The Power of a List

I write to you today in a lot of pain and feeling sick from eating too much fast food.

I’m in pain because of all the gigs I’ve done this month. My intent for the last couple of years has been to severely scale back my performing and transition full-time to copywriting and digital marketing. I’m in the middle of building three websites for different magicians as I write this.

But I decided to book a few shows for October, simply because I LOVE Halloween. And because some of my clients understandably feel better about my services knowing I still use what I preach to book my own shows.

I think that’s important. In hypnosis, there is a high-ranking guy in the NGH (National Guild of Hypnotists) who still tours the country giving workshops on how to work with clients.

Yet he hasn’t seen any clients for at least 15 years.

So I still love to perform, just not as much. I have some health concerns that prevent me from being on the road full-time.

I decided relatively late to book October shows – mid-September.

I didn’t bother with sending any physical mailers as I only wanted a few shows. I decided a half dozen would be nice.

So I sent emails to my list. To be fair, I have a pretty small email list for libraries – only 130 or so. I chopped off several names after these folks retired or I decided I wasn’t going to travel very far anymore.

I also still have my website doing its SEO magic. Between that and email, I spent maybe an hour or so crafting these emails. I set up my CRM (Mago, if anyone wants to know) to send these three emails out every other weekday for a week.

The result? 22 shows for October. 15 of the shows were from my library list. Five were past school clients who wanted a show. And two were from my listing on GigSalad.

That’s quite a bit more than the six I envisioned.

I know that for some of you reading this, that’s not a lot of shows. Me? That’s plenty.

It also illustrates the power of a list – a database of past clients and inquiries you can reach out to on a semi-regular basis.

Depending on the market, you can hit up these clients during high booking times when they are looking for shows. In my market, schools and libraries are avidly searching for October programs.

If you know when your market likes to book, you can contact your list during these peak seasons.

You can also send out a regular newsletter. And you have a lot of choices. You can send out a quarterly newsletter, though most marketers would tell you that’s not nearly enough touch points.

You can send something out every month. The magicians who do send out a newsletter seem to lean in this direction more often than other times.

Or you could be insane like me and send one out every week. But if you’re going to contact your past clients and leads weekly, you’d better have relevant content they would find interesting and useful, or people will start unsubscribing.

Too many magicians think that a blog and/or newsletter that details the latest shows the magician has performed are of interest to their list.

They may be right, although I expect most of the folks on their list don’t care where the magician performed the previous Saturday.

If you know your market, producing helpful articles that solve specific problems for your clients should be relatively easy.

But the entire point is to keep track of your inquiries and client info. Create a spreadsheet with important client data like name, location, email, market, etc.

Or start using a system like Mago to track your leads, past clients, upcoming shows, etc. It’s an amazing system. And now, I don’t get any kind of kickback for recommending Mago!

If you have not yet, start building your list. It can help you (say it with me) book more shows at higher fees.

Now I’ve got to go – two more shows today and I have Sunday off. And thankfully no more fast food on the road. All those shows come with a price to my stomach.

Until next time, have a great week!

--Cris

P.S. By the way…whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you grow your magic business to book more shows at higher fees:


1. Grab my FREE report for professional working magicians.



This report reveals a strategy that almost NO magicians are using (and the ones who are don’t use it correctly). Get your free copy by clicking HERE.


2. Get my website video training for under $10:


In this 2-hour video training, I’ll reveal exactly what your website needs if you want to succeed as a professional entertainer in the 21st century. Get all the details by clicking HERE.


3. Get a complete business-building plan handed to you on a silver platter.


Not sure how to move your magic business forward? I’ll analyze your complete magic business (website, market, competition, and more) and give you a complete game plan for getting your performing business to the next level. Find out how by clicking HERE.


4. Work with me privately.


Need help in multiple areas? I can help you with your website, direct mail, email, or other marketing strategies. I also offer consulting services for crafting magic routines or even entire shows. Want to find out more? Shoot me an email at cris@theprofessionalmagicianclubpro.com.

To find out more how I can help you book more shows at higher fees, click the button below to see my list of services.

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