Cats

I am so excited!!!

For years and years and years I have been asking the theatre “When are we going to do CATS?”  But was told it wasn’t available to amateur theatre.

We saw the touring company of CATS in Vancouver back in the mid-eighties, twice!  I remember the tickets were $84 each which was steep.  But we enjoyed it so much, the next time it came through, we went again.

Now the show IS available and will be presented in a Grande Prairie Live Theatre/Grande Prairie Regional College co-production in February 2013 and I am the make-up lead!!!

Let me tell you, if the director hadn’t asked me there would have been blood on the floor…

The theatre announced the 2012-2013 season, which happens to be the theatre’s 50th anniversary season, on Thursday evening and as part of the presentation “Memory” from CATS was performed by Sandra Pippus… and I did her hair and make-up for it.  If you are going to be singing that song while announcing the production you have to BE Grizabella!!

I haven’t had a chance to review the production notes but I am very excited about designing the faces for the cast of characters.  At this stage I don’t know if there are specifics laid out in the licensing so I’m not going to get too far along in my own plans for the make-up, but I really hope to make them awesome!

It is a jam-packed season – full of music and comedy.  Usually there is one show a season that I think about auditioning for… this list has four or five!!  However, due to conflicts some of them would not be possible, but there are two I think I will try for which are for next spring.

Some fun

I painted myself today for a theme on a Facebook group called Theme of the Week, that I belong to.  The current theme is “Lawn Furniture of the Cities of the World”… pretty obscure, eh?  LOL

This is what I came up with

Adirondack Chair, Westport, New York.

I know Westport, NY isn’t exactly on the biggest hit list for “Cities of the World” but it is where the chair style apparently originated!

I used the remains of a DFX neon rainbow, TAG pearl black and Wolfe white.  HOWEVER, I now have very sore and sensitive skin under my eyes…

I have been progressively getting more sensitive to make-up products.  I’ve never worn make-up on a daily basis, but as a clown I had to stop wearing mascara, then eye-shadows, powders, false lashes… eventually gave up on the clown…

But up till recently I could wear face paint without too much problem.  I don’t like wearing DFX as I find it extremely drying on my skin… but I only painted my face, took photos and washed it off… wasn’t expecting to be so tender after such a short time.

Guess I’ll stick to Kryolan, Snazaroo and Grimas for bases as I usually do.  It was just that I wanted the impact of the neons…

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UPDATE:  I won the Theme of the Week!

Musings and happenings

It is snowing… after a couple of weeks of really nice dry sunny and warm weather where all the snow melted away, the grass started greening up and the city was cleaning the streets we got hit with snow.  It has been coming down since yesterday afternoon and is getting pretty deep.

It isn’t cold, just -4C with a windchill of -11C, so it is pretty wet snow.  And apparently we are going to be sunny and +8C by Monday so it will melt away quickly.  The wind is blowing enough that it is keeping the roof relatively clear – gusts are causing mini white-outs in front of the living room window.

Looking out there right now it is hard to remember that I actually MOWED THE FRONT YARD last Tuesday.  And put away the snow blower and the snow shovels… [sigh]  And sprayed the weeds coming up in the front beds with weed killer.

One of my co-workers at the office was actually wearing flip-flops and capri pants to work last week!

This week is opening week of Paint Your Wagon so I was at dress rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday – and the show opened Thursday, with performances last night and tonight.  It runs until April 28th.

I didn’t realize that the stage musical is quite a bit different from the movie – which starred Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin!

Most of the cast is male and all have grown a variety of beards and facial hair!  Some are quite impressive!  The women in the show are mostly Fandango Dancers (aka prostitutes!) except for three who are the daughter of the town founder and the two wives of the Mormon preacher.

There are 22 people in the cast and I have a crew of three – two of us are doing make-up and one hair.  It is working out very well.  Usually for a show this size three or four on make-up would be needed, but with all the men only needing part of their faces done since the hair covers the rest, it is speeding up the process considerably.

I am having fun with the Fandango Dancers doing quite bold make-up on them.  And they seem to like it too.

Mom’s new casual aide for evenings is a first year nursing student named Stephanie and so far it seems to be working out great.  She is staying in residence at the College over the summer so will be available.  Last year was a real scramble to try to hire casual staff for the summer and I ended up having to hire from a nursing service as we couldn’t get anyone hired.

I’ve been feeling quite blah for the last couple weeks.  Not sick, but yukky.  I haven’t been sleeping very well this week nor have I been eating properly.  When I’ve got a rehearsal week I tend to mess up my eating patterns but this week has been really bad.

