How To Promote Events & Throw Your Own Parties: Part 6

It’s the day after. Your event went off well, you had a packed venue, the music was phenomenal, photos were taken, new fans were made, and you made a good impression. Whether or not you have another event coming soon, don’t lose your momentum! Too many in the past have simply fallen lazy at this moment and thus lost key opportunities to build upon their success.

Today we’re going to explore what you should be doing after your event. Small things you can do simply to make your brand even stronger and build a foundation for future endeavours.

Post your media from the event

Don’t get lazy on this. The very next day, go through all the photos that were taken and pick out the ones you want to post online. Pick the ones with good looking people, packs of pretty girls, the DJs, interesting looking folk, gogo dancers (if you had them), staff, crowd shots, and just anyone that was fun. You should also set aside copies of any photos you think would look good in online ads and flyers. Do this now before shrinking down all the photos for online use.

If you’ve taken a large amount of photos, then stay within 50 to 100 photos that you end up posting online. You don’t want overkill, but you don’t want to leave anyone out. You should also add an image of the flyer or online ad in with the photos, just as a reference. In the end, make sure the photos you select will portray the marketing image you have of your events and your company.

If you’ve recorded any of the DJ sets or even video, look to get that online within the week. If you didn’t think of doing this, plan for it the next time. Live DJ sets, even of the unknown guys who opened your evening, can do a lot in promotion. Plus it shows the DJs you are helping them, thus they’ll work harder you for. In terms of video, you can post them raw as you shot them, or edit them down into a “highlight reel” using simple software even like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker.

You should post photos and DJ mixes on your website or the website you might have created for your promotion company. If you have neither, then try social media, but make sure all can access them. You might also want to try posting those DJ mixes on the various free services open to DJs like Mixcloud and MixCrate.

Video is the same deal. Post them on YouTube, Vimeo, or both. Just make sure the profile page is of your promotion company and there are leads to draw newcomers to a central spot for your promotions. (This is why I think you should have a website to lead people to.)

Promote the posted materials

As soon as you’ve got your media somewhere online, promote that. Let your fans relive the night again, with the result being they share those memories around the internet. You know many people will use a good photo taken of them as a Facebook profile photo? Often those photos are from promoters.

If you’re doing email marketing, then send out a blast with links to the media and a thank you message to all who came out. If you have another event coming up in the week, toss in a blurb about it. If not, then just leave it as a thank you. Fans and followers will never ridicule someone for being humble. This also helps you connect with them more. Make sure you have links to your website and social media. It will be the invitation for them to connect.

Think about press releases

This is an overlooked item among many promoters outside of those looking to get the tourists and office workers who normally don’t go out. Many club and even rave promoters usually just push flyers, online ads, and nothing more.

What is a press release? It’s generally a one-page document telling of your event. You can send one as a preview type of material and then another one after the event telling of your success. You should include an image of the flyer and a few event photos if this is a post-event press release.

This might sound silly, but bear in mind a lot of people aren’t “in the know” about the scene. They turn to local newspapers and online sites that more or less tell of weekly bar events, festivals, and restaurant openings. A press release previewing your event does the work of writing copy for this publication, and they might just put your event on their list of “things to do”.

A post-event press release can also help because readers will see some cool thing that happened, and thus want to know more about you so they can make the next one.

If you need to learn to write a press release, head over to this tutorial on eHow.com.

Wrapping it all up

This whole series is pretty much what I know and have learned from promoting. The mistakes I’ve made in the past and the success stories in my neck of the woods have taught me all of this stuff that I’ve tried to share with you here.

I honestly think any DJ who isn’t deeply going the music production route should try to get into and learn promotion. It gives you real perspective on how things are run, and why things happen. I might at times come off as a “music snob” in my disdain for Top 40 music, but my time as a promoter did show me why so much of the nightclub scene is centred around catering to this crowd, as opposed to just pushing the musical landscape.

It gives many a DJ a lot of grounding in terms of how they should approach their work. This is how you learn to give a service, and seek out that happy medium where you can love what you do and get a crowd in there with you. I know that whenever I talk to DJs who promote versus those who just spin music, it’s like night and day they way they look at it all.

I know there are probably many questions and possible items not covered in this series, so I invite you to join on on the forum and share your opinions and questions. I’m on there every day, and am happy to provide answers and discuss issues and scenarios.

Check out the other parts in this series:

• How To Promote Events & Throw Your Own Parties: Part 1
• How To Promote Events & Throw Your Own Parties: Part 2
• How To Promote Events & Throw Your Own Parties: Part 3
• How To Promote Events & Throw Your Own Parties: Part 4
• How To Promote Events & Throw Your Own Parties: Part 5

So how have your promotion efforts gone? What do you like to do when your event is still “hot”? Let us know your triumphs, disasters and tips in the comments.