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steven-gibson Special user Eastcoastspiritsessions.com 893 Posts 
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Everyone loves a seance right? Inspired by many here in spooky, I put together a portable seance show. It travels in two ominous looking cases and can be set up live in front of my audience. The goal is to perform for dinner parties in private homes. Walk in, do the show, get paid and go. No large table required, it works well in the living room or wherever guests can be comfortably seated. The one and a half hour show includes demonstrations with haunted items and then builds to a seance finale. I've worked on this for 5 years and performed the show about 100 times. Most have been for practice / development purposes. Less than a dozen have been actual paying gigs. Based on positive response and feedback, I decided it was time to go live. My marketing efforts started last September. I built a Web page, printed some business cards and post cards. I linked the website to a local Haunted Attraction and put stacks of my post cards in Costume Shops. Based on calls, I have decided this marketing plan was a bust. Now with Halloween behind us, I need a new plan. I would like to book 2 or 3 shows every month all year long. Any suggestions on how to market a seance?
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arthur stead Inner circle When I played soccer, I hit 1777 Posts
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I have also spent some time delving into, researching, and developing seance material. The aim being to create a powerful parlor-type show. For that reason, I would be curious (and grateful) to know what ideas and suggestions Spooky Café Members have about marketing.
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Godzilla Inner circle Tied & Untied Witches on 5316 Posts
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Jim Magus's,"Raising the Dead for Fun and Profit" !
"If you watch Godzilla backwards, it's about a big ass lizard who helps rebuild a half burnt-down city, then moonwalks back into the ocean"
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YitzhakNoDice Special user Portland, Oregon 517 Posts
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Thanks for starting this thread, Steven. I pretty much have the same question. I've read Docc Hilford and Eugene Burger's advice, but I'm not too satisified. I too am curious to hear what suggestions this community has.
A wise man's question contains half the answer. - Solomon ben Judah, Philosopher
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Mind Guerrilla Inner circle Queens, NY 2670 Posts
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Quote:
On 2014-01-14 14:31, Godzilla wrote: I was thinking of buying this off Lulu.com. As pointed out in another thread, the code SHIPSHAPE14 gets free shipping (expires this Friday). Lulu also has a FREE booklet by P. Craig Browning titled " An Introduction to the Art & Science of Seance." |
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steven-gibson Special user Eastcoastspiritsessions.com 893 Posts
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I have Raising the Dead for Fun and Profit. Excellent book and has lots of ideas. I'll have to dig it out and see what I have forgotten.
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Michael_MacDonald 1964 - 2016 Washington 2034 Posts
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Marketing it sight unseen will be hard as no one really knows they want to see this type of performance let alone know that they can have it right in their home. so the key here is to let them have a taste of it before they buy the home package. the way to do this is to get in good with a local venue that has a banquet room that you can set up a weekly/monthly performance that stays within your characters realm of expertise. you can either rent the room and do it yourself or you can do what I do. I perform at a local venue with a weekly parlor show that includes dinner and entertainment. it is rsvp only and is very well received this way by both the venue and the guests. I make money on it because we took the per plate price and added a bit more per ticket to cover my fee. during and after the performance I promote my in home shows and sell BOR to add an additional income stream. I book at least 3 outside performances a month from this venue.
I take less from the initial fee I get from ticket sales but make up for it in BOR and REALLY MAKE UP FOR IT IN OUTSIDE GIGS. that is how I do it and it seems to work well for me. good luck! Michael |
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Brynmore14 Inner circle The Séance Chamber 1815 Posts
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Michael has some very good advice on marketing, which I hope to see in print one of these days.
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edgar allan holmes New user 21 Posts
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I'm currently putting some material together on this subject. If you can wait I'll post it. It's all material that I've tried and tested over the years.
if not I'd recommend looking at Eugene lols website on event marketing its based on the work of Dr Ciadini. Also learn about how to write press releases and make friends with your local media outlets. ed |
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Voodini Inner circle 1783 Posts
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This is an area that I have a *lot* of experience in. I worked for several paranormal entertainment/ghost hunting companies in the UK over a number of years, both out in the field and in the office/admin side.
Simply put, it is difficult to market a home seance night. It is relatively simple to sell the idea of psychic/tarot/palm reading home parties that work on a similar principle to a Tupperware party. Invite your friends round, have a glass of wine, have a reading. Everyone pays a set fee for their reading, and it's all nice and jolly. The trouble with a seance is that it carries certain connotations. Everything from the hysterical gutter press through to Hammer House of Horror has assured lay people that a 'seance' is a bad thing and not to be trifled with. At least.... not in their own home. However, take that idea out of their home and place it into a neutral environment such as (in the UK) a stately home or castle, or (in the USA) a historical property, things are very different. Then people will gladly pay good money (£50/$70 per head) to spend the night (or a portion of it) exploring the venue, engaging in seances and ghost hunting. My simple advice would be to hire a venue, advertise it locally (social media is great and the local press will lap it up), and sell tickets. That is a far easier proposition than trying to convince people to raise the spirits of the dead in their own living room. Some people would of course be excited by the idea, but remember that most people do not live, like us, in the shadows. Most live in the light with their soap operas and celebrity obsessions. To them, the very idea of a seance is at the same time exciting and scary. They've seen Paranormal Activity, Poltergeist et al. They know what happens if you mess around with this stuff in your own home. However give them the safety net of moving the location somewhere neutral, and viola! They're mad for it. I do of course have an excellent PDF on the subject of marketing seances and ghost hunts, and also how to run them, timescales, what to expect, how to deal with the public etc. You can find it here (and it will be, I promise, a worthwhile investment): http://www.readerofminds.co.uk/page_31.html This kind of work was my life for many years.
