Monday, December 21, 2009

Marketing During Your Show

The last word on name recognition comes from one of my most prolific Rebel Entertainers Carmen Tellez. You read her success story a few weeks ago. Well, there’s a reason she’s so successful.

Before you read what she says, notice that even in writing this letter to me, Carmen mentions her own website 5 separate times.

Also, notice all the contact web pages at the bottom.

Ok. Here's what Carmen had to say:

The routine with Jeff & Peanut is superbly funny to me regarding his name and dot com. Myself, I hired a singer/songwriter to assemble a CharmandHappy.com jingle. I have it posted on my website for viewers along with a page that includes the words and the option to download.

Funny bit of info.... My friend Jack M., who is a Magician/Balloon Artist even has my Jingleon his iPod that HE takes to events. ;0).

I have this song play at the beginning & end of most of my appearances on a portable music player next to my CharmandHappy.com Photo Banner I hang on my ShowBox.

One of the magic tricks I perform is to use a Magic Bag with the end revealing a CharmandHappy.com T shirt as a gift for the Bday child. If working a company event, then I make sure I choose a child that the t-shirt would fit and the shirt would be one that excludes Happy Birthday printed.

One of the contests at the party is for the participants to say "CharmandHappy.com" 3 times clearly without messing up.

And another contest is the Singing Contest where participants get a print out of the words as they try to sing their own way to the CharmandHappy.com Jingle.

I started an online YouTube contest, but with being pregnant at the time and dealing with other biz & family, I never followed thru with that, but I plan to soon

Well, that's all for now. I'm gonna post this as a note on my FaceBook too so it can nudge me to continue that contest. Your email has made my wheels spin yet again John.
Thank you so very much!

Carmen@CharmandHappy.com
- Artist Entertainer with a Twist of Charm -

http://www.CharmandHappy.com
877-725-6967 office
562-237-3327 cell
Face Painter - Balloon Artist
Whittier (Los Angeles) CA

FOLLOW OUR DAILY UPDATES:
http://www.FaceBook.com/CharmandHappy
http://www.Twitter.com/CharmandHappy
http://www.YouTube.com/CharmandHappy
http://www.MySpace.com/CharmandHappy

PERSONALIZED PHOTO BUTTONS
http://www.aPhotoButton.com

ONLINE PARTY SUPPLIES
http://www.CharmandHappy.MakesParties.com

As always, an awesome post from Carmen!!!

- John Abrams
Rebel Entertainer and Guy that learns from other Rebel Entertainers every day

www.rebelentertainers.com
www.facebook.com/rebelentertainer
www.twitter.com/johnabrams1

Friday, December 18, 2009

Advice from a Clown & a Hypnotist

I’m cleaning out that inbox of great ideas from other Rebel Entertainers. Here’s part 4 of your ideas.

It’s all about name recognition…

The first comes from T Tator Tot (www.ttatortot.com), a wonderful clown out of Snohomish, WA.

She wrote:

"This sounds like something Ruthie (Champagne) did at her twist and shout class in February this year. Repeat repeat repeat. Have the kids say your name at least 10 times!! I try to do it too!! Thanks! - Terri "

Great idea for kids shows Terri. I use this myself.

The next came from Master Hypnotist Jesse Lewis (http://jesselewishypnosis.com). Jesse writes:

" John, I am a stage hypnotist. You asked how we can add our names into our show for stage. For hypnotists its easy. In the middle or end of the show we can do a skit where we just tell our volunteers that every time they hear the name Jesse Lewis they will say he’s an awesome hypnotist, or he’s an idiot, something along those lines. This also is a great way to get the crowd involved. That is how I get the audience to say my name Jesse "

Very powerful advice Jesse. Thanks for sharing it.

More to come.

-John Abrams
Rebel Entertainer and Guy the thinks Jesse & Tator are awesome!
www.rebelentertainers.com
www.facebook.com/rebelentertainer
www.twitter.com/johnabrams1

Monday, December 14, 2009

More on name recognition

First off, I want to thank Sean Miller of Grey Cloud Studios. Sean has a repertory company of variety entertainers (http://www.greycloudstudios.com).

Sean was the one that reminded me of the Jeff Dunham routine.

Now, part 3 of your ideas.

That Dunham post got a huge response from other Rebel Entertainers. So here some others from Sean. More to come from others in later posts.

First, Sean wrote back reminding me of Chevy Chase:

“How many people who are old enough think that Chevy Chase was on Saturday Night Live for several seasons? The truth of the matter is that he left after the first season, but for that first season his name got said at least once every episode. How? Simple, he decided to finish each "Weekend Update" segment with the words, "I'm Chevy Chase and you're not." That put his name on the lips of people all over the country if not the world. It was a great piece of marketing and served him well enough to land the movie deals he was after.”

Then he mentioned a couple of others:

“I'm not entirely sure where I heard this, but I seem to think it was on a PBS type special. They were talking to Red Skelton and he was telling about how after the first matinee everyday he would call the local hotels that had active lobbies and have himself paged with something like, "Red Skelton, Red Skelton, phone call for Red Skelton from the Palace Theater." That way, his name would be heard along with the theater he was playing in that day. It kind of goes along with what Larry The Cable Guy did by calling into radio stations around the country to build his following. Oops, that makes two more self promoting entertainers.”

**

Thanks so much for chiming in Sean. We can definitely use these.

- John Abrams
Rebel Entertainer and guy that uses name recognition in every post

www.rebelentertainers.com
www.facebook.com/rebelentertainer
www.twitter.com/johnabrams1

Twitter Tips

I’m finding some serious gold in them there hills! Here’s part 2 of the series of ideas I’ve collected from other Rebel Entertainers.

