Must be true, you can’t keep a good man down.

Welcome back, Roger.

Tom

I loved the ring routine, and, as was mentioned earlier, I don't really care what another magician thinks of my act; if the audience tells me my show is awesome, then my show is awesome. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the videos I have seen of you in the past few weeks. And now, it's way too late for me to say anything useful about marketing...so, good night.

Roger,

Welcome back.

I, for one, LOVED the Linking Rings as Roger presented them, and appreciated the clip all the more because it was something I would never have thought of doing myself in a kids show.

Welcome back, Roger. Things weren't the same here without you.

Welcome back, Roger...

Folks, you know, it is funny how some people seem to jump all over certain aspects of a performers style or routining and don't bother to asks questions....

When I viewed Rogers Rings routine, I PMed him, asked a question, and made a suggestion about his musical selection. Upon receiving his response, it helped bring the picture into greater clarity, and he made some conscious decisions as to why he does what he does...

Do I agree with what he is doing? I'm still not sure... But do I have to blast him? That is not my right...

The other thing that makes me wonder is, "How many of the seriously vocal detractors are actually making a living performing?" Some things sure look good on paper, but take them to the real world of Kid shows, restaurants, and street shows, and they sure play different. How many people have had to deal with paid audiences at a stage show, jumping up and grabbing your props? How many times at a stage show have you seen the performer getting "verbally assaulted" like out on the street? How many times has a stage performer had to gauge his routine between drink orders, and integrate it with the staff and kitchen in a busy restaurant?

I, for one, am glad to have the resources of sharing individuals to bounce things off of...

T'har, mateys.

Knowing your audience is important to me.

A mixture of the classics that matches one's performing persona (and your audience) can be a good choice. Mixing levels of energy during a kid show makes sense. Being able to hold a young audience with a slow piece is not an easy thing. When I did the Rings, it was with the "clothes hanger version". They seemed to fit my persona better.

Things that work for one performer may not be chosen by this nearly normal performer. I am glad that we can share what we like and don't like, as long as it is done in a professional manner.

Use of "Heroes" seems like a good choice today. We have always needed heroes. Myself, I still read graphic novels (comic books). In fact, I used to collect them. Now, I collect memories and smiles.

I must admit, I have used "hack music". For the right group...Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You" works great. I don't know if I would use it with a younger crowd.
When my wife first suggested it, I said, "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah." I first used it with staff and students (university) at Welcome Back parties for The International Student Affairs at the University of Missouri. It has done well at mental health residential programs for older kids and their staff.

When I do private parties for kids (or adults), I ask them what type of music they listen to, and if possible, incorporate it. A few months ago at a b/d party (40 year old big kid), the birthday girl liked ABBA. Nigel and I have a lot of karaoke and can sing bits or all of a song to i.e. Xmas, Chanukah, old TV themes, parodies.

Being able to customize helps this nearly normal marketer.


Be safe, well and creative....

Harris

Roger,

Welcome back! It really did feel like a lifetime since you were gone. Someone once said that the best revenge is living well. So, I hope you come back with a vengeance.

I also enjoyed watching your ring routine, and I fully appreciate the need for an interlude in a children's show. Although children love to laugh and yell, they can only maintain that level of energy for so long until it becomes totally unfocused. If you let it go for that long, you risk losing control over your audience.

Many effects are available to provide such an interlude, and, even unknowingly, many of us incorporate such a pause into our shows already. I purposely inject a storytelling effect (using the Chinese Sticks) into my show at just over the half-way mark. This lets the kids have an opportunity to catch their breath and settle down a little bit to enjoy the rest of the sow. Then, I gradually work them up again into another controlled frenzy as I hit the finale.

I don't think there's anything wrong with interlude effects when they are strategically placed within a show, but the performer needs to be sure he stays in character for that effect. For instance, I've seen several performers go from being a master of chaos to a sudden Max Maven; the change in character was so abrupt, it completely destroyed the tone and atmosphere of the show.

Just my two bits.

Kent

Kent, great point.

I call it using a "dimmer switch". Make them scream, laugh, think, and if you dare, even feel sad. Although I feel my "control" is good, it, like magic, is an illusion.
One never knows what will happen at a kid, or any, magic program.

Learning to deal with it in character is "priceless" and more important than any of my props.

2 liberty half dollars worth from...

Harris

OK, here’s my approach to marketing my magic. Much of it stems from my formal undergraduate training and, more importantly, about 30 years of experience in the field. Having said that, however, I realize these concepts may not fit everyone.

Marketing consists of 4 essential components: Product, Price, Placement and Promotion. Each of these elements share a equal degree of importance when developing any marketing plan or strategy. When I developed my marketing plan, I annalyzed each of these elements to develop a unified whole.

Product: What is it that you are selling? You should be able to identify your “product” in a single, short phrase, and that phrase should clearly identify the consumer needs you are attempting to satisfy. So saying, “I’m selling magic services,” doesn’t really cut it. If you try to sell that product, you have done nothing to identify any benefits it may bring to the consumer. In other words, you haven’t given him any reason to buy your product.

