One Half of Everything Is Wasted
Friday 11 December 2009
Great herds of kangaroos have come down out of the hills and the National Parks to fill the harvested paddocks and to line the road verges and to sneak like nightly thieves through my garden and my gate. The theory is that they have come because the feed is poor in the bush. Actually, they have come because they have heard that if they find the right shed, they will hear a damn good show.
I did not know that advertising to kangaroos was so easy.
It has been said that half of every dollar spent on advertising is wasted, and that if we could only know which half we could save ourselves a packet. Today, perhaps more than half, perhaps as much as 99%, is wasted. Promotion is not what it used to be. Once, people went out of their way to find out what was on - now only the most insistent of promotions will get through, and even so will not get through very far.
Twelve years ago, Coke discovered that almost every event it sponsored was identified in the spectator’s minds as having been sponsored by Pepsi. Pepsi loved this and gloated - until it did its own research and found that all its events were believed to have been sponsored by Coke. Somewhere about the same time, a study found that hardly anyone could recall which watch manufacturer was a major sponsor of the Olympics, even though the name was prominently displayed during every event. Worse, it was discovered that branding doesn’t work very well: when a brand of soap, for example, mounts a campaign to promote itself over and above its rivals, the general market overlooks the brand and simply buys soap. The rivals benefit to the same extent as the initial advertiser.
Theatre has a weird twist to add to this: people are more willing to buy tickets than they are to attend the shows. I can think of no explanation for this, but I am prepared to guess that about 20% of all tickets sold are never redeemed. Free tickets (radio giveaways, for example, and raffle prizes) are eagerly sought, but almost never used. At every ticketed show, I give away two tickets per night over the radio. I am always surprised when any of them are used. It is probably possible - although utterly unethical - to sell out a house 20% above its actual capacity and never have to deal with people that cannot be seated. (On reflection, well-branded, long-established Community Theatres may not show these profiles, or of they do then not to the same extent.)
For the past few years, I left all the promotion and marketing to the communities where I was scheduled to play. Some did a good job, some did no job whatsoever. I never knew whether I would play to five people or five hundred. Before that, I would sell my own shows and push the marketing until I had at least 70% of the house pre-sold. There were always additional sales at the door - perhaps 15-20% of the house. Usually, there were phone or email bookings for collection at the door, of which up to 40% might not be honoured (though this would be an unusual figure). My issues were not how to promote and sell, but how to make promotion and selling less arduous.
The key strategies I used were the old-fashioned sales techniques of Leads-Prospects-Clients.
A Lead is anyone you might reasonably approach. Salesmen use Lead Sheets, which can be generated any number of ways. The most common Lead Sheet is the phone book. All the data that we allow companies and clubs to gather about us and to then sell on becomes, after analysis, Lead Sheets for specialist marketers. Lead Sheets are the hardest things to derive for the purposes of selling a show, but I found that taking down the contact details of anyone interested in my work did well enough. Sometimes social networks or social groupings - such as schools, services clubs, churches, arts groups, and so on - are good Lead Sheets and can be approached cold without ethical qualms. (A cold approach is when the Lead has never heard of you.)
Leads that show any interest whatsoever in the show become Prospects. Leads may be approached as potential customers, but Prospects (who actually are potential customers) must be approached as people with whom you are hoping to establish a relationship - albeit a business relationship. The key here is always authenticity. Good salesmen keep notes on their prospects - little details that will help keep the conversation natural and fresh and which will allow the Prospect to terminate the dialogue without the issue becoming bitter. We do not want our Prospects to treat us as we ourselves treat telemarketers. If they choose not to do business with us, we want to hear our offer gently declined and the door left open. When dealing with Prospects it is important to remember that only “no” means no. Until you hear “no,” then you should not give up. This is why it is important to keep a humane ‘out’ for the process that lets everyone keep face, and that does not jeopardise the relationship.
