Question for the day: How many possible venues are within 30 minutes of your home? How many within in 60 minutes? 90 Minutes?
The next question is a telling one! How many of the possible venues within 30 minutes of your home even know you exist?
These are low hanging fruit for the storyteller/performer, yet many folks don't take the time to identify them, much less contact them.
Here is a great business/market planning exercise:
Step One: Get a map of your community. Print one from an online resource, go the the local chamber of commerce and get one. buy one that you find at the local drug store, convenience store or book store. Identify the areas that are within a 30 minute drive of your home.
Step Two: Begin to identify the venues in that area. Do schools in your area still have opportunity and funding for programs? How many libraries, day camps, boys and girls clubs, scout groups can you identify?
Step Three: This is such an important one. It is one you can save for later, but one that can have impact if you do it early in your process. Identify the decision makers at each venue. Do some online research and check out websites. For example, does the local library website list the children's librarian? Do you do programs for adults too? If so, what about that librarian also?
No website for a venue? That is OK too. Make a call, be pleasant and ask the receptionist or person answering the call to identify the person who schedules programs for their organization.
Step Four: Build your lists and save them in some orderly way. Most sales organizations use CRM - Customer Relationship Management programs to track contacts with customers and prospects. There are free and easy to use programs out there. You identify prospects and past clients, put them in the database and then actually track how and when you make contacts! It actually takes the "happenstance" out of your marketing and business planning.
Not ready for that? Consider using a spreadsheet, Outlook or even just mailing labels on your Word application. If you want to be low tech you can write each venue name, address, phone number AND contact person on a 3x5 card. Just do something.
Step Five: Make contact. Now, you know I am the Postcard Potentate, so I have to suggest a postcard as a great first contact. It is cheap to mail (32 cents per postcard), cheap to print (Vistaprint always has half price deals - $12.50 or so for 100, or $99 for 1,000) and for not much money you can have an attractive, professional marketing piece in the hands of prospective customers.
My advice is to have a specific program you are promoting. This will allow you to send other mail about other programs. It ALSO reinforces their awareness of you and your programs. Repetition is the way to keep your name top of mind for these decision makers. The more times you make contact the more likely they are to think of you as they plan programs.
What did you say? You would rather do an e-mail contact? Great, even cheaper for a first contact. I suggest a little more homework before you can send that e-mail. Do not send a bulk e-mail blast. Take the time to send to each IDENTIFIED decision maker. Spend some time online at websites or on the phone and get this info ahead of time.
Step Six: (You can stop at Step Five and still get more gigs than you get now. However, if you want to really kick your marketing into high gear...) Make a phone call follow up! Call the decision maker, introduce yourself and mention something that is time sensitive. Offer a deal if they schedule early, suggest a program that is tied to a calendar period - scary stories during October, for example. Make the quick pitch and shut up. Give the person a chance to think and respond. No matter what the answer, be polite, thank them for their time. Most of all - DO NOT HASSLE them constantly. Do not be the aggravating telemarketer.
Last of all, Keep records of your contacts. I cannot emphasize this enough. Keep records and do some analysis of what works. this will make your marketing more efficient, more structured and more effective.
The next question is a telling one! How many of the possible venues within 30 minutes of your home even know you exist?These are low hanging fruit for the storyteller/performer, yet many folks don't take the time to identify them, much less contact them.
Here is a great business/market planning exercise:
Step One: Get a map of your community. Print one from an online resource, go the the local chamber of commerce and get one. buy one that you find at the local drug store, convenience store or book store. Identify the areas that are within a 30 minute drive of your home.
Step Two: Begin to identify the venues in that area. Do schools in your area still have opportunity and funding for programs? How many libraries, day camps, boys and girls clubs, scout groups can you identify?
Step Three: This is such an important one. It is one you can save for later, but one that can have impact if you do it early in your process. Identify the decision makers at each venue. Do some online research and check out websites. For example, does the local library website list the children's librarian? Do you do programs for adults too? If so, what about that librarian also?
No website for a venue? That is OK too. Make a call, be pleasant and ask the receptionist or person answering the call to identify the person who schedules programs for their organization.
Step Four: Build your lists and save them in some orderly way. Most sales organizations use CRM - Customer Relationship Management programs to track contacts with customers and prospects. There are free and easy to use programs out there. You identify prospects and past clients, put them in the database and then actually track how and when you make contacts! It actually takes the "happenstance" out of your marketing and business planning.
Not ready for that? Consider using a spreadsheet, Outlook or even just mailing labels on your Word application. If you want to be low tech you can write each venue name, address, phone number AND contact person on a 3x5 card. Just do something.
Step Five: Make contact. Now, you know I am the Postcard Potentate, so I have to suggest a postcard as a great first contact. It is cheap to mail (32 cents per postcard), cheap to print (Vistaprint always has half price deals - $12.50 or so for 100, or $99 for 1,000) and for not much money you can have an attractive, professional marketing piece in the hands of prospective customers.
My advice is to have a specific program you are promoting. This will allow you to send other mail about other programs. It ALSO reinforces their awareness of you and your programs. Repetition is the way to keep your name top of mind for these decision makers. The more times you make contact the more likely they are to think of you as they plan programs.
What did you say? You would rather do an e-mail contact? Great, even cheaper for a first contact. I suggest a little more homework before you can send that e-mail. Do not send a bulk e-mail blast. Take the time to send to each IDENTIFIED decision maker. Spend some time online at websites or on the phone and get this info ahead of time.
Step Six: (You can stop at Step Five and still get more gigs than you get now. However, if you want to really kick your marketing into high gear...) Make a phone call follow up! Call the decision maker, introduce yourself and mention something that is time sensitive. Offer a deal if they schedule early, suggest a program that is tied to a calendar period - scary stories during October, for example. Make the quick pitch and shut up. Give the person a chance to think and respond. No matter what the answer, be polite, thank them for their time. Most of all - DO NOT HASSLE them constantly. Do not be the aggravating telemarketer.
Last of all, Keep records of your contacts. I cannot emphasize this enough. Keep records and do some analysis of what works. this will make your marketing more efficient, more structured and more effective.
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