Sam Freeman

Storytelling | Theatre | Arts Marketing

Category: Marketing

  • Theatre Marketing – Getting Data Quickly

    Theatre Marketing – Getting Data Quickly

    We’ve all been in that meeting right? You know the one where 12 people are gathered round the table, slowly losing the will to live, while someone mutters the words ‘audiences’ in the middle distance. Occasionally someone will stir, breathing in a little too firmly as if about to make a valuable point, only the…

  • Building The Perfect Theatre Subscription

    Building The Perfect Theatre Subscription

    I like subscriptions – they’re great – one sale resulting in tickets sold for multiple performances. We’ve done them lots over the years – sometimes successfully, sometimes with minimal impact – but, if I’m honest, I’ve never given them the attention they deserve. So I started pondering how I could make them better. Not just…

  • Arts Marketing: Visualising Your Data

    Arts Marketing: Visualising Your Data

    A horrific injury I cut my thumb open cutting an onion this evening. Blood absolutely everywhere. Carnage. I was making a lovely Indian dish (recipe stolen from Gusto) with finely sliced onion. What makes it worse is that I was doing the chef impression that I do when I think no one’s looking. You know,…

  • Arts Marketing: what to measure, why and how

    Arts Marketing: what to measure, why and how

    An introduction where I mention my holiday. I’ve been for a relaxing holiday. ‘It’ll be great’ I was told by colleagues, ‘clear your mind’ they said, ‘don’t even think about what’s happening back here’ they reiterated. And it was a great holiday – relaxing, stress-free and calming – we went to Murcia in Spain where…

  • Arts Marketing – Pricing Solutions for Potential Problems

    Arts Marketing – Pricing Solutions for Potential Problems

    This is another of my slightly shorter blog posts about arts marketing – again, time dictates I can’t write the mega 5k word epics that I used to churn out semi-regularly. After my last pricing post was hawked around the internet by TRG I thought I’d write something even more niche to really quell any…

  • A Beginners Guide To Theatre Pricing

    A Beginners Guide To Theatre Pricing

    I’ve not annoyed as many people as usual recently with my theatre blog posts – this one however will infuriate so many people because it’s a beginners guide and doesn’t mention a huge amount of complexity and data that underpins what I’m talking about. So, if you’re reading this and thinking “this is utter bullshit…

  • Arts Marketing: 50 Easy-To-Do Tips

    Arts Marketing: 50 Easy-To-Do Tips

    First things first – 50 tips, easy-to-do or otherwise, is a fuck-load of tips. I’ve been wanting to write a big tips list* for ages – I’ve a draft folder which has around 40 arts marketing articles in, all at different stages of disarray. I thought about combining them in this article, instead, reading them…

  • Arts Marketing: Freaks, Questions, Testing and Careers

    Arts Marketing: Freaks, Questions, Testing and Careers

    How many of us send a season brochure? Pretty much most regional theatres right? Now we send them because we have an inherent belief that they work, that they bring in a huge amount of sales – but how much of these essential pieces of print is developed through research and how much is developed…

  • Arts Marketing: Preparing For What’s Next

    Arts Marketing: Preparing For What’s Next

    Or ideas of things to do over the next couple of months… I’ve been in a weird mood since Christmas – a kind of grumpy, unfocused, curmudgeon, working hard but also not feeling like, well, I’m actually making a difference. Now, of course, some of that is the destabilising effect of being in lockdown, missing…

  • Arts Marketing – Predicting The Future

    Arts Marketing – Predicting The Future

    I started writing this post in late May, but then hit a block of “what the fuck am I writing any of this for” followed by “is this actually helping anyone?” I struggled to answer either question to be honest and now, in light of theatres closing and redundancies being on the card for people…

  • Seat Wars – Episode II – Social Spacing Fights Back

    Seat Wars – Episode II – Social Spacing Fights Back

    Hey there! So if you’ve been here before then welcome back and if you’re new well, where have you been. This is a much less wordy blog than usual (which readers of my last blog (click here) will be undoubtedly relieved) – mostly because I’m leading a quiz tonight that promises to be (and this…

  • Social Spacing (In Theatre)

    Social Spacing (In Theatre)

    ****UPDATE 20 May – I’ve been rewriting lots of the info on here – as a result this blog is, at best, interesting discussion fodder – I’ll post the new version in a few days*** Welcome back (if you’ve been here before) and welcome (if you’re new). This isn’t one of my epic 5,000 word…

  • Arts Marketing: How the **** do you segment?

    Arts Marketing: How the **** do you segment?

    Hi, welcome back if you’ve been to my blog before, and if you’re new (which statistically speaking you probably are) welcome too. This is a bit of a blog I decided to write as my spare time is still pretty bountiful. If you enjoy this or it’s useful* then please tweet me, Linkedin message me…

  • Arts Marketing – Building houses on jelly

    Arts Marketing – Building houses on jelly

    I’ve been looking to see what proactive steps I and the team I’m part of can take while the jelly beneath us solidifies over the coming weeks and months.

  • Arts Marketing – So What Do We Do Now?

    Arts Marketing – So What Do We Do Now?

    So, I decided I’d write down some ponderings of where my head is at, what I think the direction of travel might be.

  • How To Annoy Everyone In Arts Marketing (or, Arts Marketing’s Technical Problem)

    How To Annoy Everyone In Arts Marketing (or, Arts Marketing’s Technical Problem)

    I got back from this year’s Arts Marketing Association conference feeling quite pleased with myself – this is unusual – usually I return with feelings of inadequacy or guilt, and/or the feeling that tweeting at post 11pm, half-cut on cheap white wine “My Harsh Opinions About Everything People Are Doing Wrong” wasn’t, after all, such…

  • AMA Conference 2019 – Day #2

    AMA Conference 2019 – Day #2

    e train back from the AMA Conference after a really useful few days with some space to think, ponder and consider both organisational and personal direction.

  • AMA Conference 2019 – Day #1

    AMA Conference 2019 – Day #1

    Ever since I came to my first AMA Conference (in Newcastle the last time round!) I’ve always written up my notes, thoughts and opinions. Sometimes, I must admit I’ve been a bit harsh, I’ll also caveat that by saying that sometimes I’ve not been clear enough and sometimes, well maybe I got the level just…