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Promotion and evening entertainment
Nov. 22nd, 2009 09:08 pmThere seem to be a lot of people who think that the key to promoting their event is to invite all their friends on a social networking site, and then send each person nagging reminders about it once every couple of days. Often this has no appreciable effect, sometimes a negative effect as people block the promoter from sending further invitations. Sometimes promoters get disheartened at this, blaming 'apathy', wondering why so many people replied as a 'maybe' and didn't show up, and so on.
I think these people are making a mistake. As I see it, promotion has two distinct aspects: discovering the people most likely to attend, and convincing them to come. Raising awareness and applying persuasion, if you will. In my (admittedly naïve) opinion, the mistake these people typically make is to almost completely fail at the first half and then make a very crude and counter-productive attempt at the second.
I don't have any magic bullets for finding new people to improve awareness of an event, but surely this includes using multiple websites (not just Facebook, but MySpace, Last.fm, forums for local clubs, etc), posters (pubs, bars, gig venues, rehearsal rooms), and physical flyering (standing in the street, or at gigs, or other nights). Use your brain though. I distinctly remember Rock City creating a poster for a monthly rock night and putting up a copy in a Derby guitar shop. This would have been a great idea, except the poster did not specify the venue on it. Similarly, a lot of gig posters I see actually say nothing about the bands that are playing. It's not rocket science - what, when, where, cost. Omit one at your peril.
A couple of years ago a rock night in Nottingham had its opening night on the same day and time as the local student-run rock night. The students were of the opinion that this new night would obviously fail since it couldn't 'compete'. As it happened, the new night did fail after a few weeks, but it was actually very well attended that first week at least, by a lot of people who wouldn't think of going to a student rock night, or might not have known it existed. Where did those people come from? Where did they go? One thing's for certain - they were reached by promotion, so someone was doing their job right.
Similarly, I met someone recently who's been going to many of the same clubs and pubs as me for most of 10 years, who also likes all the same obscure bands that I do. Yet I've never come across her before now.
The lesson is to not pretend that because you have several hundred Facebook friends and are affiliated with the local university's Rock Society that you necessarily know everybody or even most of the people into rock music near you.
As for the second part of the equation, the persuasion aspect, I think that many promoters don't really try and understand and provide what people want to see. If you put on an event for the love of it, that's great, but there's no point being bitter about low attendances if what you're offering isn't actually that interesting to many people.
I'll talk a little about what sways my decision as to whether I go out to a certain pub or rock night or other event that some person, place, or organisation is hosting. The main consideration, the mission statement in a way, is to go somewhere that will give me a more entertaining evening than staying at home. Generally speaking, this requires the right people, at the right place, with the right ambience, at the right cost. Obviously it also has to compete with any other venue offering those aspects to some degree, of which there are several.
Personally I will want to go with my friends. There's little point being in a room entirely full of strangers because I'm unlikely to talk to any of them, nor they to me. In that case I may as well have stayed at home because it's offering me nothing I can't get there. It's not good enough to just be playing the right music. I have the right music here on my computer. No DJ is going to play a set that is more suited to me than what I can cue up for myself right here. So there have to be other factors too. This is the main reason why my RSVP of 'maybe' doesn't become a 'yes' - I reply with 'maybe' on the assumption that I will go if my friends do, but if it doesn't interest them then I will have a better evening elsewhere.
So what tips the balance between having a load of undecided people all waiting for others to convince them to go with them, and a large social group showing up en masse? There are many other minor issues which are often overlooked by promoters who are too focused on the music and not on the idea of providing a night's entertainment. Loudness is an issue. If your venue is too loud absolutely everywhere, then you can't chat to your friends. If it's too quiet, then people won't want to dance. If you can't accommodate both activities in the same venue then some people will stay away. A similar dilemma arises regarding seating and tables - too few, and you can't sit down and chat, too many, and you can't move and mingle and there's no dancefloor space. Drinks are important - if all else fails, people like to drink, as it is enjoyable and passes the time. But provide them with a dire selection of drinks, or make them overpriced, and they'll move on to somewhere else. By way of example, the SEVEN venue here in Nottingham has failed on all of these fronts the last few times I went to any special event there.
Live bands are a significant problem. If you have bands playing, and nobody knows them, why do you expect anybody to watch? Watching a death metal band growling completely incomprehensible lyrics over muddy and indistinct sound while playing songs you've never heard of is just not enjoyable for most of us. One of the organisers of the Hellfire festival said to me that £75 is good value for over 50 bands. But he was missing the fact that most people simply don't care about discovering new live bands that much, and with that in mind it's far too much cash.
When people say they like music, they typically mean that they like certain types of music or certain bands, and they enjoy knowing the songs and singing or dancing along. It's very hard to do either of those with a band you've never seen before, which is most likely sounding awful in a tiny venue. This is presumably why tribute and covers bands do so well. Probably the best thing you can do with smaller bands is to provide a second quieter room so that people can switch between checking out bands and chatting to their friends, and can enjoy the night even if all the bands turn out to be awful.
So yeah, in summary:
- don't spam people on Facebook. If I want to go, I'll go. One invitation and maybe one reminder just prior to the event is enough. Cast the net wider to find new people, instead of harassing those already on the list.
