From: "Brett Roberts" <bdr1020-AT-hotmail.com>
To: puptcrit-driftline.org-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: RE: [Puptcrit] Q: Where to advertise puppetry services?
Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2005 19:01:34 -0500


Kevin,

Here's a few ideas:

Where I am there are two magazines, Fort Worth Child and Dallas Child. 
That's where all the good... and not so good performers advertise. If you go 
to your local Toys R Us they will probably give away an equivalent.

Agents are wonderful. Any party planning service should be able to get you 
lots of work. You will need to cut them a deal on prices, but it's worth it. 
Personally I cut $25 off of my normal prices for agents.

This is going to sound like I'm totally nuts, but find your local clown 
alley. They are your competition. Even though you might not be a clown join 
their group. That way you can find out how to price your shows. You will 
also be able to network like crazy. When someone asks a clown for a puppet 
show, they'll give out your number. There should also be several agents who 
are members of the Clown Alley.

Also... Offer some shows to your local  library. Librarians all talk to each 
other and they are always needing talent. I do a librarian's performer 
showcase where lots of librarians get to see me all at once.

And, yes it is typical for an agent to contractually keep you from doing 
other business with someone they've set you up with. But, don't worry about 
it. People will find out about you and agents are just doing advertising for 
you.

Hope this helps.
Brett

Brett Roberts Productions
http://DFWentertainer.com
For promotional pictures please go to
http://brettrobertsproductions.itgo.com




>From: Kevin Pittman <kevin.pittman-AT-oit.gatech.edu>
>Reply-To: puptcrit-driftline.org-AT-lists.driftline.org
>To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
>Subject: [Puptcrit] Q: Where to advertise puppetry services?
>Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 18:32:15 -0400
>
>A question to all the professional puppeteers out there on this list:
>
>After six months in business as a part-time professional puppeteer, I've
>decided that I've got to sink some money into good advertising if I'm
>going to get anywhere.  My problem is that families are my target audience
>but I don't have children and I don't have relatives or close friends
>with children, so I'm not familiar with the sorts of places where people
>with children would look to find out about entertainers.
>
>I'm going to try to get in touch with some friends of friends who have
>children and survey them for ideas, and I also have the "Real Yellow Pages"
>on my to-do list.  I already pass out colorful flyers and business
>cards every time I do a promotional performance and, of course, I have
>a nice (IMHO) website that is clearly referenced on every flyer and
>document I distribute.  [www.forestpuppets.com, if anyone's interested]
>
>Can anyone offer some other suggestions, especially ones that have
>actually been used with good success?
>
>Along those lines, I was recently given the suggestion of signing up with
>a local company that matches local entertainers with local clients needing
>entertainment services.  I had not ever considered signing up with one of
>these services, and before I contact this particular one I'd like to get
>some general feedback from other professional puppeters if I could:
>
>* Has anyone on this list signed up with services like this?
>* If so, do they seem to be genuinely beneficial or more trouble than they
>    are worth?
>* What would be a generally reasonable fee range for using one of these
>    services (i.e., I'd like to have a sense of how much is too much for
>    one of these services to be asking)?
>* Is it typical for these services to contractually forbid you from 
>directly
>    doing future business with any client that they find for you?
>
>Thanks,
>Kevin
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Kevin Pittman
>Pawpeteer - n. A person who creates and/or performs with animal
>             character puppets, esp. anthropomorphic characters.
>http://moonshade.oit.gatech.edu/puppets
>klp-AT-moonshade.oit.gatech.edu
>
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