There are a lot of sicknesses going around and several of the cast at the show are quite ill… which seeing as I am touching them and breathing while working in their faces can be dangerous for me!  I keep the hand sanitizer handy and hold my breath a lot.

My new RAV4 was at the graphics shop yesterday to get my wrap installed… they had a glitch so weren’t able to get her finished so I am driving around with a half-wrapped vehicle this weekend, and only one mud flap as they took it off to install the vinyl.  There is a also some tweaking required as some lettering is a bit wonky.

I’ll drop her off again there on Monday before work to get finished.  It is exactly the same as my previous wrap.  Why mess with a cool design?  The company has my vehicle on their company website gallery from when they did my 2007 RAV4 – TrimFX Gallery Click on Vehicle Wraps – my RAV4 is images 8, 9 & 10 of 19 in that gallery.

Business Tips for Face Painters, Body Artists and Make-Up Artists #4 – Target Markets

April 1st means it is time for the fourth excerpt from my e-book The Business of Face Painting.  Of course, if you would like to get all the information included in my book right now you can find out how here.

The Business of Face Painting was published in September of 2009 and I am working on the final stages of the companion book The Art of Face Painting which we hope to have out sometime this year.

Deciding who your preferred clients are and who you want to target with your advertising and marketing efforts is very important.  By concentrating on a specific type of customer you can effectively use your available advertising budget to get results.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter Four of  The Business of Face Painting.

MARKETING YOUR FACE PAINTING SERVICES

What is Your Target Market?

As a face painter most of us at some point will narrow down our focus for marketing to concentrate on specific areas that we prefer doing for our own reasons.  A target market is the group you specifically wish to obtain work from.  In order to reach this desired group we “target” our marketing efforts towards them, therefore they are our “target markets.”

You can define your target market in many ways.  It could be a physical area – say a 50 mile radius from your home; it could be a specific type of event – say birthday parties or public festivals; or it could be specific service only – say you only want to do body painting.  How you define your own target market is completely up to you.

Here is a list of places and events where face painting could be welcome:

• Shopping malls
• Store grand openings
• Birthday parties
• Family reunions
• Wedding receptions
• Christenings, Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs
• Restaurants
• Night clubs
• Golf tournaments
• Hockey games, football games, etc
• Company picnics and Christmas parties
• Easter egg hunts
• Rodeos and fairs
• Farmers’ markets
• Charity events like walks, runs, relays
• Government open houses
• Street festivals
• Fringe festivals and art walks
• Art galleries
• Book stores
• Dance schools and competitions
• Theatrical education programs or theatres
• High school lock-ins and grad parties
• Pre-school fun days
• School sports days
• Museums
• Movie theatres and movie openings
• Store children’s program activities
• College events
• Music festivals
• Large multiple sports events
• Holiday     events – New Year, Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s, etc.
• Regattas
• Parades
• Public outdoor concerts
• Piers and boardwalks in tourist areas
• Theme parks
• Roadside attractions
• Garage sales
• Flea markets
• Craft fairs and sales
• Scrapbooking events
• Store sales and special promotions
• Indoor playgrounds and play centres
• SPCA or Humane Society events
• Trade shows, home shows, boat shows
• Tourism activities – local tours, open houses, markets
• Church fetes
• Carnivals
• Petting Zoos
• Block parties
• Community events – neighbourhood parties and get-togethers
• Hospitals
• Seniors’ facilities and care homes
• Daycare centres

This is just what came to my mind.  Don’t take this as an exhaustive list as there are probably dozens of other places and types of events that I didn’t think of.

Whatever you choose as your target market you will need to plan on how to reach those individuals that fit in that group.  This is when you will need to do some research and perhaps get creative in your marketing approach.

You will need to consider where they live and work, what they read, what method of marketing or advertising would appeal to them.  You need to get your message and information in front of those people who could/would hire you.  For example, what type of advertising would reach your target markets?  To determine this may involve some research and possibly some expense on your part to develop material or advertising.  There is a considerable amount you can do for little or no cost, but there is a point where you may need to be prepared to spend to reach out to your desired customers, and that will vary depending on your targets.

Once you decide on your target, let’s say for illustration purposes that we want to reach large-scale public events such as fairs, rodeos and festivals, you need to determine who you need to get your information to and how to actually do that.

