A brilliant failure...

[dave walbridge]

So. A local theme park hired me for nine days last Summer. I figure this is a good time to try some marketing....

I made up some glossy photo cards and gave them out to every kid after the shows, expecting to generate some business or at least some calls.

And

No shows generated. Not a single call.

Thoughts?

[Stephon]

Maybe give them to the parents, instead. Kids tend to lose things, and parents tend to dismiss ads for things their kids like / want.

[martin ewen]

Use Hilbys and silver elvis's angle. Make fridge magnets. They tend to end up on the most visited door in the house. Same size as a postcard. Write whatever contact stuff you want on them and keep them interesting and colorful looking.

My 2c

[dave walbridge]

Interesting idea...and I have a great source for magnets...

[Frisbee]

I print up and go thru about 15,000 cards a year, I usually get at handful of people hiring me out of that which more than pays for the cards, Make them colorful and interesting, put your facebook and twitter info on there as well as all of your contact details for how you want to be contacted.

I got a gig this summer because someone held on to the card for two years and when she needed an entertainer she had my card to call back on, you may not get the gigs right away, but if you make it cool and something that you can autograph for the kids too it will pay off in the long run.

I like the magnet idea too, but those could get costly and heavy to travel with, the cards are bulky enough.

[Michael Neal McGee]

Patience

Never underestimate the "half-life" of printed material. I was contacted by a community theater producer last year to see if she could rent a set of bagpipes for a production of "Un-necessary Farce" (a play that centers around a hitman who uses bagpipes to terminate his victims). She had been given my card by a friend of hers who I had met a year prior to that in the Verizon store when she commented on my mustache.

So almost two years after handing out a penny buniness card which ultimately changed hands, I got a two week piping gig, a quater page ad in the production program (for lending rather than renting them a set of bagpipes), met some lovely people, got some great promotional pictures, and had a wonderful time.

Not a bad return on a one cent advertising investment, even if it took two years to come to fruition.