Greetings All,

I'm curious what all of you used when you first got into performing as a semi-pro to market your show? I'm talking low-budget real world ideas that have worked (without a reply that goes like......read dd's widgets for dummies)....I'm looking to implement something NOW to book family/camp/campground shows for this summer....any real world advice would be greatly appreciated!

Magically Yours

Adam Christopher

First, call your past customers and let them know you are still alive, and see if they'd like to hire you again.

Then, figure out who you want to target as new customers, and research their contact information in a phone book, at your local library, or online. Write a phone script that sells your show, and get on the phone. Find out who is in charge of "..."

At the end of your phone sales conversation, direct them to your website, if you have one. If necessary, follow-up with a fax or a letter. But try to rely on the phone conversation more.

Can't get more "bare budget" than that approach.

- Donald

P.S. You'll have to have a lot of perseverance / a thick skin. You're going to be rejected a lot. (This is why people would rather mail than call someone.) But every "no" brings you closer to a "yes".

Adam:

The tone of your post concerns me along with a few things you posted.

First and foremost if you wanted to so something for the summer you should start in Jan or Feb as most already have entertainment booked for the next three months. Second, if you don't want to read or learn about stuff do you expect people to just do the work for you and not have to invest any time in the process of growing your business?

I'm not trying to slam you, just thought the tone of the post was strange.

As far as I am concerned I hate cold calling. It's cheap, it's effective, it works, it's just not for me right now.

I'd get a list of places you want to work, send them a postcard with the only goal of the postcard to get them to call and when they call you sell them a show and your benefits.

Cost a couple of hundred bucks but if it works, it works.

Course you could always spring for a unlimited long distance phone plan and start calling people until your mind and fingers are numb.

Best of luck in the process

Tim

Adam:

I am a Christian Illusionist in the Tampa Bay region. I have had a lot of success with cold calling. And they are right when they say you have to book 2 - 3 months in advance for camps.

I have been working with a lot of the YMCA's in the Tampa Bay area now for 2 years. This is my second year and they always plan 3 - 4 months in advance; so I had to start calling in late Januray and early February.

Also I send out mailers/emails to churches that want information, this seems to help to because I have had people get my flyers and then call the next year when I unexpected it. That is a good feeling for me.

There is a local magician friend in St. Petersburg that always told me "You have to pound the pavement for a while then the shows will start coming".

Hang in there you will get results. Remember reprutition breeds success.

Brian Horn
Clearwater Beach, FL

The phone, plain and simple. Call. Then call some more. And when you get really sick of calling, call some more.

"Do not call" laws do not apply to business-to-business marketing, so go to it. Go to the library and get lists. Go to the chamber of commerce or visitor's bureau and see who is booked into conventions. Go to local hotels and talk to the bellmen in order to find out who's got upcoming events booked at thier facilities. Go to the parks department and take a look at the picnic area reservations.

Armed with that information, your cold calls are at least targeted. You will KNOW they are having events and can address your entertainment to them.

And, despite an earlier post, many people wait until the last minutes. I'll get calls a week before and event -- so JUST DO IT!

Instead of cold calls, why not do things which promote yourself as a magician locally. Mark Wilson gave me the idea of doing magic for people you run across every day as a way of promoting yourself as a magician. I followd his advise and found myself with more show requests than I could handle, and I wasn't really looking for shows. Just carry some close up tricks with you, simple ones, color changing knife, a coin trick, sponge balls, etc. Do it for the person at the dry cleaners when you pick up ur dry cleaning, for a waitress or waiter who waits on you, for people waiting with you in the check out line, when it is slow the teller at the bank, etc. Don't tie up lines doing magic, but bring a little magic into folks lives. Everytime I walk into a resturant I've been in before or when I go to the dry cleaners they are anxious to see what I'm going to do for them today, and when some customer mentions looking for entertainment, these people bring up me. It is very cheap marketing, and works very well in your local market.

Awesome info guys! Thank you so much! As to Hypno's comments, I'm not looking to fill my calendar totally (although it would be nice....lol) from these efforts, but to generate some gigs which I can use as a springboard into more..,i,e, use them to film/photo and also get some good reccomendations! Luckily I've done a fair share of coldcalling in the past so that'll probably be where I start! Any other suggestions would also be great too! Wish me Luck!

Magically Yours,

Adam Christopher

Adam,

I live in upstate New York, and for several summers I have entertained at resorts in the Catskills and Adirondack mountains. On Sunday evenings I would entertain at one resort, Monday evenings, at another, and on Tuesday evenings, a third.

I'm not sure where you live, but if you have any resorts within a one hour drive of your home, it might be worth the time to visit them personally. One year I tried mailing brochures to approximately 30 resorts in the upper Catskills, and following up the mailing by telephone. I got nowhere.

