The Art of Street Teaming

One of my favorite lines by comedian Mitch Hedberg is about handing out flyers:

“Whenever I walk, people try to hand me out flyers. And when someone tries to hand me out a flyer, it’s kinda like they’re saying, ‘Here—you throw this away.’”

That’s exactly what went through my mind before Colin and I headed out to street team for the Mike Middleton show at Double Door….I mean, Elbo Room.

We de-bussed on Lincoln Ave and brainstormed how to approach people. We started heading North and hoped to cross paths with students. Hoped is the key word….we didn’t see too many.

I found my first customer, a young man listening to his ipod. “Here.” I said, and handed him the flyer. “Thanks!” The customer said. Colin laughed. “Is that what you are going to say to people? Here?” “What should I say?” I asked. “Maybe give them more information about the show.” He answered. Yes, that makes sense.

We walked up Lincoln and I was on fire. Everyone I handed a flyer to willingly took it with a smile. Colin, on the other hand, was striking out. “What the heck? Why is everyone looking down with their arms stuck to their sides when I reach out to give them one?” Colin asked. But after his 10th attempt, all of a sudden, not one, but four people took the flyer from him! After that, nobody and nothing got in his way. We handed them out left and right, left a few in coffee and tattoo shops, and placed some in the RedEye bin (believe me people, going to a rock show is much more enlightening than reading the RedEye). After about 1.5 hours, the 200 flyers we had started with dwindled down to 50, 25, 10…. 0. Success!

The few things I learned from street teaming: You have to be engaging, smile, and tell yourself you are handing out the most important thing people will ever read. I was pleasantly surprised when a big smile ran across peoples’ faces after they looked at the flyer. I guess they liked how Mike Middleton looks while holding a guitar. Hopefully they went to the show to see him in person!