One of the most important ways to grow your clown business is by increasing your brand awareness. Brand Awareness is how recognizable your company is and how many people know about your company. Increasing your brand awareness can only help to grow your business.

Initially you want to grow your brand without spending very much money. This means using things you already have such as business cards and your skills as a clown. That way you are getting more business without increasing your overhead. For all of these brand awareness raising techniques you will need to have business cards.

1. The first step is relatively easy, just go to your local library and offer a mini show. Make sure that in your show you include reading a children’s book. Charge the library nothing other then having your name on any flyers or posters they might produce for the event as well as being allowed to give children one of your cards. In fact just call your business card a bookmark.
2. The second part is to do some sort of specialty clowning: hospital or gospel clowning. At either of these events you can hand cards to all sorts of people either before, during or after your performance. I would suggest before you attempt either of those types of clowning that you read a book or to on the subject. You should be able to find books on both subjects at your local library, which you will be at during part one.
3. Street performing is the third way to increase your brand awareness. Make sure that you have a show that you can take to the streets. This means having a quick ten to fifteen minute show that is very flashy. Juggling works best with balloons a close second. Head to an open downtown type area and scope out a good performing. The most important part of street performing is to make sure that even if someone leaves without tipping that they don’t leave without a business card.

Following those three steps will enable you to grow your business costing you only business cards that you already have. Good Luck!

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.

Simplifying your clown life is, well, simple. All you need to do is figure out what you need and only do those things. That may not sound very easy so lets break it down into the two areas that most clowns have a problem with: Make-up and Props.

Simplifying your make-up is the easiest part of this exercise. Look at what you use every time you clown. Place all of those common items in one pile (A), take everything else and place it in another pile (B). Take everything in pile A and place it into your main make-up bag or case. Take pile B and check for dried up or empty make-up and store the good stuff in a large Ziploc bag.

If you, like so many clowns, have more then one character, you will have more then one style of make-up that you use. What you need to do is to put all of the essentials for any clown face in one Ziploc and the make-up that is only used for one clown face in a bag for that specific type of make-up. This will make it much easier to put on your individual characters, while streamlining your overall make-up process. You will still be doing pile B the same way.

By following the two-pile plan you will be able to quickly prepare foe any situation by not having to rustle through all of your make-up for one color cup or pencil.

Simplifying your props is a much harder process then your make-up. This is because you have probably grown attached to a lot of props that you don’t use and yet don’t want to part with.

The easy way of sorting props is to make a list of what you use at every gig and place that into your gig bag. That way most of what you need for every party will be in one place for easy grabbing as you head out the door.

Next take all of the stuff that you use for holidays and special events (grand openings, etc.) and organize them in plastic tubs by event or holiday. This will allow you to quickly modify your gig bag without having to dig through a mountain of props. Now the real trick is to stack these tubs according to when they are needed. Consider that a lot of your holiday stuff may only be used for a couple of months whereas props you use for grand openings may be out every month or more.

Take a look at all of the props that are not in a box. Those are your museum props, this group of props is usually full of props that you don’t use and have an emotional attachment to. You need to go through these props and make sure that you really need them. If you do need them, try and figure out a way to display them so that you still get some enjoyment out of them and they don’t just gather dust.
By simplifying your make-up and props you will find getting ready for gigs to be much quicker and easier. This will allow you to spend less time running around looking for things and more time preparing to put on the best show you know how to.

Come back next Friday for the Practice portion of Five Steps to Better Clowning.

Every clown has had at least one show where someone in the audience, child or adult, has attempted to or has ruined the show for everyone else. There are three ways of dealing this situation as a clown and it is important to know which one works best at any given time.

1. Use Them: Most of the time when someone is heckling a performer it is because they feel that they deserve of the attention that the performer is receiving. The best situation for this strategy is a stage or birthday party show. You should bring the heckler up to the stage area and make them a small part of the show, using them for something as small as holding your props or retrieving your juggling props as you drop them. Typically once they have been a part of the show they will sit quietly for the rest of your performance.
2. Ignore Them: This is most effective to use against adults at a birthday party. By not acknowledging their disruption or allowing them to interrupt the show they will get frustrated, giving up to harass someone else or quiet down. A lot of adults become hecklers because they want to be the center of attention. Once the rest of the audience sees you ignoring the heckler they will follow suit and the heckler will not get any response and will quiet down.
3. Leave Them: This is the hardest strategy to use but is sometimes necessary. The first thing to do is to ask the politely for the heckler to please stop disrupting the performance. That way the host or hostess of the party will notice what they are doing and hopefully step in and stop the heckler. If they continue to heckle, ask them a second time, mention that you will be stopping the performance and leaving if they persist. If they continue, start packing up and get ready to leave. Once you are all packed and ready, if the host\hostess hasn’t come to talk to you yet, find the host\hostess and collect your fee. Typically, at this point, the host\hostess will ask you to stay and will stop the heckler, hopefully moving them to a different part of the part of the house. This method is only to be used in the most dire circumstances, typically when Uncle Dude gets drunk at a birthday party.