The first step is to make a list of the events you want to contact and who organizes them.  There are a few ways that you can do this: watch the newspaper and local publications for advertisements for events that suit your target market and make a note of them – location, organizing group, contact telephone numbers; check local community listings for upcoming events; look up event listings from local venues such as fairgrounds and arenas; check directories from local groups as often annual events and planning committees may be listed; check the local tourism offices for annual events; check with local volunteer bureaus for volunteer planning committees; contact charities that benefit from large events locally to get contact names and information; look up organizations in the yellow pages; churches and schools often hold fairs and events for fundraising purposes.  These are just some suggestions as there are many ways to obtain information.  Once you have a list of events use the yellow pages and online directories to fill in all the information that might be missing from your list such as mailing addresses and phone numbers.

Once you have created a list of potential clients in your chosen target area you then have to determine how you are going to make contact.  There are several ways you can do this from cold calling to a direct mail campaign.  Consider a few things to start with:

1.         How much do you want to spend on this?

I like to keep my expenses low but am willing to spend a certain amount each year on good quality marketing materials such as professionally printed full colour brochures, postcards and business cards.  I also consider postage as a normal business cost.

2.         What is your comfort level?

Personally, I loathe cold calling and it doesn’t matter to me if it is by telephone or in person for charity or personal business.  I just detest doing it and won’t do it!  But many people don’t mind doing it and can do it very successfully.  Technically cold calling is considered sales, not marketing, but when you are a one person business operation you do it all.

3.         How much time do you have to spend on this?

I like to get my big marketing projects done in one session, so spending an afternoon or evening getting a mail-out done is my preference.

4.         What contact information do you have?

i.e. an actual person’s name or just a post office box?

In many cases the only contact information available to me is an association name and post office box.  Committee members change year to year so the contact names are often out-of-date.  Get as much information as you can, but don’t let not having a name stop you from sending your material out.

5.         Is there an advertising media that the majority of your target markets would see?

i.e. the local Chamber of Commerce newsletter?

We don’t have local methods of advertising that would reach all the groups on my list so I have chosen not to spend money on advertisements locally.  In some areas there are parenting magazines that could prove useful to target the birthday party market as an example.

Given all the above I chose to do a direct mail campaign with a letter, a brochure and some business cards to all the groups I had on my list that I had mailing information for.  The first year that I did this I mailed out to 37 separate groups and companies – from that I received 11 inquiries, and 7 confirmed bookings (one of them for multiple dates.)  The second year I sent out 30 packages and got 11 bookings confirmed.  I add a few new names to the list every year and drop some unproductive ones.  A couple of years ago I switched to using postcards rather than the letters and it has proven to be just as, if not more, effective.

Something to remember too is that your target markets can change year to year.  You do not have to stick with something if it isn’t working or if you decide you want a change for whatever reason.

There are many ways to attempt to make contact with your target markets.  You can use any one or combination of methods – it’s just a matter of time and money and how much you want to spend of either:

• direct mail with an addressed letter to the contact person
• direct mail with form letter – not personally addressed
• direct mail postcard only
• cold call telephone
• cold call in person to introduce yourself and give brochure
• direct mail with a follow-up telephone call.
• advertising in local publications and newsletters, i.e. Chamber of Commerce, tourism board, volunteer services bureau, Rotary Club, school districts, etc.
• Yellow Pages and other local directory listings free and otherwise.
• Internet listings, free and otherwise
• Joining local business groups to network with potential customers, i.e. Chamber of Commerce, tourism board, volunteer groups
• Advertising in local entertainment publications, newspapers, parenting magazines, etc.
• Using your postal service household unaddressed mail delivery service
• Posting notices/posters on community bulletin boards in stores, clubs, malls.
• Networking with other face painters for referrals.

You should be able to make contact with your specific target markets with a bit of research, some work and minor expenses for postage and marketing materials.

The level of success will vary depending on your area’s economic prosperity and the amount and level of competition there is, but it is well worth the effort in increasing your business and raising your name recognition.

© Shannon Fennell, 2009

with material from “Designs and Templates Volume 1” © November 2007

and “Designs and Templates Volume 2” © March 2008

Squeaky clean!

My friend Larissa makes soap.  She and her husband run several home based businesses and soap is one of their really great products that they make under the name Reef Botanicals.  I’ve been using her Purity soap for a couple of years now… it is pure soap and is great on my skin AND practically a miracle cleaner for my brushes and sponges.

I blogged about the Purity when I first got some from her (you can read that old post here).

Well, she has now started packaging Purity especially for us face and body painters!  In a big tub that can sit on the side of the sink ready to use!  So I just have to tell everyone about it again.

