In 2020, Theatre Royal Plymouth, nestled in the historic maritime city of Plymouth England, embarked on a transformative journey to significantly grow its membership base, which then consisted of 1,535 members across a three-tiered structure. A tumultuous pandemic later, Theatre Royal Plymouth has redesigned their membership program in partnership with TRG Arts and is going from strength to strength due to their hard work, some surprising marketing tactics, and an unwavering strategic focus on building recurring revenue. Today in 2024, Theatre Royal Plymouth has grown their membership numbers by 244% within their revamped six tier structure. Let’s see how they got there.
Goals and Challenges
When Theatre Royal Plymouth engaged TRG Arts in a Revenue Accelerator relationship, they had three goals for their membership program. First, they wanted to grow the overall numbers of members enrolled in the program at any level, second, they wanted to raise the income from the membership program, finally, they wanted to see the members upgrading through the levels of membership over time. The goals were clear, but how to get there was not. Theatre Royal Plymouth had to close in March 2020 due to the pandemic, before opening with social restrictions for the longest run of the Christmas panto that year. Closing again at the end of December 2020, they were finally able to reopen for good in May 2021.
With the reopening in summer of 2021, Theatre Royal Plymouth decided to launch their new membership program at the same time. Demand in the early return after the pandemic closures was a question, but TRP had secured £100,000 in donations during the lockdown and didn’t waste the opportunity to thank their supporters and ask for their continued support by inviting them to join the newly minted membership program. With TRG, they had lessened the gaps between the levels of membership and conducted a benefits analysis to offer appropriate value at each level and incentivize upgrades by having significant perks added to each additional level.
Marketing Tactics Old and New
The early marketing campaign to launch the membership used new and old school tactics that included such things as pin badges for members and mailed slips that could be torn off and returned. In addition to the redesign and purchase of materials, the cost of the campaign was about £8,000. In the relaunch window of July 5th – August 31st, Theatre Royal Plymouth captured 1,106 new members and £61,662 in revenue from this investment, almost doubling pre-pandemic levels of membership revenue in just two months. Erica Vitai, Development Manager at Theatre Royal Plymouth who led the campaign, was stunned at the effectiveness of some of these old school tactics. “There were a couple of things in this campaign that our TRG consultant suggested we include, which my colleagues and I were unsure about, but they did work. The pin badge was one of those, but as soon as Members joined, they were asking when they would receive their badges and they’re still wearing them almost three years on! Another was the tear-off slips, but we had so many returned in the post which was quite surprising!”
Theatre Royal Plymouth uses more modern approaches to marketing their memberships as well. Segmented email and mailing campaigns are vital as well as not missing prime opportunities to build from high demand shows. Erica explained that any time an announcement for a major show is launched, the marketing includes exclusive benefits for members such as discounts, seat preference and more to encourage new sign- ups. Another key has been the affordability of the entry level membership, starting at just £20, this helps the team at Theatre Royal Plymouth get more member sign-ups. The strategic focus is then on upgrading members to additional tiers and securing renewals through highly segmented messaging, direct debit options, and digital tools like push notifications through the Theatre Royal Plymouth app.
Continuing to build on their success, Theatre Royal Plymouth is looking for ways to attract additional giving beyond just memberships, through things like their Adopt a Seat program and promoting engagement projects such as education work with local schools and developing local emerging artists. Knowing membership increases ticket buying behaviour of patrons, Theatre Royal Plymouth set and realized another goal - attaining over £1,000,000 in revenue from membership levels and the tickets bought by members in 2023.
Looking Back and Looking Ahead
The membership program is just one part of the journey Theatre Royal Plymouth has been on with TRG Arts, but reflecting on the stunning successes of her work, we asked Erica if she had any advice to offer other arts professionals looking for ways to build recurring, resilient revenue through membership programs, “Don’t be too afraid of making changes” she said, “it can feel like a scary thing because memberships are so personal to your patrons, but if you approach it in the right way, making sure everyone internally understands why you’re doing it and bringing your members along, it really helps. TRG was always on the other end of the phone. Their support and encouragement and knowing that they have been through this many times with other theatres was all really useful.”
From the initial partnership with TRG Arts to the ambitious redesign of the membership structure and the implementation of both traditional and digital marketing strategies, Theatre Royal Plymouth’s story offers invaluable insights and inspiration for other institutions seeking to build sustainable, resilient revenue streams through membership programs and beyond. Today, with a membership base that increased 74% last year and is on track to have tripled since 2021, the Theatre Royal Plymouth team continues to look ahead and explore new horizons and expand their impact.