Using these three strategies to handle hecklers at a show will allow you to be prepared for any event while still maintaining a professional attitude and appearance. Remember that as a clown you must never stoop to the level of the heckler, no matter how satisfying it might be.

Here is a quick list of clown tips to make you a better party clown. These are simple things that will help you really impress the person that hired you and insure that everyone has a good time.

1. Always be on time- Being on time to a party is the number one way to make a good impression and impress everyone. Even though you are a clown there is nothing funny about being late to a birthday party. Nothing will ruin your image of a clown then ruining a party by being late. If you are running late to a gig you need to call them as soon as you know you are going to be late. And if you do arrive late, if your schedule allows, always stay late to make up for your mistake.
2. Always powder your makeup- Powdering your makeup is a very important part of being a clown. It will help set your makeup and is really important if you are going to be going from party to party. Of all the methods out there for powdering the one that works best seems to be to use a powder sock or puff and wipe off the powder. Don’t worry about any excess that won’t brush off, it will be absorbed by your makeup after about 10 minutes, setting your makeup even more.
3. Always be prepared- There is nothing worse then arriving to perform at a party and not having one of your props. While a lot of times no one else knows about the missing prop, but the stress of that missing prop will show in the rest of your performance. It is also wise to always bring doubles of ay props you have that might run out or break.
4. Always be funny- this is a no brainer, always be funny. Of course this depends on the audience. If you are performing for the typical varied birthday party audience, you will have kids from 1 to 100 at the party. You need to make sure that you have a varied number of gigs and jokes that children and adults will enjoy. The easiest way to ensure this is to constantly study new jokes and other performers to get ideas. It is never ok to copy exactly what someone else does, but just watching other performers will give you ideas on how to make more people laugh.

Gig bags are just one of the important tools of the usable clown. You want to be able to get to a gig prepared because doing so will make you look professional leading to repeat business. One of the hardest part of clowning is making sure that you are ready for every gig. Here is what you need to do to make yourself a well organized gig bag.

A gig bag is a bag, suitcase, trunk or box that you store all of your props in. The basic idea is to have it all set up and waiting to leave before you even have a clown job. That way you don’t have to focus on getting your props together, you only have to worry about looking professional and being on time.

1. The first thing to do is to find a “bag” that fits you character. Go to a Thrift store and see what kind of suitcases they have available, keeping an eye out for older hard cases as well as carpet bags. If you use a lot of heavy props you might keep an eye out for something with wheels. Once you find the perfect case you are ready to set it up.
2. Most clowns find setting up a gig bag to be confusing since it is hard to know what you need to have in it and what you just think you need to have in it, here is the criteria that you should follow: do you use the prop every show, is the prop in good shape, does it fit in your case. If you are having a hard time figuring this out have a friend help you go though your props. Have them watch you during a performance and make a list a props that you use.
3. Once you have narrowed your props into a need to have and a have to have piles you need to place them into your bag. This is fairly simple, though I would suggest making sure that you put props that you use first in last so they are easy to find at the beginning of your show.

There you have it, the how-to’s of making a gig bag. You will find that your bag will be constantly evolving into the ideal bag of tricks. Remember keep it simple and you will be good to go.

Do you ever feel burnt out performing the same show at the same events day in and day out? This happens to everyone at some point in their clowning career and it can be hard to fix. But if you follow these 5 simple steps you can stop traveling in the rut and start performing again.

1. Reassess- Why you are clowning. If you are like 90% of clowns, you started to bring joyt and laughter to the masses and not the money. Remember the feeling of your first successful gag and clowning will become fun again.
2. Re discover- What makes you different from the thousands of Bozos out there. Is your unique since of style or perhaps its your ability to juggle plates. It dosen’t matter what it is that makes your different, just find it and embrace it. By embracing your individual zaniness you will be able to plan you next steps as a clown and move forward.
3. Redesign- By changing your overall clown look you will be actively doing something that happens normally in most clowns. Your (and everyone’s) clown face goes through a period of evolution for about 5-7 years. Keep this in mind as you design an entirely new clown face. Feel free to try a new clown makeup type, costume and, of course, a new nose. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you change.
4. Reinvent- Your clown character as it is now is nothing like what it started. You started thinking “I won’t talk and only use mime”, then you got into the real world and realized that a non-talking birthday clown is really really hard to do. You have already designed a new make-up so now it is time to make the character that goes with it. Using all of the facts of life you have learned from your other clowns evolution, make a character that sticks and fits you perfectly.
5. Remarket- For your brand new clown all the world is his\her oyster. You can take on venues you hadn’t considered before and they won’t even see you coming. You are no longer the birthday clown you are the company picnic clown. Use your two separate clown personas to work the separate venues and see which one gets the better response.

If you are stuck in a rut because clowning has lost a little of its magic follow the 5 R’s of rut busting: Reassess, Rediscover, Redesign, Reinvent and Remarket. Those 5 steps will help you freshen you clown life and help you rediscover your love of clowning.