I was leaving a bar sitting on a yoghurt container lid sitting there… have to admit this looks WAY better!

I am not leaving the lid on… but thought I’d show it for illustration purposes.

And this what my new tub of Purity did for me this morning:

It is much lighter.  Some colours just soak into the taklon fibre and green is one of the worst.  As long as I can lighten them to the point of NOT looking dirty/unwashed, I am happy.

But looky what Purity can do for sponges!!

Now, in order to get these kind of results you need to handwash and work the lather in, sometimes repeatedly … just saying.  Some people can’t be bothered to put that much effort into having their sponges looking new, but if you are willing you WILL get results like this.

Some St. Patrick’s Day photos

Last night I was back at the club that hires me to paint their staff for their theme nights pretty regularly.  It is a fun gig.

The staff are always excited to see me and get painted.  One of the bartenders pretty much has his shirt off the minute he sees me…. He’s featured on another post from when I painted at their Mardi Gras night last month here.

He always has a specific idea of what he wants.  This time it was a large off centre shamrock with a white outline and the Notre Dame logo… which I didn’t know off-hand so I did an angry leprechaun.  I think that worked, don’t you?

They are the Fightin’ Irish, right?

He then came back later on a break and wanted something on his arm so I did this:

And this one I call a Shamrock Animal Print… I was sort of going for leopard spots that resemble shamrocks, but not connecting them so it didn’t just look like lots of shamrocks… I quite liked it.

And this one I call an “organic” design as I had no idea what I was doing… I just start adding colour and picking up brushes and it just happened:

And this one I was trying for a celtic knot feel… not sure if I succeeded but I like it.

Now that I look at it, it looks more like my old Army cap badge – the crossed paperclips, LOL.

And this gal told me that I am the only person she lets put make-up on her face… awww.  And she models a lot up here for photographers so does all her own make-up.

The next two are pretty standard St. Paddy designs – a leprechaun and rainbow with shamrocks:

This last one makes me laugh…. Black Irish…

So that is some of what I did last night.

Giving credit where credit is due, or, oh brother she’s on a rant again.

Let me start this off saying that I am expressing my own  opinion, feelings, and personal experiences.  It may amuse some, annoy others, some may think I need to chill out or seek help, but I have a need to rant and perhaps make a point.

As a make-up artist, face painter and body painter (and artist, craft person, cook… etc.) I admit there is nothing completely new and original that someone, somewhere probably hasn’t already done at some point in human history.  I mean… there are only so many ways to paint a tiger, right?

But when I create something from scratch – meaning that I had an idea, thought about it, planned, researched, designed and executed it - I feel possessive.  That is MY creation, MY idea…

A lot of inspiration comes from other media – paintings, photographs, literature, patterns in the clouds, book covers, Aloha shirts, cartoons… pretty much anything really.  That is the trigger that gives me the idea that I then work on, sketch, and sometimes follow through on successfully to produce something that I am really proud of.

I have a lot of ideas that don’t work.  Most artists do.  Those are the canvasses you paint over with something else, sketches that end up being note paper, photos that get deleted as no one is going to see it, ever.

The ones that do work, however, I am excited to share … I enter contests, art shows, display on my website, blog and Facebook page, share with friends.  I want to exclaim “Look what I did!  Isn’t it great?”

I don’t believe people who say they don’t feel like that when they do something good and I’m not a fan of false modestly or fishing for praise by criticizing their own work.  Sure, we are our own worst critics but you KNOW when you do something really good… that’s why we share it with others!

Now… the point of all this is that I am getting FED UP.

Completely and utterly fed up with people taking ideas and designs that were originally done and posted or otherwise published by other artists… taking these designs and creating their own step-by-steps, making You Tube videos showing the masses how to do these designs without acknowledging that they are using a design that is NOT their original concept, and they then accept all the praise and fawning remarks about how great and original the design is!

It has been going on for years.  People are caught doing it  quite often.  This is different from using a design out of a book and doing your own version, making small changes like using different colours, etc. – that is usually fine with me and most of my peers.  We’ve all used the work of others at some point or another… but try to make the design somehow our own.

And when we’ve put out our own designs as step-by-steps in books or online those designs are fair game for anyone to copy, of course.  They were published for those purposes so those are excluded from this rant.

What I don’t approve of is COPYING EXACTLY then pretending it is your work.  I see designs all the time that have been copied dot for dot, line for line, colour for colour.  They are posted on websites, Facebook, forums, EVEN entered in contests, etc. without any sort of acknowledgement to the person who actually did a little bit of creative thinking to come up with the design in the first place.  Why?  WHY?

