It’s tough. We have to work. And for some of us, gigging is the only or main source of income we’ve got. So when something is funny with the money (not funny “ha ha”, but funny “heck naw”), it could get a little stressful. But, just for a second…
What if we thought of our venues more as PARTNERSHIPS vs. PAYDAYS? What if we took some time to focus on some cool things about the club in addition to our expectations of them?
💡IDEA: If the club you’re playing was just voted “Best Local Sports Bar”, has 50 beers on tap, a huge dancefloor, and is known for their deep dish pizza (I miss you Ale Emporium), you’re sitting on a promotional gold mine. If you can’t think of anything to say in your posts other than “come to my gig”, maybe take a post or two and stop talking about yourself?
Instead of sharing…
You could easily structure a few posts for your upcoming gig that go something like this…
But you get the gist. At no point did you have to say the words “come to our gig” or “this show will be awesome”. Obviously, not all clubs will have the same resume, but it doesn’t take too much research to find out some cool info.
And better than research, contact the person at the club who booked the show. I guarantee you, they’d love nothing more than to have you promoting their place of business for everyone’s benefit. That my friends, is a partnership.
Increase your reach with this exercise
Once you open up your idea of what you’re sharing, you can start to think of a lot more options of content to post, and with the use of tagging and adding co-hosts, you’re now also broadening your organic reach (i.e. reaching new people without having to pay for ads).
In fact, take 2 minutes to step out of the musician role and put yourselves in the shoes of your favorite club owner. Yeh, yeh. Some of them have attitudes and are a pain to work with, but the same thing can be said about us musicians, right?
So, mental exercise time (close your eyes if you want to really get into it. (Wait, on second thought, you won’t be able to read with ‘em closed. Nevermind. Please continue…)
Think about one of the places you’ve played before that you really like. Or better yet, think of a club that you have a hard time getting people to (it’ll serve you better for practical reasons).
Ask yourself a few questions
OK. (*Poof*) Back to musician…
What you’re really doing is thinking of some cool things that might be informative and add more incentives for your fans to attend your next show.
And so you don’t hurt your brain cells too much, here’s a list of 11 venue-focused items you might consider to shine the spotlight on them and provide your fans with even more reasons to come to your show…
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Editors Note: Pick your pics carefully. Do not post pictures or video of empty clubs or dance floors. Wait until you can capture some energy. Nobody knows your pic was the first song of the night, all they see is nobody dancing and a bunch of empty chairs.
——————————————————————————————————————————-
What other items can you think of? List them in the comments below!
Keep in mind, you don’t need the whole list of items.
Chances are your venue isn’t going to have something that hits ALL of these categories, but I bet if you did a little research you could find at least three. Google “Best clubs in (your city)” or “(your city) A-List”, or something along those lines. You might not find the specific venue you’re looking for, but if you play at several places, you’re likely to find some info that’s already been written about one or two of them.
Better yet, you could also send a message or text the club owner (or festival coordinator, client - whoever hired you) to ask them what they would like highlighted.
See where is this going? Even if you have an off night or don’t draw as many people as the next band, I bet you’re going to be on the top of the list of bands they like to work with again.
Ok, go forth, prosper, and partner with your venues! And if you want to dive deeper into Facebook Promotion (without using ads), check out our course here: https://indiebandcoach.teachable.com/
#ToYourSuccess
Leonard Patterson
Founder / Indie Band Coach
http://www.IndieBandCoach.com