Hello I am a 16 year old magician. I have had a weekly restaurant gig for three years and I am looking to book more 'one off gigs' I mean this not as a weekly gig but a one time party. Any advise would be fantastic and much appreciated.
Marketing tips and how to book gigs
- Thread starter MichaelS11322
- Start date
What kind of "one off gig"? Strolling? Seated close up? Parlor? Stage?
Assuming you want to do strolling (which is the party version of table hopping) my general recommendation is The Approach by Jamie D Grant - which is basically a workbook for becoming a part-time, paid, strolling magician.
Assuming you want to do strolling (which is the party version of table hopping) my general recommendation is The Approach by Jamie D Grant - which is basically a workbook for becoming a part-time, paid, strolling magician.
I am a big fan of 'show leather' marketing. Low cost and with a little work you can get your name out on the street! Make up a flyer offering to do magic shows for kids birthdays, parties, business meetings, etc. etc. (Whatever type of gig you would want to do). Put in the flyer your email and/or phone number. Then go out on the street where people park their cars, grocery stores, shopping areas, event arenas, etc. and put flyers on peoples windshields...you generally will see 2-3% response, of course not all of these will be bookings..!
These days 2-3% is a good response to a paper marketing effort like that.
Think about it this way - When someone's out shopping or whatever, and they see a flyer - what are the chances that they are thinking about hiring a performer? Very little. The hope is that they take the flyer home and have it somewhere handy that reminds them of the performer's name when they are thinking about hiring a performer. The realistic scenario, though, is that they toss the flyer in the trash or back seat or whatever and never look at it again. It may even detract from the image, as these days flyers like that are often seen as an annoyance. I know I've actually decided to avoid restaurants and businesses that left flyers on my car because it amounts to littering in many cases.
To make a paper campaign like that effective, you want to target places that are involved in party preparation. If you want to do birthdays, find cake bakeries that are willing to let you put your information up, for example.
Think about it this way - When someone's out shopping or whatever, and they see a flyer - what are the chances that they are thinking about hiring a performer? Very little. The hope is that they take the flyer home and have it somewhere handy that reminds them of the performer's name when they are thinking about hiring a performer. The realistic scenario, though, is that they toss the flyer in the trash or back seat or whatever and never look at it again. It may even detract from the image, as these days flyers like that are often seen as an annoyance. I know I've actually decided to avoid restaurants and businesses that left flyers on my car because it amounts to littering in many cases.
To make a paper campaign like that effective, you want to target places that are involved in party preparation. If you want to do birthdays, find cake bakeries that are willing to let you put your information up, for example.
Thank you for the advise. Do you have any recommendations of places I can personally approach and pitch my act to?
Specific recommendations? No. There's way too many factors that go into that and I just don't have any information to work with.
In very general terms, look up events you'd be able/willing to travel to. If it remotely seems like a good place for you, try to contact them. Understand that generally you're going to have to contact a potential venue 6-9 times before they even really consider hiring you. Don't flood them, though, spread it out over a few weeks/months.
Personally I do well with niche festivals (Harry Potter or general fantasy), "alternative" art scenes, private parties, and "spooky" events. It took me some time to find the ones that worked best for me, though.
You're going to have to do market research. Figure out what entertainers in your area charge, and also where on the scale you realistically are. Set your price and start finding people to try to sell to.
Oh, and another thing you'll need to understand - you're probably going to flounder for several months or years before really getting a foot hold, depending on how naturally talented with business and marketing you are.
In very general terms, look up events you'd be able/willing to travel to. If it remotely seems like a good place for you, try to contact them. Understand that generally you're going to have to contact a potential venue 6-9 times before they even really consider hiring you. Don't flood them, though, spread it out over a few weeks/months.
Personally I do well with niche festivals (Harry Potter or general fantasy), "alternative" art scenes, private parties, and "spooky" events. It took me some time to find the ones that worked best for me, though.
You're going to have to do market research. Figure out what entertainers in your area charge, and also where on the scale you realistically are. Set your price and start finding people to try to sell to.
Oh, and another thing you'll need to understand - you're probably going to flounder for several months or years before really getting a foot hold, depending on how naturally talented with business and marketing you are.
