How to Market Your Pantomime
Or: How to fill every seat without standing in the rain with a sandwich board
Marketing a pantomime has to happen whether anybody in the society fancies doing it or not. The show is the fun part. Designing a poster, writing press releases, and reminding people on social media for the fourth time that yes, tickets are still available, is decidedly less fun. But it matters, and doing it properly is part of the job.
This isn't a guide to digital marketing strategy or advertising spend. It's the practical stuff I've seen work for amateur and community theatre groups, written in the order you're likely to need it. You can also read our blog post on how your Performance Licence shapes your marketing too.
Start Earlier Than You Think You Need To
Announce your show as soon as possible. It doesn’t need to be flashy, but it does need to be done. This might feel premature if rehearsals haven't started, but audiences for pantomime are often made up of regulars who book early, families who need to plan around school schedules, and groups who are booking for a works Christmas outing. These people are making decisions months in advance.
A simple announcement on your society's social media, with the title, dates, and venue, costs nothing and takes five minutes. It also signals to your existing followers that the season is coming, which means the later, more detailed posts land in front of a warm audience rather than a cold one.
Your Existing Audience Is Your Best Asset
The most reliable ticket buyers for any pantomime title are people who came the year before. If your society keeps any kind of mailing list, this is the moment to use it. An email to previous ticket holders before you open general sales costs nothing beyond a little time and consistently produces results.
If you don't have a mailing list, start one now. A simple sign-up sheet at front of house, or a note on your booking confirmation asking people if they'd like to hear about future shows, is all you need. A basic list of engaged people is worth considerably more than a social media following you've paid to reach.
Local Press Still Works
This surprises people, but local newspapers, community websites, and parish magazines still reach a slice of the community that isn't on social media, and they're often hungry for content. A short press release announcing your show, with a decent cast photo, is usually enough to get a listing or a small feature. A follow-up piece closer to the run, with a production photo, can work well too.
The key is to write it as a story, not an advert. "Group performs pantomime" is not news. "Thirty-five local performers bring Cinderella to the stage for the first time in 10 years" is closer to it. Lead with something specific to your production, whether that's the number of performers, a local connection, a first-time director or a notable anniversary. Give them a reason to run it.
What Your Poster Has to Carry
A poster does two jobs. It tells someone the show exists, and it tells them how to get in. Everything on it should serve one of those, and anything that serves neither is decoration competing for the same space.
The title
Your society's name
The author credit. On a licensed script this is a condition of the licence rather than a courtesy, and it applies to printed and digital publicity alike
Dates, including matinees, and curtain times
The venue, with the address if the poster is going to travel beyond your own building
How to book: a short link, a phone number, or both
Ticket prices, or at least the range, with concessions if you offer them
Age guidance and running time are worth adding if you have room, particularly for families booking for young children, but they're the first things to lose when the space runs out.
That covers the practical information. The words that actually sell the show are a separate job, and a poster has room for two sentences of them at most.
So I've written a short piece of audience-facing copy for every script in the catalogue, roughly sixty words each, ready to copy and paste into a poster, a leaflet, a programme, or a Facebook post. It's all on the pantomime marketing copy page. Use it as it stands or change it to suit your production, whichever suits you.
Each one is headed with the credit line, so if you keep the heading you've covered the acknowledgement at the same time.
Social Media: Consistent Beats Clever
I know societies that have built strong pantomime audiences through social media, and the common factor isn't production values. It's consistency. A group that posts three times a week throughout the rehearsal period, with a mix of behind-the-scenes photos, cast spotlights, and ticket reminders, will reach more people than one that posts twice and then goes quiet until press night.
What people want to see is the show coming to life; Costume fittings, set builds, interviews with the cast and creatives… This kind of content costs nothing to produce and performs better than polished promotional graphics, because it's honest and it creates a sense of anticipation. People want to come and see what they've been watching take shape.
Video works particularly well, even short clips. A 10-second clip of a scene in rehearsal, posted with the dates and a link to book, will typically outperform a static poster by a significant margin.
Word of Mouth Is Still the Most Powerful Tool You Have
No social media post reaches people the way a personal recommendation does. Your cast, your crew, and your committee are your best marketing team, and the most useful thing you can ask them to do is tell people personally that the show is on and invite them to come.
This is different from asking them to share a post. It means telling colleagues, friends and family directly that there are tickets available and that it's going to be a good show. People respond to being asked by someone they know.
You can support this by making it easy. A short message people can forward, a link to the booking page, a few physical flyers people can carry. Remove as many obstacles between "I'll mention it to someone" and "I've bought tickets" as you can.
Ticket Pricing and Last-Minute Sales
Ticket pricing is beyond the scope of this post, but one thing is worth saying: if you're running multi-night, consider whether concession pricing, group discounts, or a "fill the house on the final night" offer might work for your audience. A nearly full house on the last night is better for the cast, the audience, and next year's advance word of mouth than a technically profitable but half-empty room.
Whatever your pricing structure, make sure buying tickets is easy. A direct link to your booking page in every post, every email, and every piece of print material is not overkill.
A Word on the Script Itself
Getting the marketing right won't save a poorly chosen show, but it will make a good one perform considerably better. If you're still weighing up titles, our home page has a number of helpful links or browse our full pantomime script catalogue and request a free Perusal Script if you see a title you’d like to read.
Audiences choose pantomime partly on the title. A well-known story, told in a version that looks lively and well-produced, sells itself, and if the script is funny, the cast is committed, and the audience has a wonderful time, that's the best marketing you'll ever do for next year!