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501 Killer Marketing Tactics
246. Junior High/High School Talent Show Best For Most retailers catering to young students and their families Objective Increase awareness, increase community goodwill, generate
traffic, improve your image, increase sales, and stimulate trial Target Local junior high and high school students
Contact your local junior high and high school for dance, music, or voice students who would be interested in competing in a talent competition at your business. Arrange for each entrant to perform for no longer than five minutes. Present two entrants in a row, and then allow 20 minutes for your customers to relax, enjoy themselves, and talk to others. Repeat each half hour during the evening. If you hold the show between the hours of 5 and 9 p.m., this will allow for 16 students per evening. Try to arrange to have a prominent member of the community, such as someone in the music industry, available during the entire evening to act as judge. Offer this person a free gift certificate for his or her cooperation. If you have more than one junior high and high school in the area, you may wish to arrange the competition over more than one evening, with semifinal winners during each evening and then a finals competition on the final day. Semifinal prizes could be gift certificates for the students. The grand prize could be a small scholarship. Materials Stage area, microphone, sign-up sheets, and prizes Timing
Eight weeks prior: Contact local school officials to arrange promotion. Seven weeks prior: Determine number of entrants and decide on number of nights for contest and number of judges necessary.