Promoting yourself

Ok, you have the disco gear and music, a website to promote your disco business, and you're a member of the DJ@ and have the PLI cover....so how are bookings lately? Really good? Really Bad? Terrible?!

There's no doubt that 2009 has been pretty dire for all sectors of business, and 2010 doesn't look that much better!

What with the general public being advised to 'tighten the belts' and spend wisely, you can judge for yourself by comparing the diary to last year and the year before that how things are panning out!

Whether you are doing all right 'now' and 'getting by' is no real excuse for complacency. Trends are indeed changing.

As reported by the Office for National Statistics, Weddings are down in the UK. It's far cheaper to get married abroad these days, and if the online websites which supply 'client enquiry leads' are anything to go by, the quality of these 'leads' are being driven down...by the very existence of price hunting enquiry sites!

So what can YOU do to promote your self and your disco hire service to potential clients who have decided to stay in the UK and get married, or have a jolly knees-up birthday party!?

4 Tools to instil confidence in your service

1 YOUR DJ ASSOCIATES MEMBERSHIP
2 YOUR TESTIMONIALS AND PORTFOLIO
3 YOUR WEBSITE
4 YOU
1 YOUR DJ ASSOCIATES MEMBERSHIP - clearly, a very powerful tool!

Being a member of an association is actually quite powerful as a 'tool', if you know how to use it!

When a DJ explains to a potential client that they are a member of an organisation by merely demonstrating proof of membership and association registration, it can instil confidence in the DJs service.

So when a DJ offers the potential client their valid membership card, they are offering tangible proof of registration and the level of public liability held. Providing proof of something is just as important to clients as it is for venues!

Further, when a potential client visits a DJ Associates registered members website, then they can see for themselves via the online validation (if in place!!!) whether the DJ is indeed registered, and what their liability insurance details are - verified by the DJ Association in one click. That also instils confidence in the client.

2 YOUR TESTIMONIALS AND PORTFOLIO

If you have thank-you letters and thank-you cards from former clients praising you as a DJ service, then they won't do any good sitting in a pile in a bottom draw or case - USE THEM! Get them scanned and placed on your website!

There is no better accreditation or compliment to your disco service than actual client comments. If you've read the 'Copied and Pasted' comments and wording on websites that 'Mr and Mrs Jones' said...or that 'the disco was fantastic' and 'amazing' and 'excellent', it can look as tacky as the double glazing adverts, appearing totally contrived!

So when you arrange to meet up with a potential client to discuss their wedding and your service, bring the testimonials with you and SHOW THEM, along with your membership to DJ@ and your £10m Public Liability Insurance!

3 YOUR WEBSITE

Those that have a website or dabble in own business website design will naturally wish to achieve the goal of a 'page one' position on a search engine! As the DJ sector continues to saturate with 'disco services', the online competition increases, the directory sites increase and obviously, the 'positions' available decrease. It is accepted in business that end clients do not like browsing through pages and pages of content, so if your website is now on page 8 of a Search Engine's results, when the year before it was on page 2, you'll have your work cut out to regain the ground lost!

The worlds biggest search engine 'Google', continuously updates its algorhythm's and changes the page ranks of sites every week / month / year. In other words, there is change happening all of the time. No one person has the 'Holy Grail' secret to achieving a page one position for top keyword search terms.

Google Adwords

Ad word listings CAN get you on to the front page of Google for keyword search terms, but obviously requires money. The more money you have, the longer you can maintain the positon!

If you want to experiment with Ad Words, study the online directories. You'll notice that DJ hire services appear in their featured ad words, so if you are not paying for a directory listing, but would like to be featured on their website for free, indulge your self!

Twitter and Facebook - use to promote your service?

You can promote your disco service by using Social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.

From these sites, it is possible to create an area for your business.

Utilising features where you can add to a gallery (even update real-time from your mobile phone) and use the network discussion forums to invite 'friends' to your network group, there is potential to promote your service with very little effort.

