If you’ve just set up a new karaoke business, whether you’re a DJ host, or a bar, you’re probably wondering how to promote your business to help get more customers. It’s something that every business owner wants to know and it can seem like the hardest thing to do in the beginning. But there are plenty of ways to get your name out there, and they aren’t all that difficult.
10 best ways to promote your karaoke business
- Have a Good Website
- Paid advertising
- Snapchat
- Build a Reputation
- Networking
- Utilising Directories
- Cold Calling or Emailing
- Volunteering
You don’t have to use all these ways, but it’s good to try some different methods to get exposure and promote your business. This guide aims to be as in-depth as possible and give you plenty of information. So we won’t just be skimming over each method, but we will go into exactly how to get started and give you step-by-step guides for each technique.
1. Have a Good Website
One of the most important things you need to do to promote your karaoke business, is to have a good website. When people hear about you or your business, the first thing they’ll do, is jump on Google and go straight to your website. If it looks unprofessional, unfinished or lacks information, then it reflects badly on you. Your business might be great, but a bad website will ruin your credibility. Even worse, is not having a website at all. So make sure you have a great website as the front of your business.
How Should you Make a Website
There are several really easy ways to make a website. You can use a website builder, it’s quick and easy to do and perfect if it’s your first time setting up a website. Personally, I think the best website builder is wix.com.
Or you can use wordpress.org. This method is a lot more customisable and with give you much more control over your website. However, it is more difficult. You don’t need to know any coding, but it can take a bit more getting used to and maybe a bit longer to set everything up.
For this option, you’ll need a host, which basically makes your website available on the internet. You’ll also need a domain name. For example, ours is howtokaraoke.com. Then you’ll need to install wordpress. With A2 hosting, you can do all of these things in one. You can register a domain name in minutes, purchase your hosting plan and it’ll also automatically install wordpress so you can get started really quickly.
How to Make a Good Website
For your website to look good, you’ll need a clean professional design. You can choose ready-made themes on wix.com and wordpress.org to do this very easily. Make sure all of your text is clear and large enough to see properly and in a colour that stands out against the background. You’ll need the following pages on your website:
- Home page (including an about me section)
- Contact information
- Services page (includes your experience and more specific information about the service you provide)
- If you own a bar, you should also have a page that says where to find you
In a Nutshell
- Your website is the first thing that people who don’t know you will see, so make sure they get a good first impression.
- Make a professional looking website using wix.com if you’re a beginner or wordpress.org by choosing a plan with A2 hosting.
- Have all the key information on there including an about me page, contact information, your services, and social media links.
2. Facebook
Your website is the front of your business, but you can’t neglect social media either. We all know that social media is huge when promoting a new business, so make sure you make the most of it.
Create a Facebook Page
You first need to have a Facebook page that promotes your business in a similar way to your website. It shouldn’t be quite as detailed as your website though. It should be more of a snapshot to get people interested. Include basic and brief information but it should also be convincing.
Don’t undersell yourself. The best way to get people interested in hiring you, is not to say what you actually do, but how it helps them. For example, if your a karaoke DJ, focus on what you could do for a bar or other venue, like drawing more customers in.
You then need to get some traffic to your page. The best way to do this for free, is by asking all of your Facebook friends to like your page and by sharing it using your personal profile. This way, more people will see it and hopefully share it as well.
Utilise Facebook Events
Facebook events are a brilliant resource for bars and clubs. You can create events really easily on your business page and put all the key information in, including the time and date, location and a description to encourage people to attend.
You can share these events in the same way as your Facebook page which will help promote them. You can also invite people to attend these events. The more people that click “going”, the more popular your event will look. It’s like the snowball effect, if people see something is popular, then they’ll also want to go. If there are any special deals or exciting things going on at your venue, then make sure you make these clear!
In a Nutshell
- Create a Facebook page.
- Make Facebook events.
- Promote your page and events by sharing them on your personal profile and encouraging your friends to like them.
- Highlight any special deals or events.
3. Instagram Marketing
Instagram marketing is something that has become super popular over the last few years. It’s a hugely popular form of social media and so it’s a bad idea to ignore it. Instagram usually is more successful for bars and clubs hosting karaoke, rather than karaoke DJ’s themselves. But it’s still well worth setting up a profile and keeping it regularly updated to give you more chance of getting spotted by a potential customer.
Set Up an Account for your Business
First, you need to set up a separate account to your personal Instagram if you have one. Keep this business account strictly about your karaoke business, don’t include random shots from your holiday! Have your logo as your profile image and a very brief description about yourself. Keep it light and fun for Instagram. And don’t forget to include links to your other social media like Facebook, Snapchat and your website.
To get some initial exposure, you should invite all your friends to follow you on on Instagram. It’ll give you an initial spike of followers that you can use as a base to grow.
Post Consistently But Don’t Spam
Next you need to consistently post creative but professional pictures. Aim to be posting around 1 to 2 times per week. This is enough to get a good amount of exposure, but not too much that it’ll annoy people into unfollowing you. Your captions should be used to either highlight how great your last event was, or to promote your next one. Aim for a mix of both to keep things more interesting. You don’t want to be constantly spamming new events or it could get boring quickly.
