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trickychaz Special user West Virginia 549 Posts |
Hey guys,
I was making a list of benefits for the birthday party market to include on promo etc, and am stuck in a rut. I am selling.... 1. Laughter 2. Amazement 3. Memories What sets me apart from others? 1.Variety (magic, juggling and balloons all in one show!) 2.Free Prizes and Giveaways 3.Video Testimonials 4 Affordable Rates Niche 1. Quality 2. Price 3. Service I would like to include the important ones in my smaller ads...The guys here in town are magic for all occassions-no event to large or small...they seen my marketing efforts and then threw themselves out there too! I want to brand my google adwords campaigne so that it sets me apart using strong benefits....I already have the advantage that I am a birthday party entertainer specifically...now how to communicate it...any thoughts? Thanks Charles |
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Mindpro Eternal Order 10586 Posts |
Don't confuse Features with Benefits.
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trickychaz Special user West Virginia 549 Posts |
What do you see as features verses benefits?
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Kevin Viner Loyal user San Diego, CA 203 Posts |
Features are what you do . . .benefits are how it HELPS the customer. "What the magician does" vs "What's in it for me?" . . .
For example, "I memorize the name of everybody I meet during the cocktail hour" is a feature, and "I can help foster introductions between guests and give them a common ground for discussion" is a benefit.
Warmest regards,
Kevin Viner Corporate Magician in Los Angeles, CA | Magician in San Diego | Magician in Orange County, CA | |
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Jim Snack Inner circle 1338 Posts |
Nicely explained, Kevin!
Jim |
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Domino Magic Special user 999 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-01-16 23:02, trickychaz wrote: Charles, I don't know your market, but I don't see that list as something that will set you apart from others. All the little marketing "tricks" money-back guarantee, video testimonials, on and on are thing easily duplicated by competition and depending on your market, many of your competitors are probably already doing this. That stuff isn't what sets you apart from the others. People aren't buying that, they buy you. They buy your act. Kevin's comment is dead-on and echos what the late, great Don Alan used to say about having "an act". Imagine an agent describing your act to someone - "I have a guy who..." Fill in that blank with something compelling about your entertainment. "I have a guy who has video testimonials" isn't quite what they're looking for. Now I'm a mentalist and that's what sets me apart from any other entertainer in my market. I made a conscious move to mentalism because as a magician I couldn't answer the same question you're asking. Nothing set me apart. But now I'm the only person in my market that can do a mind reading show. I stand apart from every magician and hypnotist in my market. My feeling is you have to start with that solid foundation. The act! Everything else after that is easily copied, adapted, negotiated. |
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trickychaz Special user West Virginia 549 Posts |
Ok...lets think about this a little bit!
Feature: Variety- the benefit hidden in this feature would be....Juggling creates visual appeal which will keep the younger ones interested in the show! Free Prizes - Every child will get to participate by shouting out the magic words, and they will take home their very own magical gift. GoodyBags - Save yourself the time and effort, and let us handle the goody bags for you! Video Testimonials - Not just take my word for it, listen to what our customers have to say! Affordable - You can have all this at your party without breaking the bank! I have studied the difference between benefits verses features. Where I am stuck is that I can't fit all those benefits into a small ad or business card. Any thoughts Thanks Charles |
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jackturk Elite user 463 Posts |
When you have limited space, your goal shouldn't be to make the sale, but to drive traffic to a vehicle more appropriate to make the sale.
A biz card should pack enough punch to get them to call or check out your website. Ditto for a small ad such as a Parenting Mag display ad or a Google Adword Ad. Dan Kennedy made the point that your headline should have enough oomph that it could stand alone as a working classified ad. That makes for a great exercise: What headline could you come up with that's powerful enough to get people to contact you all by itself? That's your starting point. The more space you have, then you start adding more stuff. But always drive folks somewhere where you or your copy can make the sale. --Jack Turk
"59 Ways To Recession Proof Your Entertainment Business -- FREE!"
http://www.GetLeadsLikeCrazy.com "How To Make $25,000 a Year Doing Birthday Parties Part-Time" http://www.magicmarketingcenter.com/birthdayPT |
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trickychaz Special user West Virginia 549 Posts |
I suppose I will elaborate on this even more....Service is to my advantage because I actually follow up with potential customers. Many have booked my show over competitors b/c I followed up with a friendly phone call.
