I noticed something the other day with many newer promoters that really worried me...
A buddy of mine is opening up a lounge in Dallas, TX and asked me if i would help him out and interview some of the promoters he was looking to hire.
I called up each of the promoters to conduct a phone interview (i wasn't looking to fly to Dallas in the summer) and I asked most of the promoters the same basic questions to get an idea of what kind of promoter they were...
One of my go-to questions to get them talking is:"give me an idea of your promoting process to bring people to my venue".
I got a bunch of different answers......some told me they would use myspace/facebook marketing.......some told me about an elaborate radio campaign......some were strong believers in a street team handing out passes...but out of the half dozen or more promoters i interviewed that week, only one of them discussed using an email marketing campaign. (and guess which one got my recommendation to hire???)
And when i say "an email marketing campaign", I'm not talking about someone that is going to send out a blast to their facebook or friendster buddies...
No, i mean someone that has an email list with names and emails of real people that will attend their parties.
There is a very big difference between email marketing and social network marketing. With Social Networking sites like myspace, you often have random people that are located all over the world as "friends" on these sites. While its great to have lots of friends all over, these people aren't realistically going to come to your party that Saturday night.
This is why building a good email list of realistic, local clients is so much more valuable and crucial to filling your venue...
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking those that use social marketing, radio ads or street teams to promote, but i CAN NOT BELIEVE that they use these methods BEFORE email marketing.
Those are things that should be done ALONG with an email marketing campaign...email marketing should be the first thing you do THEN you use these other methods to help grow your party.
In my experience (and those of all the top promoters i know and work with) email marketing is the easiest, cheapest and BEST way to get people to your party.
For as little as $20 a month there are amazing sites that you can use to make your email marketing very simple and very effective.
These sites automatically send out the emails, track how many are delivered, how many are opened up and read, and how many of your links inside your emails are clicked on...its amazing!
There are a bunch of different companies out there that do this, but the one that i personally use for my own business to send out emails (including this one) is Aweber.
No matter what company you use, you want to make sure it's a big company that is well respected, otherwise you can run into problems.
I use Aweber because:
1) They are inexpensive
2) It's very easy to use (I don't have too much time to mess around with emails)
3) They have a great reputation in the business so your emails don't get sent to people's SPAM folder...which is a HUGE waste.
I started with a different company originally (which many other promoters were using at the time) but i found that many of my friends and clients weren't getting my emails when i asked them about them.
...they told me they never got it, or maybe it was sent to their SPAM folder.
So, regardless of what company you use, you need to make sure that you are using email marketing as a big part of your promoting business.
Build your email list of potential clients, email them regularly about your upcoming events, offer your clients incentives to attend like reduced admission or drink specials, and fill your party every week!
Repeat this cycle often and you are easily on your way to being a success in the promoting business...
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
3 Reasons Why Now is the Best Time to be a Promoter
For the past few weeks, I've been going through my email in-box,trying to catch up with everything and respond to as many promoting emails as I can.
There has been one common question that keeps on popping up though, and I thought I'd answer it for you, in case this is something that's been going through your head.
The question that keeps on coming up is basically: "With the weak economy, is this a bad time to be a promoter or start a promoting business"?
I can honestly say, NO, this is NOT a bad time to be a promoter...
...in fact, this might be one of the best times, EVER!
I know you are thinking to yourself, "how can that be? All I hear on the news is:
High Gas prices...Rising Food costs...Major companies going bankrupt...Auto companies laying off 1,000's of employees...Coffee stores closing 100's of locations..."
With all the bad news in the headlines, it's easy to think it's a terrible time to work for yourself or start your own company...
...but fact is, it's the exact opposite.
I truly believe its a great time to get into this business and if times were tough and there wasn't enough business to go around i personally wouldn't be telling other people to jump into the business that pays my bills. I would discourage people to become promoters...
But my business hasn't slowed down at all in the last year and I've thrown some of my biggest parties in the past few years in 2008.
Here are 3 HUGE reasons why it's a GREAT time to be a promoter:
1) Venues have fixed overhead costs and need to be filled in order to pay their bills and make money.
When times are tough, they rely MORE on promoters to help pull in their crowds.