You can also add pictures to your story the day before an event to highlight it to your audience and encourage them to go. If you want to create fun infographic images with details about your event, then head over to Canva. It’s a free graphic design website with loads of templates for every social media source. So you can use it on Facebook for your events and page too.
In a Nutshell
- Set up a business account.
- Encourage your friends to follow your Instagram to get some initial exposure.
- Post pictures 1-2 times per week and use the story feature.
- Make infographics on Canva.
4. Paid Advertising
So we’ve pretty much only spoken about free forms of advertising on social media so far. But paid advertising can be a brilliant way to get exposure to your new karaoke business, whether you’re a solo KJ or a new bar or club.
Paid advertising can be daunting at first. It can be difficult to put money into something that you don’t know for sure will work. That’s why we think it’s a good idea to start with free advertising on social media, and then dabble in paid marketing when you get some initial success. Paid ads are a lot more successful when you already have a decent sized following anyway. Here are the main methods of paid advertising on social media that you can try.
Facebook advertising can seem a bit intimidating at first. So you need to be clear about what you want to achieve by using a paid advertisement. For karaoke bars, you may want to get more brand awareness and traffic. Whereas solo karaoke DJ’s may be more interested in lead generation and messages. It’s up to you what you choose as your objective. Consider trying a few options and seeing what works best for you.
You can then target your audience, choose where you want your ad to be displayed and set a budget. Don’t go overboard at the start and throw loads of money into paid advertising. You need to make sure you get a good return on your investment. It can be good to try different methods and styles and compare them so you can continue with a proven strategist.
Instagram ads work in a similar way to Facebook ads, so you’ll want to follow the same kind of process and try a few methods and choose the most successful one for you.
There are many different types of ads you can choose from, including stories, photos, videos, carousel and collection ads. You can also add a call to action button which is really useful to increase the actual conversion rate of your ads. You need to make sure that your ads have this compelling message to get actual success out of it. After all, promoting your brand to millions of people is a waste of time if no one actually hires you.
Google Ads
Finally, Google ads are a great way of getting people to your website. This is generally more important if you’re a solo DJ looking to get exposure so bars and clubs will hire you. Google has billions of people visiting each day, and the ads platform has been around for nearly two decades. They also have a great return on your investment for most users.
There are three main types of Google ads: search ads, display ads and video ads. Search ads are probably the ones you are most familiar with. It’s when your website will be displayed among the search results. Display ads are usually images and video ads appear on YouTube.
In a Nutshell
- Get a following using free forms of advertisement before using paid adverts.
- Facebook and Instagram are great for karaoke bars and clubs.
- Google ads are great for karaoke DJ’s looking to get more traffic from the search engine.
5. Snapchat
It’s true, Snapchat doesn’t have the same presence on social media as it used to a few years ago. But it is still a good tool to utilise to promote your karaoke business to more people. It can be used for both karaoke DJ’s and bars and clubs to help promote new events and get more people involved.
Set Up a Separate Account
If you already have a Snapchat account, then you’ll need to make a separate one for your karaoke business. Snapchat doesn’t work in the same way as Instagram and Facebook, so it can be hard to get exposure to your profile by just getting more followers and letting it snowball. So how do you get people to your snapchat?
Get some followers
The best way to promote your Snapchat, is at the actual event. You see, Snapchat is best for getting people to return to your karaoke venue, rather than for getting new customers like Facebook and Instagram. So at your event, try and have some posters with your social media links or display them on a TV screen in the venue.
If you’re a karaoke DJ, a great way to get some more followers, is by asking people to add you on Snapchat and send in song requests using this platform. You can promote this again by displaying the message on TV screens or posters.
If you own a karaoke bar or venue and want to get more followers on Snapchat, then you can offer incentives. For example, free drink vouchers for every follow.
Promote your Events
Once you have some followers on Snapchat, then you can promote your upcoming events by sending direct snaps to all your followers highlighting the event, or by posting on your Snapchat story. Posting on your story is a great idea during the day to get people interested in going out that night, whereas direct snaps work better in the night to encourage people who are already on a night out, to come to your venue. Karaoke DJ’s can also advertise that they’re playing in a club or bar.
In a Nutshell
- Set up an account for your karaoke business that’s separate from your personal account.
- Get followers by encouraging people already at your venue to engage with your Snapchat.
- Promote new events to get repeat customers.
6. Build a Reputation
Another way to promote your karaoke business, is by building a great reputation. This is super important for both karaoke venues, and also solo KJ’s. This method does take time, but it’s super important to establish your business.
Why is it important
Building a good reputation is really important because it allows you to change your approach to promoting your business. In the beginning of setting up your karaoke service or bar, you have to go out and look for business, and do a lot of promotion using social media.
However, when you’ve built up a solid reputation, the tables will turn and people will come to you rather than you going to them. Which is what every business really wants.
How to Build a Reputation
Building a solid reputation is no quick way to promoting your karaoke business, but it’s one of the most successful. And it’ll go a long way to getting regular business.
