4 Things to Remember When Marketing for Live Music Events
Having the right marketing strategy specific to your event and target market is how you can generate the interest you deserve and create a kick-ass music event!
With each industry comes different challenges; when promoting a music event use these specific marketing tips to ultimately influence a bigger guest list and success rate in your industry.
Encourage artists to help spread the word
You should use your performers as social influencers when creating your marketing strategy in order to effectively increase your awareness and utilize all your resources.
Most artists will already have a promo method they used for boosting awareness of their shows, and they probably are already doing their promotions.
Both parties should be in a mutual agreement in promoting the event as it benefits everyone.
Consult with the band, artists, or entertainment months before the event and discuss how the promotions will take place on both ends and any other suggestions or ideas that could be beneficial to everyone.
Artists have a variety of resources for promoting through social media platforms, websites, local connections and already have a fan-base allowing you to expand you audience reach to a different market place.
There are also other online promotion sites that artists can use to generate interest such as Indie On The Move or even Reverbnation which hosts the artist’s music for them.
Take advantage of video and live-streaming for promotions
Video is one of the most effective form of adverting online. According to Renderforest, by 2019 80% of global internet consumption will be video content. 86% of online video marketers use video content, 81% of people feature their video on their brand website, and 7 out 10 marketing professionals are optimizing video for SEO.
Using video to show potential attendees some highlights from performances in the past or behind-the-scenes is a fast way to engage an audience and create interest.
In addition to these videos, have your special guests or performers create a quick promo video you both can use for promoting the event (see example below of what we did).
Strive for authenticity
People value authenticity, and brands that appear as more raw, transparent have a better follow rate than others.
That is why it is crucial to present your event authentically as this gains more trust from your followers and potential customers.
Take measures to ensure that your events story feels genuine and creates a special atmosphere in tune with the audience.
"Brand stories are not marketing materials. They are not ads, and they are not sales pitches. Brand stories should be told with the brand persona and the writer’s personality at center stage. Boring stories won’t attract and retain readers, but stories brimming with personality can.”-Neil Patel
There are thousands of ways to tell a story, so tell yours. Be true to your brand and your event.
What is the purpose of your event?
What do you hope for your audience to get from it?
What are the end goals?
These are the questions you should ask yourself then tell your audience.
Creating a unique experience true to the artist and their fans is a sure-fire way to make the event promotions and execution a success.
Tell a story online
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, today you have so many online platforms to choose from, it’s recommended to use as many as you can manage, but at least one!
After you determine your target audience determine what platform is most effective for them.
Determining factors include audience demographics and usage, promotional material, and overall engagement for your industry.
For example, if you wanted to include highlight reels, Snapchat or Instagram may be the better option.
Snapchat has a monthly average of just over 300 million users and an option for anyone wanting to promote on their platform.
Most of these platforms offer what they call a “business account” where you can promote your campaign/video through them and in return your engagement is boosted substantially, increasing the likely hood of reaching an entirely different audience than you could have on your own.
Once you figure out where and how you want to promote your brand it’s time to create your story. Just like we previously mentioned, there are thousands of ways to tell your story.
So where do you start?
1. Like we said, be as translucent and real as possible. Everyone would rather see your human side than any online personality.
2. Start sharing your event journey; behind-the-scenes, mistakes you’ve made, sneak peeks, Q&As, etc. Let your audience be apart of your journey, this will make them feel more connected to the event.
3. Share your event and brand's mission and goals. What do you stand for? Why are you hosting the event? What is the message you want to tell the world?
4. Create posts that are connected to one another or use each other to tell a continuum story
5. Create a character or theme your story is focused on
6. Stir up some drama! Tell a story that is compelling from beginning to end because of a conflict/resolution. Be real about the challenges you faced in creating the event and how they are coming together and what people can expect!
Use these helpful tips to spread information and promotional material to potential attendees and fans.
With some insight and a creative approach, you will be able to engage the audience and create a productive and memorable experience.
