Southern Gospel Music Guild

presents

A Guide To Successful Concert Promotion

 

The following information should be used as a guide in developing an effective idea check-list for a Southern Gospel Concert.  This information is structured for an area-wide promotion in a City Auditorium, High School, Church, etc.  The material and ideas provided within this booklet will cover a wide range of information for Southern Gospel concert promotions.  The amount of this information to be used by a promoter will vary as a result of a various geographical areas, metropolitan or rural settings, size of venue and the number of tickets a promoter wishes to sell.  This pamphlet is part of an ongoing effort on the part of the Southern Gospel Music Guild to help improve and expand the overall quality, outreach and effectiveness of Southern Gospel Music.

  

FOUR MAIN FACETS OF EFFECTIVE CONCERT PROMOTIONS:

 

1.  RESEARCH:  Concert promotion should be an ongoing educational process on the part of the promoter.  First, research the history of other concert promotions in your area.  Ask questions; gather information; meet people and learn more about your market.  After gathering this information, book the artists you feel will be most affective in your area, based upon the information you have obtained.

 

2.  QUANTITY:  This refers to having sufficient advertising to let all potential attendants know about the concert.  Many avenues must be pursued to make sure no stone is left unturned.  However, spend your advertising dollars wisely to gain the widest, most affective advertising coverage per dollar spent.

 

3.  FREQUENCY/DISTRIBUTION: This refers to effective timing and frequency of advertising. People often plan their "free time" weeks and months in advance. Therefore, it is essential to publicize your event in time for potential attendees to plan their activities and fit this into their schedule. In order to insure that the public will find out about your event, you should also plan for sufficient repetition of your advertising. Repetition in the right locations and time slots is essential, and the "buzz" on a concert should actually begin about eight weeks prior to the event to insure effective. If the event is a homecoming or festival, the promotion should actually begin months in advance.

 

4.      IMAGE: Try to create the atmosphere of, "This is not just another concert!"  People should be drawn into the excitement and uniqueness of a Southern Gospel Concert, as well as the excitement and uniqueness of your particular event.  The extent to which you are able to create this image will play a large role in determining the success of your promotion.

  

PERSONAL INVITATION:

 

The most effective invitation is face to face or, more accurately, friend to friend. The importance of word of mouth advertising can not be minimized. It is important to get your staff and the people you are around enthused so they will tell others about the concert.

 

•  Try innovative means of obtaining word of mouth advertising, such as telling your staff, church group and your close circle of friends about the concert and encouraging them to tell at least two people about the concert, and then those people can call at least two people and so on.

 

•  It is important to develop one-on-one relationships with "Media People." (Radio, TV, Newspaper, etc.) It is up to you, as the promoter, to sell these people on Southern Gospel Music. Get them excited about the concert, and you will get them interested in helping your promotion.

 

•  The importance of developing relationships with area pastors and ministers of music can in no way be overstated. They can be invaluable in announcing your event in their church bulletins and church services, which is some of the most valuable free advertising you could ever get. They can also assist in being outlets for ticket sales. It is important for you to gain the confidence and respect of the pastors and ministers of music, for then they will actively support your efforts.

 

TELEVISION:

 

•  As far as the maximum amount of people reached, television is probably the most effective media of advertisement, but it is also expensive. If you can afford it, reserve time far in advance. Search for the most effective yet most economical time slots.  Remember, 10 to 30 second spots are sufficient.

 

•  Daytime talk shows can be approached about the possibility of a short segment featuring your Gospel concert. If you could get one of your artists to do a feature spot, station management would be much more receptive about scheduling the spot.

 

•  When using television, make sure you supply whatever footage you need to supply on 3/4 inch tape.  The difference in quality of 3/4 inch and other sizes is quite appreciable.

 

RADIO:

 

•  Free time is sometimes available on radio stations as Public Service Announcements and community billboards or calendars.  Send a press release and cover letter (a letter from yourself announcing the concert and your sponsorship) to all the stations in your area, and use a follow-up call to the News Director and/or Public Service Director to see if they are running your free announcement.  When sending your press release, remember that stations receive a deluge of press releases hoping for PSA spots; so whatever you can do to make your press release look more professional and stand out from the others will improve your chances of getting air time.

 

•  Solicit a news story or possible feature story to run several days prior to the concert on the artists you have scheduled to perform at your event. Obtain a press kit from each group and take it to the News Director; then try to set up a phone interview with a group member through the artist's booking agency or the artist's office. Remember, radio interviews are most effective when done during the week of the concert.

 

•  Radio advertising should be done first with your area's Southern Gospel station and any Country stations that play Southern Gospel Music.

 

•  You should research your area to find your area's drive-times and other times when listenership is high. As with all your advertising, get the most saturation for your dollar. Also, carefully evaluate the effectiveness of the station in reaching your potential audience.  When operating on limited budgets, great care should be taken to pick and choose the most cost-effective way of reaching the most people. This is especially true when you can not afford advertising on all the different media that may be available.

•  Begin radio ads two to three weeks prior to your event, of course, give priority to Southern Gospel stations that play the artists that you are promoting.  Advertising spots should be placed during drive times when the greatest concentration of music is aired.

 

•  Provide all Southern Gospel and Country stations that program Southern Gospel Music with the groups' latest CD releases and promo kits.  Then have members of your staff or friends call the request line, regularly requesting the songs.  This will more than likely generate airplay, which is great promotion.

 

•  Personally invite important station personnel to the concert. Speak to the Program Director first and offer some complimentary tickets to the air staff.  Incentives such as giving a portion of each ticket sold by the station to the station can also be affective in increasing station involvement.

 

•  Have the most popular Gospel DJ in the area introduced to the audience. These DJ's are often receptive to emceeing the concert. This usually adds promotion to the concert and will cause that DJ to promote the concert that much more.

•  Give-away promotions are very successful.  In exchange for each give-away item, the concert should be mentioned at least three times (30 seconds prior to the give-away and twice during the actual give-away.) Restrict the ticket giveaways to no more than two tickets at a time and each give-away no less than 30 minutes apart. Make sure the station keeps a list of all the winners for your mailing list. On the key stations, a paid advertising schedule, along with giveaways can be a powerful combo, and in many cases, the station will "pay" you for these give-away items by giving you discounts on your spots.  Cassettes, CDs and posters also make good giveaways.

 

•  "Welcome Station" promotions should be done with the key station in your market. This means that a particular station will give you twice or three times as much exposure for a set fee in exchange for their call letters being listed on all tickets, posters, flyers, etc., as well as agreeing to let their most popular DJ emcee the event. Innovative barter schemes can be worked out with stations in this way.

 

•  Promoters should request the artists provide a list of churches they have worked for in the concert area. Churches will be much more helpful promoting artists they have worked with in the past.

 

•  Send letters to pastors and music ministers in the concert area, informing them of the concert.  This should be done five to six weeks before the concert.  It might be advisable to create a separate mailing of just pastors and ministers of music so that personalized letters can be sent to them.

 

•  MAKE SURE your event does not conflict with any large church functions in the area, such as district camp meetings.

 

•  You should also take into careful consideration the possible appeals your artists have to certain denominations and the possible lack of appeal they have to others. This will be critical in gaining the support of area churches.

 

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