HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR COMEDY SHOWS

Boost audience assistance to your comedy shows with these top marketing tips and best practices. Save tons of insane hours in marketing.

Brought to you by Mau, a senior Digital Marketing Specialist at eDigital.

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR COMEDY SHOWS

Getting people’s attention, preference and people’s hard-earned money to pay for your comedy show is tough but not impossible.

Just because you work your ass off promoting your comedy show on social media does not mean you will get your shows fully packed.

The reality is people do not like to be distracted by just ads. However, people enjoy watching interesting, meaningful or funny stories.

If you want to be successful at promoting your comedy shows you need to understand the top 8 marketing principles my students and clients have implemented successfully in their performance art businesses.

The eight principles are:

• Increase reach
• Keep authentic to build preference
• Plant seeds of curiosity
• Anticipate objections
• Make it insanely easy to pay
• Provide a much nicer experience than any other show in town
• Nurture your fans
• Go outside your comfort zone

Comedy fans are checking out: The top 25 most popular Australian comedians – ranking list.

8. INCREASE REACH

There are different ways people these days find out about upcoming comedy shows:

• Google searches for comedy shows near their home or office.
• Some TV programs mention upcoming comedy shows in town.
• Some podcasts mention upcoming comedy shows in town.
• Popular online entertainment news websites. Examples: ABC life, Vulture, etc.
• Enewsletters and social media posts from entertainment venues.
• Enewsletters and social media posts from comedy festivals
• Enewsletters and social media posts from local councils and art centres.
• Invites from friends and family (word of mouth)
• Social media posts from the comedians
• Social media boosted posts (paid ads) from either comedians, venues or comedy festivals.
• Banner ads: display ads and retargeting ads.

GOOGLE

People search for things like:

• “Stand-up comedy Sydney”
• “Stand-up comedy near me”
• “Stand-up comedy near me Friday”
• “Comedy shows Friday night“
• “Comedy shows this weekend“
• “Comedy shows near me Friday night“
• “Comedy shows near me this weekend“

Ensure you, your partner venue or your online event promoter selling your comedy show appears for these types of searches.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Things affecting whether people see your posts:

Day and time.

Most people will not see your posts. Full point. Algorithms want you to pay for ads.

Expert tip: If you do not have a budget to boost (paid ads) your posts, then at least use Instagram or Facebook Insights to see when the best day and time is to reach your fans.

Too many other ads.

The higher the bidder the more exposure. Even if you pay for ads, by the time people see your paid ad, they simply cannot be bothered.

Mau’s tip: Use fun animations especially in the first 1-3 seconds to wake people up and notice your paid ad.

Comedians are checking out > The top 10 American comedians and comics

7. KEEP AUTHENTIC TO BUILD PREFERENCE

You are a comedian.

Everyone should love you.

Not true.

With so many comedians out there, people have choices and preferences when deciding who to give their hard-earned money to, in exchange for a bit of fun.

So how you can build preference?

Keep as authentic as you are.

People will either like your comedy shows or not.

Ask yourself what the top 3 things you want people to remember you for being.

Please do not say: “oh I want people to remember me as the funniest stand-up comic in Sydney“.

That’s not your personal branding.

For most comedians, their personal branding has become either

a) a topic they can take the piss off extremely well or

b) the name of their most successful act.

Examples:

• Carl Barron just for laughs
• Nigel Ng egg fried rice

You can think of the topics you fight against, the topics you kill for. Are they politics, race, immigration, culture, language differences, weight loss, parenting, gender rights, etc?

The easier people can remember you, the easier will be to establish a preference for your type of comedy.

You will also enjoy > The top 25 Australian comedians and comics

6. PLANT SEEDS OF CURIOSITY

Try an intro story of your comedy show to plant seeds of curiosity and end with a strong call to action.

• The story does not end here. Secure your ticket.
• But the best part of this story will be shared in the show. Get your ticket.
• Want to know the rest of the story? Get your ticket today!

You will also enjoy: The top 10 American comedians

5. ANTICIPATE OBJECTIONS

Your comedy show is one of a million options people have to entertain themselves. Some of the most typical objections people may have to not going to your show include:

• I do not have anyone to go with.
• I have other commitments: yoga class, gym sessions, dinner with friends/family, looking after the kids, tv shows they do not want to miss, sports finals they want to watch, etc.
• Too expensive.
• Too hard to get to the venue.
• I prefer watching comedy on Netflix or Youtube.
• The venue may get too busy I hate crowds.

