Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out. I've had a look at your situation and I'm happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance on it. It's a common dilemma for lots of local businesses, especially in the arts where margins are always going to be tight. You're right to be cautious, with a ticket price of around €10, there's not a lot of room for error before your advertising spend eats up any profit.
The good news is that you're also right about the limitations of traditional media. Pouring money into local radio is a bit like throwing stones in a pond and hoping you hit a fish – you might make a splash, but it's incredibly difficult to know if you actually achieved anything. Digital advertising, when its done right, is the complete opposite. It's measurable, targeted, and can be far more cost-effective. The trick isn't to just throw money at it, but to be very deliberate and strategic about how you use a small budget.
Let's break down how I'd approach this for you.
We'll need to look at the right advertising platform...
Your first big decision is where to spend your modest budget. The two main contenders for a local venue like yours are Google Ads and Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram). They do very different jobs.
Google Ads is all about capturing intent. People go to Google when they have a problem or a question they want answered right now. They're actively searching for things like "theatre near me", "what's on in [Your Town] tonight", or "live comedy shows this weekend". This is what we call 'bottom of the funnel' traffic. These people are already looking to buy; you just need to be the one they find. For a small theatre, this is your lowest hanging fruit. The downside is that it can be more expensive per click (CPC), as you're often competing with other venues for these valuable search terms.
Meta Ads, on the other hand, is about creating demand. Nobody is scrolling through their Instagram feed actively looking to buy theatre tickets. Your ad is an interruption to their social browsing. The power of Meta is in its targeting. You can build an audience of people within, say, a 10-mile radius of your theatre, who are aged between 30-60, and have shown an interest in 'Live Theatre', 'Arts & Culture', or even follow pages of similar national theatres. Clicks are generally cheaper, but the traffic is 'colder'. You have to grab their attention with great creative (images/videos of your shows) and persuade them that a night at your theatre is a better idea than another evening on the sofa. I remember one campaign we worked on for a luxury brand launch, where we got over 10 million views purely by getting the targeting and creative right on Meta.
So, where to start? I'd say you begin with Google Ads to capture that existing, high-intent demand. Every ticket you sell to someone already searching for a show is a win. Once that's ticking over, you can start using a small portion of your budget on Meta, especially for retargeting, which we'll get to later.
I'd say you need a solid Google Ads strategy...
Just turning on Google Ads won't work. With a small budget, you have to be ruthlessly efficient. A poorly set up campaign will burn through your money with nothing to show for it.
First, you'll want to run a Search Campaign. This is the classic text ad that appears at the top of Google's search results. Your absolute priority here is tight geo-targeting. You should only show your ads to people physically located in your town and the immediate surrounding area. Don't waste a single penny on a click from someone 100 miles away who is never going to visit.
Next up is keywords. You need to think like your potential audience. What would they type into Google?
-> High-Intent Keywords: "theatre in [Your Town]", "[Your Town] theatre tickets", "plays on in [Your Town]"
-> Broader 'What's On' Keywords: "things to do in [Your Town]", "what's on tonight", "live entertainment [Your Town]"
-> Show-Specific Keywords: If you have a well-known play like 'An Inspector Calls', you can target "[An Inspector Calls] tickets [Your Town]"
Just as important are Negative Keywords. These stop your ads showing for irrelevant searches. You'd want to add negatives like: -jobs, -auditions, -reviews, -free, -cinema, -movie. This stops you paying for clicks from actors looking for work or people looking for film times.
Your ad copy needs to be compelling. You have very little space to make an impact. Don't just say "[Theatre Name] - Official Site". Sell the experience!
Example Ad:
Headline 1: Live Theatre In [Your Town]
Headline 2: [Name of Current Show] On Now
Headline 3: Book Your Tickets Online Today
Description: Experience the magic of live theatre. See the critically acclaimed [Show Name] at [Your Theatre Name]. Limited season, book now to avoid dissapointment!
