Marketing Your DJ Business - Part One

This time we make a start on the topic of marketing your Mobile DJ Business by looking at some existing advertising methods and your Return on Investment (RoI) from them.

It was about 100 years ago that John Wannamaker said "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted - the trouble is I don't know which half". In our industry, and with the information available to us in 2009, I don't think this applies any more and certainly shouldn't to Mobile DJs.

Let me try to qualify this last comment. It's easy for us to ask our potential clients "How did you hear about me?", or to incorporate the question into an enquiry/booking form.

Anyway let's start by taking one popular area of marketing used by DJs for this issue.

Directories

Many directories offer a free listing so any RoI from these is going to be fantastic. It's worth keeping an eye on the results though. If a free listing is bringing in the odd enquiry then it may be worth investing some money and go for an enhanced entry on the site.

If you are already registered on directories then it's quite straightforward to have all enquiries from a site held in one folder. When it comes to renewal time a quick glance will tell you how many enquiries your money has earned for you. It takes a bit longer to analyse how many of these enquiries were converted into bookings but it's important to calculate this too.

It's also important to do this analysis regularly. A directory that was working well a few years ago may not be doing so well now. Similarly, one that you joined during its infancy may now be doing a lot better. Another point worth noting is that when you join a new directory your listing can be at the top, resulting in an initial influx of enquiries which taper off as the months go by.

With so many DJ Directories out there it is quite tempting and easy to go for a paid listing on most, if not all of them. After all £10 here, £25 there, is not big money but it all adds up and, before you know it, several hundred pounds of your money has gone (but not necessarily wasted)

My own Rule of Thumb is that all money I spend on advertising must return at least 20 times that amount with income. This is a minimum figure because investing in the right areas can easily bring in 50, even 100 times the initial sum spent.

With this analysis you can easily see where your marketing budget goes and how well it's working for you. If an investment isn't working then it may be better for you & your business to either keep the money, divert it elsewhere or increase your investment in an area that is already making a good return.

One final point - what works for one DJ may not necessarily work for another. In some areas of the Country DJs report far better returns from one directory whereas another, that isn't so good for them, works for DJs elsewhere. This can even apply to individual DJ companies in the same area so it's important to make your own analysis rather than rely on someone else's opinions or judgements, especially when it comes to your own business.

Good Luck

Paul