Postering

Advertising Part 2

The Art of postering can be fun and time consuming. But it is just one of the ways to let people know you have a show coming up. There are hundreds of posters going up each day, week, and month trying to get attention. The reality of posters is that they have a very short life. Often they get covered up quickly, or the weather damages them, or some one grabs it. It also takes people on average three to 10 viewings of a poster before your band name starts to sink in. Its that way with billboards and signs so don't feel to bad that it may take some time for people to catch on.

When out putting up your posters try not to cover over posters for other bands with up coming shows. You don't want to start any hard feelings before your even get started. Cover over older posters that have pasted there show dates. This way your not stepping on toes.

The typical poster size is 11X 14 inches, usually printed in one colour. You can use coloured paper to help get attention. The art work should be simple, information should be easy to read and simply to the point.
All you need on the posters to cover the basics are:

• Band name
• Location
• Date
• Time
• Other bands that are playing with you
• Ticket price or cover charge
• Your Web Site address

Simple and too the point is all you need. Adding your web site is always good incase some one wants to find out more information about the show or your band.

Now the tools you will need to have for this job:

• Staple Gun
• Staples
• Packing tape
• Small knife

Armed with a stack of posters and these tools is about all you need to get the job done and your posters up.
Look for places you can safely hang you art work. A lot of cities have spots for doing this in the trendy areas of town or around universities and collages. Always look for places that have postes already hanging, you dont want to end up getting a fine for postering where you shouldn't.
Also hit up places for window space. Places like book stores, coffee shops, record stores, maybe even the local liquor store. There are hundreds of places one can hang posters and drop off a stack of hand bills at. Always ask, the worst you can do is get told no. The shop next door might let you. So, think creatively and you might run out of posters faster then you can cover all the places on your list.

Advertising

So this will be the first look into some of the different areas a band or artist can use to get the word out. This will also be the fist part of your over all planning to a successful music career.

Advertising is one thing, no matter what, you and everyone in the band should be doing from the beginning. Start out simple and affordable to save the budget. Unless you have scads of cash sitting around for big budget promotions.

Once you have a band name, a logo, a hand full of songs, and a show you need to get the word out. The first things you need to think about to get people into the show are:

• Hand Bills
• Flyer's
• Word of mouth
• E-mail
• Web site updates
• Social Media networks

The first places to look at and hit are the free avenues like twitter, facebook, myspace and your own web site. Then make sure you have all your details in line. The show details should follow through on everything. Put all this information onto flyer's that you can post in windows, light posts, community bulletin boards, or where ever you can find a spot. Also make up a smaller version so you can have 4 to a page that gets cut into 4 and hand them out.
These hand bills are great because you can hand out 4 times as many for the cost of a flyer.
Where do you go with hand bills?
Some Ideas would Be:

• Local coffee shops
• Different local events
• Other shows
• Leave some on the tables at the library
• Record shops
• Book stores

Once you start thinking creatively you can come up with 100's of places people go in and out of daily.

With email and other media networks don't over do it. If you have lots of time in advance of a show send out a simple email or message with the basic information. You want to keep it simple and cover the basics like:

• Place
• Date
• Time
• Other bands playing that night
• Ticket price / cover charge

Do this one month a head of time if you can. Then two weeks before, then one week before, and then the day before and the day of your show. It usually takes people two or three reminders before things start to stick with them. Plus sending out emails and reminders daily is a lot of work that may turn people off before they even get to your show, you can use this energy on other things. Always be respectful and cheery announcing your shows. If your up beat and positive people will be more responsive. Its like smiles being contagious, positive out will return positive.