It isn’t illegal, I know.  It isn’t copyright infringement because they did actually paint the design for their own photos.  BUT… it feels like theft when you are the originator of a certain unique design – which may or may not be based on something else that inspired you.

And what’s with all of these people making You Tube videos anyway?  Why is it necessary to show everyone how to do what they, I assume, wish to be hired to do?  And when they take MY design and decide to show people how to replicate it… what is the upside to doing this??  Are they using my, and other artists’, designs to increase the face painting public’s perception of their originality and ability?  How are they profiting from this?

I am not the only artist that gets angry, and HURT, when this happens.

What appears to be the source for many of the designs that show up is the Snazaroo USA Photo Contest Pages.  Seems like all of the new people deciding to face paint in the last several years have no idea of this goldmine of designs but the people “using” these ideas without crediting the original versions obviously have.

Have a look… there are THOUSANDS of great, ORIGINAL ideas and well executed designs there.  All available for anyone to use as an inspiration.  Feel free to paint them when you are working but… please, respect the original artists and at least acknowledge that you found the idea somewhere else.

ESPECIALLY if you are ripping them off to increase your own profile.  That would just be the polite thing to do.  And it would make me happy… you wouldn’t like to make me angry, would you?

Something new and something old

Last week I got my very first ever gel nails!  This is quite an event in my life.  I’ve only ever had one manicure and that was on a cruise in 1988 and it was a bit disappointing but I had really short nails so there was only so much she could do.

A co-worker at my day-job used to operate her own nail tech business and had just done her own nails.  I was really sick of my nails, which had always been crappy – they bend, peel and crack, and break at the slightest impact.  Lately the sides were breaking off and tearing down to the quick.  Hers looked really cool so I asked if she still did nails and how much it would be.

We arranged for me to go over to her house last Tuesday after dinner (I had a mom sitter booked already.)

I’m really pleased with the result – I did two days of solid heavy housework this weekend and didn’t break a nail!!  The only problem is getting used to picking things up… it is hard!  And they don’t scratch itches all that well being so blunt.  But I am planning to get them done again.

So that’s the new.

Now for the old.

On some of the groups/chats/forums I participate in people have been sharing their first face painting photos… I went on a search for some of mine.  In the process I was going through all my make-up scrapbooks and found some other work.

I worked on a film that was a Planet of the Apes parody – the chimp make-up photo I use on my business card was the test make-up for that job actually.  I found my photos from the shoot and thought it would be something to show everyone … a real movie set!  Which, by the way, is really boring to be on… hurry up and wait… and wait… and wait…

This was the location for Car Wash of the Apes which was in the Kits area of Vancouver, just up from the beach.

I didn’t actually find the face painting photo I was looking for but this one was actually THE FIRST face painting I did using Kryolan Aquacolours - so technically, my first face painting because the other things I had done before then were with regular make-up.  I copied the cow design from the Grimas book Make-up Voor Professional en Hobby.  It was one of two face painting books I had bought simply because they were make-up books for my collection.  The other was Making Faces by Sian Ellis Thomas.  I learned everything I knew about face painting from those two books… and that lasted me until 2003 when I was able to take some training with “real” face painters!

Actually, this isn’t all that bad really.  I have improved over the last 15 years but…  I still don’t mind saying “I painted this.”

Business Tips for Face Painters, Body Artists and Make-Up Artists #3 – Daily Operations

March 1st means it is time for the third excerpt from my e-book The Business of Face Painting.  Of course, if you would like to get all the information included in my book right now you can find out how here.

The Business of Face Painting was published in September of 2009 and I am working on the final stages of the companion book The Art of Face Painting which we hope to have out sometime this year.

Using the telephone effectively is a huge part of your business.  You have to collect information and provide information efficiently and clearly. The telephone is one of the most useful tools you will have.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter Five of  The Business of Face Painting.

DAILY BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Telephone

Answering the telephone is a huge part of our efforts to secure work.  When a potential client calls us we need to know exactly what we have to say to get the booking from them.  There are questions to ask and information to provide in order to get to the close of the deal which is a confirmed date and rate.

Some people, as we all know, are just shopping around to find out prices or looking for the cheapest.  Others are calling as they got your number from a friend or have your card that they picked up at an event and want to inquire about a specific function.  Some are agents or possible corporate bookings wanting to get specifics for possible future events.   You need to be ready to answer the questions these people will all be asking and also do a sales pitch to make yourself the most attractive option.