Finally, there's your budget question: "less money and more time or concentrating money in a few weeks?". I'd recomend a hybrid approach. Have a small, 'always-on' campaign with a daily budget of maybe €10-€15, targeting your core local keywords. This keeps you visible all the time. Then, for a big new show, you can create a separate campaign and concentrate a larger budget in the 2-3 weeks leading up to the opening night to create a real buzz and drive those crucial early sales.
You probably should focus on measurement...
This is where you leave local radio in the dust. The most critical part of any ad campaign is tracking. If you dont set this up correctly, you might as well not bother running ads at all. You need to install the Google Ads tag on your website and set up Conversion Tracking.
A 'conversion' is the main action you want a user to take. For you, this is a completed ticket purchase. By tracking this, Google's system learns what kind of people buy tickets and starts showing your ads to more people like them. More importantly, you can see exactly which keywords and ads are actually making you money.
Let's say you spend €50 in a week and sell 10 tickets directly from your ads. Your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) is €5. If your profit per ticket is, say, €3 after all costs, then you're making a loss on those ads. However, if you sell 20 tickets, your CPA is €2.50, and you're making a profit. Without tracking, you have no way of knowing this. You need to have a clear idea of what your maximum CPA can be. Given your low margins, this number will be very low, which is why every click has to count.
You can also track the Conversion Value. If one person buys one €10 ticket, the value is €10. If another person buys four tickets for their family, the value is €40. This allows you to calculate your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). If you spend €100 and generate €500 in ticket sales, your ROAS is 500%. This is the ultimate measure of success. I remember working with an eCommerce client selling cleaning products, and they managed a 633% return just by getting their targeting and measurement dialed in perfectly.
You'll need to leverage retargeting...
This will be your secret weapon. How many times have you looked at something online, got distracted, and then forgotten about it? It happens all the time. Retargeting (or 'remarketing' in Google's terms) is the process of showing ads specifically to people who have already visited your website.
This is an incredibly powerful and cost-effective tactic. These people are no longer cold leads. They know who you are. They've browsed your 'What's On' page. They are interested. They just need a gentle nudge to come back and finish the purchase. You can create an audience in Google Ads of 'All Website Visitors in the last 30 days' and show them simple banner ads across the web, reminding them about the show they looked at.
This is also where Meta Ads become really useful. You can run a retargeting campaign on Facebook and Instagram, showing a short video clip from your current show to people who visited your website but didn't buy. The cost for these ads is usually very low, and the conversion rates can be high because the audience is so warm. I recall a campaign for a student recruitment client where we managed to reduce their cost per booking by 80% almost entirely through a sophisticated retargeting strategy. It's about reminding people at the right time.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
| Area | Recommendation | Why it's important |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Choice | Start with a Google Search campaign. Introduce Meta Ads later for retargeting. | Captures active buying intent first (the lowest hanging fruit) before moving on to awareness building. |
| Budget Strategy | A small, 'always-on' daily budget (€10-€15) for general visibility, with concentrated spend boosts for new show launches. | Ensures consistent local presence without breaking the bank, while allowing for targeted pushes when it matters most. |
| Key Tactics | Hyper-local geo-targeting, tight keyword control (including negatives), and a robust retargeting campaign for website visitors. | This combination maximises a small budget by eliminating waste and focusing spend on the most interested potential customers. |
| Measurement | Implement conversion tracking for ticket sales as a priority. Track CPA and ROAS meticulously. | Without data, you're just guessing. This tells you what's working and what's not, allowing you to optimize for profitabilty. |
I know this is a lot to take in. Running paid ads effectively, especially with a tight budget, is complex and has a steep learning curve. It's very easy to waste money on the wrong settings or strategies. Having an expert guide the process ensures that every euro is working as hard as it possibly can to put people in your theatre seats.
If you'd like to go over this in more detail and see how we could apply these principles specifically to your theatre, feel free to book in a free consultation with us. We can walk through everything together.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
