Getting started
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe welcomes a vast array of performers and styles, which means that getting out and promoting your show can seem daunting.
This guide aims to help out by providing expertise and advice to support you in promoting your show at the Fringe.
Before you get started, it’s important to know the answer to two key questions:
- What is your show?
Whether you’re distributing flyers on the street or posting about your show online, you’ll have a very short time to grab people’s attention, so make sure you’re able to sum up your show in as few words as possible, and have them learned by heart in case someone asks you about it. - Who is it for?
Think carefully about your audience too – if you say your show is ‘for everyone’, that doesn’t tell someone why they specifically might be interested. Tailor your pitch to appeal to the engaged, interested sort of audience you want at your show.
How we support you
In addition to advice and guidance around how to market and promote your show, the Fringe Society provides the following services as part of your registration fee:
- The official website edfringe.com – over 3.8 million unique users and over 30 million page impressions from September 2023 to September 2024 – where we sell tickets on your behalf.
- Fringe Society-led social media campaigns and events giving you the opportunity to engage with audiences and media members. We have more than 600,000 followers across our social media channels.
- Promotional activities including the 2for1 ticket offer over Monday and Tuesday in week one of the Fringe (you can opt in for one or both of these during show registration) and the Half Price Hut from Wednesday in week one.
- The Fringe Media Office publicises the Fringe and acts as its official spokesperson, while also supporting you and offering one-to-one guidance around your own PR and marketing activities.
As an impartial organisation, the Fringe Society is unable to provide a marketing service for individual shows. Our job is to get local, national and international media, as well as audiences both at home and abroad, interested in the Fringe as a whole.
Creating your campaign building blocks
These are the key elements to a successful marketing campaign – think of the following as a checklist of things you’ll want to consider:
- Be organised
The sooner you plan your marketing and media campaign, the easier it will be. - Make you words count
Getting your show listing right is a priority – the public, industry and media use this to decide what to see. - Choose your image
Your show image will live alongside your listing on edfringe.com. Keep it simple so that it can easily link in with your marketing at a later date. - Keep your marketing clear and consistent
Use the same logos, imagery and phrasing on all your marketing materials. - Ticket promotions
These can generate some early word of mouth with audiences. - Assign someone to handle your PR and marketing
This can be a member of your company, rather than a full-time job or a PR professional (though you might want to consider these too). You need someone with great writing skills, and who reads the papers regularly so knows the kind of media content the Fringe generates. - Write a winning media release
Keep your media release clear and brief. Focus on anything newsworthy and unique about your show and / or its development. We'll circulate a media contacts list to registered shows – use this to reach out to journalists who are planning to cover this year’s Fringe. - Be ready for press
Make sure that you have your press materials ready by the time your show goes on sale, as that’s when the media will start asking questions. - Prepare your pitch
Be ready to talk about your work succinctly and honestly to the people you meet during the Fringe. - Talk to us
The Fringe Media Office is here to help – we’re full of advice, ideas and contacts. Contact us for a chat about your show by emailing artistadvice@edfringe.com.
Planning your marketing campaign
Set some goals
Get together with your company or set some time aside for you to decide exactly what you would like to achieve from performing at the Fringe.
For example, if your ambition is to pick up a touring engagement or expand your network of industry contacts, then focus on attending shows and events, and talk to our Artist Development team.
If your aim is to be well reviewed by major publications and attract big audiences, you will need to concentrate on, and invest in, your PR campaign.
Register your show
Take a look at our guide to organising a show, or if you're ready to register, find out more on our registration page.
We’ve also created a section later in this guide with specific reference to marketing considerations when registering your show.
Create a social media presence
If you haven’t already, create accounts for your company on various social media platforms. It’s worth thinking about which platforms your intended audience is likely to use – eg if your show is for teenagers, think about how you could use TikTok.
Start posting about your Fringe build-up – if you can create a strong social media presence, it’s a great, low-cost way to get word of your show into people’s ticket buying plans. Plus, if your show is online, you can cultivate an audience that doesn’t even need to be in Edinburgh to see it.
Coming in person? Plan your print campaign
Design your print and marketing campaign including flyers and posters. Keep it clear and consistent across the board – this will apply to everything from your show listing image right through to the flyers you hand out.