Thank you so much I think your advise will help a lot. I live in a city and was wondering if you knew of any potential places to perform there on any type of magic (except children birthdays). I greatly appreciate your advise and you taking the time away from your day to help me.
I would offer a two-word piece of advice:
P A R T Y P L A N N E R S
Once you get in with the right party planner(s) you will get 10 times as many bookings as you could just pounding the pavement with paper or approaching prospective individual clients. And it won't just be one off.
P A R T Y P L A N N E R S
Once you get in with the right party planner(s) you will get 10 times as many bookings as you could just pounding the pavement with paper or approaching prospective individual clients. And it won't just be one off.
You hit the nail on the head "Once you get in", not always an easy deal for a starting magician with a limited resume...sometimes you do what you can to get a few gigs and build a resume and some references, then the Party Planners, and other key contacts will at least give you a look….
@Al e Cat Dabra is 100% correct there. Find and befriend the local party/event planners. They're the ones making the decisions of who to hire for entertainment (and everything else associated with parties and events. They literally run the show). On the flip side of that - never make a local party planner angry with you. They all talk with each other and burning a bridge with one means burning bridges with all of them.
Again, I don't know enough about you to give specific recommendations. I don't even know what your skill level is or what kind of magic you perform, or where you are located and what is around you. You're going to have to do that leg work yourself.
Again, I don't know enough about you to give specific recommendations. I don't even know what your skill level is or what kind of magic you perform, or where you are located and what is around you. You're going to have to do that leg work yourself.
Thank you for the advise I have recently began looking at them. Do you have any specific advise on party planners specifically in the Philadelphia/New York City area?
Hello I am a magician who specializes in strolling/table hopping magic but can also perform stage magic. I am located in Philadelphia and have no fear of traveling where work is as long as I as a minimum break even.
I did a website and got a ton of gigs just from good SEO on it. From these gigs i get referrals and repeat business to the point where i no longer advertise.
Yes - once you get to the point where you're getting good word of mouth, your advertising efforts can be dramatically reduced.
This doesn't actually tell us anything. You basically just said, "I'm a magician". Shawn Farquhar and Dan Sperry could both be described as, "Stage magicians" - but you probably wouldn't recommend a Dan Sperry show to the same people you'd recommend a Shawn Farquhar show.
If you want to make money in magic (or any performance art, really) you have to have an identifiable brand. Otherwise you become interchangeable with all the other people doing similar things - and at that point your only bargaining chip is price point, which ends up being a race to the bottom. The brand you decide on will also be a big part of how you determine who to pursue for gigs (Or, if you don't, then the gigs you do will end up determining the character you can play).
I know there's a decent wedding market in Phili because I've been to a couple wedding fairs there. There's a decent alt-circus scene as well. Again - this isn't something that randoms on the internet are really going to be able to help you with. Even if we gave you a list, you still have to make sure you have an act to sell, you still have to go to them and convince them to hire you. The sooner you start working on that the sooner you'll start building your reputation and professional brand.
This doesn't actually tell us anything. You basically just said, "I'm a magician". Shawn Farquhar and Dan Sperry could both be described as, "Stage magicians" - but you probably wouldn't recommend a Dan Sperry show to the same people you'd recommend a Shawn Farquhar show.
If you want to make money in magic (or any performance art, really) you have to have an identifiable brand. Otherwise you become interchangeable with all the other people doing similar things - and at that point your only bargaining chip is price point, which ends up being a race to the bottom. The brand you decide on will also be a big part of how you determine who to pursue for gigs (Or, if you don't, then the gigs you do will end up determining the character you can play).
I know there's a decent wedding market in Phili because I've been to a couple wedding fairs there. There's a decent alt-circus scene as well. Again - this isn't something that randoms on the internet are really going to be able to help you with. Even if we gave you a list, you still have to make sure you have an act to sell, you still have to go to them and convince them to hire you. The sooner you start working on that the sooner you'll start building your reputation and professional brand.
Thank you for your advise. To add a little more about my act I would not say I am a *comedy* magician but my act has a lot of laughs in it. It is appropriate for all ages but unless specifically asked for it is not geared for kids.
Thank you for that advise, do you have any tips on how to befriend party planners?