The best tool for dealing with telephone inquiries is an Inquiry Form that you keep handy to the telephone.  A sample form is included with the document templates at the end of the chapter. On this form you have all the questions you need to ask with spaces to write the answers and you can include points that you should bring up for your sales pitch.  So what are the things you should be asking the potential client?

The first thing is, of course, to answer your telephone professionally.  This is easy if you have a dedicated line for your business and can answer the telephone by saying “Annie’s Funny Faces this is Annie.”  If you are using your home telephone then make sure that everyone who answers the telephone knows how to answer with a smile, how to take messages, knows how to tell people nicely that you will call them back and when that will be.  If you have only adults or older teens answering the phone you can attempt to train them to use the form to get as much information as they can and then tell the caller that you will call them back as soon as possible.

Get the caller’s name and telephone numbers right away… then use their name during the rest of the conversation.  This is something that successful sales people do – ask you your name and then use it repeatedly while trying to sell you that BMW! It is a successful technique and really easy to do.  By using their name you are forming a connection with them and most people will respond positively.

It is really useful to keep track of all calls and inquiries you receive by phone and email.  Even if they do not result in a booking you will be able to assess the success of any marketing or advertising you are doing.  Ask everyone where they got your information or heard of you.  You could list all the options on your form and simply circle or tick the method off.

Most people will have stated right off the top what services they are calling about, so mark that off on your form to refer back to.  A tick list is a simple way to do that as it is very quick to do.  If they have not mentioned what they want right away ask them what services they are interested in.

Find out the date they are inquiring about, the time, the location.  You do not need to confirm your availability at this stage – go through the whole form and get all the information before you “check your calendar”.  You want to take the opportunity to sell yourself and your services so do not cut the conversation short by saying you are not available as the person on the other end of the phone will then not want to continue the conversation.  They have called you so take advantage of this opportunity to tell them about your services.

Ask about the type of event, number of people expected, venue, and the other questions.  If it is a birthday party, ask the name of the birthday person, their age, favourite things and colours – this is useful if you want to take along a birthday card or provide a little something extra for the birthday child.  If it is a private party or a public event is very important too as you can determine your set-up requirements and explain them at that stage of the conversation.

So by now you should know their name, phone number, the type of event, the place, the time, how many are expected, the type of service they want and you should have been able to work in your requirements about space and set-up.

Now is the time for you to do your spiel and provide them with your information.  Explain your business services related to their inquiry.  You could say “I provide professional face painting services offering full face designs.  I follow a strict code of conduct using a clean sponge per child and do not paint anyone who appears to be sick… etc.”  Phrase this statement to suit your business.  This opening statement can be pretty standard and if it helps you to say it write it out on your form so that you remember it and say it in the same way every time but be flexible enough to adapt to the event that they are calling about.  Having a prepared “script” is perfectly acceptable.

Explain your rate structure.  Many have a bit of difficulty with this so my suggestion is to prepare a Rate Sheet to refer to and keep that handy.  I have one that is four pages long that covers every service I provide and options such as a day-rate, etc.  I don’t publish or distribute it just use it to keep myself consistent.  A sample rate sheet is provided in the document templates in Chapter Two.  If you are prone to discounting your rate make up a chart to refer to so you can remember your terms for qualifying for a discount.

Explain your terms.  A contract will be sent to them by mail to return with a deposit or emailed deposit paid by PayPal, etc.  Whatever your terms are such as a seven-day hold pending receipt of deposit or that you do not paint children under the age of three; basically anything that is important for them to know before they confirm the booking.

The last thing is to get their mailing address.  If they are booking you it is for mailing out the contract, if they didn’t, it will be so you can mail them some information about your services.

Keep a smile in your voice even if they decide not to make a booking and, if they say it is because they are actually looking for something else refer them to someone and ask them to say you gave them their name.  It never hurts to help out others in the business as referrals work both ways.

There are different ways to set-up a form to use – you can make them small like telephone message pads or full-sized hole punched to go in a binder.  Figure out what will work best for you.  If you use your mobile phone more than a landline, keep a supply of forms with you in your car or kit so that you have them with you when you have answer the cell phone.

All inquiry forms should be kept, even for the calls that don’t end in a booking, as you can use the information you have collected to assess things like the success of advertising or marketing activities, etc.

© Shannon Fennell, 2009

with material from “Designs and Templates Volume 1” © November 2007

and “Designs and Templates Volume 2” © March 2008

Business Tips for Face Painters, Body Artists and Make-Up Artists #2 – Marketing Your Services

Here is the second excerpt from my e-book The Business of Face Painting.  I’ll be posting one a month for all of 2012.  Of course, if you would like to get all the information included in my book right now you can find out how here.

