A note of event marketing

I deal with a lot of musicians and they all want to know the best way to start building a hype. Well, unless you have a buzz going already and there are a few thousand people on your mailing list, and your Facebook page already has a few thousand followers; all of the “cool” marketing strategies like Facebook ads, your own “free” mobile app, cool photos of the band, etc, are really going to do you no good at all.
I was at an open mic last night and every other performer on the stage said something like this. “Hi, my name is __________. I play in a band called _______. We are playing on _________, you should come.” Will anyone actually go to one of those shows expressly because they said that, i doubt it.
Effective marketing strategy – no.
So we went outside and there some posters hung up for an upcoming concert, and my friend said “I see those posters all over, it makes me feel like he’s more legit.” So I asked, “legit enough to go to the show?” she answered in the negative.
Effective marketing strategy – no. (Maybe good PR, but we’ll cover that another day.)
Same thing when you hand out flyers. Most research I’ve done shows that for every 150-200 flyers you hand out, one person comes to the show.
Effective marketing strategy – no.
I think that by now you get the point. I have more than a few friends that are in bands that sold out local and regional shows before there was a big buzz about them. And quite frankly, they built a buzz because they were able to sell out those shows before they had a buzz. Their secret – personally inviting their friends. “I don’t have a lot of friends!” you might say. Well, go make more. The local band with the largest following around here did that. They played at college apartment complexes and house shows and after they were done playing they stuck around and made friends with everyone there! It’s more valuable to have Facebook “friends” on your personal page then it is to have “fans” on your band/business page when you are first starting out.
So that’s the assignment; whether you’re in a band, just started a business, are trying to promote a charity event, whatever it might be. Get out and make a ton of friends. It will your make your life easier and your marketing strategy easier to implement.