A Prospect that says ‘yes‘ becomes a Client. Clients continue to buy tickets for your shows. Clients are the most important group in the world, and must be looked after with every device available. It is not possible to do this with everyone, but where the Clients fall into social groupings, then ongoing relationships can be established with their leadership. Often, it is not necessary to do more than remember their names and the names of their family, but sometimes it is a good idea to have notes on their pets, hobbies, health and business concerns. Grant Lucas, in Adelaide, once showed me that it is essential to have a Client list four times greater than you can satisfy in a year. Less than this, and your Clients will get bored with you and want a break and you will not be able to cope financially without them.
It is essential to keep growing Lead and Prospect Sheets, in order to keep Client numbers high. Starting the process is easy. Growing it is hard. Very few - and I do not count myself among them - have been able to sustain a steady growth over a long term. I am part of what is currently called ‘Niche Theatre.’ Grant, and others, have suggested over the years that Niche Theatre has ceiling beyond which growth is impossible without becoming either “Genre” or “Mainstream.” That I have been (and probably still am) the most successful in my Niche in all Australia makes no difference. The most successful Australian Post-dramatic specialist I know (who is also the most successful there is) finds the same problem. Beyond a certain point, growth is unattainable.
I believe that, despite these provisos, Lead-Prospect-Client remains the key. I am trying, now, to get a handle on how to use this approach for online marketing. Alternately, how to adapt or even replace it: but nothing I have heard, read or had explained to me otherwise makes a great deal of sense - or seems to prove itself in practice.
The old saw of ‘passive promotion followed by word of mouth‘ is not, in my experience, anything other than a fiction. I suspect, though, that it is a fiction like the Yowie or the Nannup Tiger - improbable, but possibly true.
I am convinced, however, that it is completely true amongst the kangaroo community, because they keep coming in numbers without cease. I just need to make them pay.
Noël Christian
homestead:Theatre of Words
http://www.facebook.com/pages/homestead-Theatre-of-Words/195922452014?ref=ts
http://www.myspace.com/homesteadtheatre
I did not know that advertising to kangaroos was so easy.
It has been said that half of every dollar spent on advertising is wasted, and that if we could only know which half we could save ourselves a packet. Today, perhaps more than half, perhaps as much as 99%, is wasted. Promotion is not what it used to be. Once, people went out of their way to find out what was on - now only the most insistent of promotions will get through, and even so will not get through very far.
Twelve years ago, Coke discovered that almost every event it sponsored was identified in the spectator’s minds as having been sponsored by Pepsi. Pepsi loved this and gloated - until it did its own research and found that all its events were believed to have been sponsored by Coke. Somewhere about the same time, a study found that hardly anyone could recall which watch manufacturer was a major sponsor of the Olympics, even though the name was prominently displayed during every event. Worse, it was discovered that branding doesn’t work very well: when a brand of soap, for example, mounts a campaign to promote itself over and above its rivals, the general market overlooks the brand and simply buys soap. The rivals benefit to the same extent as the initial advertiser.
Theatre has a weird twist to add to this: people are more willing to buy tickets than they are to attend the shows. I can think of no explanation for this, but I am prepared to guess that about 20% of all tickets sold are never redeemed. Free tickets (radio giveaways, for example, and raffle prizes) are eagerly sought, but almost never used. At every ticketed show, I give away two tickets per night over the radio. I am always surprised when any of them are used. It is probably possible - although utterly unethical - to sell out a house 20% above its actual capacity and never have to deal with people that cannot be seated. (On reflection, well-branded, long-established Community Theatres may not show these profiles, or of they do then not to the same extent.)
For the past few years, I left all the promotion and marketing to the communities where I was scheduled to play. Some did a good job, some did no job whatsoever. I never knew whether I would play to five people or five hundred. Before that, I would sell my own shows and push the marketing until I had at least 70% of the house pre-sold. There were always additional sales at the door - perhaps 15-20% of the house. Usually, there were phone or email bookings for collection at the door, of which up to 40% might not be honoured (though this would be an unusual figure). My issues were not how to promote and sell, but how to make promotion and selling less arduous.
