How far in Advance do you Market?

How far in advance do you market?

Do you know how far in advance the venues you work with schedule programs?  Do you keep a record of when they contact you to schedule a program?  

These are valuable bits of information that can help you get more gigs and not miss out on great opportunities.

Here are some example of what I mean:

Senior Centers I have worked with seldom schedule 6 months ahead of time.  They tend to look at their calendar quarterly, so I expect their requests to be within 1-2 months of their contact.

Summer Reading Program for many libraries will be scheduled by October of this year for next year's June and July programs.  Many libraries plan their budget by October so they can submit it to a government body for approval. If you wait till next year to make contacts you may be way too late!!

Festivals often plan a year in advance!  Many times I have been asked on the last day of a festival if I will commit to performing next year.  I like those invitations!  Keeps the calendar looking good.

With that in mind, do you plan your marketing accordingly?

I am sending out festival information right now for next year.  Schools were sent an initial contact this week and last week because school is back in session.

When I do a 90 Day Mad Marketing Workshop I give everyone a calendar and we brainstorm what events/holidays might take place in a particular quarter.  We make a list of all the possible events or holidays first and then begin to list possible venues and audiences for programs specifically designed for those events or holidays.

Valentines Day is a good example.  Possible audiences would include women's groups, churches, youth groups, senior centers, libraries, coffee shops, couples retreats, Red Hat Societies and even men's groups.

I designate the first 2 weeks of February as possible dates for Valentines Day programs. I don't really market for this program prior to January 1st.  There are too many other things on folk's calendars that will be on their minds.  

However, a contact the first week or two of January can get several great gigs if you make the contacts.  These might be programs that you will schedule during a time that is often slow for storytellers.

What are your action steps?  First take a look at your 2014 calendar and think about the programs you offer and also concentrate on the seasons/events/holidays that would be a good fit.  Maybe determine to develop programs to coordinate with those times/events.

Think about when you should begin to contact venues to market the programs you select.  Plan your marketing calendar.

Now, spend a few minutes brainstorming about the audiences for those programs and that event.  Write them down, spend some time brainstorming...

Last of all, do your homework.  Develop your databases of venues.  Get addresses, contact information, if you can.  Who is the president/head honcho/scheduler for events at that venue?

If you don't know a name or can't find one, use a title; "Children's Librarian", "Activity Director" or maybe "Program Chairperson".  Build your database and plan your contact dates.  

Then make the contacts and follow up.

Dressing for Success?

Recently there was an online discussion on a list of storytellers about costumes, appropriate dress and "storyteller traditional garb".  It was interesting to say the least.  It also was informative.

It touched on the edges of marketing and developing a "brand", but it missed some important points (in my opinion).  Performers need to remember that the folks that hire them don't want negative feedback about an event.  They don't want paying customers to walk away and talk about how someone looked.  They want paying customers to be entertained.  They want a great event. 

AND YOU WANT TO BE REHIRED!!

Since this is my soapbox, I want to make mention of a few of these.

First of all to the most important point!  Storytellers and other performers do themselves NO favors by wearing wrinkled, dirty or inappropriate clothing.  Wearing jeans to perform is fine.  Just be sure to wear clean ones.  Treat them like a stage costume and set them aside from everyday wear.  Don't do your painting or garden work in them.  Tee shirts should be treated the same way if you wear them on stage.  Wrinkled or "thrice worn" and pulled out of the pile may be overlooked by college kids, but may turn off the folks who PAY you.  Remember them?  They actually have a dog in this fight (more about them later).

Ill fitting clothing is one of the horrors I see on stage for all types of performers.  I was at an event lately and a band had a musician who thought he still wore the same pant size as he did in college.  Unfortunately his waistband was significantly lower than his belly (which was pretty large and hung over his belt like an avalanche waiting to break loose).  His shirt buttons were stretched tight and his shirt tail too short to cover his hang over.  the gentleman wore no tee shirt under his shirt and eventually his hairy belly became a star attraction on stage.

Then there is the dear woman who sat on stage and kept leaning over as if to whisper secrets to her audience.  It was a great performance... but her blouse was a bit too low cut and her "have mercies" became the focus of many who wondered if they would overcome their imprisonment and escape.  Low cut is one thing, just remember this is not a night club.

Two of my most popular programs are of characters, Mark Twain and Buffalo Bill Cody.  I researched and put together costumes that fit the appearance pretty well.  Most tellers do not wear costumes, but have some type of clothing they prefer.  Most wear comfortable clothing or perhaps a piece or two that is part of their brand. (Bil Lepp in jeans, tee shirt and ball cap, or Donald Davis in bow tie and nattily dressed for example)

 As a storyteller I began my "career" telling Appalachian stories and wearing a fedora style hat.  I still do that as part of my brand.  I have lots of hats, lots and lots because I like hats.  These days when I am just me I wear a hat most of the time (not always), nice slacks, usually a white long sleeve shirt and some type of vest.

I like vests.  I wear them off stage too.  I have quite a few vests, actually and wear some type of vest most days in winter.  I don't wear sweaters much, not my preference.  So, why wear them onstage?  First of all, as I tell audiences, they are like "guy girdles".  They help a middle aged (or older) guy keep the love handles contained.  Hopefully they do make us look slimmer.  Lots of storytellers wear vests and hats.  It has almost become "traditional storyteller garb"

Several tellers noted that women storytellers often dress better than men dress for telling.  I would agree and suspect many men don't even give it a second thought.  I wonder if their careers would be better of they did?  I wonder if those who hire them care.

A couple tellers also mentioned that THE STORY is most important.  Yep, I agree.  However, distraction can take away from the story, can hurt the performance and might even be something that causes one not to be rehired in the future.

So, the take away?  Dress comfortably, do what you want, wear a kilt if appropriate to your stories for goodness sakes.  DO dress for success.  Do make sure your clothing fits well, is clean and not pulled from a pile of twice or thrice worn clothing in the corner of some dormitory room. 

As you market yourself try to remember that you are selling a product.  Companies spend millions of dollars getting just the right colors, fonts, package shape and even smell of a product.  Believe it or not shelf position has an impact on sales.

If all that is true... then do you really think what you wear for a performance DOES NOT MATTER?

Just sayin'.