In this three part series you will learn the ins and outs of clown marketing which will allow you to more effectively market yourself. The most important thing you can learn is that a well marketed clown is a hired clown. Without a well thought out and executed marketing plan chances are you will sit at home while some other entertainer gets the job.

Part 1: Business cards- The most important part of your marketing plan is going to be your business cards. These 2″ x 3.5″ pieces of card stock are going to become your initial money maker. The problem is figuring out a design for the card as well as what information to include.

Being a clown dosen’t mean that you go find the brightest most confusing paper you can and printing your information on it. You, of course, don’t want to go the other way and be really boring with your card. You want to walk that fine line between crazy and boring.

The first thing to consider is the overall color scheme of your cards. You want to select bold colors that compliment each other. At the most you want three solid colors plus black. In rare instances (you know who you are, Rainbow the Clown) you might use a rainbow gradient but only if it fits your character.

Next you need to figure out a logo to use on all of your business marketing materials. I would suggest paying a professional to design your logo as that will make your card look the best. You want to make sure that it is easy to identify and is totally unique. Also make sure that your logo can be tied to you in some way. If you are Bubbles the Clown have a logo with bubbles, if you are Buttons the Clown don’t use bubbles in your logo.

Once you have a logo designed you have to figure out where to place it on the card. It is important to make your logo big enough that it can be read and understood, but not so big that it takes away from the important information on your card. I would suggest the top left or right corner of the card as ideal logo placement.

Finally you need to figure out what information you are going to be putting on your car. The most important is: company name, your real name, phone number, email address and website address. That is all that has to go on the card. Some additional things you might consider adding are: Skills your have or types of events that you perform at.

A word of warning about putting skills or types of events on your card. you do not want someone to to think that since an item isn’t listed on your card that you don’t have that skill or won’t perform at that type of event. So when in doubt, leave it out. It is better to have people call you for more information, allowing you to sell them yourself then to have them assume that they cannot use you.

Now that you a design all squared away you need to have them made. if you have access to a photoshop type program you can put together the card yourself. If not you need to find a graphic designer to help you. A good place to find a graphic designer cheap is to go to a local college that offers graphic design classes and approach the students. Once you have your design all put together, fit as many as you can on a page and take it to a copy shop and have it printed in full color on a heavy weight card stock. Then, using the paper cutter at the copy shop, cut them out yourself.

There are a lot of places online that offer “Free Cards”. Make sure you understand what free means and that you trust the company. typically with the “free” designs you have to choose from x number of designs and they are usually made on a thinner card stock. A lot of these sites will also charge you to upload a design or to have a final proof mailed to you prior to making your cards. All of these sites print a little ad for themselves on the back of the card, which detracts from the professionalism of the business card.

Now that you have 500 – 1000 of these shiny new business cards, what do you do? You give them to everyone that you know. And I mean everyone. 75% of your leads when you are first starting out will come from people you already know. You will go through that first 500 cards so fast your head will spin. This is because you will give all of your close friends at least 20 cards and anyone who you talk to about clowning gets 5 cards. These people then pass them out spreading news about you throughout your community. Your goal the first month you are in business is to hand out 100 cards a week. That way the community at large will see your name and wonder what they can use you for.

Another thing that you want to do is to really work on getting parties. A lot of clowns when they are first starting out just sit around and wait for the parties to come to you. This could mean sitting around for a couple of months just waiting. What you want to do is to actively pursue the gig. Check back next Wednesday (10/17/07) to learn more and come back next week to learn about Clown Marketing:Part 2- Websites.