Laughing over a game of Balderdash on New Year’s Eve, one of my friends joked to me about how I don’t really work…I just spend my day online.  He said it in a fun way, but it’s pretty true anymore!  It’s interesting how much of my marketing job has moved “online”…and it’s really exciting!

When I began work as Marketing Director at TCTA a little over a year ago, I was excited to make a huge push online with the theatre.  “That’s where it’s at Baby!”, right?  With the surge of My Space and now Facebook happening, it’s really fantastic to be able to communicate with so many volunteers, patrons, and academy students all at once and in a completely free way!  Years ago, TCTA had to go through a painful process of designing, printing, and mailing postcards to keep people “in the know” about what was happening at TCTA.  Now, with the click of a button we can send fun reminders, send out press releases, and keep in touch with our TCTA family.

I’ve also been thrilled with the number of people asking to be removed from our Encore mailing list who are willing to receive their information online through our Eblast.  It’s truly the same info…just enhanced.  Any information not received in the weekly Eblast is included in the online pdf version of the Encore that we post on our website.  It’s really a win-win situation for computer savvy patrons because we save printing and postage costs…and we help in a little way to save the environment. 

We even make buying tickets easy by providing this terrific website with ticket purchasing options.  It’s pretty cool to see people who have logged on in the middle of the night to purchase tickets the day they go on sale to the general public.  What a great way to get ahead of the crowd and not have to wait until our box office opens.  (Although, it’s always nice to get to chat with Donna, Cathy, and our terrific box office volunteers.)

I realize we have patrons and volunteers who still like to receive hard copies in the mail of items.  Some aren’t fans of using online information, and some just still like the feel of a nice piece of paper in their hand that they can put up on the refrigerator for a reminder.  So, we will, of course, continue to send things via the US Mail.  But, it’s very exciting to know that TCTA is keeping up with the times and allowing our family to use online options for information.

So, if you haven’t signed up for the Eblast, I encourage you to do so. And, please consider “opting out” of receiving the Encore by contacting Donna@topekacivictheatre.com.  Also, please think about becoming a “friend” to our My Space page and linking to our Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy group on Facebook.  Most of all, please continue reading our blogs and think about posting some information of your own.  This is a two-way forum…a great place to ask questions that you may never think to ask when you are here.  We are happy to share information about all the goings-on at TCTA.

If you need any help with any of our cool online tools, please feel free to call me.  Seriously!  It’s my favorite part of my job (next to seeing some really awesome plays & musicals) and I’d be happy to talk you through anything.  My number at TCTA is (785) 357-5213.

Happy surfing!

Chelle

Tags: academy, encore, facebook, my space, TCTA, topeka, topeka civic theatre, Volunteers

This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 11:51 am and is filed under 2008-2009 Season, Box Office Talk, Comments and Suggestions, Uncategorized, Volunteer News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.