Promote your show!

How-To Guide for Nightlife Promotion
(Dance Party, Comedy Show, Band Night etc…)

Promotion is so much harder than you think, you must be relentless, you must be annoying, you must remind people over and over again, you must use passive forms of outreach (social media) but you also must use active forms of outreach (texting people, emailing friends and acquaintances, flyering, talking talking talking about your event).  

This guide is a step by step guide to break down how to promote your event.

1. Create a clear poster with an interesting graphic and all of the relevant information but otherwise keep it brief: 

   -Time of doors / show start 
   -Date and day of event
   -Names of performers & name of event
   -Parkside logo and address
   -Ticket cost

2. Internet-Based Promotion:

   -Social media, paid ads, and videos - Meta tends to shadowban anything that looks like a “poster” aka TEXT on an image - because they want you to pay for an ad. Do straight to camera videos, unique content is the best way to get views and always include the advanced ticket link. TAG PEOPLE - the venue, performers, bands, DJs, etc - make it easy for others to repost
   -Email lists - start building one - an email is so much more effective than a post
   -Reach out directly to media and press with a succinct, personal  email with your graphic and necessary links

3. Real World Promotion:

   -Postering neighborhoods
   -Flyering events and talking to people
   -TEXT AND CALL YOUR FRIENDS-  DON’T BE SHY
   -Reach out to 5-10 individual friends and ask them to bring a friend who has never been to your show

4. Incentivize:

   -consider structuring your payouts with a bonus attached: For bands this means they should know what their cut of the ticket sales are and for DJs, hosts, etc maybe you guarantee them x amount of money but also give them their own code for tickets so that if they sell 25 tickets through their personal channels, they get a bump in pay
   -FAT GUESTLIST: do not be cheap with your guestlist, you want bodies in the room, you want people to have a good time, you want the bartenders to make money, you want all of those people to leave and go wow that was an amazing time - that is the best advertising you can have
   -Do tiered pricing, everyone likes a deal. If your event is seated, you can do a higher priced ticket for PRIME seats (first 2 rows + the banquette). If tickets are sluggish there are many things we can do including things like 50% off codes for a “flash sale” or for friends and family.
   -Once tickets start selling, you can also use this as an incentive: “Tickets are flying! Get yours while you still can!” or “Only 20 tickets left!”