The Business of Face Painting was published in September of 2009 and I am working on the final stages of the companion book The Art of Face Painting which we hope to have out sometime this year.

Marketing is a key part of having a successful business.  I try to concentrate on my marketing efforts at the slower times of the year which for me are usually January and September, and keep on top of things throughout the year taking advantage of opportunities that arise.  In my book I cover in detail the specifics of what I do to market my services and the tools that I use.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter Four of  The Business of Face Painting.

MARKETING YOUR FACE PAINTING SERVICES

What is Marketing?

Marketing is the process of attracting the interest of potential customers in your face painting services.

The important word in this definition is “process” as marketing is a continual process involving research, promotion, sales and distribution of your services.  To put it simply, marketing involves everything you do to get potential customers together with the service you are offering.  What you do to accomplish this can change over time and with your interests.

Creating a marketing plan for your face painting business is part of the business planning process (there is that word again – it is a continual process!)  To keep it relatively straightforward when you are starting out just concentrate on the basics:

• products and/or services
• promotion
• distribution
• pricing

The goal of any marketing plan is to get and keep a growing list of satisfied customers. Creating and implementing a marketing plan, no matter how simple, will help you to keep your efforts focused on your end goals and increase your potential for success.

In Chapter Three the marketing plan was briefly noted as part of the business planning process.  As it is so essential to the success of your new business endeavours I will spend this chapter going over the key marketing ideas  that I have learned are the most important to face painters.  I will also explain the tools and techniques that I have personally found to be most successful.

Your Marketing Plan

Take some time to write out your answers to the questions and any ideas you have – this does not have to be a narrative, just list in point form all the things that come to mind.  I’ve made a template you can use to do this exercise and it is at the end of the chapter. Once you have made your notes you can summarize them and include it in your business plan.

Product:

Your product is your face painting services (or whatever services or products you choose to provide.)  The key things you need to determine are: What are the features of your services?  Describe your services.  How do they differ from the competition’s services?  What are your unique selling points – this means, what makes your services different or better?  How will your services benefit your customers?  What is the message that you want to communicate to your potential customers about your services?

Promotion:

How are you going to let your potential customers know about your face painting services?  You will need to know who your target market is by determining who your potential customers are – I will cover this in detail further on. List all the ideas you have to promote and advertise your services and the options that are available to you in your area.  This is everything from business cards, brochures, flyers, posters, direct mail, website, yellow pages, advertising, coupons, demonstrations, give-away items, email campaigns, directory listings, teaching a class, writing an article, getting in the paper, etc.  List everything you can think of and then narrow it down to those that are either easy and/or free or within your budget.

Distribution:

In our business distribution consists of us attending the client’s location and delivering our services.  You can be specific on your methods of transportation, necessary equipment such as a booth and furniture.  Are there costs associated with delivery to the customer?  This area also covers billing and payment for services provided.  What are the terms and methods of payment?  Do you offer credit?  Do you provide any warranties or guarantees?  Is there a system for customer feedback?

Pricing:

Setting your price was covered in detail in Chapter Two – Money Matters.  You can charge anything you want but you need to be competitive and make a reasonable profit.  Customers will not spend more than they have to and if you charge too much for your market area you will lose them to the competition.  Use the Excel spreadsheet provided in Chapter Two to calculate your costs and help you to set a fair and reasonable rate for your services.

Once you have covered these four points include the information in your business plan or if you chose not to prepare a business plan, then put this together as a marketing plan.

Take all of the items you consider important and prioritize them, research the costs of those items you wish to use so you can budget accordingly, set a schedule for taking action and then check them off as you complete them.

Writing this all down will help you to stay on track and to monitor the success of your plan.

The rest of this chapter will address the specifics of marketing in the face painting industry based on my experience and what I find to be the most successful.  Market areas can be very different so what worked excellently for me might not necessarily work as well in your area, or, something I found not worthwhile may prove to be your most successful tool!  So do not be afraid to try out something to see if it will work for you.

Creating a Brand or Corporate Image

When you begin to market yourself you are creating a brand.  You are creating a recognizable entity, a company, a service, that people will recognize as being professional, valuable, worth paying for and they will be willing to pass your name along to their friends and family.

When setting up yourself and your business, creating a brand is something that you probably didn’t think about.  But just by producing some business cards you have started the process.