Promoters only get paid for the people that they bring to the venue so if they fill the place, its a win-win for the promoters and the venues.
Owners and managers that once felt they didn't need promoters to fill their venue are quickly changing their thought process when business slows down even a little.
Take advantage of this opportunity!
2) When you work for yourself, you can't be laid off:
Sure, business could slow down, but if you work hard you will never be out of a job...
...That is not true when you work for someone else.
You could be the best employee, but if you make too much money, then you might be the first to go when they need to cut costs. If you are new to the company then they might fire you first since you don't have seniority. Like it or not, when you work for someone else, your career, paycheck, and *life* are in their hands, not yours.
3) Promoting can be done in your part time:
With the cost of everything going up, who couldn't use some extra money to help them offset the high prices?
If you're looking for a way to help supplement your pay check with a part time job or a small business, promoting parties can provide that.
As a promoter, you could easily keep your day job or remain in school and throw parties in your part time to help keep you afloat during the tough times. There are little to no start up costs involved so its the perfect business to try out and see if you can earn some part-time cash.
Have you ever dreamed of owning your very own business?
If so, you're not alone...I was reading some statistics the other day about "owning your own business" and the numbers are pretty amazing.
Almost half (47%) of Americans want to own their own business while only 18% actually do. That means most people are dreaming about it, while very few are actually taking the steps to do it!
Now is as good of a time as any to be a promoter, so if you're thinking about getting into the business or you're looking to take your business to the next level, now is the time to do it...
...so stop dreaming and take the next step!
There has been one common question that keeps on popping up though, and I thought I'd answer it for you, in case this is something that's been going through your head.
The question that keeps on coming up is basically: "With the weak economy, is this a bad time to be a promoter or start a promoting business"?
I can honestly say, NO, this is NOT a bad time to be a promoter...
...in fact, this might be one of the best times, EVER!
I know you are thinking to yourself, "how can that be? All I hear on the news is:
High Gas prices...Rising Food costs...Major companies going bankrupt...Auto companies laying off 1,000's of employees...Coffee stores closing 100's of locations..."
With all the bad news in the headlines, it's easy to think it's a terrible time to work for yourself or start your own company...
...but fact is, it's the exact opposite.
I truly believe its a great time to get into this business and if times were tough and there wasn't enough business to go around i personally wouldn't be telling other people to jump into the business that pays my bills. I would discourage people to become promoters...
But my business hasn't slowed down at all in the last year and I've thrown some of my biggest parties in the past few years in 2008.
Here are 3 HUGE reasons why it's a GREAT time to be a promoter:
1) Venues have fixed overhead costs and need to be filled in order to pay their bills and make money.
When times are tough, they rely MORE on promoters to help pull in their crowds.
Promoters only get paid for the people that they bring to the venue so if they fill the place, its a win-win for the promoters and the venues.
Owners and managers that once felt they didn't need promoters to fill their venue are quickly changing their thought process when business slows down even a little.
Take advantage of this opportunity!
2) When you work for yourself, you can't be laid off:
Sure, business could slow down, but if you work hard you will never be out of a job...
...That is not true when you work for someone else.
You could be the best employee, but if you make too much money, then you might be the first to go when they need to cut costs. If you are new to the company then they might fire you first since you don't have seniority. Like it or not, when you work for someone else, your career, paycheck, and *life* are in their hands, not yours.
3) Promoting can be done in your part time:
With the cost of everything going up, who couldn't use some extra money to help them offset the high prices?
If you're looking for a way to help supplement your pay check with a part time job or a small business, promoting parties can provide that.
As a promoter, you could easily keep your day job or remain in school and throw parties in your part time to help keep you afloat during the tough times. There are little to no start up costs involved so its the perfect business to try out and see if you can earn some part-time cash.
Have you ever dreamed of owning your very own business?
If so, you're not alone...I was reading some statistics the other day about "owning your own business" and the numbers are pretty amazing.
Almost half (47%) of Americans want to own their own business while only 18% actually do. That means most people are dreaming about it, while very few are actually taking the steps to do it!
Now is as good of a time as any to be a promoter, so if you're thinking about getting into the business or you're looking to take your business to the next level, now is the time to do it...
...so stop dreaming and take the next step!
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