This is a difficult exercise, but an extremely important one. There are so many products and services on the market that it becomes almost impossible for yet another one to be seen above the crowd. To do so, the product must make a difference. It must add something unique to the lives of potential consumers that no other product can satisfy.

To create a successful product, you must understand your customer’s wants and needs. Then, you must design your product to meet those wants and needs. I’ve seen many magicians who develop a magic show, and then go out and try to find customers who are willing to buy it. That’s not marketing. It’s simply pushing product on customers and blindly hoping they will like what you have to offer. We’re not in the business of pushing a product. We are in the business of satisfying needs.

So, as a kid show magician, what is the need I am fulfilling? I provide family friendly magic and mayhem that is designed to entertain and empower children of all ages. The needs identified here are clear:

“family friendly”
“entertain and empower”
“children of all ages”.

These product characteristics tell a potential client much more about what I am offering than simply “I’m a magician”. Now, the needs of consumers may differ from market to market. Maybe your competitive market has no other magicians in it. Maybe the magicians are unprofessional amateurs? If you can identify the shortcomings of your competition, you can turn those shortcomings into the needs you can satisfy.

But, don’t stop there. The “other products” on the market are not simply other magicians. When hiring entertainment for a special children’s event, a parent has many choices: face painters, clowns, balloon artists, video rentals, etc. If a parent chooses to rent a video rather than hire a magician, that’s your competition.

Again, my fingers are getting tired so I have to stop typing for a while. Anyways, those are my thoughts on the first of the 4 P’s.

Wow............thank you all. It makes my interminable wait for the termite man(see last night's post) more bearable. He has still not turned up, and it is 10am! I never knew my Linking Rings routine was going to be such a point for discussion. I am glad most of you seem to like it...but everything we do in a magic act is a work in progress. The man who ever says a routine is perfect is not a wise man.
My favourite Rings routine is not actually Vernon's. Although, his is pretty good. It is the one I do on my adult video, which I believe I have posted elsewhere.

Price: Much has been discussed about how to price your show. Much of the advice suggests that you price yourself within the range of what your competition is charging. Generally speaking, that’s good advice.

However, this advice is based on a couple of assumptions that may not be correct. First, it assumes that your only competition comes from other magicians. Yet, that may not be the case. Your true competition is any form of entertainment other than yourself that may be employed to entertain children at a birthday party or other special event.

The second false assumption is that all of the competitive products are the same and, therefore, all worth the same price. Given the above definition of the competitive market, that clearly isn’t the case.

In fact, even amongst magicians, that may not be the case. Your years of experience, the length of your show, and the nature of your show may be distinctly different from other magicians in your market. If that’s the case, you may be able to justify a difference in price. After all, you would expect to pay a little bit more for a Cadillac than a Datsun wouldn’t you?

Whatever your pricing is, be prepared to justify it (this holds true regardless of whether your pricing is high, medium, or low). If you can’t rationalize your pricing to yourself, you will never be able to sell it to others.

Kent

Kent..........your posts are awesome! I am sitting here, open mouthed with admiration, while I am still waiting for the termite man to relieve me of $1000.
There is no way at the moment I feel ready to add my half a crown worth (old English currency for those on this side of the pond) to the discussion. Words of wisdom abound here!

Place: This aspect of the marketing plan deals with how you plan on getting your product or service into the hands of consumers. Are you going to perform in the client’s home? How about in a restaurant or a private hall? A stage performance or a shopping mall? Or do you even go so far as to provide the venue for the client?

Whatever the plan may be for delivering your show to the client, you must ensure that you have the right show for that venue and have priced it accordingly. The key here is understanding that we cannot be all things to all people. We may have a great parlour show that we can perform in someone’s living room, but we may not have the show or the experience to put on a professional stage show in a shopping mall.

If our product is not designed to suit the performing needs of the client, we must recognize that. If we want to be able to satisfy those needs, we will need a different product at a different price. There’s nothing wrong with developing a new product to meet different needs, but each new product requires its own marketing plan.

Now, most of us are going to attend at the client’s home (in most cases) and perform our show there. So, how do we get our show there? Do we arrive in a car or a truck? Is there a trailer in tow? Are you pushing a shopping cart full of props? Is there any advertising on the vehicles? Does the vehicle have any distinctive character or look to it?

How do you physically move your show into the house? Do you have assistants? Do you do it yourself while dressed in your performing outfit? Do you have professional tables and cases, or cardboard boxes and TV trays?

Some of this may sound trivial, but it can all add to the impression we make on our clients. For many of us, when we show up at our client’s home, that is the first time they get to see us. I’m sure that many of us have heard about the 10 second interview. Well, as soon as we pull up to the venue, the clock is ticking. We only get one chance to make a good first impression.

Another aspect of “distribution” is how we use the venue during our show. Do we need the host to supply anything in particular? Do we need a minimum of space in order to be able to perform? Do we need to make use of their electricity for our sound system? Do we need furniture moved around? Do we make a mess of the place during our show?