Facebook offers the facility to advertise, offering CPM (impressions) or CPC (clicks). Considered, fairly specific when used for targeting (more than Google) i.e. Age -Relationship Status -Male/Female -Education -Location, etc should provide interesting if not rewarding results!

So make use of your old school chums and work colleagues via these tools, effectively promoting your business!

Those that have a website and occasionally update and amend - take a GOOD LOOK at your disco service website:

Website text content

Firstly, do a spell check.

There is nothing worse than a business promoting them selves with a website full of spelling errors and mistakes. If you can find them, so can YOUR POTENTIAL CLIENTS!

Website text Fonts

Are you using one font, or various fonts?

Are the fonts clear and readable, or slightly difficult to read because they are coloured, i.e. light coloured font on a light background?

Website text layout

Is the text all over the place? Have you placed your 'promotional text' in one BIG paragraph? See more website layout tips below.

Website navigation

How easy can your website be navigated? Do you have to hunt for your contact details?

TIPS

You can check if your website meets accepted guidelines via Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) websites such as Submit Express Tools inclue, but not limited to:

- See how search engine robots analyze your or your competitors web site
- Check the keywords used on the page and find the keyword density
- Check web server operating system where site is hosted
- Check website load time
- Check website file size
- Check URLs and links found on the page

Another good tip is NEVER copy another services web content!

Checkout the Copyscape website. Not only can it can help you to locate duplicated materials on the Internet, but you can also 'defend' your site with a plagiarism warning banner!

Photos on website

If you add photos to your website, imagine the potential client attempting to make out what is featured!

If the photo is blurry, then it is blurry for everyone else to see!

There's nothing wrong in using actual photos from a gig in promoting WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) but if the image is a mess, imagine the 'perception' of your business by the viewer!

Stock photos

Yes, these can look rather nice on a website, but be careful how you use them.

Some stock photos that have not been purchased will retain the watermark or disclaimer. It is silly to use a stock photo which can clearly be identified as a stock photo!

Is webpage layout THAT important?

Layout of your disco business web page is very important. Whilst there are no 'rules' for how a website should look, readers in the West generally read left-to-right! If you want the viewer to navigate text easily on your pages, justify the text on the left!

TIPS

An old advertisers trick to get people to take note of something when reading!

Feature an eye catching element on your site, but place it on the right!

For example, it could be a text box with your contact details, or an image!

When you think about it, you can appreciate why adverts in a magazine 'placed on the right hand page' can cost more than adverts placed on the left hand page! Something to take into consideration when looking at your website!

Disco Equipment featured on website

If you're a retailer service, then you'll undoubtedly need a fair amount of info on your products, which may include product photos and their specifications on your business site.

But if you are a mobile disco or wedding disco service, do you need loads of images of disco equipment on your website?

Are you selling the gear to the potential client?!

If you hire dj equipment as well as offer a disco service, try to keep the two services clearly separate, or the potential client may become bored and leave your web site!

As DJs, we may find the info and details interesting, but ask your self, do you really need to duplicate images of a datamoon 4 times because you have 4 datamoons in your disco setup? In fact, what does your disco set-up look like, because THAT is probably more useful to the potential client! Think about it!

By all means offer your potential clients the opportunity to see what they might actually be hiring on the night disco-rig wise, but if your website is focused on what you use, i.e. your tools, and not on how you use them, then you are not promoting your service to its potential!!!

And what if you haven't got a web space yet? Here are a few things to consider:

Free Web Space - some Pros and Cons

Whilst the idea of utilising bundled free web space with a service sounds 'nice', there can be drawbacks.

One of the largest drawbacks for an end user is when the service that bundles the 'free web space' is not renewed, the site and its content can be deleted and wiped by the service, and your 'efforts' are well and truly lost!

'Free web space' services have been around for a long time and obviously offer the user the opportunity to place online (24/7) a website full of the information you wish to share and display to promote your service.

