Meet the marketing manager

This week's post is the first in an occasional series looking at the people who run Progress Theatre -  the management committee. Progress has charitable status and is entirely managed by a team of volunteers elected annually by the members.

Abby Salter sits on the management committee as the marketing manager and I met up with her over a cup of coffee to discuss her role. She originally joined the theatre to get involved with the writers' group but after agreeing to look after the marketing for The Women of Lockerbie she has not looked back and this is now her fifth year as marketing manager. She has even gone on to get a level 4 qualification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Abby relaxing during a break from the theatre
 

The role of the marketing manager is to look at the marketing and branding of the theatre as a whole but Abby also co-ordinates the marketing activities of each show. Each production has its own dedicated marketing person (also a volunteer of course!) but Abby handles the press contacts to maintain consistency over the season. There is a marketing schedule for each production to make sure that nothing is forgotten. There is also a small team of people who do regular marketing jobs across the season like putting up displays in the library and  maintaining the website.

Selling a show is much easier if it is something people want to see anyway (or it is on the school curriculum and they have to see it!). As marketing manager Abby doesn't have a direct say on what plays are put on in a season but the management committee takes an overall view on the plays put forward by the play production committee. The ideal is to have a mixture of well-known popular pieces combined with some more challenging works.

Abby is clearly excited by all aspects of marketing and gets a real buzz from watching people coming out after a show they've enjoyed and feeling that they came along as a result of marketing. She is proud of increasing average seat sales form 59.8% to 67% over her time in office.

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Auditions for Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman. Wednesday 21st November 7.30 to 10.30 pm plus Saturday 24 November 2 to 5pm (Main characters and call-backs)

Auditions for New Directors' Double Bill Wednesday 5th December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9th December 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th -15th December 2012, Progress Theatre

The Fifth Elephant by Stephen Briggs based on the book by Terry Pratchett 17th - 26th January 2013, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.