top of page
danifresh_theburg_hbg_fringe_festival_july_2023_web-3.jpg

Marketing your show

Start here

HBG Fringe Festival provides a set of marketing services to all shows in the festival, but artists should be prepared to engage in their own marketing efforts as well. Creating your unique marketing plan can really improve your show's reach. 

 

Fringe Festival Marketing Services - Included with Registration

There are several complementary marketing services that the Harrisburg Fringe Festival offers to every show in the festival.

 

All shows registered in the Harrisburg Fringe Festival receive:

  • An event listing on hbgfringe.com

  • Tickets managed through the Fringe Festival Box Office

  • Engagement with HBG Fringe and 717 Arts on social media (often prompted by artist tagging @hbgfringe / @717arts)

  • A listing in Harrisburg Fringe Festival Print Guide

  • Signage to be displayed at their venue

  • Included in festival announcements

Creating a Social Media Plan

Social media is a powerful tool for audience engagement that can create a buzz around a Fringe Festival show. Artists should develop their own social media strategies to promote their shows.

 

A social media schedule can look like:

  • Facebook – 1 post per day (Create a Facebook Event with link to your hbgfringe.com listing and invite your contacts)

  • Instagram – 1 post per day/ 3 or more stories per day

  • HBG Fringe is committed to liking and sharing any relevant posts in which we are tagged, so be sure to include @hbgfringe in your post to reach our followers.

 

In order to engage with Harrisburg Fringe Festival, 717 Arts Incorporated, and optimize social media presence, artists should:

  • Tag @hbgfringe in all stories and posts

  • Use hashtags like #hbgfringe2024 #HarrisburgFringe2024

  • Follow accounts of other artists in the festival & repost their posts

  • Join the Discord channel connecting all festival artists.

  • Unless a particular show is planning to exist for a long time or has a very large audience base, it is NOT recommended to create new social media accounts for a specific piece. Leverage the network you already have. Creating a following on a new Instagram or Facebook account is a full-time effort and will not yield the same results as sharing and posting to your existing followers.

​Writing a Good Show Description

Show Titles

Titles are part of the artistic process. The first allegiance should be to the piece itself. Overall, short, evocative titles tend to work best.

 

Show Description 

Audiences turn to the Print Guide and Website during festival time, and the description is often the main tool they use to make ticket-buying decisions. So the primary goal in writing a description is to be clear, informative, and interesting.

 

For the Print Guide, each listing can be 300 characters max, including space. Use it wisely. The Guide listing will already include the genre, title, times, locations, and ticket price. The focus should be on the main elements that will accurately represent the work and set it apart from the rest. Audiences feel empowered to see a show when they have a better sense of what they can expect, even if it’s the unexpected.

 

The hbgfringe.com event page has room for a longer description, up to 2000 characters. Artists often find that very long show descriptions are overwhelming to audiences and can push important show information further down the page. Making sure a show description paints a tantalizing and full picture without giving away too much is important.

 

If the piece is largely conceptual, it is helpful to find one concrete idea that an audience can hook onto. The larger themes are what audiences would take away, but it’s unlikely they will be able to digest them in the midst of so many other show descriptions.

 

It also doesn’t hurt to mention any awards, brief press quotes, or notable performances, if applicable.

Email Campaigning

Artists should launch email invite campaigns to their shows.

 

Personal Emails – Craft a personal invite to the performance and ask your contacts to share to their networks; always link to the show web page/ticket page.

 

Mailing List Emails – If an artist has a mailing list of past attendees, bulk invite those audience members to upcoming events. ALWAYS BCC!

 

Print Materials

Harrisburg Fringe Festival does not print or distribute individual posters or postcards for individual shows in the festival. It is always good to have some kind of print promotional material for a show. Professionally printed postcards and posters are ideal, but a hand-printed flyer is a cheaper option. Artists have found success in sharing printing materials with each other, such as two-sided postcards.

 

Artists should ask to leave postcards and flyers in local businesses (bars, coffee shops, grocery stores, other theaters, gyms), especially in the immediate area around the venue. The week of the festival, artists should bring marketing materials to the Festival Hub for HBG Fringe to display. Hanging posters and flyers on public property is illegal and will result in fines, so make sure not to post on any telephone polls, walls, or fences!

 

We highly suggest that you use Minuteman Press. They are very reasonably priced and have quick turnaround times.

 

Minuteman Press

14 S 3rd Street, Downtown Harrisburg

(717) 234-7070

https://minuteman.com/us/locations/pa/harrisburg/

​Festival Logo Files & Language

When promoting your Harrisburg Fringe Festival show, it is important to include the Harrisburg Fringe Festival logo. Artists can download the logo files HERE.

 

How to use the logo:

Do's

  • position the logo in a clear space, with not too busy a background

  • make sure it’s legible by choosing a color that doesn’t conflict with your artwork, and avoid low-contrasting text

  • only use the logo for promotional and marketing materials for shows registered in that year's festival

​

Don’ts

  • stretch or squeeze the logo

  • rotate or crop the logo

  • add any extra text to the logo

  • use the logo for promotion of performances taking place outside of the Harrisburg Fringe Festival

​

Feel free to use the language below.

​

Full Festival Description:

This performance/event is part of the Harrisburg Fringe Festival, a city-wide celebration of innovation and creativity. The 2024 Harrisburg Fringe Festival, presented by 717 Arts Incorporated, runs July 18-21.

 

Short Festival Language:

Part of the 2024 Harrisburg Fringe Festival.

or

This performance is part of the 2024 Harrisburg Fringe Festival. 

or

This performance is presented by [Artist/Company/Producer Name] as part of the 2024 Harrisburg Fringe Festival.

bottom of page