Tryin to get an event started in my hometown.. (southern illinois specifically)
So i live in a small hick town (country music, backroads, beer (Stag, busch, natty), cows and corn fields) are all very popular. I only personally know 1 other dj whose into electronic music and is an actual dj mixing mapping etc. The rest of the 400 djs are wedding windows media player youtube djs and they get booked all the time.. Well im starting an Electro-Fest in southern illinois and so far i have decent feed back from alotta people saying they are going which is great… Do you guys have any tips or advice to promote this besides hanging up flyers around towns… and if you are semi local around southern illinois ud be more than welcome to be a part of the event so yeh…
I venture down to Effingham, from ChI-Town for work regularly. Where are you throwin this party and when? Maybe i can play, i do electro house, glitch-hop, dubstep. And my advice would be to get as many people who like the music there as possible, and when i say people i mean hot girls. you get them everyone else will follow.
http://www.facebook.com/events/375688519143205/ but i will say i am paying out of pocket for room rental etc. so reimbursement for gas etc would be out of my hands unfortunately… if i could pay i would but this is more like a test run for a bigger 10x’s better party around Halloween.
what would be a good way to promote besides simply postin an event on FB using my twitter and hanging up flyers around towns n bars? mind u everything is out of pocket from me and me alone and my pocket is anything but steep…
It’s fucking time-consuming. For events, word of mouth is so important that it makes everything else barely worth fucking with. Facebook events should be treated only as a way to personally measure how many people are going, and to give info about the event. Thinking they’re going to work as marketing is just obnoxious.
The best way to market is to literally talk to people. person-to-person promo. I’m serious. Flyers are important to leave with people, but in marketing on a local/small scale, we’ve never found anything more successful than verbally talking up the product. Face to face is best, and the best way to do it is called “exit promo” in the rave scene. Since you don’t have other events to do exit promote at, talking to people on facebook chat is good too. The key is to be genuine, not pitchy. Make it feel incidental that you’re bringing up the thing you’re promoting, as best you can. Exaggerate, make it seem like a big deal, and it will be a big deal. Remember that nothing you say in conversation is any more of a lie than anything you’d be implying in print anyways.
Recruit a few people to help you promote this way by offering to comp them in if they help you get more people to go. This works even better if you can make them do it because they feel important, more than because they’re saving money. This is especially handy with people that have a lot of friends that they can encourage to come because they’re going.
In the same vein, the “reduced price” list is also a great tool. Make people feel special and VIP, even if half the people attending are on the reduced list “because they seem like a cool person” to you.
I actually use this shpeel with clients all the time… never gotten to use it with the correct context like this haha :
I wasn’t around at the time of the old illegal warehouse parties, but they were 100% word of mouth, and had great attendance. Somehow we now have lower numbers for independent events, despite insanely unprecedented numbers for big events. I blame it all on facebook and “new” marketing. People thinking that facebook replaces word of mouth. The best way to promote on this kind of scale is people telling each other they’re going.
totally appreciate the feedback man … will take in everyway possible and try and execute at my best ability i hope thngs turn out great as this would be something huge for me and my community
I always hire people to spread the word. Doing something like paying commission per ticket a person can sell is a great way to get the word out and get more people involved in your event.
Always thought this was the best idea. Something like color coded discount admission flyers to determine who attracted how many people and pay them per ticket. I was thinking on a much larger scale (motorsports event), but it should work equally well. Contact people you know in neighboring areas and offer them “the job”.
If it makes you feel better here in Chicago’s suburbia country is all the rage right now. I can’t tell you how many friends I know that go to country shows to chase women. And there have been a half dozen bars opened that are country themed. I’ll have nothing to do with any of it.
well the event is a free event that im paying out of pocket for the room rental which is only like 75 bucks which is fine and entry is going to be free because i dont want to detour anyone from not coming because of a cover but with that said this is a preparation for a bigger event coming later this year and will have a cover charge and hopefully more artist
