Has anyone here ever promoted a wrestling show

[AJ Smudgico]

So, I'm dipping my toe into the choppy waters of promoting Lucha Britannia early next year in the UK and its my first show.

Anyone else done this and have tips and hints to share so I can make this a success?

Cheers y'all

[Reflecto]

Dec 16, 2014 5:54:29 GMT -5 AJ Smudgico said:

So, I'm dipping my toe into the choppy waters of promoting Lucha Britannia early next year in the UK and its my first show.

Anyone else done this and have tips and hints to share so I can make this a success?

Cheers y'all

1- YOU WILL LOSE MONEY ON THIS. No matter how well you promote it.

Now that this is out of the way:

2- The best way to handle promoting a show would be the same way to promote anything else. Relentlessly paper the area with advertisements, see if anyplace will let you put fliers up, and hope for the best.

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2014 19:09:51 GMT -5 devondragon said:

Do my GI Joes count?

G.I. JOE promoter huh?  Maybe you'd like to try your best man against my World Champion, He-Man.  Oh, what's that?  I can't hear you.  Didn't think so.

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2014 20:00:52 GMT -5 @tafkaga said:

Dec 16, 2014 19:09:51 GMT -5 devondragon said:

Do my GI Joes count?

G.I. JOE promoter huh?  Maybe you'd like to try your best man against my World Champion, He-Man.  Oh, what's that?  I can't hear you.  Didn't think so.

New. Boom. Period.

[Chairman of the Board]

I can't type a ton right now, but I've promoted tons of shows. Some totally alone and some with other people. I've draw 200+ with all local guys and I've been parts of shows that have draw over 1500+ with legends.

You can PM me if you'd like. I'll try and remember to come back on later. I started a thread a while back about promoting shows and common pitfalls. Quickly...

Good cheap venue with parking is the best way to run a successful show. No joke, I've only run ONE show that hasn't at lteast broken even. Be frugal and work hard.

[Nickybojelais]

I'd look to use every form of social media you can possibly think of to promote the event. It's free and you can get your message across to a much wider range of UK wrestling fans across the country that way.

[jason1980s]

Promotion is key. I'm sure they are times when one does heavily promote an event and still, attendance is lacking but from attending many independent events in the last few years, the lack of crowd is definitely due to lack of promotion.
Facebook is a great resource with friends' timelines and group creating for the event. For autographs, wrestlingfigs.com home page has the autograph signings page. I recall Chairman's thread, it was so informative and interesting!

[AtomSmasher]

From my experience as a UK based fan, it never ceases to amaze me how many local shows that I've missed because I didn't know anything about them!
When I lived in Colchester there was an FWA show (NOAH Limits 2 I think) that completely passed me by.
Granted they may not have needed my cash, but it just goes to show the power of decent promotion.......

Oh and don't do a 'Herb Abrams'. Well, not straight away anyway.........

[Viking Hall]

I agree with the above. I live in a small Northern city which apparently has/had a promotion based out of here to the point where they apparently have their own 'arena'. Have I ever seen a single poster? Not one. Have I ever heard of any fellow local fans going to a show, you guessed it, not one. I know for a fact that's a lot of wrestling fans both new and old up here, I would wager that less than 10% of them know there's a promotion in their own town.

[Deleted]

Social media promotion is good and all, but it's not the be all end all. Posters plastered everywhere in all the nearby towns would be much more succesful.

find some local shops that will stick up a poster or two and also sell tickets (in exchange for a small amount of commission - like a quid or two), giving the shops incentive to sell tickets for you ensures they'll promote it a bit

When there are wrestling shows in my area I never find out about them because they will be in a different town in the county and aren't promoted anywhere other than the venues website, every now and then I'll have a google and I'll be shocked at how often my small area gets wrestling (it's never promoted anywhere so I never go because I usually see about the events after they took place)

local papers are also the way to go, try and see if they'll run a competition for a few free tickets in exchange for an article or two. Same with local radio. Wrestling is enough of a curiosity that the papers and radio would probably be all for having you on/in to talk about it.

Have someone with a clipboard taking email addresses at the show so you can build up a mailing list in case you want to promote future shows. You could also have someone with a camera interviewing fans in the queue/ venue and filming bits and pieces on the show (doesn't have to be anything elaborate or complex) just as a way to keep a communication channel open with your punters in between shows.

Basically get on the phone and emails and hustle, phone anywhere you think could be a source of promotion to see if they'll help you out, if they say no they say no, if they don't say no they've said yes, point is you don't know until you asked.

Find as many wrestling forums as possible and post, also search the facebook groups of your town/county etc for anything where a link to your event would be welcome and relevant

Problem with events (not just wrestling) nowadays is people make one facebook page, sit on their arse and then wonder why no one has shown up

Don't cheap out on the posters, if you have a friend that is good with photoshop go to them, if not go to one of those places that will design and print it for you, might cost a bit, but a more professional looking poster gives people more confidence that your event is professional and well organised.



Now I want to promote a wrestling show damnit.

[lemonyellowson]

never done a wrestling show but have been a promoter for a music festival for five years now.

first up reflecto is pretty much on the ball when he says don't expect to make money first time out, so my best piece of advice is to make sure whatever budget you have set aside to run this, make sure that can can afford to lose it or a sizeable portion of it first time out.

as a promoter you have to do everything in your power to make sure everyone you offer money to gets paid - if you build a name for being someone that keeps promises and agreements, it will bring a host of benefits in the long run. as crap as it sounds, in order to build something like this the last person in line to get paid is you.

it all depends on if you plan on doing this long term - if its for fun and to satisfy a curiosity i would advise against it because unless you get incredibly lucky - or you are the second coming of vince mcmahon - you will lose money (hell look how much vinny mac has lost during different periods of his career).