We are in a visual industry and what we do is represented by visual images – be it the child getting out of our chair with their face painted, or photos of our work in our portfolio, or our clothes and working set-up – it’s all visual.  So do you not think our marketing should be visual as well?

Think about it… what are you marketing?  Your artistic services.  What is the best way to let people know what you do?  Show them.

I know that for a lot of people starting out that the cost of full-colour marketing materials might seem to be more than you can afford but… can you afford to miss out on the work that better marketing materials will generate?

Everyone should take time to consider their business image before getting that first batch of business cards made.  I know it is just a business card to get your phone number out there… but it is also an advertisement that people will have in their possession and possibly pass along to other people, thereby creating an image of your business.

If you are just starting out, or even if you are established in the industry, take a look at your marketing materials.  Lay them all out at look at them… your business card, flyers, brochures, signs, displays, letterhead, posters, resumes, portfolios, business proposals, and your website too.  Now, is there a “look” to your materials that sets them apart from another artist’s?  Can you see a brand – meaning, is there a look to your materials that carries over from one to the other so that people can tell from a glance that it is from you?  Do you have a slogan or tag line that appears on all your material that is associated with you?  Do you use the same font on all your print material?  Do you use the same colour paper?  Do you have one image – a logo or photograph – that you use on all you material that is identified with you?  Do you have a common design element in your materials, for example a black background with yellow print?

It may seem trivial but image counts in this industry as in any other; perhaps even more so.  Taking the time when you are first starting out really can make a lot of difference later on.  It is not hard, but you need to think about what the image is that you want to present and if that will cover all your endeavours if you choose to expand your business offerings at a future date.

Take some time to brainstorm ideas… where do you want to go with your business?  Is your market going to be strictly face painting or only body painting, or both?  Are you offering other make-up services?  Do you do other forms of entertainment, balloons, hair, nails, etc.?  Do you plan to, or even think there is a possibility that you might expand your services in the future?

Do you have a name for your business that identifies what it is that you do?  Does the name you use have a good connotation?  You have to decide on whether you want to name your business, if so you’ll need to find out whether you can register or copyright it if you decide to go that route.  Do some research to make sure that you aren’t using a name that is already in use, particularly in your area, even if it is in another industry. You could decide to just use your own name (which I have done.)  It is all totally up to you.  But pick something that you will be happy with long term as once you’ve started the process of building your brand and reputation connected to that name, you may be stuck with it.

Get some good photos of what you do – really good photos.  You don’t need a professional photographer but take some care when taking the photo, use a background that will be suitable for your print material design (my background is black on my print materials so I take all my photos against a black backdrop,) make sure it is in focus, clear and of a good subject.  If you do different things have photos of samples of all of them.  Then you need to examine them all… get family and friends, co-workers and fellow artists to help you.  Narrow down which photo you think really illustrates who you are and what you and your business do.  If you do many things then arrange to take a group photo showing everything or maybe create a collage; whatever you decide to do, be sure to pick a fantastic image that you will be happy with for a long time so you won’t have to redo your materials very often.

Or you could choose to go with a graphic logo to identify with your brand and image.  This decision is all yours.  But pick something that you can live with as you should not be changing it every year.

Once you’ve decided on what visual image you will be using on your materials then you need to produce those materials.  When I first started I printed off my own business cards on my computer using photographic business card paper that is available at office supply stores.  They seemed to be less costly than having colour cards printed.  But when you consider the cost of ink/toner and the special paper they really weren’t.  I give out cards like candy and having to re-print almost weekly was costing me a fortune in toner.  So I went to a printer and had a full-colour business card produced and it cost me much less than doing it at home.  The card is full-colour on one side and black print on the other.  The printer’s designer helped fine tune my design and I am very happy with it and have carried the design over to my other marketing materials such as postcards, brochures, and use a modified version on my letterhead and display materials.

Once you’ve got your business card printed you have started your branding process.  From this point on you will be recognized based on this image and that of your business practices and talent.  It all ties together.  But the printed material will be what most people will see and remember as they will have it in their possession long after the make-up is washed away.  By using a visual image you are reinforcing to anyone looking at that business card that you are an artist, that you are a professional and that you do great work.  You are establishing your brand in the market place and setting yourself apart from the rest which makes you more memorable and therefore more marketable, which leads to more work and business success.

So take that extra time to decide what you want people to think when they hear your name or see your business card and it will pay off for you in the long term.

© Shannon Fennell, 2009

with material from “Designs and Templates Volume 1” © November 2007

and “Designs and Templates Volume 2” © March 2008