A sold-out musical event is every artist’s dream. And it is really hard to put in so much effort to make everything seem perfect but then at the end, only a few attendees show up. Bummer! Right?
But luckily leveraging various marketing and promotional strategies can help us attract attendees. As indie artists or bands, we shouldn’t rely on one of them rather on different techniques to achieve the highest exposure ever.
Let’s go through some easy ways to generate hype before your event.
Timing is everything: Do not attempt to sell your tickets right before the event, rather try selling the tickets in advance. Giving some time for exposure and news circulation about your event.
Mind the gap between events: If my favourite band plays in my city every week, I wouldn’t really go to see them. So make sure you set up your shows 6 – 12 weeks apart, or else you will end up with some passive fans who will lose interest in attending your shows.
Name your event: Each event should be unique and memorable. Firstly, because no one is likely to show up to a nameless event, and secondly, giving your event a name will turn the heads and talk about it.
Go heavy on digital: You can post some appealing graphics with information about the event on your social media page, create a Facebook event, and create a 1 – 2 minute video for the show, including details about your band and the other bands, which are going to show up at the event, and upload it on all Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. And don’t forget to use a professional ticketing platform.
Get a team to hit the streets and the walls: Get a team who is ready to hit the streets day and night, with a staple gun, tape, and other adhesive to stick, staple and hand out flyers about the event everywhere. And once they are done with that, start a Facebook party, where you all start promoting the event on your wall and your friends’ walls.
Run an online competition: Run an online competition to push people to share news about the event. And in return offer some goodie bags with some new merchandise, posters, and other random things.
Contact the local media: Now that this gig is actually an event with a couple of bands attending, you have the right content to grab the local media’s attention.
Get some sponsors: Find a local company, brand, newspaper, or radio station that will be interested in supporting your event. The best thing about this type of partnership is that you trade deals, not cash. For example, the brand will have its logo on all branding material and you in return will have free ad space in a newspaper, an air-time, etc.