Ashley Woolridge On The Strategy Behind Filling The Lincoln Theatre

Paying triple for seats because you clicked the wrong “official” link is a gut punch, and it’s happening more than people realize. We sit down with Ashley Woolridge, marketing manager at the historic Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia, to explain how third-party ticket resellers create confusion for patrons and what you can do to buy tickets safely and confidently.

From there, we zoom out to the real work of nonprofit theatre marketing in a small town. Ashley walks us through her path from box office to leading marketing efforts, and why there’s no such thing as a typical day. We talk artist coordination, building promo content when performers don’t have polished materials, writing press releases, running ticket giveaways, and shaping social media so audiences know what kind of night they’re walking into.

We also dig into the bigger strategy questions: how do you market events beyond the venue’s “live music” reputation, like magic shows or theatrical performances, without wasting ad spend? And how do community partnerships change what success looks like, especially when events support multiple local nonprofits, like The Lincoln’s Juneteenth programming connected to Martin Luther King Jr.’s most notable speeches? Ashley shares why communication is the hidden engine behind every great show, and how patron feedback and performer recommendations can directly influence bookings.

If you care about historic theatres, Marion Virginia events, nonprofit arts, or simply want a better night out without ticketing surprises, hit play. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves live shows, and leave us a review with the best performance you’ve ever seen at the Lincoln.

To learn more about The Lincoln Theatre visit:
https://www.TheLincoln.org/
The Lincoln Theatre
117 E. Main Street
Marion, Virginia  24354
276-783-6092

Transcript

Welcome To The Lincoln Theater

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Onstage with the Lincoln Theater, where history of entertainment steals the show. Dive into the rich legacy of this iconic mind revival theater, from its 1929 debut to its starting role in Marion Virginia's entertainment school. Guiding us through this journey is the man in the spotlight, our executive director, Bob Watkins.

Meet Ashley Woolridge

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Behind every performance is a small but mighty team working tirelessly to keep the Lincoln thriving for generations to come. Welcome back, everybody. Skip Monty here again with normally Bob Watkins, uh Executive Director of the Lincoln Theater here in the studio. But today we have a very special guest who's been on the show before, um, Miss Ashley Woolridge, uh, who is the marketing manager at the Lincoln. Ashley, how's it going?

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Pretty good, Skip. How about you?

SPEAKER_02 0:56

I'm doing just fine, and again, very excited to have you with us. I understand uh Bob was telling us in the last episode that your role has uh expanded. You've been there for how long have you been at the Lincoln?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

I've been there now about two and a half years.

From Box Office To Marketing Lead

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Okay, very good. Well, he he uh uh was telling me that your role has expanded recently, and uh so wanted to uh dig a little bit into that and tell us what you do. But if you don't mind, why don't you start us out by just telling us how you got here? Like uh tell us about your journey.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Sure, absolutely. So I guess I'll start way back um with my introduction to the Lincoln Theater. I am a local to Marion, Virginia, and I remember, of course, driving back and forth past the Lincoln Theater all my life through its various um eras of activity. For example, um, we were restored in 2004, and then we very slowly started to build up our calendar, and to the point we are today, we have multiple types of events that we offer here. Um, but I actually started working here um about two and a half years ago, as I mentioned. Um, my primary role then was just working at the box office, so um just taking um tickets, selling tickets, um getting the concessions ready. So I started off getting just lots of um interaction with our patrons. Um, and so that was really my entry point into the Lincoln. And then since then, my role has kind of expanded and I gradually started to take over the social media management part of things, um, writing the press releases, that sort of thing. Um, and to the point now I've been given the um leadership over the budget for the marketing. So I have a little bit more um opportunity to really branch out and try to get even more folks into the Lincoln Theater to see our events, um, but also just to spread awareness of the Lincoln Theater as an organization, what we do as a nonprofit for our community. And hopefully um going forward, I really hope to make even bigger connections with other nonprofits and businesses in Marion and really create this legacy or rather um perpetuate this legacy of the Lincoln Theater as a cultural hub of the town.

A Day Of Promotions And Content

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Very cool, which it already is, and you guys do a fantastic job. Well, tell us uh tell us a little bit about what a typical day is like for you if if there is such a thing.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Um well, I don't know that there is necessarily a typical day. It really just depends on the upcoming performances we have. Um I do a lot of collaborating with the artists before the show begins. So a lot of my day does revolve around corresponding with them, trying to plan certain uh promotions that we have going on or ticket giveaways. Um, and I do find that I spend a lot of my time actually creating content as well. Uh we get a variety of different artists with different backgrounds and um also different um different scopes of exposure on their end for their fan base. So, for example, we have some that have that come in here and they book a show with us and they already have um a professionally made promotional video and they have photos and they have their own press release and all that stuff. But then other groups maybe they don't have a video, they just have some performance clips. Um, and so then that's where I would come in and try to stitch some things together from their content that they provided and then help make it presentable for our patrons to let them know exactly what this artist is about and what this event is going to be like for them when they attend.

