For years I’ve heard the saying KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of calling myself stupid, but I’ve embraced the idea of keeping things as simple as possible, whenever possible.

However, this is not what I’m talking about – I’m talking about the Legendary Rock Band KISS! I got to see them in concert last week, on December 4th, in Austin, with my 15 year old son, and it was an awesome show! Though, if you followed me on Twitter, you’d already know that. 🙂

Gene Simmons, for those who don’t know it, is a marketing genius, and he doesn’t really miss a step when it comes to marketing KISS. Here’s what I learned from the concert that’s appropriate to us as performers.

There’s no doubt who you’re there to see! It’s KISS

Even from the back of the room – even with the camera out of focus – you can still tell what band we went to see!

1. Branding. OMG – KISS is more than just a band of 50% original Rock God’s, they are a BRAND, an institution! No one can replace KISS. People can dress up like them (and hundreds did at the concert), imitate them, mimic them and so on, but there is only one KISS – and the KISS brand is carried into and printed onto just about everything imaginable! They are irreplaceable and no substitute will do when you want to see KISS.
The exact same should be true for us as performers. If you are generic magician, ventriloquist, clown etc., and have done nothing to make your prospects want you specifically, then you have not created a strong enough brand for yourself.

2. Commit to your character! Gene Simmons is a tongue-wagging, drooling and spitting demon of a Bass Guitar player on stage. He makes no apologies about it, in fact, if he wasn’t, we’d all feel like we didn’t get what we were expecting from him.
Commit to your character as a performer in both your marketing materials and in your performance. The character of both should be intertwined and interchangeable. If you are a low key performer, and some of my favorites (Nate Staniforth) are, then your marketing materials should embrace that character, if you’re loud and out there (Bizzaro or Brian Brushwood) then your marketing materials will be similar. If Bizarro’s website and promo materials all said “Magic for any occasion” that would be incongruent with his character.

3. Give your customers what they want! For KISS this is easy – we want to hear their classic songs, we want outlandish costumes, makeup, VERY music, amazing lighting, and video productions. We want Gene Simmons to wag his tongue at everyone and be a beast. We want 6″ tall platform boots. We want Paul Stanley to zip line to the back of the auditorium and play. We want Gene Simmons to play from the top of the lighting trusses after flying up there. We want full commitment to us, the audience, and dammit… you better sing Detroit Rock City. They delivered ALL of these things!
What are your customers expecting from you? Not sure? Ask them. When I get to an event (usually before then) I ask the question “What is it going to take for this to be a successful event for you?” Then I know so that I can deliver exactly that. Your situation is probably different from mine and I trust that you’ll figure out how to discover what it is that your customers want.

Money coming in hand over fist!

4. Sell something! Throngs of people lined up to pay more than retail for t-shirts ($29.95 on their website, $40.00 at the concert), CD’s, posters and more to help capture the moment that they were at the KISS concert. Tens of thousands of dollars were made, in addition to the fee the band generated at $125 per ticket (or more).
Why were people willing to pay more than reasonable retail for the SWAG at the show? Because they LOVED the show and were looking for ways to extend that connection with the performers beyond the show.
I feel that it’s almost IRRESPONSIBLE for you to not offer your clients and FANS a way to further that connection with you by NOT offering something for sale after your shows. No one has to buy what you have, but you are taking away opportunity, in added income, advertising, brand building and credibility creating by not selling something that is related to YOU after your shows. Of course I offer an Instant Author Kit for those of you who perform for family audiences and I add $100-$600 or more at just about every show I do from selling these books. If you don’t need extra income, I applaud you, but I’m pretty sure that Gene Simmons isn’t hurting for money, but he still plasters his face on everything from dolls to Dr. Pepper Commercials and the reason he’s not hurting for money… a lot of it has to do with BOR (Back Of the Room) sales or SWAG. I will write more about this in a future blog I’m sure, as it’s one of my hot buttons for magicians/jugglers/vents etc.

5. Create great pictures! If you take a picture at a KISS concert, you’re going to be able to look at just about ANY of those pictures and, even without recognizing the stars, you’ll know you were seeing KISS because their logo, images and name were everywhere. But that’s not all I mean by create great pictures – I mean slow down, take a few seconds and POSE so that people have an opportunity to take great pictures.

6. Love what you do and you can do it forever. To me, Gene Simmons is KISS. Sure I like Paul Stanley too, and those other guys who apparently found a better gig were fun too, but lose Gene and it’s over for me. Watching him perform makes me realize how much he apparently loves doing what he does. The guy is 60 years old and stomping around on stage, flying to the top of the rigging and having a blast.
If you love what you do, if it truly gets you excited to get up and get going in the morning, you’ll never have to work a day in your life!

Long post, but I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Please leave your comments below, but limit them to marketing, and not to KISS talk (unless marketing related). 🙂

C.J.