Advertising away!

So, advertising on a budget is something I have come to learn and attempt to master over the last couple of years. With each show I have had a smidge more money to put towards advertising for shows, but that by no means means that I have been able to out posters on the sides of buses!
So, how does one advertise on a budget AND ensure to gain as many ticket sales as possible?

Social Media- Do not over estimate the power of the "Facebook event". As great as it is as a way to launch the event, unless they're your friends, family or people who "like" your page it is unlikely that complete strangers will discover your event and more about your business. Unless you pay for it. Many a time I have been looking at all the profile pictures of those claiming to be attending an event and when the time arises a few of the usuals step through the door making my heart sink at the effort put into what I had believed to be tried and tested methods of advertising.
I have paid for help advertising on Facebook and I must admit for the 1000's of people they claim to be able to share the event with it is surprisingly reasonably priced. Even if these people don't decide to attend the event that I'm advertising I am content with the fact that these people know what OddBox is and what we do. You can choose the demographic and the interestes of your ideal audience to ensure that my advert for youth theatre production auditions isn't wasted on old aged chess players in Greece.

Flyers- Although the printing of the flyers is not free it is a reasonable price to think that if you're selling tickets for £5 each and it cost £5 for 500 flyers and on average 1 in 30 people that see your advert will take interest... well I'm rubbish at Maths, but even I know that it's worth it. It's also worth taking the time to make the flyer look and feel professional. So, now it's about thinking about the best places for the flyers to go and ensuring that you keep track of which places have the best uptake. I would say though the best thing to do is to go out, speak to people and place the flyer in their hands. Talk to them about the product and who your passion for what it is you're selling.

Free advertising online- There are many local emails with website where you can place adverts for events and products Although the free things get very little coverage you'll be surprised how doing lots of little things will allow coverage of the internet. With a couple of previous shows I have put on every single website I could think of that allowed advertising for free and friends have been sent emails and received links which have included said advert. Like I said previously, when you're at small business (I mean like just you in your pyjamas on your laptop watching TV small) even the smallest amount of people seeing your advert is a big thing.

So, there's a bit of a snippet of how I intend on advertising our latest show. Hope this helps anyone, like me sat in the sofa in their pyjamas running a business, needing to get the name out there.