By Bradley Woodgate
It’s the peak of summer and the sound of live music is filling the air. The clinking of cider bottles and the sun shining down creates the perfect setting to enjoy your favourite artists. So If your planning your own
summer music event this year, read below for my top 5 tips to ensure your event is a success.
1. Inventive Competitions
I for one hate the simple A, B, C style competitions – they are always the most inane questions with ridiculously easy answers. I would like to challenge my audience to truly show their love for the festival. An example could be getting entries to dress as their favourite act and send in an image via social media sites using a selection of promoted hashtags. Best look alike wins free entry and VIP access!? Better yet, why not have a big screen showing some of the best entries during the festival – keep the fun going!! The possibilities are endless here but the more interesting the competition, the more inventive people will become. Make sure
Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram are utilised fully here to reach as big of an audience as possible.
2. QR codes
Let’s not give up on these just yet! QR codes are those little square images that you can scan with your camera on your phones, which then in turn can link to a website.They can be an incredible useful tool at reaching out and providing information to huge amounts of people. How about adding a QR code to posters that link to a booking site or promotional video? People like novelties, so embrace them!
3. Viral videos
Get the excitement flowing and create a trending music event marketing video. You could create a time lapse video of the event/stages being constructed with an invitation at then end encouraging people to come along and see it in person. Try and stand out here, be creative and keep it fun and relevant. When you have a concept ensure that all channels are utilised to fully maximise your exposure to your appropriate target market.
4. Mini Festival
Why not put on a “mini festival” to promote the big day? You can keep it low budget but still ensure you get a great turn out. Give incentives such as free entry and then the option to buy cheaper tickets to the main event if bought at the mini festival. This can be a great way of showing people what the big day has to offer, and can be a very effective way to get promotion out through word of mouth.
5. Virtual Information Booths
It’s important not to forget that once your event starts not to sit back and relax, you want to keep your festival goers happy and well informed A “virtual information booth” provided on social media sites is a clever way of standing out and providing all the information that any music fan could ever need from a festival. People can check in to find the shortest queue for an act or the quietest place for a picnic! It’s things such as this that will ensure people will want to return the following year!
These are my 5 top tips at promoting your summer music event but I encourage you to be creative and innovative and think outside the box.
