Magic Marketing Book Extract

This issue we have the first of 3 planned extracts from Sean Taylors new book, Selling the Show. If you don't know Sean, he's a UK born, Sydney based mentalist, magician, writer, magic shop owner, creator and entrepreneur. He's also one of the very few performers I pass assignments on to when I can't do them myself. With a background in marketing as well as the entertainment business this new book is eagerly anticipated by many people. Sean has provided us we a few extracts and I will run them over the next few issues. I've also think we will be able to organise a special price for Magic Coach readers when the book is released, so stay tuned. The Extract is the second item.

1/ Facebook Fan Page

Make sure you visit and like our Fan Page at  http://www.facebook.com/MagicCoach

We are starting to use it more and more and there are some interesting things going on there that do not get mentioned in these Newsletters.

Speaking of Fan Pages for Business, here is a brilliant compilation of free resources about FB Fan Page Marketing. It's called the ultimate guide and I would agree!

http://www.copyblogger.com/ultimate-facebook/

2/ Selling the Show Extract -

Extract from the chapter on Pricing

 Range - The big secret

Supermarkets are among the most successful companies in any given country. They make millions of dollars often based on a tiny margin on each item. The technology and indeed psychology behind supermarkets is remarkable. They have software programmes which track in detail every item against how many they stock, what price they charge, how much valuable space they consume and where they are placed on the shelf. They may try to have a single extra label facing the consumer at one shelf higher and this can boost sales by 10% on a single item. They spend millions on figuring all this out. Why not then look to them for advice.

Supermarkets understand that the more choice they give the consumer, the more likely they are to buy. Not only buy some things but hopefully buy everything. Supermarkets have been so successful in this principle that we now have supermarkets in other industries. Hardware and office products are two good examples. Hardware stores used to be small and have only the best of everything and you got great help and advice. Now they are huge hardware supermarkets. They give you a choice and you buy. No longer do you go from store to store looking for that perfect thing; they have apparently all the options so you go there and simply make a choice.

If a supermarket has a single item in any given product area, they know that this does not present the client with a choice. So what do they do? Answer: they create another competitive product themselves. Let’s say there was a new item released and it was walnut flavoured barbeque sauce and it looked like being the next big thing. As soon as it was released, barring any copyright issues, the supermarket would look to have a second variety of the same sauce. They may create a home brand version under their own label or they may go to a rival manufacturer and get them to produce one too. The second one would be a different design and a different price, either more expensive or cheaper depending on what the market would stand. The next time you are in the supermarket, pick a few products and look around them and you’ll see a competitive product for almost everything.

So how do we make this work for us? An entertainment booker, like any consumer of any product or service is most likely going to call a number of entertainers to get an idea of what they can offer and how much it will cost. What they are looking for is what any of us is looking for, a range of options from which to choose. They need to make a buying decision; they will gather information in order to make that decision by getting a number of quotes from different places and then making a selection based on those.

If you are able to provide a client with a range of options, they are more likely buy.