12 tour marketing tips for bands & artists

Freelance Whales and Miniature Tigers, two of my favorite bands now, played recently in Chapel Hill at the Local 506. Rob Blackwell and I went to the show and it was fantastic. But I want to offer a few ideas about tour and show marketing for bands per my time with Freelance Whales and Mini Tigers.

I love going to shows and this opportunity was no exception. I first heard of these artists from my friend and West Hall Media co-founder, Josh. He met them a couple of years ago and raved about how great they were. He wasn’t wrong. Both groups have major league game and chances are you’ve heard Hannah and Bullfighter Jacket on Pandora, XM, or the web.

12 Tour Marketing Tips for Bands & Artists:

1. Announce your tour dates as soon as they are booked and get the dates on sites like Eventful and Upcoming.com.

2. Name the tour and create a specific URL (make sure there is a mobile or app version). Have the date, venue, and geo-local information. Allow fans and bands to publish and share content on the site.

3. Develop exclusive merchandise (exclusive ep, vinyl, posters, shirts, etc.) for the tour.

4. Build a street team for each city’s stop. Put them on the guest list +1 and give them offline and online promotional tools like stickers, posters, video, mp3, and tour landing page.

5. Encourage user-generated content like photos or video, and hold contests on your site, Facebook, or Twitter.

6. Blogger outreach to local or influential bloggers that care about your art or genre and are willing to cover the event can boost attraction and coverage.

7. Email marketing to subscribers with tour videos and photos.

8. Take your fans on tour with you by blogging, creating videos on YouTube, and posting pictures on Flickr about each stop and the experiences (mention local businesses and people you meet) along the way.

9. Spend time with fans at your merch table before or after your set. Meet and thank the fans for attending.

10. Make the show memorable by playing new material or a cover that few or no one has heard.

11. Compile all the video and photos (yours and fans) and create a tour documentary video.

12. A few other ideas on Rock Star Marketing.

There are many more…what are your tour marketing tips?