So with that said..

Do all you can to book at least one name - doesn't have to be a huge name indy guy - but at least someone that is known on a local level that the amount of people you want to get through the doors will know.

make it as inclusive as possible - you want to appeal to 100% of the population - niche rarely works on a small scale. book for families and make it as cheap as you can for them - if a kid wants to go to something enough chances are if a parent checks it out and sees that it is acceptable you have a chance of selling 4-5 tickets as opposed to just 1 - even if it is at a discounted rate,legislate for that so you get butts in the seats.

facebook - twitter etc are essential - but alone won't do anything for getting tickets sold.

flyers/posters etc are essential - as is getting feet on the streets to hand them out and put them through letter boxes - have a mascot or a dude in wrestling gear when you are hitting the streets - have them cut promos as you go.

ask local papers about the cost of leaflet drops - you can get them inserted into newspapers but usually you have to pay per 1000 -

newspaper articles are essential - get in touch with all your local papers - dont just phone them, call into the offices and ask to speak to editors and sports editors - taking out an ad with them will guarantee you get editorial but ads in papers can be pricey - long term though if you take ads out with them and get a rapport with the reporters and editors - your chances of getting more stuff in for free in future will increase. Also come prepared with press releases - the less local journalists have to write the more they will like you. if they seem non-commital say things like - if you are struggling to fill space please consider this but the more they know you the better the coverage will be.

if you are paying a venue make sure they agree to promote the show on their social media -
same as anyone else you are paying - from the sound guys to the talent - make it clear that if they don't promote the event a set amount of times on the social media that they wont get paid. you are paying the money, you set the terms. people can take it or leave it (unless of course you get a big name - the prepare to pander - gotta be done.


more heads are better than one -
how many mates have you got that like wrestling? any people you are aware of that may not be mates with but you know they like wrestling ask them to get involved and if they have any particular talents or are aspiring to get into a career that this could be used as experience for (photoshop - photography - journalism - video editing) get them involved - but make it clear that it is on a volunteer basis - when they see that come the end of it you haven't made any money either - team bond will be high and the notion that you teamed together to create something will be all the encouragement needed for them to pitch in again next time.

local colleges can also be brimming with young folk who will be looking for CV boosters - get a poster up in colleges looking for volunteers.

the real key though is to put on a great show that people will leave and tell their friends family about - word of mouth advertising is the best but it takes a while to benefit from it. Do everything you say you are going to and more and if people have a good time then you are on to a winner.

[Chairman of the Board]

Are you just promoting the show?

Do you have to book talent and travel?

[Deleted]

Local newspaper ads are a waste of money in this day and age. Spend that money on posters and flyers which people will actually see during their daily routine. A very small percentage of the public in 2014 sits down and looks through a newspaper everyday, much less the specific page you happen to drop several hundred dollars for an ad to be printed on. I've heard enough horror stories the past couple years about promotions spending money on newspaper ads with zero return. For example, an ad which included a coupon of "bring this ad for $2 off your ticket at the door" (to judge how many attendees found out about the show through the ad) and a total of 1 person shows up with the ad, which cost the promotion $500 or more to run. Examples such as that are proof that nobody looks at the newspaper anymore.

As already stated, social media is free, and is a method of specifically reaching people who are wrestling fans. Flyers and posters are good, but they're also reaching mostly people who have zero interest in wrestling to begin with. A little of everything helps, but if you can get your show poster seen by 300 wrestling fans in your region via Facebook and Twitter, or put a flyer in the hands of 300 random people on the street who may or may not ever watch wrestling, guess which one will lead to more people buying a ticket. By all means, do both-- but when social media offers a way to specifically reach people who would be interested in your type of show, take full advantage of that.

Cut deals with any other local wrestling companies to allow you to put a flyer for your show in the hands of the people who attend their show during the weeks prior. Fans who are already willing to attend others shows are those most likely to become one of your customers. Don't flyer their show without asking. Then you become the enemy. Ask for permission, and then help each other out.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Dec 17, 2014 18:56:45 GMT -5 @kudohdriver said:

Local newspaper ads are a waste of money in this day and age.

It depends on the town.Since I moved here 8 years ago 3 feds have ran shows in my town. Two of them ran ads in the local papers and drew good crowds. One didn't and was lucky to have 50 people there.Plus at least locally ads in the paper are cheap.

[Flash Burton]

Not wrestling but my cousin promotes white collar boxing, he just plasters it all over Facebook, creates a page & invites everyone of his FB friends. Updates constantly about the fighters, the cards & with word of mouth he sells out in no time. Yeah, boxing's different but it works

[tropicalstormstl]

You can purchase twitter and facebook adds that you can make show up in peoples feeds that like the certain tag words you selected. For instance things like people who like the WWE page in your area.

Go full color 18 by 24 posters all around the area of the venue and in the biggest towns 20 to 30 mins away in every direction. Have small hand bills with you for random people you come across while hanging the posters. If possible get one of the wrestlers to go with you and talk to the people you meet while doing this.

Try to get interviews arranged for wrestlers on local radio shows or in local publications/entertainment blogs.

Print up a colored zine that has photos of the wrestlers, back stories, match previews etc. Pay for these buy selling ad space in them to businesses around the venue.

In fact, that might be the biggest thing. Try to get as many different sponsors involved as you can.

[mrmulluk]

Where is the show?

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Helping out Chairman of the Board. Found his thread he had about this topic. I believe you find a lot of good information on it.

officialfan.proboards.com/thread/474625/official-run-indy-show-thread