I was talking about social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc…) and I got this response from Balloon Artist Jason Vaughn of Higher Hope Entertainment (www.higherhopeentertainment.com).

He has some great points. Here ya’ go.

****
John,

I thought you and your readers might find some of these tips useful as they begin working with twitter. So here are five tips to get the most out of it.

1.) Have a plan

Like all social media you can waste days on twitter. There are so many people to follow and meet and things to tweet about that it can become overwhelming. So before you come to twitter make a plan. Decide when you'll get on twitter and how much time you'll spend.
I suggest 3 times a day and spending five to ten minutes replying and tweeting.

2.) Use photos and video
Your thoughts are interesting, but people really want to see through your eyes. Tweets with photo links or videos really stand out. They also really help you say may more just 140 characters.

3.) Don't just advertise
So many companies get on twitter and all they do is talk about themselves. No one wants that. It is okay from time to time to talk about your service, but remember that to really be recognized you need to offer value to those reading your tweets. Post stories, thoughts, and inspiring quotes.

4.) Don't be corporate
The days of the nameless faceless companies are gone. And good riddance. Today people don't want that third person nonsense, they want connections and emotions.

Here is an example. Instead of tweeting: “St. Louis Balloon Artist at Chick-Fil-A on Olive from 5-7.”

Tweet: “I can't wait to be at Chick-fil-a on Olive tonight. The families and staff are a blast! I'm there from 5-7 if you get a chance to swing by.”

5.) Speak don't yell

When I first got on twitter I made stupid mistakes like all those above. The biggest I made was that I set up an automated welcome tweet. And of course it was all about me.
For those that don't know an automated welcome is when you set up your account using a twitter application to send a tweet to people when they first follow you. A lot of folks do it (especially companies) but it really does get annoying.

Instead of the automated tweet I suggest looking at your followers' accounts and replying to something in a personal manner.

Well those are a few tips to get started. I'll be expanding on this a lot more at FLOAT for anyone interested. And you know you're always welcome to e-mail me.

John, I'm loving both your courses. It has been a great investment. I've been very profitable in getting my name online and with your help I'm getting great returns offline as well.

I sincerely thank you.
Twistedly yours,
Jason Vaughn

****
Thanks for sharing these tips Jason. We all really appreciate it!

By the way, you can follow Jason on twitter @HigherHopeDecor and follow me @JohnAbrams1.

- John Abrams
Rebel Entertainer and Big Twit
www.rebelentertainers.com
www.facebook.com/rebelentertainer
www.twitter.com/johnabrams1

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Your ideas are amazing!

At the end of each of my blogs and email posts, I ask you to respond. Well, I get lots of amazing Rebel Entertainers emailing me the techniques and methods that they use.

So, in the next few posts, I’m going to share with you some of the terrific ideas that other entertainers have shared with me.

The first of this series was sent to me by Chris McDaniel (www.chrismcdaniel.net). We were talking about searching the internet for your name and finding photos, newspaper clippings and such.

Here’s what Chris had to say:

Hey John,

Speaking of this, did you know you can do a Google alert on whatever
you want to regularly search. And anytime that combination of words
comes up, you get an email on it.

It's automatic.

I have Chris McDaniel on Google alert. And sure, I have to go through quite a few
'Chris Thompson and Sally McDaniel' or other Chris McDaniels who are
out there, but I've found LOTS of things about me that I would have missed
without it.

I recommend it highly. Google Alerts rule!

- Chris

Great idea Chris! You can also Google Alert “great party ideas” or any other keyword search that might help you with blog content.

Special thanks to Chris McDaniel for sharing this idea.

P.S. - Oh, I also received a number of entertainer success stories. I’ll be posting those as soon as I can get to it. If you have a great story for me, shoot me an email. I’ll be happy to post that too.

- John Abrams
Rebel Entertainer and Guy That Loves to Share Ideas
www.rebelentertainers.com
www.facebook.com/rebelentertainer
www.twitter.com/johnabrams1

Why is Jeff Dunham so famous?

There’s a lot of reasons. First he’s amazingly good at what he does. He’s hilarious. And he’s put together a great act.

But how did he get so famous so fast?

He didn’t.

He’s been doing it for a loooooong time. I first saw Jeff at the Comedy Magic Club in Hermosa Beach some 15 years ago. He was somewhat famous then.

But he now has his own show with signature routines that everyone knows from his Cable special.

What people don’t think about, is that he is a master at MARKETING DURING HIS SHOW. This is where most entertainers fall short.

I recently watched a routine of his on you tube. You all know it. It’s where he’s arguing with Peanut about his name. And over and over he and peanut repeat his name. And then peanut always adds “dot com!”

I counted fourteen (14) times that they said Jeff Dunham. And seven (7) times that peanut said “dot com”. I think there were more.

Do you think that every single person that has seen his show, either live or on tv, remembers his name? The answer, of course, is yes. And how many people went to his website right after the show and joined his fan club?

How do you market during your show?

Well, you can’t steal his routine, but you can certainly figure out interesting ways to say your name throughout your show. You can also simply hang a sign with your name and “dot com” in front of any working “table” that you’re using.

How do you use name recognition?

I welcome your comments.

- John Abrams
Rebel Entertainer “dot com”

P. S. I forgot which Rebel Entertainer reminded me of this, so if it’s you, I want to give you full credit. Email me if it was you.

www.rebelentertainers.com
www.facebook.com/rebelentertainer
www.twitter.com/johnabrams1