My price is a tad lower than competitors, but I strive to be likable, flexible, caring and fullfill all that is promised. I also exceed their expectations which results in tips. Even though I bid less then the local guys...when you add in that 35$ tip..I made the amount that they bid on the show. |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21219 Posts |
I think you missed the post above so let me help. Domino spoke of Don Alan and his wisdom and man so few guys even know about it today. It is a brilliant point.
Don always would say that "there is nobody in magic today who an agent can say 'I have a guy who can...'". What he was trying to say is that being unique as an act is most important. Something preferably that makes the client say "NO WAY"! The fact that the kids like your show more than most, or you involve them more or some such thing that is unique, or can be sold as unique in your market is a good idea. People get lost in marketing slogans, price, tips, likable, and yada yada yada. But right where the rubber meets the road Don was saying that being the guy who can... is the most important aspect of it all. I am also not familiar with your market. It is a lot of work to keep up on kids show stuff to be certain. Kids outgrow the need, parents move on, the competition, man it has to be tough. Anyway I hope all this is in your book.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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Bill Hilly Elite user 449 Posts |
Charles,
FWIW, I think this is a good start. I don't mean for a short ad or card, but a start to an outline for writing the longer copy. Beano Quote:
On 2010-01-17 17:18, trickychaz wrote: Posted: Jan 17, 2010 7:47pm Jack, That was good. I'm going to be thinking about this: "What headline could you come up with that's powerful enough to get people to contact you all by itself?" Thanks for getting a thought started. Beano |
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Mindpro Eternal Order 10586 Posts |
Trickychaz - what you are describing is what people expect, since they expect it to them you're stating what they expect to be the obvious. The expect someone to call them back quickly, hell they truly expect to reach a live person on the first call.While you may believe that you are responding quicker or ,ore attentively than others, this is neither a feature or a benefit.
You must describe this over, above and beyond normal expectations to be unique. So many people waste money ans valuable advertising and promotional resources just really saying nothing or nothing valuable to the potential client. While you may be proud of the service you offer and the tips you receive unfortunately nothing you mentioned in the above post is anything more than standard good business practices and relationships. |
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trickychaz Special user West Virginia 549 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-01-17 21:11, Mindpro wrote: It's more of an advantage then benefit to the customer and I realize that! Service, quality, price, economy, selection are all niches....they should be employed throughtout all marketing campaignes. Quote:
On 2010-01-17 21:11, Mindpro wrote: I wasn't sure if you missed this post, but in my opinion these are not stating the obivous to the customer...in many cases magicians will write articles to educate thier customers on hiring an entertainer.... Ok...lets think about this a little bit! Feature: Variety- the benefit hidden in this feature would be....Juggling creates visual appeal which will keep the younger ones interested in the show! Free Prizes - Every child will get to participate by shouting out the magic words, and they will take home their very own magical gift. GoodyBags - Save yourself the time and effort, and let us handle the goody bags for you! Video Testimonials - Not just take my word for it, listen to what our customers have to say! Affordable - You can have all this at your party without breaking the bank! I have studied the difference between benefits verses features. Where I am stuck is that I can't fit all those benefits into a small ad or business card. Any thoughts Thanks Charles |
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Mindpro Eternal Order 10586 Posts |
"Service, quality, price, economy, selection are all niches...." - these are not niches. A niche is a specialized area of expertise. You are thinking like a magician, not from the customers perspective.
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Domino Magic Special user 999 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-01-17 19:36, Dannydoyle wrote: Danny, Thanks for clarifying my point. That's exactly correct. Charles, I'm going to repeat myself because you may have missed it. You stated, or rather asked "What sets me apart from others?" You haven't answered your own question yet. What you listed doesn't set you apart from others. In fact when I look at your website and site of one of your competitors, I don't see anything that sets either one of you apart. The point I was trying to make, that Danny made and what Kevin made perfectly is what you should be going for. You may not have that "something" that sets you apart, and that's fine. But at least it gives you something to shoot for an develop. You're a little too caught up in the marketing hype because the bottom line is what sets you apart from everyone else should be able to be described in one sentence. |
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andini1 New user UK 93 Posts |
Charles,
Your "Features and Benefits" will be fairly easy to quantify. The real problem is that most of your competitors will be claiming exactly the same "features and benefits" for their shows. To differentiate your offer from the rest I would suggest that you need to focus on identifying your "Unique Selling Proposition" - what is it that clearly sets you apart from your competition, positioning you the more logical choice? The answer may be simply that YOU are UNIQUE and when customers like you enough they will want to buy your services in preferance to others. It's a huge subject and I suggest you check it out further on the web. The customers reason for booking you is what you should focus on. Those clients who "book" entertainers very often need someone to keep their guests OCCUPIED, whereas the guests themselves will regard the entertainment as an ADDED VALUE. Hope that this helps a little? |
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trickychaz Special user West Virginia 549 Posts |
I am not sure I understand, You are saying that b/c you couldn't dig deep enough in your magic show to find what sets you apart, and communicate that...you decided that the next big move was to learn a new trade as a mentalist.
