There’s nothing like a good music festival, listening to your favorite musicians perform live. The thrill of being there is what makes millions buy tickets to music festivals each year. For those managing the music festival and of course, the marketing team, there is quite a lot of pressure. Getting the word out for a music festival, especially if the festival has not yet made a name for itself can be difficult. Additionally, the marketing budget may also hold some limits in regards to what can be done to promote the music festival. Fortunately, there are some ways that you can fit effective marketing tactics into your music festival marketing plan, even when the budget is relatively limited.
Music festival popularity has grown dramatically over the last few decades. The highest grossing music festival held in 2017 was the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, where 250,000 tickets were sold, as reported by Statista. A recent report published in The Guardian also explained that, between 2016 and 2017, a 12% increase in the attendance of live music festivals within the United Kingdom were observed.
With a growing interest in music festivals across the globe, the competition rises and importance of a proper marketing strategy becomes more apparent. Here are five tips to help you reach a broader audience to promote an upcoming music festival.
1. Utilize The Benefits Of Social Media
The power of social media networking has been proven repeatedly by successful festivals such as Coachella. Coachella’s consistent posting, content creation such as videos and branded photos, and well targeted paid posts have created a following of over 2 million on Facebook, which has over 2.13 billion active users. Twitter has more than 330 million active users, with more than 1.3 billion Twitter accounts created. Instagram has an active user count that is reaching close to one billion. To reach a large portion of your target audience, you need to promote your music event on social media networks. Share details, videos, photos and anything else that could lead to an engagement with your target audience.
2. Give Away Merchandise And Tickets
One of the best strategies for getting the word out there when you are planning a music festival is to give away free stuff. Tickets should be at the top of your list, along with some branded merchandise. Promote a competition on social media networks – tell your followers to like and share your posts in order to get a chance to win a ticket or some merchandise. All of your merchandise should be properly branded – that way, the winners of the competition will be promoting the event for you, for free. Contests should be a vital part of your music festival marketing plan, and you should not limit your contest participation to social media. Broadcast your contest on a local radio station and have contestants send text messages in to participate, for example.
3. Get The Artists Involved
The artists of your festival should be considered the “heart” of the event – they are the reason why people are buying tickets and planning to attend the event. For this reason, you should utilize the audience of the artists who will be performing. Contact the artists and get them to promote the event on their social media accounts, websites, blogs, and any other outlet they have. Many artists have millions of followers – a great opportunity for your event to get noticed.
4. Collaborate With The Sponsors
Music festival sponsors are a great opportunity for third-party promotion of the event. Get the sponsors involved in the marketing campaign – they could promote the event on their social media accounts, just like the artists. Perhaps some of the sponsors would also provide additional items that can be given away through a contest – in such a case, the sponsor will most likely be willing to promote the contest on their side as well.
5. Don’t Overlook Offline Marketing Tactics
While music festival digital marketing plays a vital part in the success of such an event, especially when technology has become an essential part of our daily lives, it’s important not to overlook the benefits that offline marketing tactics may hold for a live music event. Hand out flyers, put up some posters and get people talking about the event. If possible, try to get the word out on local radio stations. These are all useful outlets to spread the word and draw in more ticket sales. Music festivals are happening all over the world, and while the planning, layout and acquisition of artists are some of the most critical aspects of these festivals, music festival marketing is essential for sales, profit and, of course, a successful event. When the budget is limited, it may seem impossible to properly market, yet with the right strategies, you can boost sales and reach your target audience – even if it’s not an established festival.