Some services may restrict the amount of content you can place on the 'free web space', especially images and media.

Not all 'free web space' comes with support.

Now, you don't have to be an internet wizard to have a website up and running, thus the 'free web space' sites might seem pretty attractive, especially if there's mention of a 'free web builder' to help you construct and put together your site.

Some of these 'online web-builders' are really cool and easy to use, and the end results can actually look rather stunning in no time! However, if you wish to remove the 'adverts' or the token 'disclaimer image' or 'Free Web Link' or 'third party links' from the newly created site, then you'll usually be requested to pay a small premium to remove!

Those who choose to have a 'free web space' business website may have to put up with adverts and banners splashed all over the site. Generally, banners and adverts distract the viewer; Google Ads that appear promoting the competition based on content keywords on your site is a bit of a kick in the teeth!

Do you really want to promote the competition on your web site?!

'Theme' web sites remove any hope of visual business identity or uniqueness, as the site 'theme' can also be used by other businesses!

Clients looking to book a pro disco service may not be convinced that a 'free web space' hosted service is actually 'professional'. If you are indeed a business, then you need to convey that.

Telephone contact numbers on website

Even though the internet has become a fast means of communication and the phone book nearly obsolete, there are still those that prefer to use traditional contact methods when hiring a service.

Whilst a phone number displayed on a website offers a means of contact to YOU, not all potential clients who choose to telephone DJ services are going to ring a mobile phone number.

A disco hire service would be expected try to offer a variety of means of contact, so if possible, a landline contact number should 'ideally' be offered. There's nothing wrong in registering for a local rate 0845 number if you do not desire your home contact number to be harvested by the internet.

Receiving marketing calls?

You may wish to register with the Telephone Preference Service.

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a free service. It is the official central opt out register on which you can record your preference not to receive unsolicited sales or marketing calls. It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so. Visit the TPS website for more info.

4 YOU

In basic terms...

'YOU' is one important element to factor into your service. The 'CLIENT' is the other important element to your service.

Meeting your client is extremely good. Meetings help you and your client build a great rapport.

Meetings offer the opportunity to promote yourself, your service and affiliations, as well as offer the client the assurance you are a professional, that they are not taking a 'gamble'.

If the client didn't like YOU, or have any confidence in YOU, it is unlikely they would book YOU! So in itself, when a client meets their DJ, it is wise to use and demonstrate this very point BEFORE you meet!

When they've booked you, it is because YOU instil confidence in YOU!

Meeting clients helps secure the booking. Unlike an email, you are a physical entity and can respond to a question in the flesh! You can listen and observe and read body language. If anything, DJs are pretty good at reading body language!

Emails can't do that. Emails can not convey emotion. They are merely tools!

Although people don't book DJs everyday, when they do need to book a disco, they still have little idea on what to ask or what to look for, even with access to the internet and accessible 'knowledge'!

It's not easy providing a business service in our sector because DJs are not generally considered first point services.

DJs aren't exactly on the top of the list on Wedding Budget Planners, and venues don't often run to the suppliers folder to retrieve the local disco services list for the enquirer, because 'DJs' are a low priority in the scheme of things, and continue to slip a little lower every year!

A little over 10 years ago, many DJ services still relied on the client 'telephone enquiry'.

Today, technology has progressed leaps and bounds to permit the 'potential client' to contact literally hundreds of disco services in a few clicks, in a matter of minutes!

With 'lead generating websites' evidently encouraging a lower quality of enquiry, it's easy to see why the 'Dutch Auction' happens when you take away the human element.

The 'Dutch Auction' enquirer is just looking for a price, and usually the cheapest, so it is difficult to 'sell' your self to these type of enquirers.

Telephone enquiries can give you the opportunity to sell your self without really sounding like a salesman. But not all DJs feel confident in 'selling' their service over the phone.

