The actual promotion of your event isn’t exactly rocket science but there are more considerations than ever before and it will become the most time consuming aspect of being a promoter.

Promoting live gigs is very different from promoting a dance event or club night so you need to bear in mind how you are going to strategically produce the publicity for your event.

However, there are some fundamental areas that apply to all genres and these are:

Press and Media Work

• Be strategic but also throw the net wide. For dance music you will need to approach the specialist publications such as Mixmag and DJ as well as the style press. For gigs, you need to identify specialist publications, websites and blogs where your events are likely to get coverage.

• Always send press releases to all national, local and specialist Media and all print and online listings. Also target key bloggers involved with your genre of music, they may give the night a prop and have a potential audience of thousands.

• Don't be put off by T.V. they can often be looking for local interest stories.

• It is always a good idea to offer free tickets to magazines so that they can run competitions (such at Metro’s ‘Hottest Tickets of the day’). This is a great way of getting free publicity.

When pitching to regional press for features, ask yourself- what is newsworthy about this event? What is unique or particularly interesting about the event? Is it a one-off?

Examine the house style of a publication and replicate it closely so that the press release already resembles a news piece.

Journalists are often overworked and racing against the deadline but if a story is already essentially written for them with their audience in mind it may be more likely to run as a preview or feature. Also- it may sound old fashioned but take them out for a drink and explain what you’re trying to do as a promoter. The creative industries are all about developing key relationships.

Publicity and materials (posters, flyers, etc)

Although the all consuming significance of both print media and promotional materials such as flyers and posters in hard copy have declined in recent years with the rise of ‘Web 2.0’ interactive and experiential social marketing platforms alongside the proliferation of social networking sites, we must approach all events from as many angles as possible. As a promoter, you need to use the traditional vehicles of promotion to your advantage whilst embracing new technologies to maximize the potential audience for your event.

Engaging Designers

It is extremely important that you choose the right designer to work with in order to create the visual identity of the event. Identify a designer that has experience of designing flyers and posters for the type of event that you want to promote. Similarly, try to find a designer who can handle the print process for you to save time and energy. Don’t bother going to a PR firm or large-scale marketing company as they will charge excessively and probably give the events a very corporate feel.

It is quite easy to identify a local designer by picking up flyers in your local record store or by simply looking around you at other posters and flyers.

Always have a clear idea of what you want to convey in your design. Don’t be afraid of taking some images or ideas to a designer to work on. The good designers are the ones who want to work with you rather than insist on their own work. This will also make you feel more comfortable.

Most small design studios handle a lot of this sort of work and have strong connections with printers. They can often get you competitive rates and will also handle the delivery of artwork and the finished product, one less job for the promoter to do.

Alternatively you may want to use a friend to design your material or even do it yourself to save cost. However, make sure that you understand the printing process and lay up the artwork properly. If delivered to the printer incorrectly it may mean you have to pay an additional or duplicate set up cost.

Always check posters for essential details

These are: Name of night, promoter name / logo, Name of artists / DJ, descriptive Taglines, press quotes for artists and / or club night, Myspace and web Addresses, Date, Times of doors, Venue address and information, advance ticket outlets, drinks promotions, Price and any venue stipulations such as age restrictions on entry.

The more striking and noticeable your flyer / poster designs, the more the public will want to see exactly what info is on the flyer. Don't be afraid to be innovative and imaginative but always remember to tailor your designs to fit your target audience. You will also need to highlight the extra bonuses that your potential customer may be getting e.g. later license, drinks promotions etc.

Having said this when starting out as a promoter of unsigned bands you may want to be that little bit more creative with your publicity, advertise your bands as an event with a DJ playing similar styles of music to attract interest in the event.

Call the event a name so next time people see your flyers / posters it becomes an assurance of quality and your professional reputation can go from strength to strength.

Distribution of print promo

Always try to find as many places as possible for your publicity material. Don't be afraid to ask in shops and other places that may not normally take posters and flyers. They may have just not been asked before.

Having a promotion team of your own is important especially to put flyers in people’s hands. Locate key points in your town centre where your target market are most likely to be and have 2 or 3 people handing flyers out directly and also target people coming out of similar nights.

