The following article is not intended to be an all-knowing gospel on how to market an event, but just to give some pointers., You may do all this already, in which case good – keep it up! If not, then it may be handy! Written by Steve Clark.

There are plenty of ways you can promote your show and it won’t cost you a penny (although it does require a bit of time and effort!)…

The papers:

MK’s two main news papers will happily include articles on forthcoming events and shows. Make your copy as interesting and enticing as possible, including all the relevant dates, times, contact details, box office numbers, venue info and web urls. If you can provide a nice picture so much the better (200+ dpi resolution but make sure you resize it correctly so you are not sending them an enormous file). Both work to tight and long deadlines, so you need to make sure you get copy to them at least a week before the intended publication date. Due to the volume of submission, they are often unable to offer publicity more than a week before the actual event but you can try! If you provide them with material, on a slow news day it may be just what they are after to fill some space.

MK News:David Gale 01908 689595

MK Citizen (Go!): Sammy Jones 01908 651310

The Radio:

FM103 Horizon and BBC 3 Counties (There is a show from Luton and one from MK) can both provide wide coverage for your event. Both operate ‘diary’ / ‘what’s on’ features where the presenters will mention forthcoming events in their programmes (taking information from emails sent to them or from their own online events list to which you can submit material). Or you can arrange to go on air and plug your show in person. They are always interested in new and interesting material to broadcast.

3 Counties: http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/ (MK studio) 01908 235383. (Luton studio) 01582 637400

FM103 Horizon:  http://www.horizonmk.co.uk 01908 269111

The web:

You may have your own website, but to get the hits and therefore get your event information seen, you need to get your website known out there. Most local groups are happy to add reciprocal links on their sites and there are also more specified arts / drama related sites (this one included) which will allow you to log links and events on calendars and diaries

Have a look on the links page for some of these.

MKweb http://www.mkweb.co.uk is a handy portal into MK life and you can log your events there or request for them to add a feature page dedicated to your activity in their What’s on section.

With all the ‘free press’, it pays to establish a personal, direct contact with them, rather than simply sending an email. Give them a ring in advance, tell them you have an event and then send your copy. They’ll remember you better and may favour your piece over another if they are limited for space.

Next time we will look at some of the other opportunities that exist for marketing that require a budget!

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