Annie’s Marketing Mashup Part 2

A Kids Entertainers Guide To Promo Materials

Have you thought about doing this your with promo materials? Last time we took a fresh look at business cards for kids entertainers. Let’s expand on that and look at what we can offer in place of them …

Build Your Legend.

We’ve all heard about Branding. I like to call it Building my Legend. I want Raving Fans.

I’m a Balloon Storyteller. I promote reading and teach creative writing with balloons. I like fun things that have an literacy slant. Bookmarks (seriously, kids love ’em for some reason), Creativity Tester Pencils, Idea Journals, Story Starter kits, Joke & Activity books, and sometimes even a copy of a children’s book that I wrote. Notice that these are all capitalized? That’s because these are Gifts I have designed just for them and those are their proper names. Because they’re important.

Stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Imagine a PTA Convention exhibit hall filled with 75 vendors, all desperately trying to get the attention of PTA members who will never have enough time to make it to every booth. These vendors all give out free stuff.

And the members love the free stuff. They show it to their friends, compare it to their friends’ stuff, and share which booths are giving out the best free stuff. And then they take this stuff home and leave it in a bag that maybe gets looked at in the next month or so. If we’re lucky.

But the best free stuff? That’s the amazing stuff that everyone talks about. That’s what gets the friends sent over to beg for some of it. Especially if there is a limited supply.

A trade show floor is an extreme example of survival of the fittest. Imagine how happy my husband and I were to see this picture prominently on this year’s PTA convention website. (These are by my husband, Buster Balloon.) Talk about building a legend.

Build relationships with clients, not customers.

There is a wonderful book by Magician Aye Jaye called The Golden Rule of Schmoozing. Get it, read it, memorize it, live it. In a book where he defines Schmoozing as “The Golden Rule at full throttle,” Aye Jaye suggests that schmoozing is just making the person you’re with feel great. He also describes small, inexpensive gifts (“tchotchke”) as the oil that lubricates social interactions.

Years after I first listened to this book, I experienced the power of his sincere Schmooze in person when I met him at the Magic Castle. He made me feel important simply by the sincere attention he paid to me while we were speaking. (By the way, if you ever get a chance to see him perform, you will feel sincerely blessed.)

Thank people with flair.

How about a button or special magic wand for helping you on stage? I send thank you cards that turn into a simple stand for an enclosed happy face balloon.

Or how about one of my favorite games: Cleaning up with Annie Banannie. After a balloon workshop, whoever brings me the most balloon scraps wins a prize. One person gets a prize, and the rest get something else for helping me clean up. (Yes, I know it’s manipulation but the kids love it and the parents are impressed with my motivational skills.)

Apologize with flair.

Consolation prize: Everyone gets a magic wand even if they weren’t on stage. Ending a balloon line? Give your line ender a bag of tchotchke to give to the kids they have to turn away.
So that’s what I do. What about you? What can you give? In the next installment of Annie’s Marketing Mashup I’ve got some great ideas for memorable Gifts.