Start Your 2012-13 School Dance Bookings NOW!

This school year is barely half way over, but school teachers and administrators are beginning to actively plan next year. High school students are completing course registration, human resources are in the early stages of hiring staff, and school year calendars are starting to become finalized. Are you waiting until school’s almost out to market your school dance services for next year? (Certainly, you’re not going to wait until next fall, are you?!) NOW is the right time to begin your marketing efforts towards schools to book their dances for next year. By acting early, you are more likely to earn consideration from a school that is currently hiring your competition because you’re showing them what you can offer before your competition locks them in for another year. Your schedule can potentially become filled with events through June of 2013, nearly 18 months out! So what exactly can you be doing now to kick off your marketing efforts for next year?

Direct mail – I am firm believer in direct mail as a means to market to schools. Names and addresses of schools are free and easy to come by and direct mail is still relatively cheap. In addition, in an age where people are communicating digitally more frequently, old-fashioned mail gets more attention than it used to. Don’t expect to mail out a flyer to 50 schools one time and see huge results. Direct mail is most effective when you cast a broad net and you follow up with repeat mailings.

Set a “Kick Off” Date – I announce one specific date when I open my calendar for bookings the following school year. This helps to create a sense of urgency for my clients to get their dates in before our availability is taken. I would never decline a booking that is requested before the date, but for most of my clients this marks the beginning of my booking season. Be sure to announce this date in your emails, newsletters, and direct mail pieces.

Understand that some schools AREN’T ready to lock in dates for their dances next year, so don’t give up on schools you don’t hear from right away. However, make sure your materials are what your prospects see first and most often, so when they are ready, you’ll be the first call they make.

How to Turn Down a School Booking without Saying ‘No’ to the Business

How many times have you been called by one of your best school clients to book a date in which you are already sold out or otherwise can’t perform? As your client base of schools grow, this will enviably occur more often than you’d like, especially considering schools tend to hold their dances around common times of the year. Of course, you’d like to book the event because you certainly don’t want to risk losing a long-time repeat client to a competitor. Do you have the staff to book one more event that night? Do you have the right equipment to book another school event on a day you’ve already got a full plate? If the answer is “No” – you just can’t book the event, what’s the best way to tell the client without risking losing their long-term business?

I imagine most of the time the conversation goes something like this:

School Dance Advisor: “We’d like to book you for Saturday, February 11^th for our Valentine’s Day dance. Are you available?”

You: “Unfortunately, we’re all sold out that day, but we’d love to work with again you in the future!”

School Dance Advisor: “OK. I understand. Do you have anyone else you can recommend?”

This is where the slope can become slippery for retaining future business. Instead, I suggest the conversation go something like this:

School Dance Advisor: “We’d like to book you for Saturday, February 11^th for our Valentine’s Day dance. Are you available?”

You: “Unfortunately, we’re all sold out that day, however, if you have any flexibility with your date, I do have openings on February 18^th and 25^th. Will either of those dates work for you?”

School Dance Advisor: “Let me check with the committee and my administration and get back with you.”

Many schools are very flexible with their dates and are picking them rather arbitrarily in the first place. They are often willing to move their date in order to retain the services of a DJ they trust. It also sends a much stronger message of your desire to work with the school, than simply deferring business to “the future”. Finally, it can avoid the potentially uncomfortable situation of having to recommend someone else to perform their dance, business you may or may not get back.

Book a School Dance with the RIGHT People

You’ve spent hours crafting the perfect cover letter. You’re certain your rates are just right for your market. You’ve spent hundreds of dollars printing flashy brochures. Plus you’re good at what you do! You’ve been endlessly spinning your wheels trying to break into the school dance market. Why aren’t you getting the bookings?

The best marketing materials in the wrong hands is useless. Can you be certain your materials are actually landing on the desk of the decision maker – the person who is ultimately responsible for hiring the DJ at the school’s dances? Some DJs incorrectly believe that the building principal or other administrator makes this decision. Some DJs attempt to market their services directly towards students for school events, thinking they’ll have the pull influence the decision.

Most schools have one or two teachers, working under supplemental contracts as co-curricular advisors, that are ultimately responsible for organizing the dances and hiring the DJ. These advisors take different titles depending on the configuration of the school. In middle schools and junior high schools, it’s usually the student council advisor or athletic/activities director. In high schools, it’s often class advisors, the student council advisor, or co-curricular director. Sending your materials directly to the right person is a critical step in being hired for their next dance. Do not rely on a secretary or administrator to forward your “junk mail” to the right person.

Before you send out your marketing materials, take the time to research your target schools and determine who is responsible for organizing the dances. Most likely a phone call to the school’s general phone number will net you the information you’re looking for when the question is tactfully posed. Commit to yourself to eliminate the waste of your time and marketing dollars and ensure that every contact you make with a school is directed to the right person.

Capitalize on social networking

The DJ Intelligence News & Information Blog allows you to quickly and easily publish articles on your website. The benefits of writing articles for your blog are vast, and experts agree that publishing a blog is a one of the leading ways to increase traffic to your website and gain free exposure for your business. The articles you post on your DJ Intelligence News & Information Blog are streamed directly into the Google search index (and other top tier search engines) which means that unlike traditional web pages which can take days, weeks, or months to appear, you will often find that your blog posts show up in the Google results within hours, giving you immediate exposure. Additionally, your clients and prospects can subscribe to your blog’s RSS or Atom feed to automatically be notified anytime you publish a new article (unlike bookmarks which depend on visitors to return to your site to read the newest updates). These two elements alone can drive significant traffic to your website, but there are other simple steps you can take to further enhance your blog’s reach.

