Building partnerships
'We've been investing time and effort into building relationships with a number of our venues and we're getting results.
With mid-scale venue relationships the initial contact was made either when touring prior to my appointment, or they came about at contract stage through our tour booking agent. The first stage for me is a phone call to the venue, to establish a rapport with the local marketing and press personnel to give them a quick run down and to find out if they have any particular concerns about the show.
Next, it's a good idea to visit and swap marketing plans and ideas. We always have very clear ideas about the style of our marketing, and it's extremely important to the creative team to retain the 'Kneehighness' of any campaign. However, the local marketers obviously have a much better idea of what works (or doesn't) on their patch. The visit is a good way to enthuse everybody, and give the venue marketers more of a feel of the show, so that they can be confident in the way they push it. We're based in Cornwall, so, if time or distance is a problem and a visit impossible, this part of the process can be done over the phone. For long-term relationships, however, I think the commitment shown by making the journey halfway across the country counts for a great deal. Certainly, my most successful relationships with venue marketing teams have been based on face-to-face contact.
After the visit, it's about more contact, consistency and confidence. You have to be able to communicate regularly, you have to deliver on time (or warn that you can't), and you each have to be able to trust the other. I supply marketing materials (pictures, sample direct mail letters, media releases, box office briefings, show synopses, biographies) in digital form, which allows my opposite numbers to cut and paste whatever they want into their brochure copy. I also try and keep the website as up to date as possible so they can lift information directly. This makes things easier for us both.
If you have a successful team working between the touring company and the venue, it simply smoothes out all the wrinkles. Everyone is clearer about their objectives, it's easier to agree on strategies, easier to monitor afterwards, and easier to react to any sudden changes, or implement any last-minute ideas. Often, you get an outside eye as well which can be very helpful when you are very close to a project. It's a lot less stressful, as you're sharing the burden with somebody who's got a pretty good idea of the difficulties you face. Also, you learn to see what a venue is after, and why they take the decisions they do. This kind of understanding feeds back into the development of the relationship.'