On the internet, your BIGGEST marketing tool is to exchange links with other similar pages. People reading one page related to entertainers will be interested in other pages. Exchanging links is a win/ win for both pages in the exchange. You not only share in the page views by hot prospects, but you also greatly increase your search engine rankings. Google, Yahoo and other major search engines increase your rank if you have links from other pages to you. It validates your page as important to others...so exchanging links is a MUST if you are serious about marketing. Axtell receives over 10,000 unique visitors per month (not counting the repeat customers!) This is because we have HUNDREDS of links we've exchanged over 15 years. These surfers want to see your pages too! We have 2 opportunities for you to exchange links with us.

Send me an EMAIL when you do this and we'll add your link from our page(s). Tell me:

1. Your name and and email
2. A short Title for your link.
3. The exact html address for your link.

Note - your page will be reviewed and must be kid appropriate. No adult material.

OTHER MARKETING IDEAS for ENTERTAINERS:

Here's a great idea from Melanie Wilson

She put her Skunk puppet's face on a spare tire cover for her Jeep Liberty! Great idea!

As the 2003 Iowa State Fair approached, I thought more and more about the publicity I might possibly get if I were to enter my vent puppets in the parade. The theme for the Fair and parade was “One in a Million”. Well, my figures would certainly fit into that category easily enough. I just had to come up with an idea to showcase them. And what better way to show off puppets than in a little car – a 1976 MG Midget. I just had to figure out the placement of the puppets and how to hold them onto the car while I drove the parade route. So I pulled my car into the shady part of my driveway and got out all my puppets and began to place them onto the car for positioning. Once I was satisfied with how they looked in each place, I had to come up with the way to keep them onto the car with it moving. That’s where my husband came in. I enlisted his help in making puppet stands and we connected them in various ways to the car. Each puppet was then seated on a stand and we used fishing wire for any needed extra tie-downs. Once everyone was on-board, we took a spin around the block just to be sure I wouldn’t lose anybody. They all rode very well and so it was off to the parade. We won a 3rd place trophy for the Novelty category.

Mary Boardman

I started working at an adventure park this summer and the first thing I noticed was this huge zip wire, 60' up 300' long. I thought this would make an ideal spot to get Noodles my baby dragon used to the idea of flying, he is still too young to actually fly!! After a bit a coaxing Noodles was hoisted to the top of the pole in his pet box. I had to climb!!

Coming down was great fun we both loved it as you can tell by the photo. The photo made front page of our local newspaper, in full colour, and has helped get my name around as I am quite new to the area. You couldn't but that kind of publicity.

If you have an Axtell puppet find something daft to do with it as they make great photos and local press love a good photo!

Colin Dymond

KNOW YOUR STATE'S ACTIVITIES

Here's an idea from Dave Allen, Puppeteer,magician and ventriloquist.
Every state has a main web site that you can find by using this link
http://www.state.??.us/ replacing the ?? with the state you are interested
in two letter abbreviated name for example Iowa site is at
http://www.state.ia.us/ On this page every one that I have ever looked at
has a link to their travel site and on the travel page is a link to a
calendar of events. Most of these have search pages that you can use to find
events by area and dates. and these display contact numbers.

I book all of my magic festival shows by these links. I worked at least
one day every weekend this summer except two and those two free weekends
where by my choosing, have to take a break once in a while.

I contact the numbers shown most of these will have to give you a second
contact number as they are only the info number. But by calling these
information numbers you can find out the names and phone of the ones who can
book you. I limit most of my travel to within an 4 hr drive from my home and
had no problem finding enough to keep me very busy.

I use these contact calls to tell a little about my show. Then if they
have web access I give them my main web page address which gives them much
more detail and has pictures for them to see what I offer, if you would like
to see what my page looks like it is http://www.themagicman.com or
www.puppetcircus.com/dave If they do
not have access to the web then I send them a color brochures (inkjet
printers come in handy) That gives them the same info as the web pages.

From these web pages and phone calls, I have now built a mail list of
over 100 events and who to contact. I now send out mailings twice a year to
each of these, but 90% of my bookings come from the cold calling and
repeat bookings.
Dave Allen

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MORE PUBLICITY IDEAS

I had something to happen one time that I had not planned....but, the
audience got a real big kick out of it. I had used Grandpa and put him
away at a county-wide senior function. Then, I had Grandma
out....starting to walk around a bit with her.... A friend came by and
wanted to know if she could try Grandpa on, I said, sure.

I was across on the other side of the crowd when I heard Grandpa
hollering for Grandma...."Where are you, Grandma? Oh! What are you
doing way over there? You got to be careful in a crowd like this. You
might get kidnapped or something, sweet thing. Come back over this
way..."

Of course, Grandma started adlibbing back to him.....It was a blast!
nina xo

There's an old trick that is always new to the public - make an
arrangement to have the local barber "give a haircut" to your dummy,
then notify the newspaper. They'll send a photographer out to do a
cute photo feature, and you can plug an upcoming show.
Just make sure the barber has the apron around the figure's neck
just like the real thing, preferably sitting in a classic barber's
chair, with the baby seat elevating him up.

Also, make sure you and the barber are in the photo as he pretends
to cut the dummy's hair. Make it candid looking and not posed.
There must be no end to the kinds of publicity photos we can
think of to make newspaper readers smile.
Keith

Try marrying two puppets with a puppet preacher for the newspaper.
Alex Eatros Apache Junction ,. Arozpma/

If you do something unique with one or more puppets and do a media release that corresponds, then you'll get coverage. The trick is to turn it into a news story by making it unique. Here's a sample Media Release that I wrote...

http://www.ventriloquism.ca/media/index.html

If you have one of your puppets challenge a local celebrity to a contest in the name of a charity or something like that... you'll make the news.

Here's how...

· If they accept the challenge then you write a Media Release to have the media cover the event.

· If they don't accept the challenge then you write a Media Release about how the're "chicken" - In this case the media release MUST come from the puppet so that it's seen in good fun and not an attack against the celebrity.

I guaranttee you that if you learn how to write a good Media Release for workable "news stories", you'll get calls from the media. Of course, you'll also need to maintain a contact list for media in your area with e-mail and fax numbers, etc.

If you've got one character that is highly photogenic (you should know which one because you're a photographer!), then I would suggest going with that one.

Kenneth M.F. McGrath

ventriloquism.ca

See if your biggest book store has "Dummy Days" in yet, and offer to ballyhoo it for them.

Bill DeMar

I like giving things away....like my caricature (sp) of me and my baby.
I've always wanted to buy a bunch of wooden nickles with my ad on it to
give away. Here's a site.

luv, nina xo

Why not all of the dummies in the area get together for a family portrait? hehehe! Halloween is coming before Xmas, put on masks with lines going down from the sides of the mouth and challenge people to tell which ones are not the dummies. hehehe! No! seriously. See if the paper will buy it.

Bill DeMar