Using free services such as TwitterFeed and Ping.fm, you can effortlessly syndicate the articles you publish to your Twitter page and Facebook wall (as well as countless other social networking sites) using your blog’s RSS feed. If you do not yet use Twitter and Facebook for your business, consider setting up accounts. These are two great methods for communicating with clients and prospects, while further spreading the word about your professional services through the power and reach of social networking.

As you know, DJ Intelligence is also fully integrated with MailChimp, a leading broadcast email provider, so you can send mass emails to your past, present, and future clients. Using your RSS feed, you can set up an “RSS-driven campaign” to automatically email your clients the day after you publish an article to your blog. This is another great way to stay in contact with your client base. If you do not yet use MailChimp to send broadcast emails, consider signing up and integrating with your DJ Intelligence account.

To find out the URL of your DJ Intelligence blog’s RSS feed, visit your blog’s home page and click on the “RSS” icon. The URL which appears in the address bar after you click the “RSS” icon will be the direct URL of your RSS feed. If you have any questions or need our assistance, please contact the DJ Intelligence support team anytime 24×7 at http://support.intelligenceinc.com

So the only question that remains is, what will you blog about? Share company news & information, author and publish articles pertaining to your company or industry, tell stories from past events, share client testimonials, or post any other important information you wish to share with your customers and potential customers. The possibilities are endless. If you do not yet use DJ Intelligence for your business, please sign up today and start reaping the rewards of blogging!

Did you find the Year End Charts helpful?

Did you find the Year End Charts helpful? In other words…

Did you digg it?  http://digg.com/music/Year_End_Charts_The_most_requested_songs_of_2009

MARKETING TIP: Use this list at Bridal Shows to reiterate to your client that you use reliable sources, and are current with the music their guests will want to hear!

Google #1 Page Ranking

There are a lot of so called “SEO Specialists” suddenly poping up, making unsolicited offers to make your website appear on page 1 or even  #1 listing on the search engines.  I probably don’t have to say this, but “Don’t believe them!”  — If they are as good as they claim to be, do a lookup on the search term, “SEO something-or-rather” and see if they appear #1 or on page 1 – do they?  If they do, then they have bragging rights and by all means must have some idea what they’re doing.

Here’s the shortcut key points to getting your website ranking higher:

(1) Choosing Keywords – What keywords are you targeting?   If you’re looking up “Robert Starkey’s Wedding Entertainment” then of course I’m going to show up as listing #1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 10 (figuratively speaking).  However, a client isn’t likely to find a DJ in that manner, they’re more than likely going to use their city, event type, and the initials “DJ” or words “Disc Jockey” — ie. “Lake Havasu Wedding DJ”.

(2) Keyword research – Google offers an awesome realtime reference to keywords you enter, and even offers alternatives.  Are you targeting the right keywords?  Find out here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

(3) Ranking Results – Is a competitor ranking higher for a keyword then you are?  Visit their page, and count how many times they are using that keyword.  Then, include it just 2 or 3 times more than them.

Final note before I leave you today — Google is checking relevancy of keywords throughout the site, and making sure it is inline with your <TITLE> tag (what shows up at the top of the browser window next to the browser icon).  Make sure your content is all relative to the keywords you are trying to target, and KEY: “Only try and target 3 – 5 keywords, don’t try and target to many or you may find your spreading your site thin.”

Until next time,

Robert Starkey

It’s November: What’s your plan for Holiday Cards?

Three (3) Different Ways To Make Your DJ Intelligence Quote Generator Work for YOU!

Even if you’re against pricing online, read this…

In speaking with many DJs, offering your prices online seems to be a preference of choice which, varies from company to company.  I want to take a moment to share with you “Three (3) Different Ways To Make Your DJ Intelligence Quote Generator Work for YOU!”

Read more

Simple Defense Against Price Cutters

My friend, Robbie Schlosser (Magnolia Jazz Band) reminded me of an old strategy used by barbershops against their price slashing competition.

Robbie recalle barbershop sign “Haircut $5″, and next door another shop advertised “We fix $5 haircuts”.

Every high quality wedding business should have that message (in some iteration) on their website or as signage in their office. It would be a not-so-subtle wedding marketing message that working with a price-cutter is risky business.

With haircuts, one gets a second chance. With weddings, there is no ‘do-over.’ And with some categories of wedding services, the risk of failure is simply not worth the money ‘saved.’

My standard response to clients seeking a lower ‘price match’ was simple: Trying to shave down a few hundred dollars out of a wedding budget of $30,000 can be a critical mistake, if you try to save it in the wrong place. At the end of the night, there won’t be a sign around my neck showing how much you paid. Either we will be successful, and you will be happy, or will have saved some money on another service, and you won’t be happy.

Nothing closes a sale like self-confidence. In Robbie’s words “Stay positive — there is always a way.”

One other thing is important. Be SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN YOUR COMPETITION. Don’t just believe your own hype!

Andy Ebon

The Wedding Marketing Authority

Why you should consider following me on Twitter

Next Page »