You may have noticed I recently advertised some muppet building workshops. Well, so far my marketing strategies haven't worked so well. I'm getting limited interest (although someone in another state of Australia would love to come!)

I have put out the word to my local universities, mailing list/friends and family, a few people in touch with the local puppetry scene here that have good contacts, and am slowly getting the word out to craft people and other groups. I've got the classes listed on a few "What's on in Melbourne" sites (you know government ones designed to encourage tourism), and have put ads on all the Aussie theatre sites.

My problem is that I'm so far unable to tap a big part of my market, which is the parent/teacher/crafter. I'm not involved in a local church or community group, and feel it not quite ethical to try and sell to a puppet ministry market since I'm not part of one. (I wouldn't even know who to contact anyway)

I'm basically at this point going to cancel my first workshop, but keep advertising the second, in the hopes that the added time will allow me to increase interest.

Can anyone suggest some good marketing strategies that I perhaps haven't tried or considered?

Churches need puppets too.  I would target them.  A church can work up a nice group of puppets if someone from the church learns to make by learning from you.  That's how it all strated with me.  I took a puppet building class as a teen.  Churches save money if they learn to make their own. I would approach the children's minister.

I've been thinking of a marketing strategy myself.  Here it is. My kids attend one or more VBS programs in the summer.  As a "thank you" to the staff, I may just give them a simple hand puppet with a flyer describing my puppets so if they are interested, they can contact me about buying more.  I am a Christian myself, so even though giving away puppets may be a bit more generous than you might want to go, I figure that this is my gift to the body of Christ (the church) to help with evangelism.

Not a Christian.  That's OK.  They'll consider you another soul to save and treat you with kindness.

Just a thought.

No, I'm not Christian. I'm not religious at all, which is why I'm reluctant to market to a puppet ministry audience. It's also to do with the fact that puppet ministry simply isn't popular here to the extent it is in America. I know of no puppet ministry groups in my city, let alone which particular church to approach or who to talk to within that church. It would be too much legwork (not to mention a big phone bill) to go through the phone book; and no one I know is particularly religious either.

I just feel uncomfortable ringing up churches to ask them if they do puppet shows, and if so, would they mind paying $300 (AUD) per person to take part in a class? It would be different if I were at least on some level involved in a puppet ministry group or even know of one.

Na.  People and Churches are approached often with different products and services that may be of interest to them.  I also know that once a church becomes involved in puppets they are often willing to spend thousands of dollars to build up their ministry.  I encourage you to not let your religious status limit you.  That being said marketing to the churches within your region might be more complicated and costly than you are ready to deal with that will have to be your call.

Another avenue for puppets is in education.  I recently had a teacher ask me to make a puppet for them so that they can use it in their classroom.  I also taught a puppet building workshop for a school in my area.  Why not try and sell you services to the schools in your region.

I am not sure that your decision to cancel your first workshop is the right one if you do have one or two people who would be interested in taking it. The reason I say this is that word of mouth can go a long way and it might just be worth it to go ahead and carry out your plan for the first workshop.  You might even think about offering it to a few people for free or a reduced rate.

Then again if you do not have any takers for the class yet, I can see your point.

I wonder if it might be worth putting together some "mini demo workshops".  I am not real sure where you would hold these but the idea would be to have a one hour program that would show the build process. It would mean that steps that take time may have to be done ahead of time and then you show just the end results or finishing off of a step. For example sewing the covering of the puppet could be done almost in full leaving maybe the last several inches that you sewed in front of them and then demonstrated turning the piece.  Glue things together for the most part but leave a bit at the end that you glued.

This demonstration could be offered perhaps free or for a very small fee and might generate the interest in the full workshop where the person would actually be able to build and take the puppet home with them.

Another avenue for puppets is in education.  I recently had a teacher ask me to make a puppet for them so that they can use it in their classroom.  I also taught a puppet building workshop for a school in my area.  Why not try and sell you services to the schools in your region.

I'm not ready to go into schools. It's quite a large market, and at this stage, I just want to do a couple of adult classes, so I can get to know my teaching abilities a little better; smooth things out, then go into schools. Perhaps I'm shooting myself in the foot that way, but going into schools is a lot more work that I just can't afford yet. (For a start, insurance is more expensive, and I'd have to get a police check... )

I am not sure that your decision to cancel your first workshop is the right one if you do have one or two people who would be interested in taking it. The reason I say this is that word of mouth can go a long way and it might just be worth it to go ahead and carry out your plan for the first workshop.  You might even think about offering it to a few people for free or a reduced rate.

The two people already signed up... my dad, and a friend. Otherwise, yes, I'd keep the workshop available anyway.

Mini workshops are interesting - I had thought about doing an 'open day' kind of thing, where people could just come in, see some of my puppets, participate in some easy build-your-own stuff... but again, it's all about the market. It's incredibly difficult to get any kind of good coverage in this town, unless you are already tapped in to a local community event.

... Maybe I'm going about it all wrong. Craft markets are incredibly popular, and maybe instead I should make a bunch of puppets, take them to a craft market, and sell there. Then, when I have much more of an interest from buyers, and when I'm a little more 'present' in the community, I could do workshops.