So, what happens when magicians see the trend in mentalism and decide to do the same? What will you do next to be different? I think you are looking at changing your act and style to follow the latest trend. What I am trying to figure out is.... What can I do in my marketing materials to stand out in the customers eyes, solve their problems and provide better service then my competitors. Anyone can learn mentalism and bill themselves as a mentalist. A niche is defined clearly in the Guerrilla Marketing as the following "Niche-what you stand for? Is it quality? Economy? Selection? " Quote:
On 2010-01-18 13:14, andini1 wrote: Thank You! You're exactly right! That is why I am digging deaper into this topic....Every birthday party entertainer has a headling that says "Make your child's party fun, exciting, memorable" including myself! I suppose my USP would be "West Virginia's only magician,juggler, balloon twister ALL IN ONE!" or something to that nature. Credits go to Brad Ross for comming up with that USP for me... |
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Domino Magic Special user 999 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-01-18 13:15, trickychaz wrote: I've actually been involved and interested in mentalism for 30 years, so it's not something I jumped into at the last minute and it took me a couple of years to develop my act before I started performing it. There are some magicians in my market that say they do mentalism, but it's a far cry from what I do because the reality is they do a mental-themed magic show with lots of store bought props. However I am already positioned with the top mind reading show in my market and when someone is looking for a mentalist, I get the job. So that decision to change my act has given me two distinct advantages over any other entertainer in my market: 1. No competition. If people don't hire me, which is rare, it's because they hired another act - like a comedian or a band. I never lose a job to a magician or a hypnotist. 2. I can charge more because I offer a unique service. Mentalists aren't a dime a dozen. I have no doubt that having competition is only a matter or time, and I've already made plans to set my act apart from anyone else. Being an entertaining mentalist is not as easy as you would think. It takes a few years to develop a solid act/persona, etc. A mentalism show lives or dies by the performer. It's like hypnotism. Anyone cal learn it, but if the hypnotist can't put on a good show, it's really bad entertainment. There are a lot more bad magicians than mentalists and the reason is magicians tend to focus on tricks and not developing their persona and presentations. As a magician, you can be a poor performer, but still do a decent magic show because you have the tricks to fall back on. Mentalism doesn't have that. Quote:
On 2010-01-18 13:19, trickychaz wrote: I can throw the same thing back at you to what you said about anyone can learn mentalism. Magic/juggling/balloons - now you're competing with clowns because I know a lot of clowns that do that PLUS they will add in face painting and do it for half the price. You shouldn't be trying to argue with me and scrutinize what I do. I'm not the one looking for help. A lot of great advice has been offered here. This shouldn't be that difficult for you. "More laughs per minute than any other birthday entertainer..." "West Virigina's only comedy show for kids" "100 laughs per show...guaranteed" Find talking points! That's what I do. I don't just get booked because I'm a mentalist. Being a mentalist is what brings people to me because that's what they're looking for. It doesn't guarantee the booking. Those talking points are what get people excited about the show. |
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trickychaz Special user West Virginia 549 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-01-18 13:55, Domino Magic wrote: Please don't take this as an arguement! If anything shooting back and forth on these ideas may bring up something exciting and new about ourselves and act that we never knew! I am saying that I have heard from many of my clients that my competition sucks as folowing up~customer service~ which is to my advantage. I wrote an identity for my company and know what I stand for! What I am trying figure out was already answered by Jack and Kevin a long time ago....keving cleared up the benefits verses features and Jack helped me understand the importance of a title on small ads to drive them to my website with more copy. |
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andini1 New user UK 93 Posts |
Charles - by focusing on the bookers-needs for "occupying" their guests, you may draft an advert that reads something like:
WANT TO DO SOME REAL MAGIC ??? YOU CAN MAKE ALL THE CHILDREN VANISH AT YOUR NEXT PARTY !!! HOW ??? JUST LEAVE THEM IN THE CAPABLE CARE OF "TRICKY CHAZ" The emphasis has now changed from what you do - to what you can achieve. A totally different feature and benefit. |
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