You can build a reputation by getting experience mainly. But another way to grow your reputation, is by asking for reviews. If you’re a karaoke DJ, and you do a great job at a gig, then there’s absolutely nothing wrong with asking for a review. This can then go on your website as a testimonial and makes it more likely for another venue to hire you in the future.
If you’re a a karaoke venue or bar, then having a poster inside encouraging people to leave reviews on Google can be helpful. Some venues even offer incentives for leaving a review to encourage more customers to get involved.
In a Nutshell
- Building a reputation is the best way to get people to come to you for business, rather than you going to them.
- This comes with experience and time mostly.
- You can also ask for reviews on Google and put testimonials on your website.
7. Networking
Similar to building a reputation, another way to promote your karaoke business is by networking. This has been an effective method of advertising a service business pretty much forever. So it’s a good way to get exposure to your karaoke business, especially if you’re a solo DJ. So how do you network?
Join a Community
Joining a group of karaoke DJ’s might not seem like a great idea to promote your business, after all, they’re your direct competitors, but it can be very effective. Most established karaoke DJ’s remember when they were starting out and struggling to get their name out there. And now they’re probably too busy to take on more customers.
That’s why building relationships with other DJ’s is a great way to get business, as they can recommend you to their own contacts. The best way to join a large community is by becoming a member of a Facebook group.
Piggybacking
Along with joining a community of other karaoke DJ’s, you can also network by building relationships with similar service providers. This is known as piggybacking.
All you need to do, is find a similar service in your field, but not one that’s the exact same. For example, a AV or lighting specialists that are hired by clubs and bars. Reach out to them and let them know that you’re an aspiring KJ. Then you can both share your contacts and clients to increase your circle and get more customers.
In a Nutshell
- Works in a similar way to building a reputation.
- Join communities of other karaoke DJ’s on Facebook.
- Form relationships with service providers in your field and share contacts.
8. Utilise Directories
Online directories are one of the best ways to get more exposure to your karaoke business. A lot of venues that are looking to hire a karaoke DJ, will head over to directories to get some contact information. Similarly, people looking for karaoke venues and bars will head online and search for some in their local area and can visit directories for nightlife or jump on TripAdvisor.
There are some free directories out there for local areas, but you’ll get the most value from paid directories who put more effort into driving traffic to their websites and subsequently, to yours too. They are usually very reasonable and work by either charging a subscription fee or by taking a commission.
In a Nutshell
- Online directories will help drive traffic to your website.
- They work for both karaoke venues and DJ’s.
- Free directories can be useful, but you’ll get a lot more benefit from a paid directory.
9. Cold Calling or Emailing
Cold calling and emailing isn’t the most fun thing in the world, but it can be an effective method of getting new business. Particularly at the start of your career. If you’re an aspiring KJ looking to get your first few gigs, then it can be worth contacting some bars and venues in your local area and offering your service.
Cold Call or Email?
Cold calling can be a good technique to increase your conversions. It’s more direct so you can put across your point better. However, it is quite invasive and some people may get annoyed by unsolicited calls, so you can get some negative reactions. Emails are better if you don’t want to ring people up, but you can get a lower number of responses with this method. Try both methods and see which one you prefer and get the most success with.
What Should you Say
When trying to sell your karaoke service to anyone, the focus needs to be on them rather than you. Especially in a cold call/ email situation, no one really cares about you. They want to know about what you can do for them. So lead with that. Can you encourage more people to come through the door? Help them to get repeat customers?
Make sure you keep your speech or email concise and follow these steps to increase your chances of a conversion:
Cold Call:
- Introduce yourself and ask if they have time to speak
- Ask who the right person to speak to is
- Say that you’re a karaoke DJ and how you could help their venue
Cold Email:
- Send the email from an account with a professional address
- Have an email subject that doesn’t look like spam, for example your name followed by KJ or karaoke
- Say how you can help their venue
- End with a call to action e.g. please contact me for further info and leave your phone number
In a Nutshell
- Cold calling and emailing can be an effective way of getting your first clients.
- Calling is more direct but emailing is definitely easier.
- Explain how you could help whoever you’re ringing and don’t talk about what they could do for you.
10. Volunteer
We’ve spoken a lot about building a reputation and networking to try and get your name out there. But sometimes, getting your first gig as a karaoke DJ can seem impossible. No one wants to pay you if you don’t a proven reputation and previous customers. So what do you do?
Well, for your first few karaoke gigs, you can think about working for free. I know it seems counter-productive, but if you’re really struggling then it can be the easiest way to get some experience. It’ll help you get some reviews and testimonials and even some repeat work from a venue and you can charge them next time you perform. It’s also a good offer to throw in if your cold calls and emails aren’t that successful.
Once you’ve done a few performances, you should start charging. You can gradually increase your rate if you don’t feel comfortable charging high prices at the start. But if you continue to put in solid performances and you are earning more money for a bar, then you’ll become much more valuable.
In a Nutshell
- Try offering some of your first performances as a karaoke DJ for free.
- It’ll help get you some testimonials and reviews to encourage other bars and venues to hire you.
- Plus you may even get repeat work that you can charge for.
So there you go! Those are the 10 karaoke business promotion ideas that actually work! Stick at it, and good luck.
Here are some other posts you might find useful: