Organizing a music festival can be exhausting, but marketing can take that exhaustion to a different level. Thinking that festival tickets may fly off the counter is a given, but that’s not how it always works. Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of ways you can market your upcoming country music festival and make it a roaring success.
Collaborate with influencers
It’s not a hidden fact that Coachella (the iconic annual music festival) dominates social feeds as influencers bombard platforms with their experiences at the event and what the festival has to offer. You can achieve a similar effect by doing the same, i.e., influencer marketing. Collaborating with influencers can help you gain reach to a broader target audience and direct your marketing efforts in a more streamlined manner.
Begin by identifying local country music influencers and collaborate with them based on reach and impact; the more significant the influencers, the greater the reach. From there, execute social media takeovers and let prominent influencers take over the festival’s social media handles for a day.
Allow them to create real-time engaging content, interact with the audience, host Q&As, or share intimate details (celebrity guest list, performers list, etc.) with your followers. These influencer previews can create a massive impact when promoting and encouraging them to go above and beyond in their marketing campaign.
Share engaging content
Knowing where your audiences often hang around digitally can alter how you market your festival. Digital presence accounts for so much when promoting events and can help you tailor your marketing plans to target your desired audience more conveniently.
Make your social media marketing (SMM) journey an experience for the audience; give them things they may overlook during the festival. Sharing BTS clips of the prep can be a good starting point: stage setups, artist rehearsals, choreography, etc.
Use teasers to your advantage—produce and release teasers about performing musicians, catering services, or anything unique and exciting about the event. Release your rostrum of performers with their bios, discographies, or best songs to bring your artists to the limelight.
Utilize print marketing
Revive old-school vibes with a modern touch by using print marketing materials. Posters and flyers may seem like a blast from the past, but they’re still a hit when promoting live events. Slap your festival flyer on a coffee shop wall or a local bar, and watch the excitement spread as people grab their tickets.
Appealing, eye-catching posters and flyers can be your secret weapon and help communicate essential event elements effectively. Make your posters and flyers as informative and attractive as possible. You can add QR codes on the flyers/posters that lead directly to the festival’s website or booking links.
If you struggle to get the designs right or are short on time, consider using PosterMyWall’s pre-designed country music poster templates to finish the job quicker. Use the festival’s aesthetics as the underlying theme for the posters/flyers, utilize the festival’s branding as a critical design component, and incorporate it into the templates for seamless cohesion.
Run a contest or giveaway
Nothing gets people talking faster than the chance to win tickets to an upcoming country music festival in town. Whether it’s creating unique festival looks or tagging friends in posts, a fun contest could be your secret weapon to sky-high engagement.
Give the audience an incentive to engage with your posts. For example, you could offer free tickets or exclusive backstage passes for anyone who creates the most engaging, appealing, and exciting UGC posts.
Fan art contests are another fun way for the audience to engage and win exclusive freebies for the big day. Get your sponsors on board to host lavish giveaways, maybe a spa day before the festival, a shopping haul, or even a lunch with their favorite artist on the roster.
Offer early bird discounts
There’s no better way to kick start the excitement than with irresistible early bird discounts. Let fans in on exclusive deals to give them an extra nudge, and create urgency by offering a small chunk of discounted passes for the first few sets of purchases or even special promotions for mailing list members.
Spur the action by mixing your promotional discounts with your Social Media Marketing (SMM) campaign – plaster the discounts throughout your social media handles, add direct links for the purchases for convenience, and get influencers to market these discounts.
Influencers love discount codes, so consider developing dedicated referral codes for your influencer group. Leverage their reach and combine that with your killer promotional discounts; your tickets will fly off the desk quickly.
Create a Facebook event page
A Facebook event page is like your festival’s virtual campsite, where fans can hang out, share their excitement, and keep up with all the latest updates. It’s the perfect way to gather the country music community before the festival starts.
A dedicated Facebook event for the festival can make information more accessible to interested parties. Use this opportunity to collect RSVPs, share new information, and solve any queries about the event.
To grow organically, encourage followers to share the page’s content with their followers. Remember to stay consistent and share updates as frequently as possible. Don’t go radio silent on posting.
Music festivals are fun, and the vibe is immaculate; your marketing campaign should imitate that vibe through its posts, content, and collaborations. So get creative, engage your audience, and watch your festival become the talk of the town!
Written by: Raahim Jamshed