Then, finally, you need to assess the take-down of your show. How long does it take to pack everything up and get it back into the car? Do you do this yourself,, or do you have some assistance? Do you change back into normal street clothes or are you in your performing outfit? Is everything back in order, just the way you found it? These are the last impressions a client will have of you and can play an important role in further referrals and references. Make sure you leave on a positive note.

Kent

This is brilliant stuff, Kent........just brilliant!! It takes the pain out of the $1000 I will shortly be paying the termite man who has still not turned up, and it is now noon!! Dave Dee would have charged at least $1000 for the information you are giving us here, free! If any of you out there visit other forums on the Café, please promote this link so all 27000 Café registered members can see it! I mean this sincerely! I think I hear the doorbell........

Promotion: Once you have clearly identified the product or service you are offering and the advantages it offers over your competition, and once you’ve determined the price structure for your show and where you are going to perform it, you are ready to start thinking about advertising. Note that this is the last stage in the development of the marketing plan.

Your ideal client (known in marketing terms as your target market) may consist of young families with parents aged from 35 to 55 years of age. You may have determined this because the children will then be within the age range of your show.

You may go further to define your market as being upper-middle class, two income families with an average combined salary of $100,000 or more. You may have determined this because of the price structure and quality of your show.

Depending on how you have defined your target market will have a direct impact on how and where you promote your services. There’s only so much money to spend on advertising and so, you need to be very particular about where you are going to place your efforts. But, this is also where you can get extremely creative.

If you know your target market reads a particular magazine or newspaper, it may be a good idea to advertise in that paper. When mass advertising, be sure to ask about readership. Circulation means little in comparison. The magazine may have a circulation of 10,000 people, but if each magazine is read by 5 different people on average, the readership is substantial.

Also, take a look at the "noise" within the magazine and where your ad is going to be placed. If the magazine is full of advertisements for other entertainers, it will take extra effort to get the client's attention. Similarly, people tend to read from right to left, and from top down. So, ideally, place your ad in the bottom right corner of a page where there is little to no advertising to compete for the client's attention.

It should be noted, however, that not all advertising is mass advertising. If you recognize that the dual income nature of your target market necessitates the use of day care services, there’s nothing wrong with having your posters and flyers in strategically placed day-cares throughout the city. This is known as “pushing” the product. The client has no initial idea of who you are or the value of your services until you push the idea upon them. It’s the “Hire Me!” approach.

Similarly, if you recognize that many of your potential clients tend to frequent certain restaurants, there isn’t anything wrong with getting hired at those restaurants, performing magic for the families when they come in. Although your primary role is to promote the restaurant, many potential clients will get a real feel for who they are hiring well ahead of time. This is known as “pulling” the product. Here, the client sees the value in what you are providing and takes it upon himself to hire you. It’s the “Let’s Hire Him!” approach.

There is definite value in both forms of promotion, but I’ve always preferred the soft-sell, “pulling” approach. If little Johnny comes home from dinner with his family and can’t stop talking about the great magician he saw, that’s the best advertising you can get. It doesn’t matter that there are 50 other magicians charging less than you – Johnny wants you!

The key thing is that, in all of your promotions, you need to emphasize the unique benefits that you are able to provide. The client needs to have confidence that you will be able to fulfill their entertainment needs above and beyond any of the competing options on the market. So, having previously defined the needs you are prepared to fill, promote the daylights out of them!

We must also recognize that one-time hits of advertising or promotion will not result in long term success. We also need to create top-of-mind awareness in our product, so that when any potential client thinks of an entertainer for their children’s party, your name comes to mind. Recognize ever promotional opportunity, and maximize it to your advantage.

Kent

Fantastic........ Kent's posts are amazing....read them all again and again. Please, folks....all of you! Tell your friends. Tell other bloggers all over cyberspace. Shout it in the streets, at the magic clubs, at the conventions. What can I add? Peruse the following, and I shall explain in due course:


"Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear
disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals." - (Harry Emerson
Fosdick)

Thought:

Fear is probably the most paralyzing, deadly emotion that we can feel. It robs
us of living, dreaming, succeeding, and experiencing the greatness of who we
could be. When we live out of fear, all our decisions are clouded as we shut
ourselves down and play small; play safe. We think we lack potential, but, in
effect, we are not using our full potential; and we say "no" to love; say
"no" to abundance; say "no" to happiness; say "no" to all that the universe has
in store for us!

Incidentally....that was a false alarm, and the termite man has still not arrived. It is now lunchtime!

Welcome back, Roger.

Thanks, Marvello. I have always been curious about your Avatar. Is that a caricature of you, or a made-up pic?

Roger,
It is a caricature of me. I use it in a lot of my promo materials, though I am thinking of having a new one done also.

Welcome back. Your input has been valuable to me, Roger. I am further exploring complete parties because of one of your topics.

I was off on a trip for two days, and a lot has happened.