SOR 44: Catherine Cardwell On Group Sales and the Differences Between Marketing an Established Theatre Versus a Young Theatre

In this episode I welcome Catherine Cardwell. I’m excited to bring her on because of the variety of perspectives she has in promoting theatre. By day she handles group sales and season tickets for Indiana Repertory Theatre, and by night she wears a few dozen hats as a cofounder of EclecticPond Theatre Company.
In this episode:
- how big do you need to be for group sales – on day one of a new theatre company you’ve got other fish to fry, but at what point are you big enough to start dedicating resources to group sales
- connecting with schools – you can be a field trip destination or bring your company to the school facility
- what you do differently promoting a large theatre vs. a small theatre – are certain tactics easier or more effective for one more than the other
- the “big” theatre fallacy – even for theatres that are a big fish in a small pond, there are still a lot of people in your community that don’t know what you have going on
- advantages of being small – when you have not yet made a first impression with your company, the world is your oyster
Items mentioned:
- Indiana Repertory Theatre – official website of the well-established theatre
- EcelcticPond – official website of the up-and-coming theatre company
- SOR 37: Thomas Cardwell – if you’re particularly interested in EclecticPond, you’ll also want to catch this podcast episode
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Thanks to Cat for appearing on this episode and thanks to you guys for listening and giving me feedback.