’ve become acutely aware that I can be somewhat of a negative grump. Now I have excuses for the last 2 months – I’ve been poorly, and am currently smashing down a new set of drugs that have so many side effects it’s laughable (it’s worth knowing that the accompanying leaflet suggests that I…

  • The Bigger Picture: Using Data In The Arts

    The Bigger Picture: Using Data In The Arts

    ****Please Note: This is unremittingly a blog about theatre marketing, data and being smarter**** How it all started About four months ago I was sat in a meeting at the theatre I work for as conversation bounced round the table. Every now and again a question would be asked or a statement stated – “how…

  • Are we all using the wrong tools?

    Are we all using the wrong tools?

    I’ve recently found out that I like gardening. It’s relaxing, pulling out handfuls of weeds to leave a bare patch of earth looking like the set of Apocalypse Now, watering vegetables that steadfastly refuse to flower or fruit and trying to work out what the hell you do to keep things in pots alive. Two months…

  • Theatre Marketing: A Brochure Conundrum

    Theatre Marketing: A Brochure Conundrum

    (This is part of a series of blogs I’ve mentally entitled “things that might be interesting at a marketing conference” – please retweet if you think this is interesting and comment at the bottom to let me know your thoughts! Thanks, Sam x) (Click image to zoom) I’ve recently started writing the new marketing strategy…

  • 10 things about being an arts marketing manager that I now know…

    10 things about being an arts marketing manager that I now know…

    I’m not at the AMA conference this year, yet, despite the fact that I’ve a habit of being über critical of it, I find myself with a tinge of jealousy. People gathered round chatting about arts marketing, the challenges they face, the solutions they have come up with, a melting pot of arts geeks with fabulous…

  • An idea, a graph and a calendar

    An idea, a graph and a calendar

    It’s been a while since I wrote anything on here so, finding myself incredibly away at 12:46am I thought I might as well write down some thoughts about what’s happening and what I’ve been thinking about recently. Plays Regular readers will know that I finished writing a play, Opposition, in December and sent it to loads…

  • 30 mins thoughts: 5 opinions I have about arts marketing

    I have, recently, found myself writing fewer blog posts about arts marketing and my work. This is for a few reasons. Firstly I’ve started a new job so spare time has dissolved into a thing of the past, along with worry-free sleeping and relaxation. Secondly I’ve found myself struggling to know what to write about.…

  • Gig Report 4 & 5 and some stuff about theatre…

    Gig Report 4 & 5 and some stuff about theatre…

    It’s been a week or two since I last put my gig report online so I thought it’d be high time to keep up and write up what’s been happening. Well, I’m now up to gig 5 of my return and I’ve still not died hideously on my arse… Gig 4 was Danny Mc’s gig…

  • AMA Conference Notes & Thoughts – Day #1

    AMA Conference Notes & Thoughts – Day #1

    I’m up in Edinburgh for this year’s Arts Marketing Association conference which is this year about relevance, or, as they’ve catchily titled it, On A Mission To Matter. I’m going to write up more extensively once the conference as ended but here’s a few bits and pieces I’ve thought about today. What is the role of…

  • The art of the season brochure

    Today I signed off Unity Theatre’s season brochure – the last of my six year tenancy as Marketing Manager (I’m going to Theatre Clwyd and am dead excited as you will undoubtedly discover over the next 6 months!) – and I felt a wave of emotions briefly as I said “yes, print it”. The first…

  • Arts Marketing: Six things I wish I’d known…

    I have been given two pieces of rock solid theatrical advice in the past 15 years and both I’ve used when directing shows. The first was from a now-acclaimed performer and creative who said the key to any show was to “get in quick, say what you have to say concisely and get out quick”.…

  • The right (& fight) to experiment in arts organisations

    The right (& fight) to experiment in arts organisations

    The last couple of weeks have been tough for me professionally at work. It’s the classic story, too much happening all at the same time, a feeling of helplessness, being overwhelmed and needing to find some order, some way of making sense of what appears unexplainable and undecipherable chaos. I think this is a pretty…

  • Translating the brand (part one)

    ***These are just a few thoughts I’ve had, you may disagree with them but if you do then please share why at the bottom or tweet me*** I’ve recently started work on the early stages of a capital redevelopment and the re-branding opportunity that accompanies it for my theatre. We’ve a limited budget that needs to…

  • Cats, dogs and why we live.

    Cats, dogs and why we live.

    Firstly, before you read any further, let me drop a couple of truths before you read any more (then you can decide whether I’m going to waste your time or not). This blog post is heavily related to arts marketing and theatre It is also related to the idea of owning a dog (even though…

  • The Future Of Arts Marketing (and Theatre)

    On Wednesday I attended the Spektrix Conference at the Lyric Hammersmith which was, at it invariably always is, incredibly thought provoking. One of the lightning talks took a fictional look at how theatre ticketing might be in 2020, looking back over the past 5 years of innovation that is yet to happen. It was funny,…

  • Marketing DIY: Intermediate Heat Mapping (Genre)

    In the last Marketing DIY post (here) we talked about how you can do a basic heat mapping of your auditorium. We took basic data contained within your database to look at how long prior to booking people actually booked their tickets, used this as a basic measure of demand and then mapped it using conditional…