Stay in Touch

By Jeff Stone

This month’s issue of No Stone Left Unturned is strictly for those who are truly trying to grow their client base. If you’re a hobbiest (not that there’s anything wrong with that), you can skip this article. For those who are still here, here we go. Get the email address of everyone who hires you. That’s the simplest form of what we’re talking about this month.

We’ve talked, in past articles, about sending gifts and so forth to your clients. However, let’s take it to the next level. You want them to be constantly thinking about you, so sign them up on your newsletter list. You don’t have a newsletter? That’s ok. Getting one and managing one is simple, especially these days.

You need just two things to get this going.

You need content
You need a system to manage the list

I’m going under the assumption that you’re going to do an email based list rather than a snail mail list.

Content:

First, the content is pretty simple. Here are few things to include:

Dates of any public performances
Testimonials from recent shows
Thank Yous to recent clients
This last item we’ll call “tips and observations”

The newsletter does not have to include any of these or all of these, but these are good one to get you started. I think items 1 and 2 are pretty self-explanatory. Item 3 is simply a few so-called shout-outs to recent clients. For example, you might say something like this:

I just wanted to say thank you to Sheila over at Living Safari. I had a great time performing for fellow pet/animal lovers. Good luck with your new store.

Finally, item #4 is a place almost like a blog. You might want to have a place where you can write about your observations of magic in everyday life, or maybe funny anecdotes about recent gigs, or maybe party planning tips. Keep in mind that the majority of your subscribers will be people who hire entertainers, so party planning tips might be just the thing.

If you don’t know any party planning tips, Google it and post links to some ideas in the newsletter. This fourth item is the most important. Without it, the client really has no interest in subscribing. There needs to be a section that gives them some information that they will find interesting. Just listing your dates won’t be enough of a hook to get them to subscribe.

Now that you have some content ideas, let’s look at the next phase . . .

List Management

There are several services out there that provide email list management:

I’ve used all of the above with the exception of A Weber. However, I’ve heard a lot of great things about A Weber. My recommendation would be Constant Contact. That’s what I use for the very list that you are subscribed to. It’s only $15.00 per month and super easy to manage. The price goes up as your list grows, but the $15.00 per month will cover you until you hit the 500 mark.

You can actually create an account for free for the first 30 or 60 days. The tech support is solid. I’ve called it a couple of times and they’ve been very helpful. They have many templates you can use to create your newsletter, or you can create custom ones.

Each month, you get an email from me to keep you updated on the latest issue of Stone Cold Magic Magazine. That email is from Constant Contact. When you signed up, you signed up using one of their boxes that you can get from their website.

The newsletter can be sent to your list monthly, quarterly, or sporadically. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you stay in touch with your clients. As they receive your newsletter, they are reminded of the show and of you. It helps you stay on the top of their mind. That leads to referrals and more gigs. Also, in your newsletter, you may want to mention that any repeat clients get a discount or that any referrals that end in a gig result in a referral kick-back to the referrer.

This is an excellent tool for marketing and staying in touch with your clients. Once you get set up with Constant Contact and you’ve got some ideas for content, spend a day calling all of your clients to let them know that you have a new newsletter and ask for their permission to add their name to the list.

Remember folks . . . it’s all about growing your client base and getting more gigs, but of course, you must have a good act first. So take the time to read Roots and Branches, The Full Montoya and Pillars of Stone. That’s where you learn to have a great act. Only then should you apply the techniques in this column.

Until Next Month . . .

Please Take a Moment to Reply To and “like” This Article