Just my two cents...

I contemplated the very question your asking for a long time when I was trying to make a break into the community and puppet world. I imagine my same tactics should work for Australia too. 

Libraries, don't underestimate the potential there. Here in the states, libraries offer lots of activities to keep the kids, stay at home moms, and senior citizens busy. Every library I've encountered, no matter what state so far, has some sort of "class" list for people to sign up and learn something new... or just to make new friends and socialize. The libraries around here don't pay, but you can charge whatever you like per person that attends. Also, they tend to have public boards, so you could obtain permission to advertise your classes there as well.

Recreation Centers, very similar to the situation above but on a much higher level because people attend rec centers specifically to find various classes. AND, if you target the ones that have season child care programs for kids then you'll have access to LOTs of customers. Same situation with pay at most of these too, you charge a small fee for a smaller kid project available within the center and the kids can break away from the normal child care routine to attend them within the same building.... they allow that here in the states anyway.

Daycare Centers, If you have a project available for pre-school age kids. The center should actually be the ones paying you but the ones around here generally expect some sort of entertainment as the bulk of your time (I usually did story time using a puppet)... and then a small project (stick to 15 or 20 mins) is okay afterwards.

After School Care centers, here in the states there are a lot of after school centers that are based right out of the elementary school. The programs, although housed at the school buildings, are actually run by a different company entirely. You could speak to someone at the school to obtain permission to use a different part of the school (maybe the cafeteria or library), to hold your project and then discuss with the child care people about sending flyers home to kids. Payment would be coming from the parents on this one too. This was a slow starter for me, but I switched my approach on the flyers when contacting the parents....into something that suggested my class as an award for children that did well in school and I always either did something that offered a treat, or just gave them a treat at the END of the class (to keep things from getting messy). When I started out with this, I sent flyers out on Thursdays because most parents get paid at the end of the week and they could sent the money in with kids on Fridays and then I would have the class on Monday (too give forgotten kids one more day to bring in their payment).  This can work VERY well, as the company that ran the after school care actually did so for several schools in my area..... when they saw the popularity of the event at the first school they started to invite me at their after school care centers in the area (even other nearby cities). I found that attendance picked up when I priced the classes under $10 per child.... usually $5 or $6 was a "sweet" spot that allowed me to obtain plenty of attendees and still pay well for expenses and time.

Art Stores, Craft Style Gift Shops:  You'd be surprised how willing these companies would be to either paying you to host a class, or provide you with space to chage a per person rate. Attendance at your classes brings them potential customers and makes their stores look busy to OTHER potential customers.... they'll want to come in and see what all the excitement is about.  Use this as a marketing strategy when trying to sell the idea if they aren't smart enough to see it themselves.

Craft Shows: You mentioned it in your post and I wanted to confirm that your idea was a good one. Sell them on a table display, but take it further by also offering a quick Make-n-take project at your table. Charge a small fee per person (usually an antsy child) and you're doing mom & dad a favor by entertaining the child and also providing a "purchased" item to bring home.... because kids don't expect to go home empty handed from those things.        Even better if the craft involves a little treat here too.

Try the above idea at flea markets as well.

Churches: This was also mentioned and I wanted to second the suggestion. Oh boy, you're missing out on lots of potential with this one. Not only could you market your ability to provide a unique crafting experience, but your potential for being in contact with the right people for networking is HUGE. I have found that church groups are VERY loyal to people they have had good experience with and soon they will be recommending you to other churches. If your shy about it, try contacting them about their seasonal festivals to set up a craft table at first... lots of networking there too!

Well, I've chatted lots.... more than I have in months on this forum. Hope I was helpful. 
-Michele

Na, it appears to me that you're in that awkward stage where your trying to build your business at the same time as your tyring to assess and develope your abilities in running this business.  You need to be confident that you have a product that would benefit the people: give them personal pleasure and/or endance their programs and offerings.  Your tentative approach is showing through as insecurity.  If you want to grow your business you must attract some big accounts.

It also occurs to me that you have to take your product to the people.  Until they know you most people will not take the time to come to you so you have to go to where they are.  This means craft fairs, libraries, rec centers, etc.  Once you've built up your business you may be able to back off from these but at first you go because you'll be able to introduce yourself to a lot of people in a short amount of time.

Don't be afraid of you teaching abilities.  Unless there are only one or two students, the atmosphere of a workshop is a bit chaotic so your teaching skills will not be as much on display.  As long as you can show those that are there how do build their project and they have a good time doing it you will be successful.

I guess what I'm trying to say is be confident in yourself and your abilities and work every angle of your market as you can get in right now.  You have a great product!!! But its up to you to let people know about it.

Libraries, don't underestimate the potential there

Recreation Centers, very similar to the situation above but on a much higher level because people attend rec centers specifically to find various classes.

Daycare Centers, If you have a project available for pre-school age kids. ...
After School Care centers, here in the states there are a lot of after school centers that are based right out of the elementary school.