Volunteers On Camera And Online

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Very cool. Now, I don't know if um I know Bob and I have talked in the past about how important volunteers are in uh the life of uh the Lincoln. Um I don't know if if you uh you know, do you have an assistant or a do you uh potential apprentice kind of thing going on, or is that something that you might uh look at in the future? Is in the marketing section? I know there's uh a lot of uh folks that volunteered to usher, which is incredible. I mean, they they give the kind of service that uh theaters did back in the 30s and 40s. They actually walk you to your seat. If you get up and walk around, they've got a flashlight to keep, you know, make sure you don't trip on anything. Is there an opportunity for volunteers uh on the marketing side?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Sure, that is a great question. We don't actually have anything like as far as an apprenticeship or internship going on right now. Uh, but in terms of our volunteers, our ushers, we are actually trying to get them more involved in the, I guess, marketing process. Um, for example, we're trying to get something together right now where we have a little clip in our pre-show video that has the ushers kind of very comedically demonstrating some um some rules and regulations, if you will, for just being um an aware guest at the Lincoln Theater. So things like, you know, stay in your seat, you know, don't dance in front of someone, something like that. Um and then I also want to mention that in terms of like collaborating with other artists, we also can collaborate with other community members. And sometimes that means that we um make content together. Or, for example, we have a ticket giveaway going on right now for our event this weekend. So we have been collaborating with a couple of other local organizations and like making posts. Um, and then that way we can kind of share those audiences together and then move forward from there.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Very good. Well, I was gonna ask, uh actually, my next question was gonna be how do partnerships and community uh relationships influence the marketing side of things? And obviously that does have an impact. Uh so you get like sponsors or just local businesses or just loc or patrons?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Um it really depends on the performance, um, what kind of collaboration or um support we receive for those events, but especially for our community events that we try to organize. Um, we try to be really hands-on with communicating with all involved parties. Um, for example, we have an event coming up in June in recognition of Juneteenth. It's going to be a really interesting presentation about two of Martin Luther King Jr.'s most notable speeches. And we are collaborating with four other um other nonprofit organizations in that. Um, and then all the proceeds from the um donations as patrons attend that event will be spread across those different organizations. So where I come into that is, you know, if my marketing is successful enough, that means that that's more money for not just the Lincoln Theater, but for those other local organizations that can then um perpetuate their own missions and then put a lot of good back into our community as well.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Wow. Sounds like collaboration's pretty critical.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, absolutely.

Marketing Beyond The Music Reputation

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Very cool. Well, now let's look at at the other side of things. Uh, what would you say in your role at the Lincoln, what are some of your biggest challenges that you've uh cut uh uh experienced so far?

Third Party Ticket Resellers Explained

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Sure. Um one challenge that I've noticed pretty recently, uh, you know, we have sort of a reputation, I believe, as being like a live music venue primarily. And people most associate us with bluegrass, country music, that sort of thing. Um so when we want to add an event that's like a magic show, um, I find that those are a little bit more difficult to market and try to, you know, try to do research and figure out, for example, if we run a Facebook ad and it doesn't perform as well as our other ones for a magic show, well, how can we then make sure we're reaching the right audience? Because obviously maybe our followers aren't that interested. The ones that we have now aren't that interested in theatrical performances or magic shows. So then I need to find, you know, is there another group that I could send this advertisement to? Um, is there another way that I can target those ads to make sure that they reach people who actually want to attend that kind of performance? Um and then branching off from that, how do I then um figure out how we can change this sort of reputation of the Lincoln Theater and make it known that we are more than a live music venue and we have a lot more to offer. Um so yeah, that's been one of the biggest challenges. And of course, it's always a challenge, just trying to make sure that we get as many folks into the space as possible. Um, while we're talking about challenges as well, another one that I think I may have spoken about on my last episode that I was with you in, um, is we do have some third-party ticketing sites that will purchase tickets from our official site and then resell them for a higher price. And we can't really do anything to stop that. We have contacted, for example, some of those companies and see said, like, hey, we don't really appreciate this, but there's nothing they can do because someone has already bought those and resold them. Um, so we get calls. I still work at the box office, so I get calls from patrons when I'm selling tickets, and they're really upset because they they went to what they thought was our website, and it was really just a Google ad that they clicked on for a third-party site, and they were like, hey, I noticed I paid like triple the price of what's listed on the Lincoln's website. You know, how what how can that happen? How how am I paying more than other people who are sitting right next to me at the at the theater? Um, so we are trying to figure out a way to either avoid that or remediate that as best as we can. Um, but that's one thing that I love about the Lincoln Theater and our small organization particularly, is if you are a patron and you have any kind of issue, like you accidentally purchase tickets, you experience um like a death in the family, some unavoidable circumstance, even though we have in our policies that you know you can't do a refund. You're every time you call, you're reaching one of three people who are here on a regular basis, who have a vested interest in not only the theater success, but the community's success. And we genuinely want people to come here and have a great time and then leave feeling like they were part of a little little community when they stepped into the Lincoln. We want them to feel welcome. So whenever you have that sort of issue, if you call us, we will work with you. You'll always be talking to a real person. Um, and so that's one of the things that I think is kind of our advantage when dealing with that particular challenge is that people know that they're speaking with someone who actually cares about them and is not just trying to take their money.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

