Meet a Marketer: Ali White of Actor's Express in Atlanta, GA

This interview originally appeared in the new BroadwayWorld Monthly Marketing Update, a monthly email designed for theatre marketing professionals. In each update, we'll share data and trends from our audience, wider trends in the marketing industry, helpful tools and resources that you can use to promote your shows and seasons, and, introduce you to some of the best marketers working in the arts today.

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Ali White is the Marketing Director at Actor's Express Theatre in Atlanta, GA. She has a producing and sales background working in industries such as arts and culture, bridal and hospitality. She also has a passion for film and has traveled to festivals around the world and volunteered on multiple committees at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. 

Ali lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband, son and two shepherd dogs. Education: Bachelor of Arts from the University of Central Florida, Theatre Studies, Masters Certificate in Arts Leadership and Cultural Management form the University of Connecticut

What is your biggest challenge in marketing productions at the moment? How are you facing it?

My organization produces fearless theatre. We tell stories that reflect the diversity of our community highlighting the many talented creatives that reside in Atlanta. We are fortunate to bring in a high percentage of first time visitors per production. One of my main challenges is to continue building on these relationships with patrons and encourage them to return to see another show. My targeted messaging and marketing efforts need to encourage patron interest in a show that on the surface, may not immediately interest them. It is part of our mission to challenge perspectives and start conversations so it is essential that we continue to bring first time patrons and new audiences back, especially the younger generation of theatre-goers. 

Another major challenge is competing with the couch and all the entertainment available to us virtually. I want to remind audiences about the unique feeling of live performance and how togetherness feels. With the overwhelming amount of entertainment now we are looking for ways to create more immersive, social experiences to make that night off the couch more worthwhile and combat some of the barriers we experience now in post pandemic times. With social media campaigns, I often take inspiration from my “barriers and myths” list each season. Then I try to tailor content around these barriers to encourage and inspire the community to see a live show.

What advice would you offer to other marketers based on what is working for Actor's Express at the moment? 

My advice I would offer to other marketers would be to lean into your super fans and enthusiastic artists. These fans bring in new supporters and new patrons to your organization. These super fans typically are the patrons that move up the ladder to subscribers and donors.  In a non-profit organization it is essential to tell impact stories and let the audience in on the process of creating theater. My motto is “our ordinary is their extraordinary. '' As theatermakers we often forget how special and unique our industry is. I also find that underproduced, authentic content on social media platforms outperform other still images and overproduced trailers.

I have also found success in influencer marketing and look forward to diving deeper into his type of marketing tactic in the future. Lastly, I encourage organizations to engage in partnerships with organizations in your community that align with your mission.

How do you approach designing the various assets for your campaign? Is it driven by the marketing department, the show's creative teams, or a hybrid? 

Most of our marketing efforts are driven by the marketing team, myself and two assistants. The show’s creative team plays a major role in crafting our messaging. I do an initial marketing meeting with directors and writers (if available) where we discuss vision, audiences, plans for different assets, keywords, themes and more. This helps me craft the campaign and then I consult with our artistic director and graphic designer. I think it is important that my voice is not the only voice heard in our marketing to ensure the messaging is not only coming from my perspective.  I then consult with our community engagement manager to discuss and plan partnerships, affinity group involvement, cross promotions and construct a group sales plan.

Why do you utilize BroadwayWorld as part of your marketing mix? 

Atlanta has an incredible arts and cultural scene. We tell diverse, transformative stories and we create change. Engaging in campaigns with BroadwayWorld will help us in our community outreach initiative and brand awareness. We live in a large city with an extraordinary amount of arts and culture so we like to engage in campaigns that pair well with press releases and reviews with paid advertising including banner ads, social/sponsored content, eblasts, and featured listings to reach the right audiences. BWW has been essential to our national visibility.

What has been your favorite show that you’ve had the pleasure of putting together a campaign for?

I am typically a musical fanatic but this past season we put on a production of Prayer for the French Republic by Joshua Harmon.This was a dramatic play that was captivating, moving and poignant.  My favorite shows are the ones that stick with me for a long time, whether that be the overall message or a few specific lines. This show took me by surprise and I continue to think about the messaging to this day.

This show also exceeded our sales goal and encouraged patrons from all backgrounds to visit our theatre, which was a bit surprising as this was a three hour drama.  Many community partners were involved during the production which led to incredible word of mouth, pre and post show events and new audiences. Now the production is heading to Broadway!

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