- sort out the problems with the venues that make them an uninteresting place to spend an evening. In an age where people can get as much free music as they like and carry it everywhere, your choice of music does not conquer all.
- think from the perspective of a customer rather than a promoter. It's likely that what you're offering is not as tempting a deal as you believe it is.
I think these people are making a mistake. As I see it, promotion has two distinct aspects: discovering the people most likely to attend, and convincing them to come. Raising awareness and applying persuasion, if you will. In my (admittedly naïve) opinion, the mistake these people typically make is to almost completely fail at the first half and then make a very crude and counter-productive attempt at the second.
I don't have any magic bullets for finding new people to improve awareness of an event, but surely this includes using multiple websites (not just Facebook, but MySpace, Last.fm, forums for local clubs, etc), posters (pubs, bars, gig venues, rehearsal rooms), and physical flyering (standing in the street, or at gigs, or other nights). Use your brain though. I distinctly remember Rock City creating a poster for a monthly rock night and putting up a copy in a Derby guitar shop. This would have been a great idea, except the poster did not specify the venue on it. Similarly, a lot of gig posters I see actually say nothing about the bands that are playing. It's not rocket science - what, when, where, cost. Omit one at your peril.
A couple of years ago a rock night in Nottingham had its opening night on the same day and time as the local student-run rock night. The students were of the opinion that this new night would obviously fail since it couldn't 'compete'. As it happened, the new night did fail after a few weeks, but it was actually very well attended that first week at least, by a lot of people who wouldn't think of going to a student rock night, or might not have known it existed. Where did those people come from? Where did they go? One thing's for certain - they were reached by promotion, so someone was doing their job right.
Similarly, I met someone recently who's been going to many of the same clubs and pubs as me for most of 10 years, who also likes all the same obscure bands that I do. Yet I've never come across her before now.
The lesson is to not pretend that because you have several hundred Facebook friends and are affiliated with the local university's Rock Society that you necessarily know everybody or even most of the people into rock music near you.
As for the second part of the equation, the persuasion aspect, I think that many promoters don't really try and understand and provide what people want to see. If you put on an event for the love of it, that's great, but there's no point being bitter about low attendances if what you're offering isn't actually that interesting to many people.
I'll talk a little about what sways my decision as to whether I go out to a certain pub or rock night or other event that some person, place, or organisation is hosting. The main consideration, the mission statement in a way, is to go somewhere that will give me a more entertaining evening than staying at home. Generally speaking, this requires the right people, at the right place, with the right ambience, at the right cost. Obviously it also has to compete with any other venue offering those aspects to some degree, of which there are several.
Personally I will want to go with my friends. There's little point being in a room entirely full of strangers because I'm unlikely to talk to any of them, nor they to me. In that case I may as well have stayed at home because it's offering me nothing I can't get there. It's not good enough to just be playing the right music. I have the right music here on my computer. No DJ is going to play a set that is more suited to me than what I can cue up for myself right here. So there have to be other factors too. This is the main reason why my RSVP of 'maybe' doesn't become a 'yes' - I reply with 'maybe' on the assumption that I will go if my friends do, but if it doesn't interest them then I will have a better evening elsewhere.
So what tips the balance between having a load of undecided people all waiting for others to convince them to go with them, and a large social group showing up en masse? There are many other minor issues which are often overlooked by promoters who are too focused on the music and not on the idea of providing a night's entertainment. Loudness is an issue. If your venue is too loud absolutely everywhere, then you can't chat to your friends. If it's too quiet, then people won't want to dance. If you can't accommodate both activities in the same venue then some people will stay away. A similar dilemma arises regarding seating and tables - too few, and you can't sit down and chat, too many, and you can't move and mingle and there's no dancefloor space. Drinks are important - if all else fails, people like to drink, as it is enjoyable and passes the time. But provide them with a dire selection of drinks, or make them overpriced, and they'll move on to somewhere else. By way of example, the SEVEN venue here in Nottingham has failed on all of these fronts the last few times I went to any special event there.
Live bands are a significant problem. If you have bands playing, and nobody knows them, why do you expect anybody to watch? Watching a death metal band growling completely incomprehensible lyrics over muddy and indistinct sound while playing songs you've never heard of is just not enjoyable for most of us. One of the organisers of the Hellfire festival said to me that £75 is good value for over 50 bands. But he was missing the fact that most people simply don't care about discovering new live bands that much, and with that in mind it's far too much cash.
When people say they like music, they typically mean that they like certain types of music or certain bands, and they enjoy knowing the songs and singing or dancing along. It's very hard to do either of those with a band you've never seen before, which is most likely sounding awful in a tiny venue. This is presumably why tribute and covers bands do so well. Probably the best thing you can do with smaller bands is to provide a second quieter room so that people can switch between checking out bands and chatting to their friends, and can enjoy the night even if all the bands turn out to be awful.
So yeah, in summary:
- don't spam people on Facebook. If I want to go, I'll go. One invitation and maybe one reminder just prior to the event is enough. Cast the net wider to find new people, instead of harassing those already on the list.
- sort out the problems with the venues that make them an uninteresting place to spend an evening. In an age where people can get as much free music as they like and carry it everywhere, your choice of music does not conquer all.
- think from the perspective of a customer rather than a promoter. It's likely that what you're offering is not as tempting a deal as you believe it is.