Doing a kid’s show? Get in touch with us
If your show is a children’s show, speak to our Artist Advisor now about how you can plan your campaign around term time and for ideas and contacts. If you plan in advance, your ticket sales are less likely to suffer when children go back to school.
Plan your media / promotional activity
Hiring a publicist is a good investment if you can afford it, but it’s not essential. Speak to our Artist Advisor about your thoughts – our team has a handy list of PRs that operate at the Fringe.
Do some research around what shows generated media coverage in recent years. What were the big launch stories? Which is the right publication / broadcaster / agency for you to be talking to? When the Fringe launches, look at the media coverage and see who is writing Fringe previews; start following arts journalists on Twitter and see what their plans are for the month. When the Fringe begins, keep in touch with the media and let them know of any updates or interesting stories.
Advertise with us
In addition to your show listing (which is included as part of your registration fee), you can also pay to advertise on edfringe.com and in the printed programme. Adverts on edfringe.com can be designed to include animation and will link through to the show’s listing page.
Visit our advertising page for rates and booking forms or email advertising@edfringe.com for more details.
You can also find several independent avenues for advertising during the Fringe, such as local media who are covering the festival.
Sign up to Fringe Connect
Fringe Connect is our online platform where Fringe artists can meet and attend events focused on the arts sector. In addition to being a great place to chat with fellow artists (and potential new collaborators), many of the events offer advice on how best to market your show.
Fringe logos and assets
As a registered Fringe show, you’ll have access to our marketing toolkit of official Fringe logos and yearly campaign assets. The toolkit contains web- and print-ready files, including .eps files for use on printed materials with images or coloured backgrounds.
Terms of use
The Fringe logo is a registered trademark subject to copyright protection. It is made available for the promotion and marketing of shows and venues registered for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, for those performances taking place at the Fringe only.
Use of the Fringe logo is at the sole discretion of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society who will take the appropriate action to protect its unauthorised use.
How to use the Fringe logo
Do:
- only use the logos provided in the download pack
- position the logo in a clear space, with not too busy a background
- use the width of the letter ‘r’ as a guide for the safe space around the logo, and its positioning from the edge of the artwork
- make sure its legible by choosing a colour that doesn’t conflict with your artwork, and avoid low contrasting text
- only use the logo for promotional and marketing materials for shows and venues for the year in which they’re registered in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme.
Don’t:
- stretch or squeeze the logo
- rotate or crop the logo
- change the logo’s colour
- add any extra text to the logo
- use the logo for promotion of performances taking place out with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- use previous iterations of the Fringe logo, including the highlighter-style logo.
The Fringe logo is a registered trademark subject to copyright protection, and use of the Fringe logo is at the sole discretion of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. We will take appropriate action to protect it from unauthorised use.
If you have any questions concerning usage of the logos, please contact marketing@edfringe.com.
Fringe sell-out laurels
If you've brought a show to the Fringe in previous years and managed to sell out your run, you can use Fringe sell-out laurels to help promote work you’re bringing to this year’s Fringe, or indeed anywhere else.
Fringe sell-out laurels are images we provide, in various digital formats, that can be attached to posters, flyers and other marketing material, provided the artist or performing company is associated with a show that sold at least 95% of its available tickets for a previous year's Fringe run.
The laurels can be an invaluable marketing tool for onward touring or subsequent Fringe appearances – they let people know your work has been successful at finding an audience.
Criteria
- The sell-out show must have appeared at a previous edition of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
- The show must have sold 95% of its entire ticket allocation (including any tickets sold outside the Fringe Box Office) for its entire run (not just one or a few night(s)), excluding preview performances.
- If you refer to the show’s sell-out status in writing, you must be clear that the sell-out occurred at a previous year’s Fringe (eg “This show sold out at the 2019 Fringe”).
- If you or your company are currently marketing a different show from the one that previously sold out, you can still use the laurel in your marketing. However you should be clear that the “sell-out” refers to the previous show rather than the one currently being marketed (eg “From the company behind 2019 Fringe sell-out Hamlet comes a new production of Romeo and Juliet”).
Get in touch
If you think you meet the criteria for a Fringe sell-out laurel, please get in touch with artists@edfringe.com to request one.
Please note: we may require additional information from you to verify that your show sold out, such as external box office information or venue capacity details, etc. If your sell-out show is older than a few years (eg pre-2017), this may be difficult to verify.