Event marketing tips from the world of pro wrestling
My name is Jim Smallman and I’m one of the three co-owners of Progress Wrestling in London.
Doing what we do – running a wresting outfit in the capital – is something that was previously thought of as a difficult task. When we started our business three years ago, we deliberately wanted to change this perception and put on great, entertaining wrestling shows for enthusiastic fans. We have since used our strengths to grow the size of our shows and our brand’s perception within the professional wrestling world. And we have built up a sizeable following, much of which is to do with our DIY approach to marketing our brand.
I’ll cover the question you’re asking right now if you’re not familiar with our world: no, it isn’t fake. It’s pre-determined, sure. But wrestling hurts and the men and women who put their bodies on the line to entertain us are talented, athletic and risk serious injury every time they step into the ring. It’s part-sport, part-theatre. It’s a soap opera in spandex, if you like.
We’re well-known for our fan interaction and use of social media, having only ever once paid to advertise any of our shows (our first one). We’ve sold out every event in our history and now run out of the 700-capacity Electric Ballroom in Camden, which is a large venue for an independent wrestling promotion.
If you retweet praise constantly, even your biggest fan will start to tune out
We must be doing something right. But what’s our secret? Here are some of our tips for getting the attention of everyone but your bank manager. Hopefully these can help promo your next event or show.
Know your crowd
I look like one of our fans, because I am one of our fans. Between the three of us co-founders (Jon is a former comedy promoter and currently works for the Guardian, while Glen is an actor and musician) we understand what our audience enjoys, and what fans want to hear and see on social media, because empathising with them isn’t difficult.
Also, we’re keen on listening to suggestions and promoting interaction, such as letting fans name one of our upcoming shows in May.
Make yourself available
The three of us are easy to find and speak to at shows. Likewise, anyone can easily get hold of us on Twitter or Facebook. Being able to answer questions, field criticism and respond to praise makes your audience feel they have a real ownership of your product. It’s a big part of why being in our crowd feels like a family rather than just another punter.
Be humble
If you retweet praise constantly, even your biggest fan will start to tune out. Be sparing with what you share with your online audience, because even in showbusiness, nobody likes a show-off.
Be a team
Jon and Glen have their own specific jobs within our company, as do I. But we’re always there to cover for each other. If one of us can’t be there to live-tweet an event or update the Facebook page, someone else must do it, because we understand how important these things are to our business.
Don’t lose your temper
If you take our approach to marketing, it’s quite hands-on and you will spend a lot of time dealing with questions from your audience. If they ask silly questions, answer them with a smile on your face. The minute that you come across as being a grumpy so-and-so online is the time you lose at least one fan. No matter how much you love your product – and we really, really love Progress – there will always be someone who criticises it. Stay calm, take a deep breath and remember the people who do like it.
Wrestlers Jimmy Havoc and Will Ospreay in the ring. Photograph: Rob Brazier Photography/Progress
Funny is good
I’m a stand-up comedian and host our shows, so humour is a big part of the live Progress experience. We find that people are always more likely to share content that raises a smile. One thing we do is to live-tweet through any televised wrestling show from the US, knowing that we can grow our audience through amusing comments and tweets. That said, funny doesn’t mean rude or crass; if you start cursing constantly in your online posts you’ll soon lose followers. Learn the tone that your audience finds acceptable and stick to that.
Get mates to help out
When we started Progress, I called in a lot of favours from more famous comedians and friends from the wrestling industry. Whether you agree with it or not, having a tweet of endorsement from someone with half a million followers and a blue tick is going to get you quite a bit of attention. But you need to make sure that you follow up on it; one retweet from a celebrity is not going to sell out your show. Use any endorsement or mention as a building block.
Don’t rush an announcement
With several weeks between shows, we announce what matches will be on them gradually (one per week) so the fans talk about them and look forward to each announcement, which we tend to always do at the same time on a Monday. If you are going to use social media to release some big news, build to it over 24 hours. Not everyone is looking at their news feed all the time, but if you signpost something big is coming, they will actively look out for it.
Use all the tools you can
We concentrate a lot on Twitter and Facebook, but we have a well-subscribed YouTube channel that we use to make announcements, as well as having a podcast, keeping our website as up to date as possible and so on. Nobody uses Google Plus, though. Bear that in mind.
Make sure everyone talks about you
Our shows are noisy and raucous. Part of our appeal is the wrestling side of things, but another big part is the atmosphere. Most people go away from our shows talking about one or the other, but usually both.
Now we know what our strengths are, we play to those so that people will talk about us as much as possible. Every single show a new fan will come up to me and say that they came along because a friend told them to, or speak to a crowd of people who started two-strong and have now grown to two-dozen. If you do things right, people will talk – and nothing will sell you more tickets than word of mouth.
Jim Smallman is a stand-up comedian and co-owner of Progress Wrestling
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