Voodini - cold reading, past life regressions, remote viewing, Q&A, palm reading, bizarre & seance...
www.readerofminds.co.uk |
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Godzilla Inner circle Tied & Untied Witches on 5316 Posts
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If you truly want to make money...do kiddie shows!
One of the best ways to get offers for doing parties is just staying in Character as much as possible,in the public!(Throw a little performance to person for free) 'I have stood outside of hearse,that was parked at gas station,and talked through the glass to the inside! No one was in it! LOL But,people will come to you to talk,and also you have to listen to their stories,and there is tons of them!' lol I'm not out to do many parties,but I have been asked up to 6 times,in one day! Being,in the right locations! Now,if you are in a tourist area,or can add on a special room to a Haunted attraction,that may work for you! If you can own your own venue,that may be a plus...worked for others! If you are just staying local,you will be limited! Again,one man I know that performed much bizarre,and was a curator of a museum,gave it up to do the kiddie shows! So,do it for the love of doing,and not the money!!! I think the ones that make the money on,Seance...are selling the advice to others on how to do a Seance! 
Oh,throw in some of the Ghost Hunting Stuff...as,Paul has said ! People,eat that crap up,and are familiar with the shows & equipment!
"If you watch Godzilla backwards, it's about a big ass lizard who helps rebuild a half burnt-down city, then moonwalks back into the ocean"
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Voodini Inner circle 1783 Posts
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Two skills to have as a 'magical entertainer' - tarot reading and balloon models. You can do those, you'll never starve.
Voodini - cold reading, past life regressions, remote viewing, Q&A, palm reading, bizarre & seance...
www.readerofminds.co.uk |
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JAlenS Inner circle Utah 1528 Posts
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I was going to say ask Voodini. Richard Webster has some great advice in King of the Small Town.
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steven-gibson Special user Eastcoastspiritsessions.com 893 Posts
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Quote:
On 2014-01-14 15:29, Michael_MacDonald wrote: Great advice Michael! I think this is what I will try to do. Your points make a lot of sence, I had't thought about it this way before. What is BOR? |
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steven-gibson Special user Eastcoastspiritsessions.com 893 Posts
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Quote:
On 2014-01-14 16:59, Godzilla wrote: No kiddie shows for me! I am a retired haunted attraction guy and still have the craving to scare. I have found seance to be a great deal of fun (and challanging too). My regular full time job pays the bills, so kiddie shows will not be nessasary. I would like to make some money doing what I enjoy. After all, if you can do that, you win! |
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steven-gibson Special user Eastcoastspiritsessions.com 893 Posts
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Quote:
On 2014-01-14 16:04, Voodini wrote: Voodini, I have 2 of your books Paranormal Entertainer and JTR Seance. Great reads, I enjoyed them both. As I recall there was some marketing advice in Paranormal Entertainer. I am going to reread that tonight. Thanks for the advice. I will purchase Its a G-G-Ghost! soon. |
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Peter McMillan Elite user St. George, Utah 497 Posts
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BOR = Back of Room sales. Booklets, pendulums, any other nick nack that goes along with your presentation that the spectators have an impulse to buy and try at home.
Great thread!
Spiritus Dictum Artifacts ~ Tools of the Craft for Serious Workers http://petemcmillan.wixsite.com/sd-artifacts/artifacts
~ www.SantaPeteUtah.com |
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steven-gibson Special user Eastcoastspiritsessions.com 893 Posts
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There is a fantastic book called FIELD OF SCREAMS by Michael Cruz.
http://www.amazon.com/Field-screams-prom......87737006 Geared toward marketing Haunted Attractions, this is the finest book of it kind IMHO (After following the advice in this book, I took a Haunted Attractions fromm 8000 visitors to 33,000 in one season. I hadn't thought about this book for years, but this thread reminded me. Just reread a section about Focusing on your target audience and found that a good deal of its advice applys well to seance. Perhaps the corperate sponsorship section may be going a bit too far for a seance party, but lots of good stuff here. Excellent templetes for press releases alone makes this a worthy purchase. |
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Michael_MacDonald 1964 - 2016 Washington 2034 Posts
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As pete says BOR is back of room sales. pendulums, instant author books, or any other item you can tie into the evening. including anti haunting charms (gag gift) so that the pesky spirit does not attach its self to you as you leave(disneys hitch hiking ghosts from haunted mansion).
you want a good pitch book to sell at these events, perhaps we can get Voodini to write a pitch book up for us and set us up with instant author item? |
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Voodini Inner circle 1783 Posts
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I used to sell a PDF based around my How to Host the Perfect Seance that was meant for BOR. I would add the purchases details (name, website, email etc) to each file individually, and the purchaser could then get them printed off as they required. Could always resurrect (as it were) that baby?
Voodini - cold reading, past life regressions, remote viewing, Q&A, palm reading, bizarre & seance...
www.readerofminds.co.uk |
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Posted: Jan 14, 2014 06:55 pm 
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