The following year, I got a Chamber of Commerce list and a map, and spent an afternoon visiting about ten resorts in person. I was able to book one show each week at three resorts for 8 weeks during the summer. Not bad for an afternoon drive through the mountains.

When you visit the resort, bring a brochure, flyer or packet with references, and one or two tricks to do. Ask to see the owner or manager, (most often the same person). Explain that you present a clean family show, and demonstrate a trick if appropriate. Have one price for a one-nighter, and a lower price if they book several shows over the summer on a regular night.

While it is a bit late to book any larger venues, the smaller, family campgrounds and resorts may still have opportunities available. Furthermore, they will have your information on hand should someone cancel on them and they need a replacement on short notice.

Jim

Adam - Australia does not really have the big camps that are talking about so any advice I have is just theoretically. However - cheap things you can do are

1) Have a really good website THAT RANKS WELL ON GOOGLE. Sorry for shouting but that bit is important.

2) Ring up people you want to work for. Don't sell. Just chat about the camp and what they might need.

3) Do a press release (if the camps/resorts are in the same newspaper area).

4) Show up to restaurants/cafes etc. near where you want to work. Do some SHORT tricks for the staff and any customers. Impress them then leave them. Call back later and offer your services.

I have a 30 second pitch to give people. This is sometimes called the "elevator pitch." It is a quick one line statement about yourself that you say when meeting people.

One of mine is: Hi, I'm Peter, a magician. If your company does trade or consumer shows and you like to watch the people walk bye, you don't need me. But if you want more qualified leads from your booth, call me."

I have told them just enough to grab their interest and not be boring or pushy about it.

Adam,

While campgrounds sounds like a good market for you, I would suggest exploring other markets with a similar demographic.

School & Libraries: Every town has at least one, and they hire entertainers, consistantly.

Scout troops: Monthly meetings, large groups of families wondering what to do for little Suzies next b-day party.

Rotary/Lions/K of C/ etc.: Civic groups are filled with families, there are a million of them, and contact lists are easy to get.

Churches: If you have a message based show, these are a gold mine! (give back 10%)

Chamber of Commerce: They know who is running every local festival. They can get you contact onfo.

There are more, but if you stuck with just these, you'd be booked solid in no time.

Excellent advice guys, thanks for the insight!
Adam

Don't forget to use referral marketing - it works. Clients that are happy with your work would be glad to refer you to their friends. This chain of referral events can be endless and rewarding.

It's been a while since I've worked in a paid situation, as a I took many years off and am slowly retruining, but one of my favorite effective techniques was balloon art and business cards.

When ever I'd go out to eat, I'd take a pocketfull of balloons and a few business cards. At the end of the meal, I'd make a balloon sculpture for the server and would leave my card and their tip with it.

I didn't get many calls from servers, but I did get a lot of folks see what I had just done and would ask about my services and or coudl I make one for their kid. That was another opportunity to hand out a card and ear potential clients. This is cheap and effective, but it won't book you solid for months on end. It will give yoy a few extra gigs a month at a minimal cost to you.

Let me tell you about bare budget marketing. I started anew in February (divorce and other factors led me to financial problems).

This is what I did and now I am working 7 days a week with multiple gigs on Friday Saturday and Sunday.

Call other people in the business in your area. Let them know you are available to do gigs. Everybody gets those annoying last minute calls for bookings that they can't take because we book 6 months ahead of time. So they'll be happy to send some work your way. This is called networking (at least the start of). I had 3-4 booking within 2 days through this method.

Go promote yourself to businesses and places that might use entertainment (everything from restaurants, banquet halls, community centres, daycares to festivals). Expect a lot of no's. That's part of the business, but you will eventually get a yes (even people who are horrible eventually find a yes somewhere). You will need some business cards though. Many affordable printers available on-line that will cost you only a few bucks for 250 cards. (vistaprint.com)

Continually do research finding events you can perform at. The internet is a wonderful resource to search for things. Also visit your local tourism board as they will have a tonne of info available for you. Bring in a round of coffee and they may even let you into the back to view their actually full files with every contact that's not listed on any promotional materials!

Get yourself invovled with an event as a volunteer. You'll make some good connections.

Libraries are always looking for shows that help promote reading.

Let everyone you bump into know you are available for hire.

This is what I did and now, like I said, I am performing 7 days a week in only a few months. Some gigs were not the best at first, but I now can chose what I want. I have also hired extra people to work for me doing those gigs I don't want so I still make money off of that.

Still the key is to continue to do this. Don't stop looking for better work and asking for more.

I just signed a contract the will actually allow my one regular gig that was spread out over 4 days (24 hours total) to be reduced to two days (12 hours)for the same amount of money.

Now you're talking Mr. Bill!

The reason most people aren't working is because they are not looking for work! It won't come to you. You have to go get it.