Top of the Mind Awareness

Wouldn't it be great if every gig you scheduled was just a short drive from your home?  Even better, wouldn't it be awesome if everyone who ever hires storytellers thought of you first when they thought of storytellers?

That is "TOP OF MIND AWARENESS".  In other words, when a customer is ready to schedule/buy - they think of you first.  You have been stamped into their memory and when they think of "storyteller" your name AND face comes up.  That is an enviable position to have.  A position that the marketing giants are careful to promote for themselves.  Think APPLE, COKE, MCDONALDS.  When I was a kid there was a Texaco commercial with a jingle that said, "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star, the big, bright Texaco star!"  Still today that is top of mind awareness.

Are you asking yourself, "But how can I do that?  I don't have a thousand person marketing department.  It is just little ol' me."

Here is how you start:  First, get a map of your area and draw a circle around where you live.  I draw three circles - 30 miles, 60 miles and 90 miles.  Lets start with the 30 mile circle and identify EVERY potential venue in that circle.  Yes, it takes some work, but it will pay off. Some potential venues might be libraries, elementary schools, day camps and  civic organizations.  Check for seasonal festivals and special events also.

As you identify the venue, determine who the decision maker might be.  If it is a library, for example, there might be several including the head librarian/director, the teen or youth librarian and the children's librarian. If you can compile additional info about a contact MAKE A NOTE!  I have known sales reps that had awesome notes about each client.  AND their clients LOVED them because they remembered and cared about who they were.  They also made good notes about when and how they contacted the client.  An example:

Jonathan Apple Memorial Library
1953 Main Street
Apple Tree, KY 40000

Director: Lizzie Borden - collects chopping tools.  Might be interested in a Father's Day program
Teen Librarian - Charles Wolfe - loves werewolf and vampire stories, ask about Halloween programs
Children's Librarian - Bonnie Buttercup - president of local garden club. loves environmental storytelling

2012 contacts: March postcard mailing, e-mails about Mother's Day programs, stopped in to see Bonnie and leave info about my "Think Green!" storytelling program.

Ask yourself, "How often have I contacted the venues closest to me?  Once, twice in the past year?  Do they even remember me or that there is a storyteller in their neighborhood?"  How much is reasonable?  How much can I afford?  This is not suggesting that you become a pest or constantly call and hassle a contact.  Much of what you do can be subtle and passive.  Vary the programs you promote with each venue.  they might not be interested in one program and will be excited about another program.

Top of the Mind Awareness helps in another way also.  As others speak with your potential venues about storytellers, your name will come up EVEN if a venue has no money to hire you themselves.

Want more local gigs?  Identify all potential venues, develop good info about each venue, develop a systematic contact/marketing plan, make contact regularly and vary the programs you offer.





 Stephen Hollen is an award winning storyteller, humorist and Mark Twain Impersonator living in Beavercreek, Ohio.  He performs and tells stories in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, Michigan and throughout the USA. 

Twain on W.P. Snyder Jr. Riverboat

A Wonderment in a Hive

There is something very spiritual for me as I work with my honey bees.  Perhaps because I have to move slow, work carefully and am alone in the midst of several hundred thousand bees.  Though It is hot in my bee suit, I a still a rookie, a "New-bee" if you will.  I often don't wear gloves, or just a pair of nitrite "surgical" gloves when I am just feeding them this time of year.  When there is little nectar - hot weather will dry nectar out in the flowers, feeding the bees will help them prepare well for winter.

As I move slowly from hive to hive, I marvel at how they have grown the hive.  Just one queen, laying up to 1,500 eggs a day takes a spring hive from 3,000 to 5,000 bees up to 50,000 or 60,000 mid summer.  Remember, each bee lives about 6 weeks after they emerge from their capped cell.  By winter the queen will slow down egg production and begin laying eggs that will become "fat" bees that can survive longer and care for her during a harsh winter.  These bees can lives months instead of weeks.  (yes, the queen can love several years)

I lift frames of comb to the sky and look closely, seeing tiny eggs, larvae and uncapped pupae as the sun glows through the drawn comb.  Here and there capped brood can be found... pupae in their last stage of development, their cell covered with wax as they contemplate for a few days before emerging.

All over I see the miracle that God made when he created these insects.  The newly emerged bees wobble a bit and are lighter in color than older bees.  House bees, all usually less than 3 weeks old care for eggs, larvae and pupae.  The foraging bees, all usually older than 3 weeks old, come and go, pollen baskets on their rear legs laden with pollen of all colors.

It is a wonderment, a miracle, a God inspired design that sings to me as I work.  I don't often smoke them, I find if I work slowly they are little bothered by my cautious care.




 Stephen Hollen is an award winning storyteller, humorist and Mark Twain Impersonator living in Beavercreek, Ohio.  He performs and tells stories in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, Michigan and throughout the USA. 

Photo Mark Twain

 

 Stephen Hollen is an award winning storyteller, humorist and Mark Twain Impersonator living in Beavercreek, Ohio.  He performs and tells stories in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, Michigan and throughout the USA. 

Lessons Learned on the Cabin Porch

Lesson One: The Purpose of a Porch

This is a lament for the loss of the front porch.  Not that they are no longer built, but that they are no longer used.  Folks build decks or patios these days.  Some might add on a front porch, or pretend with a "stoop".  Folks huddle inside to keep warm in the winter and air conditioned cool in the summer, forgetting the multiple benefits of the front porch.

The front porch, in the days of glory for all front porches, was the shaded spot to relax after supper, to sip coffee on Sunday with the Preacher (and his wife!), to watch folks go by and discuss the goin's on around the area.

It might have sounded something like this; "Well, I swan, here comes Homer Wagers in his new truck.  ain't new, 'course.  I heard Homer went to the bank an' got a loan for that truck.  Law-zee, can you imagine?  Gettin' into debt an' owin' the bank for somethin' such as a truck.  Next thing you know they will come an' take his truck an' his house an' where will Emmerline an' his none youngin's go?  Probably end up in Ohio or even worse, Michigan workin' in them factories, don't ya know."

(As the truck pulls up and stops) Well, howdy Homer, Emmerline.  We didn't know that was you drivin' along in that fine fancy truck!  It cain't be more than two years old!  What? four years old?  I swan, it don't look it.  Been taken good care of, it has.

Y'all hear 'bout Charlie Clark?  He 'bout got et up by a groundhog he pulled out of its hole.  He needs to quit that silliness.  Gropin' for groundhogs.  That is plumb nonsense.  Gropin' for catfish is one thing, groundhogs is another.

Y'all come on up and sit a spell.  No?  Well, drive that new truck back when you can visit longer"

(As the truck with Homer and Emmerline drives off) "Did you think they was actin' uppity?  Give a hillbilly a new truck an' he thinks he is the king of the hills.  Hmmph.  I knew him when he was a stealin' chickens to feed his family."





 Stephen Hollen is an award winning storyteller, humorist and Mark Twain Impersonator living in Beavercreek, Ohio.  He performs and tells stories in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, Michigan and throughout the USA.