Word of mouth is the best if you just want localized gigs however word of mouth from one agent to another is even better if you want gigs outside your area. I no longer like to fly so I just rely on Word of Mouth in our area and it works just fine.

Word of mouth done right is absolutely great.

When it came to it back in the 90s and comedy clubs the owners exchanged information and word of mouth developed that way. It happens in every niche industry. Performing arts centers do talk with each other as well as resorts and even schools. Agents often trade acts through territories.

All of that is great and happens and helps, until you’re doing hack jokes and bad tricks because THAT type of word of mouth spreads even faster than being great.

Back in the 90’s we didn’t have websites, Facebook, twitter, and the likes to spread the word. We had to use every little trick we could to get the news started. Word of mouth was king. Well, it still is today but there are more ways to spread the word.

The cane bit was simply an after-show reminder of what they had just seem in the opening act with canes, candles, etc. It worked for me because like many today, I didn’t have a sign with my name and website on stage to point to. I simply told them to go tell somebody.

Later I made millions of dollars in the childcare business operating strictly on word of mouth. Within that industry, word of mouth is all you have, all the advertising in the world means nothing without the trust and word of mouth.

Tom

That little trick and line were not great in the 1990s either. Perhaps the 1890s.

Playing for 1000 people or more this afternoon. My goal is to hand out 200 Biz cards and talk to the potential clients as a performer not a business man. I never discuss money or anything like that at the gig. In fact I tell them that "Jake" isn't trusted with money and someone else handles all of that. It leaves me free to be the character that I am and continue to entertain even after the dancing and singing is over. Even Word of Mouth needs to be set up in a professional way.

Sounds Great Slim. It really is about building relationships.

Good luck with it. And do let us know how it went.

Tom

Fantastic gig. I think we may have handed out 100 cards. Probably 1000 people in attendance. About 90% were dressed as Santa or Mrs. Claus ... So fun. I think we easily posed for 100 pictures giving most of them our card. We ended up hitting the clubs after the show and sang with other musicians in the area. Unforgettable night. We'll see how it effects our requests for gigs...

Glad it went well Slim.

Yeah, you never know how long it takes to see some results from something like that.


I’ve started several local businesses in my lifetime, and I found that in reaching out to potential clients I always liked to look for influencers. I thought it was important to reach out to those that could help me spread the word. In my case it was always the other local business places that I wasn't directly competing against. I found that influencers could provide valuable word-of-mouth advertising, and that they were often more influential than traditional media sources. And too, they likely had relationships with my potential customers, making them more likely to recommend my product or service.

For example, when I first started the daycare business, I needed to reach parents with kids. And you would think that throwing money at newspapers, TV, etc would be better advertising to reach the moms at home. But that wasn’t the case. I got my best response from going door to door calling on businesses. This worked because it was the working people that needed childcare, not the moms sitting at home watching tv. I was targeting the ones that mattered the most. And I always hated going door to door handing out brochures, but I forced myself to do it and it worked. By giving info to a business place with several employees I was reaching all of those working employees with that one contact.

If I were starting a new business today, I would certainly look for the influencers to help spread the word. Finding and targeting them does of course depend on the type business you in. But regardless of what you doing, if you are doing business locally, the other local business people should know about you. Don’t think that the people at the local hardware store would never help you find a magic show prospect or help sell a ticket. Local business people like to stick together because they see other local business people as their prospects too. It’s a you help me I’ll help you situation when you have established yourself as a local business. No, it’s not always about who you know, it’s about the ones that know you, and most importantly, who ‘they’ know.

Let me say it again, ‘lt’s not always about who you know, it’s about who ‘they’ know’ - I've gotten business many times from a card that has been passed on to someone else. Keeping your name out there is important.


Tom

Someone released a short video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPv6IVyAYyo&t=196s

That is a lot of golf carts.

Well Done Slim. Great Happy Crowd.

I watched a video the other day about how the Villages are run.

It seems like the perfect place for an act like yours.

Thanks for sharing it.


Tom

During Civid they would have street parties.. Wearing masks and staying at home were NOT on these peoples bucket list... Huge block parties and hundreds of golf carts... Many have never been on a golf course..