Comedy fans are watching > The top 10 British comedians and comics in the UK

4. MAKE IT INSANELY EASY TO PAY

The key question here is:

What is the easiest way to get people to pay and book your comedy show?

You know the answer: online.

But few comedians take the time to double-check the payment platform.

Is it easy to choose the date and time (for multiple shows), seat allocation, refund/return policies, see the venue location, car parking information, public transport information, access for people with disabilities, etc?

Popular this month > The funniest TikTok videos of the year

3. PROVIDE A MUCH NICER EXPERIENCE THAN ANY OTHER SHOW IN TOWN

Most comedians think their product is just their gig – stage time – and yes this is the core of the product but not the whole customer experience.

To enjoy a comedy show people have to:

• Find out who wants/can join them: friends? family? colleagues? partner? date?
• Check the weather forecast, other activities and commitments and choose the best day and time.
• Make a payment.
• Find out how to get to the venue and pick up other friends or family members.
• Allocate enough time to get to the venue on time. Either driving or taking public transport, uber, etc.
• Get inside the venue. This only sometimes can be a nightmare.
• Secure to the right seat: a seat that is comfortable and easy to watch and listen from.
• Get comfortable with the sound and light. Your show can be great but if the sound is poor – people cannot hear you properly – it will affect the experience.

It is important to respect your audience by offering the best experience possible.

For people who paid and missed it, can they have access to a video recording?

Trending today > The best 10 TikTok hashtags to go viral

2. NURTURE YOUR FANS

Your show is the start of a relationship.

You have worked so hard to convince them to come to your show.

If your comedy is truly awesome, it can wake up the same hormones in people to the point they could have an orgasmic experience with your humour.

Now it is time to nurture and give little pieces of love and fun to your new lovers.

You can do this in many different ways to build a more intimate relationship with your comedy.

• Exclusive invitations for online or offline shows
• Showing people how you make your stories and what inspires your funny stories
• Sharing links to your latest interviews and appearances.
• Everyday life stories

Most viewed today > The world’s top 25 most-followed people on TikTok

1. GO OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Many times local audiences will finally give you some attention if they see you have successfully made other audiences laugh in other markets. Examples of this are everywhere.

• Jim Jefferies’s gun control

The most effective marketing tips for comedians are not written here. I invite you to book a marketing training session with me. Just contact me today. I respond fast! ⚡️

Trending today > The top 10 British comedians and comics in the UK

TOP COMEDIANS ON TIKTOK

• Streamy Award-winning comedian Leenda Dong has attracted 17+ million TikTok followers with her hilarious sketches. Now, she’s also signed with WME.

CONTROVERSIAL COMEDIANS

• Despite employee protests, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has reiterated the company’s support for content like Dave Chappelle’s The Closer, a comedy special criticized as transphobic.

Comedy fans are checking out: The top 25 most popular Australian comedians – ranking list.

Conclusion

Marketing and promotion are essential for comedians to build their comedy business and brands, reach a wider audience, and succeed in the competitive world of comedy.

Using some of the best marketing strategies to promote your comedy shows can lead to opportunities for bookings, collaborations, and media appearances.

By consistently promoting shows, content, and updates, comedians can foster a community of supporters who eagerly attend their comedy performances and share their comedy work.

In the world of comedy, talent alone may not be enough to achieve widespread recognition and success.

Effective marketing and promotion serve as the bridge between comedic skill and audience engagement, helping comedians build a strong fanbase and establish a lasting presence in the industry.

eDigital can help you conceptualise, plan, develop, run and optimise successful digital marketing campaigns that generate leads and sales for your brand.

Our digital marketing services include:

• Strategic planning for social media and other digital marketing channels.
• Online advertising management and optimisation (Search, Display, social media ads and re-marketing).
• Marketing training: social media training and digital marketing training.
• SEO strategy and execution. Including content development (articles, stories, eye-catching and SEO-optimised visuals).
• Celebrity and influencer marketing campaign strategy.
• Brand development. Logo creation, brand personality development and design of marketing materials.
• Consumer contests/competitions/giveaways.
• Email marketing. Dip sequence design and deployment.
• Conversion rate optimisation. It is also called “path to purchase” optimisation.

Contact us today and start boosting your leads and sales.

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Final note: Want to reduce customer acquisition costs and dependency on paid media? eDigital‘s marketing strategy training will unmercifully review your marketing, help you build a marketing engine with channels and assets you own, stir your team’s thinking, bring new ideas for new conversion paths and boost customer lifetime value.

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR COMEDY SHOW

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