Welcome 2024 Durham Fringe Festival performers! We are thrilled to have you on board with us for our fourth year of DFF. This page contains information you will need, including a timeline of key dates, marketing and social media tips, useful logos for your promotional material, and an FAQ section.

Details of participating venues can be found here.

All applications to take part are made through a third party, Eventotron, who manage applications for us.

We believe it’s our responsibility to market the festival as a whole, to get the word out about the vibrant Fringe that we’re growing here in Durham to local, regional and national audiences. That said, we simply haven’t got the capacity to market the 70+ individual shows that will be on offer. We will, of course, use any resources our artists and performers provide to highlight what’s on offer. 

We have a marketing and communications plan and use recognised channels for marketing. We’re supported by the tourism board Visit County Durham, and Durham County Council also supports us with a profile in Durham County News, which goes to all homes in the county. We have an active presence across social media, and pay for promotion targeted at the North East and those interested in Fringe and all genres of performance. Funding has enabled us to invest in an expanded outdoor advertising campaign, with hundreds of banners and posters across the city and key routes in. The festival is also supported by a direct marketing campaign, with over 15,000 printed programmes. We use every opportunity to engage broadcast and digital media, and secured a feature on Tyne Tees news at the start of the festival last year. Like everyone our marketing budget has limits but we achieved an 83% growth last year. What works well is a partnership – we do our bit, and expect you to take responsibility, and do everything you can to market your show, too. 

Promoting your show can seem like a daunting task. This guide aims to help you get started on the promotion of your show; provide you with a few tips and tricks and some Durham Fringe Festival assets for you to use on your promotional material.

What sort of show do you have? Theatre, Magic, Spoken word, Stand-up Comedy or something else entirely? As we have a wide variety of genres at Durham Fringe Festival, it’s important to make sure your marketing material clearly conveys the type of show you offer, and appeals to the right audience for you.

Key actions before we begin. Send us your short form video content, so we can share and promote your show. Share with us any news about your show or company. Like and share as many fringe social media posts as you can.

BEFORE YOU APPLY

A stand out show listing. The words you choose to use on your show listing is often all the public has to go from when choosing what to watch. 

Keep it simple! The less words, the better. Try to sum up your show in as few words as possible, giving the potential audience a snapshot into the type of show you’re offering. 

Use a strong image, and keep it consistent. Use the same fonts, styles and phrases in all your promotional materials.

Assign roles. If you have a larger company, or multiple people involved in your show, you could choose someone in your team to handle all the promotion and marketing of your show, or outsource it, if you’ve got the funds.

Keep your media release clear and concise. Focus on your achievements, reviews, awards, key performances and anything newsworthy. Use this when reaching out to media contacts.

All in the videos. Capturing videos for your instagram reels or your tiktok is a great way to build a hype around your show. Raw and behind the scenes videos work well on informal platforms like Tiktok and Instagram. A straight pitch to the camera may well be very useful but content that is off the wall, or fun, also helps to keep your audience engaged.

Keep it authentic. Sharing content that shows you and your personality helps the audience to relate to you. “Sales” posts don’t always travel on social media, so make sure you’ve got a good mix of content about you, and content about buying tickets. A ratio 4 to 1, general posts to show adverts works well.

Consider your audience. Who is your show appealing to? Are you using the right platforms to reach them? If it’s teenagers and younger people consider Tiktok. If you’ve got an older audience try Facebook and Twitter. Have you got a niche audience, for example LGBTQIA+, Veterans or the elderly? Use groups or hashtags to reach them specifically.