Performing at the Fringe on a budget

With news that there is an award for the best publicity stunt at the Edinburgh Fringe and realising that this award shows just how hard performers are trying in order to get their show noticed, I decided to make a list of things I have learned from my first show at the Edinburgh Fringe.

As it was my first show I was unaware of the costs involved and how easily they could all add up. It seemed everyone and their dog have ways for you to part with your cash when it comes to putting on a show at the Fringe.

So here are a few ideas for promoting your own show at the fringe on a budget.

Show Title

Make sure you have a catchy title and an attention grabbing description of your show for the fringe magazine. Assume the majority of people will not know your name. Get across what you are about in this section – there will be people out there who will like what you but only if you tell them about it. The Fringe Magazine is first stop for many when choosing what events to attend.

I put a theme into my show description, which described my style of songs and the stories they would be telling.

Emailing

With the usual sending out an email to your email list, I also asked folk if they could spread the word for me and tell their friends who were in Edinburgh.

Use Facebook, Myspace & Twitter. All the social networking sites at your disposal can be used to your advantage. They are free and have a huge reach.

Posters

I certainly think posters are vital for the venue itself and maybe a few other key places around the city. Put your own posters up and hand out your own flyers rather than spending £££s on 1000’s of posters/flyers.

Advertising

Avoid the vastly overpriced adverts in magazines. This will quickly blow any budget for a show without any guarantees of success.

Some magazines also offer last minute adverts as the deadline for publishing approaches at vastly reduced prices – e.g. £800 to £80, - but even at this I would still question whether it was worth it.

Make it Newsworthy

Can you find some unique aspect of you or your show that will stand out from the crowd. Remember Aaron Barschak? That guy who gate crashed Prince William’s birthday dressed as Osama Bin Laden? According to the press this attention seeking comedian stood to lose up to £15,000 on his run of poorly attended shows. Or was that another PR stunt in itself as it made the news which in turn probably helped him recoup some loses.

Busking – if you can be heard over the construction work!

Or busk at the venue itself. I attended a show where there was a bluegrass band playing to the queue of a show waiting to go in. They also handed out flyers and got on the chat with folks milling about.

Meet the Press

The Fringe ran a ‘meet the press event’ this year where you for free could speak directly to journalists. An excellent idea which avoids the use of expensive PR campaigns.

Local Radio

Offer to play a live set / interview, send out some cds./ even if you can just get them to mention it. Leith FM worked well for me.

please leave comments with any more your own ideas.

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An important lesson I learned for the next time was to book more than one show. This year I only booked one. If I had booked several nights, whilst the initial outlay would be higher, it would mean everything else becomes more cost effective. Also any reviews you can get then have the added effect of advertising the next show etc.

The average ticket sales for the fringe is 6. Unbelievable but true. Anything more than that and your doing well.

I’m still awaiting the final results of my ticket sales, but I had a good turnout, but with box office commissions, PRS payments etc, to come off that I am still just hoping to break even.

John