That's incredibly important, particularly in a small community. Uh well, really, it's important, period. And you know, I thought um technically that was considered scalping, which is illegal, I thought, that uh to buy up a you know a large group and then and then jack the price up. Is is are there laws in Virginia that about that?

SPEAKER_00 12:18

I am not entirely sure, but what I've noticed is for example, they won't buy like, you know, a whole section of tickets at once. They'll buy like maybe four seats and then three seats, and they're all in different names. So in our system, it doesn't like flag it or anything. It just looks like a regular person went online and bought tickets. Um, but then whenever those people sell those tickets, of course, they erase their name off of the ticket. So sometimes the person who calls us and said that they bought tickets, I try to look up the order. And um, it's like, of course, the someone's complete different name, but sometimes that patron doesn't even know where their tickets are. So they've paid all this money for tickets that they don't even know where they are, and they could end up being in like a really well, there's really not a bad seat in the house, but in a section where they could have gotten better seats for a much lower price.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Wow. Wow. That that is that is a shame. Well, good luck with that. And very important to our listeners and viewers. Uh, make sure when you buy tickets, you buy them from the Lincoln, not from some 30 years.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Lincoln.org is our always the place where you're gonna find the cheapest, um, most reliable seats.

Patron Feedback Shapes Future Shows

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Absolutely. Very, very good, very good point to make. So uh Ashley, what uh if there was one thing that you would like uh patrons to know or understand about the work ha that it takes to to make a show happen, to to to start from start to finish, what's the one thing or or multiple things that that you would like uh your patrons to to understand about what it takes to do what you do?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

That's a great question. Um you know, I think just uh communication is key. So whenever I collaborate with the artist, for example, um, I try to make sure that we're all on the same page for like the timeline of things. Um and then also I like to regularly make posts, for example, inviting patrons to tell us their recommendations for performers. And there have been quite a few performers that have been books, specifically because we noticed people were commenting, you know, hey, you need to get this performer back at the Lincoln, or I'll give a tour, or I'll sell tickets to a patron in person. And they'll say, Hey, I remember when I went to the Lincoln and I saw this artist. Can we get them back in the theater? Um, so we are always open to receiving some recommendations and also feedback as well. We again we are a small organization. There's three people. We don't rely on any AI tools, for example, to help alleviate some of the medial tasks, if you will. So with that comes some human error, and we're really receptive to correcting some mistakes if we do make those. So we really just want to emphasize that uh we kind of have an open door to receiving feedback from patrons and recommendations from them because really at the end of the day, it's all about them and their experience here. And so if there's anything that anyone ever has to say in regards to performance recommendations or a better way that we could um facilitate our events, or even if they have recommendations for other nonprofits, other businesses that we could collaborate with, uh, we not only listen to those and receive those, but we actually keep record of them and we will try our best to make it happen as best we can.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Very good. Well, actually, I can't tell you how much I appreciate getting to talk with you and chat and learn all about your new role. Congratulations again. And uh hopefully we'll see you soon at uh on the a future episode and uh at the Lincoln.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Thank you very much, Skip. It's always a pleasure.

Where To Buy Tickets Safely

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Thanks for tuning in to Onstage with the Lincoln Theater. Want more of Mary and Virginia's entertainment scene? Visit us online at thelincoln.org. Yes, that's thelincoln.org. Or drop by our theater at 117 East Main Street. Let's keep the arts alive and kicking together.