A lot of clowns, when they are first starting out, get tricked into performing for free for a non-profit organization This, in itself, isn’t a bad thing, it is only when the non-profit starts to take advantage of the entertainer that it becomes a problem.

Here are three simple ways to be funny for “free” while still getting the most out of the performance. Free means that you get no monetary reward for performing your services. What you need to do is make sure that you always receive something for your services:

1. Tax write off- getting a statement from the non-profit organization stating that you donated the equivalent to $xxx.xx (your normal hourly rate times the length you where there). That way when tax time comes you have a wonderful write off from all of the “free” performances.
2. Food stuffs- are at almost every banquet type event. Make part of your “payment” be a meal for yourself and tickets to the benefit for two of your friends. That way not only do you get to eat, but someone can take pictures of you for your website or other publicity. Plus three more mouths eating a catered event isn’t going to cost the non-profit nearly as much as paying your normal fee.
3. Recognition- is another great method of getting your name out there and costs the non profit very little. Make sure that your name or company name is in the program or on flyers that are distributed. Also make sure that you are announced along with the other sponsors.

When you are approached by a non-profit for some free entertaining keep these three methods of “payment” in mind. That way you can do the gig for free and still get “paid”.

While it has never been proven, clowning is well known to be a great confidence booster. Clowning allows people, who would normally be afraid to perform, a chance to hide behind their clown while entertaining. By increasing their comfort zone while clowning shy people will become better public speakers and better in all social situations. As a performance art clowning is a very open group, with little rivalry and quite a lot of people willing to help a new clown learn the ropes. This means very little chance of someone getting discouraged by a rude clown mentor.

Another confidence booster, for beginning clowns, is the fact that clowns are expected to make mistakes. This means that if you are juggling and drop, it happens, people are going to laugh at the clown who failed at juggling as expected. All you have to do as a clown is to realize this and embrace it. When you make a mistake, react to it in a clown way. Whatever you do don’t get mad.

So, if you happen to be low on confidence or afraid to clown because you hate performing in front of people, take heart, clowns are a naturally supportive group that takes care of its own. Oh, and the public expects you to mess up. Go for it.

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You are already a professional clown or you are thinking of making that leap because you are passionate about making people laugh so here are some tips to improve the services you provide to others. Some of these you may already do or have mastered so just skip that one and move on.

1. Learn to unicycle. this will require you to either buy a unicycle or to make friends with someone who has one, but it is a great skill to learn and isn’t as hard as it looks.
2. Learn to fall. Learning to fall correctly opens up all sorts of comedic opportunities as well as people loving it when people fall. It will also help if you trip while wearing stilts or clown shoes
3. Learn to juggle. But the klutz book and spend the 4-6 hours it will take to learn. Juggling is a great clown skill and is easy to make funny.
4. Learn to make magic. It isn’t enough to be able to do a trick, you need to make that trick funny.
5. Learn slight of hand. This will improve every aspect of any magic you do and will allow you to perform even if you don’t have a gimmicked trick to do
6. Learn how to sew. You will then be able to repair and modify your costumes. This is especially important as a tramp or Hobo clown,
7. Learn how to make balloon art. Not just dogs, cats and animals, this means hats and really really big sculptures. That way you can make anything anyone asks for.
8. Learn how to apply your makeup quickly. Nothing takes up more of your time then having to take a full hour to put on your make up. With practice it can take between 20 -30 minutes.
9. Learn to walk on stilts. Once again you need some stilts which can be built or bought, but once you learn you will find that you will get request for them.
10. Learn how to say no. Nothing is harder then saying no to a potential job. Make sure that you can say no if you are unable to or just don’t want a job, this is especially helpful when you get free calls from non-profits.
11. Learn how to make a website. Making an effective website is a great step to getting more business. Make sure you spell check and make everything easy to read.
12. Learn to share. Nothing is more fun then working with other performers. Don’t be afraid to go to a juggling club and learn to pass or find a partner to clown with.
13. Learn to care. A great goodwill event for any clown is to start working with a hospital. Entertaining sick people is incredibly rewarding, just make sure you get the proper training.
14. Learn to teach. Taking the time to help others learn a skill or to clown is a wonderful way to spend your time. Clowning is best learned from an experienced person and you are that person to a new clown.
15. Learn to back away. The greatest fear of any clown is for a little child to cry as they approach. Control the situation to prevent putting kids in a position to be scared and remember it is easier for you to leave then the child.
16. Learn to perform. Take the time to study great performances by other clowns and learn what works and what doesn’t. Never copy,but learn from others mistakes and successes.
17. Learn to move. Take a dance or gymnastics class. As you learn to move you will find that you can move in funnier ways without fear of hurting yourself.

There you have it Dylan the Clown’s tips for becoming a more professional clown. Select 4 of these things to work on every month for the next 4 months and you will be a better more enjoyable clown.