|
|
Raum Loyal user 227 Posts |
Hi! I am a amateur mindreader from Belarus, who perform occasionally on paid gigs.
I asked a semi-pro magician in my town - what he do to get the gigs. His answered that he just sit and wait when phone rings. In my country cold calls or cold mails are not so ordinary thing in entertainment business. Magician says that this kind of marketing looks cheap. Most performers getting gigs through some sort of public exposure. So: 1) It is good to start a cold calling/mailing marketing in this situation? 2) What type? Cold call or mail? 3) I will be appreciated if you give some useful advice on this. I think to target corporate, weddings and private gigs. All three because economic and political crysis hit my country and wipe out half of usual market. I learned about cold calling and whole structure of marketing from book "The Marketing MInded Mentalist" by David Thiel |
Mindpro Eternal Order 10586 Posts |
Unfortunately the "sit and wait for the phone to ring" is a business model shared by many newer or beginning performers (ad even some longtime ones that have never progressed). It is often flawed because for people to call you (get your phone to ring) they have to know you first. This is done though performing, marketing and other techniques that create such interest. So unless you are doing something to get the phone to ring, you may be sitting and waiting for a long time. This is the default how many performers begin until they realize it requires much more. Success as a performer is created in the business behind your performing. This business just doesn't happen it has to be created and then executed to get the results you desire.
Many performers like to blame others - "no one is calling" or "the phone just isn't ringing". It won't either until you take control and do things to make that happen. Cold-calling has many pros and cons. Pros - it's free with no real cost to you, you have a practically endless supply of potential contacts and usually if you do it long enough and are both consistent and persistent you will likely eventually land a booking or two. Cons - you are contacting people who know nothing about you, have no interest in your services and are likely interrupting them as they are doing something, it is a huge numbers game sometimes having to make hundreds or even thousands of calls to get a single booking, and you will come off as a sales huckster to many. You have to be good and have developed phone sales skills. Cold-calling can be very time consuming and often for little or no results, especially if just winging it. If you have a specific angle or presentation to hook them, you may have an advantage. Now if you have contacts for specific markets or are calling people who are already familiar with you, know you or have seem you perform, your chances greatly improve, but it is still a lot of work. I do believe the phone is always good for making contacts, building a prospect list and of course, with enough consistent effort, will yield some bookings. I think it's great that you have identified the markets you desire to work. This alone will let you focus your efforts in a more direct approach. The more defined and targeted a marketing approach, the more results you are likely to receive - IF you are doing so with the right message, materials and presentation. You must remember each market you mentioned has its own methods, techniques and preferences of how they do business and are reached. Avenues and resources are available for each market which you must learn and master to get the best results. For example weddings have bridal fairs/shows and their own bride-targeted publications. A list of these brides can be a goldmine of opportunities IF you know how to use it properly. The corporate market also has it's own resources for direct reach. As a business person it is up to you to learn about these and then create a strategy to implement them into your entertainment business operations. Also remember, marketing is only one part of business operations. All the marketing in the world will not help you get bookings if your sales presentation and other foundational elements are not in place. All the time, effort and money in the world spent to get "the phone to ring" will not matter if you can't properly present, position and sell your services to the needs of your calling prospects. Performer's tend to want to over simplify things when it comes to business operations, marketing and getting bookings. If it were that simple every performer would be thriving and gigs would be plentiful for everyone. That's not the reality of it, regardless of where you are located. I recently appeared in Las Vegas at an industry event presenting on the topic of entertainment business. My program guide/notes from the event might be very helpful to you at this time where you are currently at in your process. Here's a quick overview of the 48 pages" "Creating A Successful Entertainment Business - The Truths, Misconceptions & Reality of Entertainment Business". - The Opportunity of Live Entertainment - Performing For Profit - Turning Your Performing Into A Business - Having A Marketable Performance - Why Many Entertainers Fail - A Performer's Default Approach To Business - Operating An Entertainment Business And How It Differs From Conventional Business - Operating As A Professional - The Important And Foundational Questions That Must Be Answered - Performance Markets Besides cold-calling, I identify 20 different types of marketing for performs to give you some more ideas and opportunities) - Creating A Business Operational System - Understanding & Operating From The Client's Perspective - Having The Right Forms, Documents, Contracts, Promotional Materials & Tools To Protect Yourself And Operate Professionally - How To Determine Your Pricing And Positioning/Separating Yourself From Others - Going To Market & Getting Bookings - Sales - Working With Agencies Vs. Being Self-Represented - 2 Types Of Bookings - The Secret Weapon Every Performers & Entertainment Business Should Have It's $40 plus shipping, if interested PM me. I also have my Getting Started In Entertainment Business program too that may be helpful to you as well. I'll be happy to discuss by PM if you'd like. The main thing is to find the best prospects to likely to have an interest and potentially book you and then create a message and approach of how best to reach these people and present you message. Be prepared to address and answer their questions and present your services. Create your value in the eyes of your prospects. As far as phone vs. mailing post cards or any other means, there is no general "one is better than the other". It depends on the many variables pertaining to each of your targets. Test. Try some of both and see which gets greater results. Remember though, for example if you mail 500 postcards out and get no responses, don't immediately say "well I tried direct mailing and it doesn't work". While it is an easy thing to say and an easy to us excuse, you can't truly say that. There are many things that could be preventing any results, not the method of direct mailing. How direct was your contact list? How effective was the design and content in your post card's message? How effective was your headline? Photos? Was there a clear call to action? Contact information? Did you make an offer? Was the offer good enough? Was your content "you-based" or "them-based"? There are dozens of things that it could be, so make the effort to try to understand the reality and truths of it, rather than just see it at surface level. Same for cold-calling. You make 1000 calls and get no interest. Is it you? Your script or what you are saying? Are you presenting yourself properly? Are you talking to the right person? Again, so many things it could be. This is why I always say your best time and money spent is in learning the business side of being an entertainer. Otherwise you efforts and money spent can be an on-going maze of a lot of work for no results. Best of luck to you. There is much good information on this forum and in past pages and searches. |
WDavis Inner circle 1276 Posts |
Raum,
Adding to mindpros post consider filling in the blanks to the following statement first. Then we would better be able to answer your questions. " I am Raum. I help ___________ in Belarus with__________ by performing demonstrations of mind reading, _________, and _________. " The first blank is who your customer is The second is what you help them with And the final blanks are how you help them. Once you fill in these blanks, you will have a value proposition to evaluate what is the best methodology to reach your customers. For example, your magician friend said cold calling is bad, that depends on your market. Calling people at home soliciting magic shows probably isn't the best thing to do... but just consider how your value proposition will be reflected by your sales marketing attempts. Do your actions support your proposition or do they weaken it. Also with marketing read my thread on FLP and marketing. It will give you a starting point to answer these questions. |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Tricky business » » Questions about marketing (3 Likes) |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.04 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |