Promotion Beyond Flyering: Creative Ways To Advertise Your Band
Promotion is one of those aspects of being in a band that eludes and frustrates a lot of musicians. We all do our part to get people out to shows: Print up some flyers, hang a couple of posters at the club or the local record stores and send out text messages and Myspace bulletins to our friends and our family.
Unfortunately, pretty much every other band makes use of the same methods to promote their shows and releases. To convince new people to come out to your shows, you need to get creative and stand out from the scores of bands who are relying on Facebook updates and handbills for promotion.
First off, let me provide a bit of a disclaimer and say that most of these methods are going to be a bit more costly than simply heading to Kinkos FedEx and printing up some flyers. The idea here is that by getting creative and spending a little cash, you’ll ultimately see better results and more people out at your shows due to your promotion efforts.
Give ‘em Something They Actually Want
Show-goers are usually inundated with flyers before, during and after a concert. Flyers at the end of a show have become like pennies on the sidewalk, everyone walks on by and can’t be bothered to pick them up. Have you ever gone out in the middle of a concert to flyer the cars in the parking lot and found the majority of those very same flyers littering the ground when you head back out to your car after the performance? To get people to even look at a flyer you need to either surprise them with something unexpected or give them something of value.
Those on the receiving end of handbills generally aren’t expecting anything more than a piece of paper, so make sure that piece of paper has something on it that they’ll want to hang on to. Use your flyer to give them your music – for free. The easiest and most cost effective way do this is to include a special website address on your flyer so the person can download a couple of your tunes for free. The key here is to make them feel like they need the flyer to get the music -- don’t spam them with your Myspace or Facebook address. Create a special area on your band’s website (or have a technically inclined friend help you) where the person who receives your flyer can visit, hear your music, and hopefully be convinced to come to your next show. You don’t need any fancy pass codes or anything, something as simple as www.yourband.com/freemusic would suffice just fine.
For an extra .30 cents or so per flyer, and a bit of effort, you can put your music directly into the hands of potential show-goers. An 8.5” by 11” sheet of paper can be easily converted into a case for a CD featuring a couple of your songs allowing people to get a preview of your band before they come out to see you play. A number of methods for making an origami CD case can be found with a simple search on google, but my favorite can be found at: http://www.athensmusician.net/archive/2005-02-13_oragamicdholder.php.
At the Record Shop
These days, people who still buy music at record stores are usually the biggest music fans around, especially those who shop at independent record shops. They aren’t bit-torrenting the latest releases, they respect music and the musicians who make it – they’re the type of people who seek out new music and more than likely they attend a lot of shows. What better way to introduce your band to new fans, than to promote your band to those that love and consume music?
You’re probably not going to have much luck convincing chain record retailers to let you advertise your band for free in their store, but most of the time independent shops are more than willing to help out local bands. Look for ways to promote your release or next show at the store beyond hanging a poster in the window and setting a stack of flyers by the front door.
Buy a few CD displays to place on the counters of your local record stores and fill them with some of those origami CD flyers mentioned above to promote your next show. Or, if you already have a CD for sale in the store, use the blank space on the display to advertise your website or an upcoming concert while pushing your release at the same time. The CD stands are dirt cheap, they can be found for a little over $1 at some places; http://www.cdstands.com is a good place to start.
Do you have a CD coming out soon or a really big show that you’re promoting? Look into getting some floor decals printed up and ask the record store if you can advertise on their floor. You’re going to have to be willing to part with a little bit of cash (between $15 - $25 for an 11”X17” decal), but the unique placement of your ad is sure to be noticed and pique the interest of those shopping at the store. Look into sidewalk or window decals too. http://www.power-graphics.com
Advertise at the Venue
All of the hard work you’ve put in has paid off and you’ve successfully created a great turnout for your concert. Don’t stop promoting now – there are tons of opportunities to keep advertising your band at the actual venue. Venues rely on bands to bring customers to the club; most club owners/promoters will be more than willing work with you on promoting both your gigs and your band.
Venues typically use some kind of system to mark who has and who hasn’t paid to get in the club. Get a rubber stamp made up with your band name and website address and ask the door person if they wouldn’t mind using your custom stamp to denote who has paid the cover fee or not. The great thing about stamping your web address on show attendees’ hands is that once they get home the stamp will probably still be on their hand, which will help in those “wow, that first band tonight was great, I wish I could remember their name” moments. If the venue uses paper wristbands to differentiate between underage folks and those who can drink, have some of those printed up, again with your band name and website, just make sure to have at least two different color choices. You can get a custom stamp made for as low as $10 at http://www.rubberstampchamp.com, wristbands can be had for around $20 per thousand at http://www.wristbandsonline.com.
Don’t limit your promotion efforts to the door, if the venue you’re playing serves drinks, then take advantage of the possibilities at the bar to plug your band. Have some custom cardboard coasters printed up and use them to advertise your band’s release or a big show that’s coming up. Make friends with the bartender and ask him if he would mind using the coasters you had made for the night. Does the bar serve beer in plastic cups – get some of those made up too and you’ll have a nice little tag team of promotion at the bar. You can find custom printed coasters for .15 cents to .30 cents a piece at http://www.westsky.com/coasters.htm. Check out http://www.discountedcups.com for plastic cups ranging from .20 cents to .45 cents per cup; be sure to order the same size that the bar typically uses.
Advertising is most effective when it breaks up the monotony of ads we see on a daily basis. People are caught off guard with unusual advertisements and are genuinely intrigued to find out more about what it is they’re being pitched. With a little bit of work, some creative thinking (and maybe a some extra cash) you can appeal to human curiosity and get a lot more out of your promotion efforts.
Here are a few more web-based printing services to check out:
http://www.psprint.com - provides inexpensive printing of postcards, flyers, business cards – very nice quality for the price. Offers monthly specials on various products.
http://www.vistaprint.com - provides very cheap printing of business cards, flyers, etc. Some products can be had for free if you’re willing to let them stick their logo on your item.
http://www.nextdayflyers.com - cheap provider of flyers, postcards, etc. Their prices on full color ¼ page flyers are very reasonable.
http://www.stickerguy.com - He’s been making vinyl stickers for years.
http://www.busybeaver.net - great place for buttons and badges.
Before you have any promotional items printed up, be sure to do your homework and find the best price you can, the sites suggested above are simply a starting point. There are numerous service providers out there, many of whom will compete for your business with price matching guarantees and special offers. Be sure to ask a printer for samples that they have printed for previous customers so you can be sure of the quality they produce.
