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Essentials in
Get Famous
Marketing barbershop performances
Jack Greenfield offers tips on getting your chorus in front of more audiences, more profitably.
Updated: 2/13/2004 11:26:00 AM
No matter what your group’s performance level, you could be performing more often and receiving better performance fees. Here are some proven techniques
Even if a company offered a great product, few of us would invest in that company if it knew little of the market, didn’t know how to find customers, and didn’t even know how its own product would be used. Okay, so there was the dot-com bust. The point is, most of us are equally careless and clueless in marketing our barbershop performances.
You probably have a tried and true audience for your annual and Christmas shows, but are you reaching all of the potential entertainment markets in your community? Are you receiving appropriate compensation for your brand of entertainment? Could your performances be modified to appeal to a wider range of potential clients?
Take a moment and look realistically at your chapter’s performance marketing program, as if it were a business offering a product to prospective customers. No matter the population of your area, the number of other performing arts organizations, and the performance level of your chorus and quartets, any chapter can improve its community prestige and income. Organize your approach to include the following basic steps.
Find local entertainment buyers
Research the local entertainment market to learn who uses entertainment, for what purpose, and at what expense. Use the Yellow Pages and other performing arts organizations to uncover potential buyers of entertainment:
- organizations with fine arts or entertainment series
- entertainment agencies •
- theaters
- retirement or residential complexes
- convention management companies
- event management companies
- organizations that successfully raise funds by marketing entertainment
- clubs or fraternal organizations who book entertainment
- any others who typically contract for entertainment.
Find out why they use certain entertainers, what kind of venues they utilize, the length of their performances, the fees they are accustomed to paying for various kinds of entertainment, whether or not they book entertainment directly or through some kind of agency, and any other information you might be able to use in reshaping your chapter’s marketing program.
Assess your performance level
Realistically assess the true performance value of your chapter’s chorus and quartets. Take into account musicianship, showmanship, and the level of your narrative, skit, or other non-singing material. You need to know this so you can compete against equivalent talent. It is difficult to objectively evaluate your own performance level, so involve an appraisal from a well-informed, independent nonbarbershop observer.
Connect with entertainment buyers
You’ll find that many potential buyers make arrangements through a talent booking agency, event management organization, or convention management firm. Talk with the agencies in your area about their entertainment needs and offer to audition your work for their clients. You may want to prepare a short, high quality video or audio tape, a promotional brochure, and a professionally designed press kit to make this process easier. If you already have performances scheduled that meet the needs of the agency, offer complimentary tickets to both the agency staff and their clients.
Package or repackage your group
Consider how you might package your chorus and quartet performances to better meet time, space, and price requirements of each market. For example, a smaller ensemble—somewhere between a quartet and full chorus—may suit more stages and audiences. Other changes may make your performance more appealing to broader audiences. For example, the introduction and narrative material be-ntertween songs is a weak link for many chapters —it may give you an amateurish and clumsy image despite an otherwise solid musical performance.
Develop a marketing plan
Ensure that your plan:
- targets the most realistic prospective performance opportunities in your community
- includes performance packages that best fit your target markets
- sets performance fees according those charged for competing entertainment of similar merit
- utilizes the conventional distribution system for each market, such as booking agents, event managers, convention management firms, and talent agencies. Include the many civic and charitable organizations in your community that are looking for fund-raising projects, especially the marketing of good entertainment with broad audience appeal.
Prepare materials
Produce appropriate support materials for prospective clients:
- a brochure
- a good demonstration tape
- some pro forma budgets to show fundraising organizations profit potentials in various local venues
Also, use your own show and performances to show off for prospective clients or agents.
Beyond the financial windfall, a bigger and more diverse audience is one your most effective recruiting tools. Oh, did I mention that performing more often is also a lot more fun?
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