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Red Shadow Inner circle 1788 Posts |
Marketing an Educational Show
Many of us have an educational Show. Whether that be Reading based, recycling, healthy eating, astronomy or science. But selling them is a different ballgame which needs to be explored. I understand that in this highly competitive market, many of us will be reluctant on what information to share, and I understand that. Especially for those who live with lots of competition in the area, and all of which visit this site often! But if I can throw out some questions and see what responses you get, maybe we can help some of the others. 1. How many mail-shots do you do to the schools each year? 2. When do you mail-shot? 3. How many schools do you target? and is that number based on distance? 4. How much luck have you had with e-mail marketing? 5. Which is better, a letter, a flyer, a full brochure, a Promo DVD? - and Where do you draw the line on the cost of marketing against the amount of shows coming in? And several questions I'm also interested in are: 6. How long is your educational show? 7. How early do you arrive for each show (aka what is your set-up time) and how long does it take you to pack away? 8. Do you have a maximum number of children or charge higher for large audiences? I'll add my own answers in the next post. Quote:
1. How many mail-shots do you do to the schools each year? I use to do two a year, but have recently got lazy and only do one. When I want to start doing them again; I will try three times a year. Start of term (Sepetmber) to catch the Christmas rush, after Christmas to catch the Easter rush and After April to catch the end-of-school term rush. Quote:
2. When do you mail-shot? With my laziness, I only mail shot in September. But see above for when I would change my strategy to get more work should I want it. Quote:
3. How many schools do you target? and is that number based on distance? My current list has 400 schools on it. It use to have 650 schools, but several of them closed and a few years back I fine-tuned it to remove schools I didn't want to waste a stamp marketing to. Not trying to be cruel, but I decided not to waste my time marketing to some of the disability schools as I did not enjoy working them (too many conflicts with trying to perform a show while apparently baby-sitting as all the aids had run away) and those with a very bad reputation (e.g. not paying). I also eliminated schools that were difficult to get to, such as on top of hills and away from the motorways. That list of schools is made from a radius of about 25 miles of my home. There are many more I could target if I was willing to travel, but a few years ago I decided it wasn't necessary to kill myself travelling all over the country and decided to cut myself off at a 30 mile radius. Quote:
4. How much luck have you had with e-mail marketing? I get about 4 bookings a year through the e-mail list I send out, usually in September with the letters. Not a lot, but its 4 bookings that didn't cost me anything but a little time. Quote:
5. Which is better, a letter, a flyer, a full brochure, a Promo DVD? - and Where do you draw the line on the cost of marketing against the amount of shows coming in? I don't know which is better, but currently I'm sending a letter as it keeps postage costs down. Quote:
6. How long is your educational show? 65 minutes. I tried to do a shorter one, but it didn't fit my style. I would do longer if I was allowed but usually that is the maximum time the teachers can allow me. Quote:
7. How early do you arrive for each show (aka what is your set-up time) and how long does it take you to pack away? It takes me 15 minutes to set-up. I usually arrive 20 minutes early to allow for car-parking etc. It takes 15 minutes to pack away at the end also. This is 5 minutes longer than my birthday party show. Quote:
8. Do you have a maximum number of children or charge higher for large audiences? I have a flat cost for all schools, regardless of the number of children in attendance. |
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