It might be the case that the venue has an in-house promotion team distributing their own posters containing listings that you could use but don't rely on them solely.

It is always vital to stay on top of your promotion and you can never do enough. One of the most difficult parts of being a promoter is the relentless task of promoting events, it is hardly the most attractive or glamorous part of the job and it is the most time consuming but it’s the only way you are ever going to succeed.

Once you get to a certain level, you should be in a position to employ a small distribution team but please make sure that you use people that you trust to be out there at all hours getting the promo out, ideally you should identify distributors already doing this for other successful promoters and this comes at a financial cost.

Another method of widening your distribution net is to use a street team. These are small teams that usually work for free to distribute the promo for an established band’s show, walk around with mailing lists, hand out badges etc.. In return, they receive guest list to the show, merchandise and make contacts if they aspire to work in the music industry. If you’re working with an act at this level, always consult their management or label and ask about street team or look towards developing your own street team for the event.

The decline of traditional advertising and the rise of social media?

Be aware that the overall value and impact of traditional print adverts have unquestionably declined with the rise of what is referred to as social media, including mobile phone and all forms of e-marketing. What is now referred to as ‘Experiential Marketing’ is also integral to these new ways of thinking. This is defined as the art of creating and effectively manufacturing an experience where the end result is an emotional connection to a person, brand, product or idea.

A great way of incorporating this into your night is enhancing the interactivity of your various web platforms and striking up a genuine engagement with the audience- Always be responsive to their feedback. See below for more ideas on new web based platforms and how you can use these to your advantage.

However, if you are going to advertise make sure you have enough money in your budget.

- Choose carefully where you are placing your advert. You will get much better value for money advertising in 5 regional / local publications than spending all your budget on 1 advert in a National magazine.

- Advertising can be expensive but you should always be able to negotiate a better deal than the initial asking price especially if it is close to the publication's deadline.

- Make sure you know that your target market reads the publications you want to advertise in.

Word of Mouth

Always hype up your event as much as possible when talking to people, it is likely they will go on and talk to another ten or so people. Word easily gets around following a quality event and people need to know when the next one is coming up.

Website / 2.0 Platforms and Social Media

In this day and age, if you are going to be promoting events on a regular basis, you need to have a well designed website and be very literate with web promotion. Make sure you have some sort of registration facility on your website with at least email addresses so you can send out flyers and bulletins to your audience.

Furthermore, give people reasons to come back to the site, upload audio and video content relating to the event alongside photo albums. You could even consider creating a password protected ‘Member’s Area’ for your audience to make contact with each other and discuss the event and create Spotify playlists for users to listen to and exchange.

Prominently display the website address of your venture on all promo. Entice people to visit it and get more information on forthcoming events, news, message boards etc by running competitions for free tickets and or CDs etc from the featured artists.

You can also enhance such opportunities now through social networking and social media and networking sites such as Myspace bulletins, Twitter updates, and a presence on sites such as Bebo, Flickr, LinkedIn, and Friendster, creating a blog around your event also by creating Facebook events. Some of these sites will inevitable turn out to be fads but currently they are all ways to reach potential audiences.

Due to such online platforms, print promotion has arguably declined in importance. However, never underestimate the continued importance of getting flyers and posters out there.

It is extremely important that you keep a database of your audience so that you can advertise future events directly. Offer people an incentive to join your mailing list- even something as simple as a free badge at a gig in exchange for an e-mail address can work well.

The 2 most obvious points of contact are email addresses so that you can send bulletins and e-flyers to. This will essentially cost you nothing.

The other main area is with mobile phone numbers. There are cheap and effective ways of sending SMS messages about your events directly to people’s mobile phones- Offer some free guest tickets to an event on your posters and watch the numbers come rolling in, for the cost of 2 guest spaces you may get hundreds of names and numbers for people who are specifically interested in the kind of events you are promoting. It is a valid form of direct marketing.

If you build a database up with varying demographic fields such as age, sex, location it could come in useful in the future when trying to obtain sponsorship for your event.