Keys to Successful Promoting?

Book real headliners who are known for not disappointing...

i.e. if you book Carl Cox, peeps will travel to see him... from EVERYWHERE.

Slater Hogan came to Kansas City and sucked balls on Halloween, but the one thing I CAN remember from his set was the "the way you move" remix he dropped.

I can also assure you that when I play out, people know whose milkshake is better than theirs.
 
HydrA said:
Quality, recognized dj names...
Click to expand...

roliepolie said:
Book real headliners who are known for not disappointing...

i.e. if you book Carl Cox, peeps will travel to see him... from EVERYWHERE.
Click to expand...

surely that's extremely idealistic advice? i've thrown 3 successful dance parties in san francisco - carl cox played at none of them :)

echoing what a lot of people said, the key to success was, in those cases i believe was hard work networking, distributing flyers, word-of-mouth, etc.

in essence, the key to successful promoting is promoting!


roliepolie said:
I can also assure you that when I play out, people know whose milkshake is better than theirs.
Click to expand...

er. thanks for that. i guess.

alasdair
 
how hard is it to book recognized dj names? i do it all the time they aren't *that* much money for some really really sick dj's...

also get fliers OUTSIDE of your city...that can help generate a good buzz
 
Bringing in a headliner has been done before. I think a production company got Irene out here last year, but I didn't live here then so I don't know for sure. Anyway, bringing talent from some of the larger cities in the region (denver, minneapolis) is always an option, and will probably come into effect for future parties. Headliners from out of town always looks better anyway, most kids probably don't want to see the same locals again and again.
 
Throw quality events and gain a solid rep. (sometimes easier said then done)
Bring in real talent (international if at all possible)
Keep costs low, everything from cover charge to the price of drinks.
keep it real
<taken from "Party Promotion for Dummies">
 
HydrA said:
how hard is it to book recognized dj names? i do it all the time they aren't *that* much money for some really really sick dj's...
Click to expand...

perhaps - a couple of the comments seemed to suggest that a party can not be a success without some 'name' DJs and that's not my experience at all.

in my opinion, there are a large number of contributing factors to a successful event and 'name' DJs on the bill is pretty far down the list of priorities...

thanks for your reply.

alasdair
 
we're not talking about your region however....
hello? you're in san fran? your parties were in
san fran. this guy doesn't have the luxury
of being in a city where you can just open
doors and at least 200 ppl show up.


we're talking about an area with a designated "we-no-like"
edm... so in that case, after repeated parties that weren't
successful, you have only two things that ring true:

1) go smaller and build up

and

2) if you want big turnout in the are he's in , he'll
need recognizeable names.

sorry, that's the fact.

a small town is not Chicago, where you can shit on a
flyer and open the doors and at least 2-300 people will
show up.

so, no, we're not saying that every successful party
is b-c of a big name... but i am saying that
in this kid's case, #1 & #2 are the God's honest truth.
and letting him think otherwise is, IMO, facilitating a
continued cycle of money loss.
 
and just for the record, there have been many success parties here in the past, thrown by various promotors. one of the largest ones drew 1,300 kids and had headliners from all around the US. there was also a badlands festival that had potential to be huge but the promotor was too fucked up to see it through.

anyway, the reason I brought all this up is because the last party was the worst by far and I was looking for fresh ideas on what to do and what not to do for the next one.

as of right now, we're probably going to keep our expectations low for the next one, promote the shit out of it and see what happens. I'm definitely going to push the "girls get in free" idea, because we all know what happens when a lot of females go to one place. also we're dropping cover to a lower amount for the guys as well. definitely going to start a mailing list and try to create a real intimate vibe for the kids that show up.

at the very least, every night has still been a blast - just wanna share it with as many people as possible.
 
^^^ when you say "in the past" do you mean 1999...? 2000...? if so, then that's not a good judge, b-c almost everywhere was hoppin' back then...
 
yeah, from what I've heard 98-00 the scene here was pretty big, as it was everywhere.

but the recent parties in 2002-03 are the ones I'm refering to, as in the ones that my buddy (and now semi-business partner) has thrown.
 
physix said:
we're not talking about your region however....
hello? you're in san fran? your parties were in
san fran. this guy doesn't have the luxury
of being in a city where you can just open
doors and at least 200 ppl show up.
Click to expand...

i can tell you from experience in my peer group that, even in san francisco, you can't just throw a party and expect a minimum of 200 people. i think you are trivialising the issue somewhat.

physix said:
sorry, that's the fact.
Click to expand...

these are not facts - they are, surely, matters of opinion?

thanks for your post.

alasdair
 
*bump*

blast from the past - but I'm diggin' for ideas and this is the first decent promo thread that came up.

We're doing up a weekly Saturday afternoon outdoor patio thing for the summer. A rotating mix of some of the best djs in our city playin' the best electronic, funk n hip hop - small patio, $3 cerveza, some eats. Basically just a place to chill and listen to wicked tunes - and a place for the djs to jam it up.

We've done club nights etc.. before - but this is new & I'm still searchin' for innovative promo ideas - outside of the norm you know?

Any advice/ideas? What would you do?

peace
 
there is a promotion group locally here that gets paid based on how many people show up at the door (they take a % of the door charge)...you get to retain liquor sales (where the real $ is at anyway)...its win-win
 
holy crap was I surprised to see this thread back up again.


um, HydrA's idea is top notch. Also, how unique is your event? if you're the only game in town, you've already got your selling point. Beach parties have been done to death, but say you only do it once or twice this summer, you can keep it fresh. Maybe tie it in with NASCAR if there are races on saturdays. Sounds like a pretty chill deal, try to play up to the 9-5 crowd who just wants to relax on the weekend. I dunno, couple ideas.
 
I live in a place where EDM events just don't happen much. We brought Qburns Abstract Message last weekend (and i can assure you pratically no one around here knows who he is). We had less than a month to promote it, only had simple, paper flyers. The turnout was great (not sure on exact headcount), and the bar (like codey, we have no real clubs here except for at the casinos... and good luck getting them to let you bring EDM in there) was so impressed that they want us to come back every weekend for a house music weekly and are going to give us a percentage of the door.


It can happen in podunk, you just have to get the word out, as well as having incentives other than who is playing. You need to let girls in free or reduced price, good drink specials, and reasonable cover. People wil come out for those things no matter who plays.
 
^no doubt. we threw a massive valentines day party back in feb. the owner of the bar was a complete dick to us all the way up until the party, then after giving him his 2nd biggest bar night, he was all set to book us for another one a couple weeks later. we didn't of course, but the power shifted greatly that night.

themes are good, but drink specials and reduced admission for girls are better. girls in free before 10 or 11 gets a lot of girls there early and the boys follow.
 
yeah a bar around here would make a lot of money. There aren't many EDM fans here, but if there was a place they could go every weekend and get a mixture of house and breaks, the bar would make a killing because everyone would go there. no competition.
 
we took our scene truely underground after said bar nearly burned down. with no where else to go and a house available out in the middle of no where, we started doing little house parties on a regular basis. what started as a little get together over ever other week has turned into some crazy good times. Its a great way to build a solid rep and if you are planning a big party, to get the word out face to face with people, rather than just blanketing the streets with flyers.

word of mouth, word of mouth, word of mouth.
 
allan51 said:

word of mouth, word of mouth, word of mouth.
Click to expand...


totally agree... most of the people who come out around here do so from word of mouth. They don't read local forums, and don't usualy get flyers, but always here about an event.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top