Art Stores, Craft Style Gift Shops

Craft Shows: You mentioned it in your post and I wanted to confirm that your idea was a good one. Sell them on a table display, but take it further by also offering a quick Make-n-take project at your table.

Churches: This was also mentioned and I wanted to second the suggestion. Oh boy, you're missing out on lots of potential with this one.

Well, I am doing the workshop in a library, and am trying to publicise within the library and to others. Unfortunately, haven't had the chance to take fliers to all the local libraries, but I'm getting there slowly.

I haven't thought about rec centres, which is an interesting one. I haven't been to my local one in years, and  it didn't even occur to me to include those places. Generally I guess because they're more about sports than arts, but I'll look further into it.

Again, I'm not comfortable going into schools and daycare places just yet, but you're right I should have them on my list for later.

Art stores - now you've picked up on something. I have a couple local to me that might be ideal. I've thought about approaching them before, but actually I've never been in before. But then you reminded me of a shop my mum goes to a lot, where you can sit and paint ceramics; it's also a cafe, and my sister used to work there too - so I have a bit of an introduction already.

As for the craft shows, I was thinking more about it today. There are a number of big craft markets around where I could set up a stall. I was thinking of making some shadow puppets, and bring a small screen and light with me (if inside), and people could 'play' and buy. I've also got some patterns for shadow puppets, so I could quite easily print a few out and people could make their own.

Na, it appears to me that you're in that awkward stage where your trying to build your business at the same time as your tyring to assess and develope your abilities in running this business.  You need to be confident that you have a product that would benefit the people: give them personal pleasure and/or endance their programs and offerings.  Your tentative approach is showing through as insecurity.  If you want to grow your business you must attract some big accounts.

It also occurs to me that you have to take your product to the people.  Until they know you most people will not take the time to come to you so you have to go to where they are.  This means craft fairs, libraries, rec centers, etc.  Once you've built up your business you may be able to back off from these but at first you go because you'll be able to introduce yourself to a lot of people in a short amount of time.

Don't be afraid of you teaching abilities.  Unless there are only one or two students, the atmosphere of a workshop is a bit chaotic so your teaching skills will not be as much on display.  As long as you can show those that are there how do build their project and they have a good time doing it you will be successful.

I guess what I'm trying to say is be confident in yourself and your abilities and work every angle of your market as you can get in right now.  You have a great product!!! But its up to you to let people know about it.

I'm confident I have a good product, but I'm not confident about much else. I absolutely hate doing publicity stuff, and would rather leave it to someone else. It's also to do with the fact that I'm pretty much on my own here. I have a couple of great people in the puppetry field here to ask questions of, but they're not in the same city. The local puppetry companies are generally too busy with their own stuff, and I have not been entirely successful at working my way in to the scene. I've pissed off a couple of big name people in the industry, and the only puppetry jobs available are going to people who've graduated from the local puppetry course - one which I don't want to do. Internships and mentorships no longer exist because of this course, so I've pretty much just been doing my own thing.

Again, it's not so much worried about what I'm doing, but more of how I'm doing it. Melbourne is a bloody big city and it takes an incredible amount of work to get noticed in an industry most people don't even know exists here - even pro theatre people don't know that puppetry is done in Australia!

I'm being tentative at the moment also because I have been considering taking a job which would require me to move to another city within the month. Stress of being unemployed for so long is getting to me, and I'd kind of like to be getting on with something. I hate sitting around and waiting for something to happen, and perhaps that's making me a little all over the place with ideas and puppets.

... Anyway, there's a lot more backstory, and suffice to say that I've burnt my bridges with a lot of the industry here.

I think I will definitely build up a bit of a product range and then take it to markets. I think I'd have better luck with markets than anything else to begin with, especially as there are some very popular ones in my area.

I'm not too worried about my teaching abilities, more of teaching in a school environment. There are a number of things I want to work out before going into schools, such as a good structure for the classes (lessons here can range from 45 minutes long to a couple of hours, depending on the school and their curriculum), what kinds of puppets, etc. There are also separate needs in terms of insurance and marketing itself would be a lot of legwork. I want to do more research before heading into that area of things, so that I don't start advertising... and, well, do what I'm doing now.

That was the point of offering these workshops now, to figure out what the weak points are and work out the kinks.

I do appreciate the comments and the confidence you have in me 

I've always had a knack at just being enthusiastic and organised enough that things would find a way of working out; lately it's not working out... perhaps I should stop rushing into things and just try a different puppet product altogether, like the markets. That way I could build an interested audience for my puppets, and then offer workshops when I'm a bit better known.

(By the way, I'm getting about 1 or 2 people contacting me about commissions per fortnight, and today got another one... So at least part of my marketing is working!   )

Well sounds like you have a lot on your plate.  This can be overwhelming.  From other talk on the forum I've heard that building a puppetry business is slow because you have to spend a great deal of time and energy just making people aware that its there.  Only you can decide what you have the time and resources to do.  Whether you pick up another job and do puppetry as a side or continue to plugg at it.

Best wishes