TIPS

So long as you are very polite and natural, understand your service and can confidently deliver a reply when asked a question about your service, i.e. know what your talking about, then that gives the enquirer confidence in what you are saying.

If you 'dither' or 'umm and ahh' your way through the conversation, then you may instil a lack of confidence in you and your service. It may not be the case at all, but the callers perception is THAT is what you'll be and sound like on the mic!

Keeping 'cue cards' to hand may help with your telephone enquiries. Cue Cards simply identify the key points about your service, much as you would bullet point list on a website or essay.

Over a period of time, the cue card information details can be recited without the aid of the cards. Just one small step to help instil confidence in yourself in order to promote your business!

Obviously, you can't 'bottle' everything you offer as a service in a 20 second phone call enquiry.

So, if the enquirer is hurried and ringing around looking for disco prices, it's unlikely they will want to discuss your service anyway! It happens. Don't let it worry you.

When someone has found your website and taken the time to ring you, you need to gather some information before you treat the enquiry like any other 20 second phone call!

Example telephone conversation

The second example enquiry is actually based on a real booking enquiry, discussed for around 10 minutes before an appointment was arranged to discuss in finer detail:

EXAMPLE 1

The following could be answered in 60 seconds:

DJ Q) What is the occasion / event?

Caller) Wedding Party

DJ Q) What is the date of the function?

Caller) Saturday 31st July 2010

DJ Q) What type of venue and where is the function being held at

Caller) it's a function Banqueting Suite in Greenwich

DJ Q) How many attending?

Caller) 150

DJ Q) And the times of the function?

Caller) 8.00pm till 12.00am Midnight

DJ Q) What genres of music do you like?

Caller) A bit of everything really.

EXAMPLE 2

DJ Q) What is the occasion / event?

Caller) Wedding Party

DJ Q) What is the date of the function?

Caller) Saturday ** July 20**

DJ Q) Wonderful! You say a 'Wedding Party', are you getting married abroad?

Caller) No. We're getting married at the venue and then spending two weeks in the Dominican Republic for the honeymoon.

DJ Q) Fantastic! Are you hosting a traditional Summer Wedding with the formal wedding attire, toastmaster, top table, evening buffet, etc?

Caller) Yes! Traditional white wedding, top hat and tails, bridesmaids, the lot! Yes, we are having a top table and we're having a Toastmaster and string quartet in the lobby area!

DJ Q) Lovely! Which venue is the function being held at?

A) We've booked the Old Greenwich Naval College

DJ Q) Great venue! How many attending the party during the day / in the evening?

Caller) 75 for the sit down meal and 150 in total for the evening party.

DJ Q) And the times of the function?

Caller) 8.00pm till 12.00am Midnight for the disco.

DJ Q) Can you describe to me the type of music you like, such as Party music, pop, Motown, 70s & 80s, etc?

Caller) A bit of everything really especially Punk Music, as the Groom is a mad Punk Music fan!

See how the DJ is being polite, chatting and garnering further information!

The Old Naval College is considered a top wedding venue in Greenwich (South East). Someone who is getting married at a top venue with all the traditional trimmings, and then spending two weeks abroad in the Dominican Republic is unlikely to want something average for their entertainment!

Obviously the information volunteered by the client largely depends on the questions asked, and how they are asked, but if you compare the questions, you'll see that a little humanity injected into the conversation can reveal interesting results!

At some point during the enquiry stage, it is ideal to talk with the client in person and hopefully arrange to meet-up if the event is very special, i.e. a Wedding. Of course, it isn't always possible to do this.

Just one more point about email enquiries. If the client provides a contact telephone number, ring them. They'll soon tell you if it's inconvenient to talk!

Remember! To make a great success of your disco business:

· Keep a pen and note paper by the phone.
· ALWAYS be polite and calm when discussing your business.
· Be confident when you discuss your service!
· You charge what you charge because you can!
· You are providing a business because you are a business, not because you are a charity!