The key strategies I used were the old-fashioned sales techniques of Leads-Prospects-Clients.
A Lead is anyone you might reasonably approach. Salesmen use Lead Sheets, which can be generated any number of ways. The most common Lead Sheet is the phone book. All the data that we allow companies and clubs to gather about us and to then sell on becomes, after analysis, Lead Sheets for specialist marketers. Lead Sheets are the hardest things to derive for the purposes of selling a show, but I found that taking down the contact details of anyone interested in my work did well enough. Sometimes social networks or social groupings - such as schools, services clubs, churches, arts groups, and so on - are good Lead Sheets and can be approached cold without ethical qualms. (A cold approach is when the Lead has never heard of you.)
Leads that show any interest whatsoever in the show become Prospects. Leads may be approached as potential customers, but Prospects (who actually are potential customers) must be approached as people with whom you are hoping to establish a relationship - albeit a business relationship. The key here is always authenticity. Good salesmen keep notes on their prospects - little details that will help keep the conversation natural and fresh and which will allow the Prospect to terminate the dialogue without the issue becoming bitter. We do not want our Prospects to treat us as we ourselves treat telemarketers. If they choose not to do business with us, we want to hear our offer gently declined and the door left open. When dealing with Prospects it is important to remember that only “no” means no. Until you hear “no,” then you should not give up. This is why it is important to keep a humane ‘out’ for the process that lets everyone keep face, and that does not jeopardise the relationship.
A Prospect that says ‘yes‘ becomes a Client. Clients continue to buy tickets for your shows. Clients are the most important group in the world, and must be looked after with every device available. It is not possible to do this with everyone, but where the Clients fall into social groupings, then ongoing relationships can be established with their leadership. Often, it is not necessary to do more than remember their names and the names of their family, but sometimes it is a good idea to have notes on their pets, hobbies, health and business concerns. Grant Lucas, in Adelaide, once showed me that it is essential to have a Client list four times greater than you can satisfy in a year. Less than this, and your Clients will get bored with you and want a break and you will not be able to cope financially without them.
It is essential to keep growing Lead and Prospect Sheets, in order to keep Client numbers high. Starting the process is easy. Growing it is hard. Very few - and I do not count myself among them - have been able to sustain a steady growth over a long term. I am part of what is currently called ‘Niche Theatre.’ Grant, and others, have suggested over the years that Niche Theatre has ceiling beyond which growth is impossible without becoming either “Genre” or “Mainstream.” That I have been (and probably still am) the most successful in my Niche in all Australia makes no difference. The most successful Australian Post-dramatic specialist I know (who is also the most successful there is) finds the same problem. Beyond a certain point, growth is unattainable.
I believe that, despite these provisos, Lead-Prospect-Client remains the key. I am trying, now, to get a handle on how to use this approach for online marketing. Alternately, how to adapt or even replace it: but nothing I have heard, read or had explained to me otherwise makes a great deal of sense - or seems to prove itself in practice.
The old saw of ‘passive promotion followed by word of mouth‘ is not, in my experience, anything other than a fiction. I suspect, though, that it is a fiction like the Yowie or the Nannup Tiger - improbable, but possibly true.
I am convinced, however, that it is completely true amongst the kangaroo community, because they keep coming in numbers without cease. I just need to make them pay.
Noël Christian
homestead:Theatre of Words
http://www.facebook.com/pages/homestead-Theatre-of-Words/195922452014?ref=ts
http://www.myspace.com/homesteadtheatre
More by Noel Christian
- A Wallaby, a Dingo and a Wild Pig All Walked On a Stage11 Jan 2010
- Apples Under the Earth5 Jan 2010
- Earning Wages Just to Put Them in a Bagful of Holes29 Dec 2009