How do you market Theatrical Design?

An easy question right? In the past, I’ve relied on word of mouth, reputation, and the occasional friend saying, “Hey, you need a designer? I know a guy…”. So as I look to launch my firm, Midwest Theatrical Design, I thought it might be time to evaluate how I market myself.

It’s not as easy as one would think. Should I revisit my decade old portfolio, dump money into it to revamp it, print new pictures, get new blue-line prints of my drafting and hit the pavement? Or can I take advantage of the social marketing to get my work and myself out there for all to see and evaluate with an eye towards future employment opportunities? It seems as if the latter is the more practical choice, especially with Facebook, Twitter and now this blog at my disposal.

I found inspiration in my marketing approach from the company I’ve looked at as a model for my business, Wingspace Theatrical Design (http://www.wingspace.com/index.php).  I feel that they’ve got the right idea going on their website. Wingspace, according to its website, is “a Brooklyn-based collective dedicated to pushing the boundaries of contemporary theatrical design” (for more detail, read here http://www.wingspace.com/mission.php). I ultimately have a similar vision for Midwest Theatrical Design that it will be more that just me plugging away in my home office on the few projects I work on each year. I envision a design studio where some fellow designers and me can work and collaborate on projects. I see us pooling our resources to obtain the right tools for our jobs, from computers to software to drafting tables. But how do we get there from here, with here being my cluttered desk in my bedroom?  Make no mistake, I can put together a great group of fellow designers, but if we don’t market our abilities the right way, we are sunk.

So in looking at Wingspace’s site, I see a lot of what I think my company can and should do. For example, you can’t sell yourself as a theatrical designer if you can’t show your previous work to those who are unfamiliar with it. So for Wingspace, their projects are front and center on their page, with several pictures introducing projects and links to take you to more information on those projects. The other prominent feature I see is information about the theatrical designers that make up Wingspace, including a box for a featured collaborator. Both the main picture and featured collaborator change each time you go to the home page. There is also a calendar highlighting events that the various designers are a part of and a blog that where they have posted articles, pictures and links.  All in all, I like the look of their site and the content they provide and I think they are making the best use of the web to market themselves.

Another designer’s website that I liked, but not as much, was the site for Kevin Lee Allen Design (http://klad.com/index.html). My initial impression was that it was literally a digital portfolio, which is exactly what I want to avoid in my site. It wasn’t until I delved a little deeper and followed the links that I found his blog site (http://klad.com/blog). I like the blog and I wish he would incorporate it more into his main site the way Wingspace does and the way that I plan to do.

So what’s my plan? Well, for the time being, it’s looking like this blog and perhaps a Facebook page for Midwest Theatrical Design are the right choice for now. I can’t really afford to put up and host my own site, so this will have to do for now. I want it to be more than just a digital portfolio. My site should not only highlight what I can do as a designer, but it should give insight into my personality and how I work, not just what my end product is. By putting that out there, it’s almost like giving my potential clients the introductory interview without the meeting or phone call. In addition, I plan to include as many links as I can to all the arts happenings in the area, from theatre to opera to what’s going on at the Detroit Institute for the Arts to help bolster the arts community here in Detroit, because as it grows, so does potential business!

As always, I welcome any comments you may have. Thanks for reading!