The Internet Is Not Enough

I’ve always been a big Steve Corino fan. He doesn’t seem to take himself too serious. He was one of the most entertaining ECW champions during the time I was a diehard ECW fan. Corino is the modern age Terry Funk, in that he understands the best way to ensure a cushier future for him is to prepare the next generation of wrestlers. That might stem from his son being a budding grappler. He also has a great blog and twitter feed.

When I was working with Eddie Farhat Jr. I tried to get Corino booked for a couple of shows, but never could convince Eddie to bring him in. I traded emails with Steve, but I couldn’t get Eddie to agree to his price, which wasn’t out of bounds for a recent ECW champion. Later on I found out it was because Farhat wasn’t willing to pay anyone their market value and used his cousin/father’s name to bargain shop talent. It was one of the reasons I left to go book for the MMWA in Northern Michigan. I would have loved to bring Corino in there, but I learned that ship was already oars underwater when I took over.

When I read Corino’s latest blog he covers a lot, but in one section he talks about the role of promoters when it comes to promoting their shows. The King of Old School talks about a common occurrence in indie wrestling where a wrestler shows up to a town, goes to the gas station down the block from the venue, and the people working there don’t even know wrestling is going on that night a football field away from their job. Basically a promoter failed at promoting. It’s like a father who isn’t a good father. They’re a deadbeat promoter.

Just like kids with a deadbeat dad, it is the wrestlers that suffer because then the promoter does the dance of, “The house was light, so that means your pay envelope is light too”. The wrestlers showed up, they put on a match, and yet they have to get stiffed. All because a promoter couldn’t even do the one thing they’re supposed to do: Promote. It happens because people think if you set up a ring it will be like field of dreams, and fans will just come. As if pro wrestling fans have a spider sense for boiled hot dogs, gold bond powder, and men in tights.

A lot of promoters I have met spend more time booking and re-booking a show, than getting the word out about the show. They think a facebook post, a twitter update, a website with a message board for ten fans to trade insults on, and flyers at the local comic shop is all that is needed to draw. The only thing is that the internet is not enough.

The people following you on twitter and facebook already know about your show. The same goes for your message board. If you’re actually doing flyers then you need to put it where people who don’t normally go to wrestling will see them.

So many times I have seen flyers up in a comic shop or a tattoo parlor, where the customers already have pretty low dispensable incomes. Yet the local grocery store, gas stations, and hardware store don’t have a single mention. It takes ten seconds to ask the manager if you can put one up, and the customers coming through there usually have deeper pocket books. Plus they are new customers, which is essential for any business to grow.

Out of every 10 new people who check out a business for the first time, only 1-2 will be repeat customers. That is basic business economics. The ratio might be worse for pro wrestling because it is such a niche market. So you need to keep bringing in new blood like a dialysis machine for Keith Richards. Every show your audience should be at least 80% new faces.

The one thing every promoter seems to miss the boat on is Press Releases. I don’t know why because they are really easy to do. They take very little time to do, and you can send them to every media outlet in the area. There are a lot of small town papers, radio stations, and even television stations that are looking for local flavor to fill time. I know, I used to do morning radio for a decade. It might not be at 7AM drive time, but even a 6:10 AM talk break because of a press release is better than nothing.

A great example is when I took over for the MMWA. Going into my first booked show with the promotion the ticket sales just weren’t good enough. It was going to be another bad showing. I then found out nothing had been done to reach out to the media. With the help of my friend Jim Hall, we put together a press release talking about Rick Steiner coming to Northern Michigan, and guess what the local paper wanted an interview.

Rick was great about doing it, and we hooked the reporter up with Steiner for a short interview. He wrote an article in the Sunday edition the week before the show that took up half the front page because this little town usually had nothing more than quilt shows and fishing competitions to talk about. Low and behold the house went from 20 tickets sold to nearly 150 tickets sold leading up to the event. It was because we took an hour to make a press release. I think it cost us like 2 dollars in copies to send out. If I remember the walk up ended being good for that show too.

If promoting wrestling was easy then everybody would do it. I would quit my job and do it. The thing is pro wrestling will always be a labor of love. You’ll probably lose money at it. Some don’t have the discipline to run a tight show with a budget. Others can’t figure out how to get the word out. Most won’t survive the year or more it takes to establish a fan base that allows you to just break even.

Indie wrestling in most cases will be as profitable as playing poker with your buddies on the weekend. You might make a dime or two every once and awhile, but you’re not walking out on your job to go chase the dream. You’ll have fun with your friends, new and old. You’ll get a couple of stories. Finally, you’ll look forward to the next month, which helps get you through your 9 to 5. That’s the real life of an indie promoter.

Not to say there aren’t promotions making it. There sure as hell is. Just like there are a few weekend card players who make a splash at the World Series of Poker. The thing is those promotions are working their tails off to put as many butts in the seats. They have the flyers up at the laundry mat four towns over. They have phone calls into the local media for interview requests and ticket giveaways. They are doing everything besides relying on the internet. These promoters know the internet is really just the place to keep the fans hooked once you’ve caught them. Nobody accidently Googles your indie wrestling promotion.

If you’re willing to put in this work then you’ll see results. As the crowds grow then so will the quality of the shows, because wrestlers do better when there are less empty chairs. The better shows will keep bringing people back because quality is the best way to retain customers. This is the cycle of life in pro wrestling and in business as a whole.

Yet, like Newton said, “An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.” The promoter has to be that outside force that gets the crowds in motion, the crowds will get the wrestlers in motion, and then houses will grow, which is a motion. It all begins with the promoter.

There is a lot more that goes into indie wrestling promoting than what I talked about here. This is one aspect of hundreds that go into running shows. Yet it seems to be such an important one that gets overlooked.

As the title says, the internet just isn’t enough. It’s great for interaction, but does little to put asses in the seats. Hard work, commitment, and patience will always be what determines if a show is going to be 20 butts every 18 inches or 200. It’s old school promoting, and sometimes what’s old school is right.