We have touched on this briefly on other posts, and it is considered that Word of Mouth is the best form of advertising. However excluding Word Of Mouth, which has been your most successful and worthwhile form of advertising and method of increasing business?.

Graffiti....

Just kidding officer.

Well, the hotel which I am now at for at least the next two years, has always sung my praises to potential venue hirers...especially since I started buying the hotel tins of chocolates for the staff room...much cheaper, and much more effective than paper advertising.

Also, I regularly mailshot customers via SMS. Everyone who ever texted me a music request at a gig in the last 3 years got a "Merry Christmas" txt 4 weeks ago (on xmas day), with my disco contact details on it...(you cant hide your caller ID/number on a txt message.)

if i was honest i would say yellow pages works best for me. its pricey i think im paying £600 for my current package but it gets me alot of work and the area i work in is full of Cowboys and tight gits who wont pay out more than £100 for a DJ for the night... so we are fighting and on going battle to try to land the 'good' gigs..

might just end up moving though seems easier lol

My wife's business !!

Hotel referels

YP (again £700 advert just this year to see it it works)

REquest slips on tables (with tel no. of course) and my moving sign display!

Never ever used any other form of advertising whatsoever.

Spin

think I must be the laziest dj on the planet... I let my customers do it for me!

Oh right.... If I were a newbie I would be doing tons of leg work... writing to hotels/leisure centres/posters in village halls etc

For a newbie you would have to do YP, and maybe yell.com without fail

Without doubt since I've moved to Northants from brum, so I was very much starting as newbie again, even with the experience under my belt.

The internet has been a total saviour for my business, and it's getter better all the time.

yellow Pages has it's place too and I've just signed up to Yell.com and gonna track how that does.

Also, try calling around the local DJ's and agencies and let them know you exist and will take on last minute work. Any DJ that isn't a total gimp will gladly pass on work he/she can't manage.

Darren

For me it was securing a hotel residency. I actually worked on the bar at the hotel before the residency when I was just starting out in discos (alrite then it was only glass collecting.....I was only 16!!!)

I have had A5 flyers printed which the hotel always post out when sending out their wedding packs to potential customers. I am also recomended verbally by our wedding coordinator when she has appointments with customers.

So for me, apart from the word of mouth recomendation im trying not to build into this it is directly reaching the bride and groom via the wedding pack with focused advertising on the flyer.

Steve

Any dj who just passed work to somebody because they were a dj who had just moved would be the "gimp" - whatever that means. As we are talking reputations here, I personally would not give work to anybody who had not come with some sort of recommendation...... Suppose a client of mine asks me to put them in touch with another dj... the only dj I can get is one who has just moved into the area.... trouble is... he/she is useless..... BANG... there goes my reputation.

Any dj who relocates should hopefully have references and letters of endorsement, and be able to give you the telephone number of venues/hotels he/she has worked for.

i might try yell.com for adverts
i always have cards handy
just started sending out info packs to hotels,social clubs nightclubs
been in one club for the last 3 years
lefted there as most of you know on new years eve
so starting afresh

Not wishing to put anyone on a downer here, but you will be extremely lucky to pick up a hotel residency just by doing a sales pitch. In most cases, hotels use djs who they have handpicked themselves, either because the person who does the conferencing/banqueting is a mate of a dj, or has used a dj on a personal level and they personally like them. Obviously, these conference/banqueting managers enable you to get your foot in the door so to speak, but it is then up to the dj to ensure he/she keeps the residency..... if 50% of the clients put in a bad word, whether the dj was a mate of the c/b manager or not - he/she would be out on their ear... which is when you have a slight chance of picking up a residency.

My advice to newbies would be to get out there and poster those halls/function rooms which are open to the general public .

good adivce that
thats what ive done

When we started out we got yellow pages and thompson local, printed flyers and posted to every school, social club, pub, hotel wedding related business that we could.

This gave us a good start, then we went into YP and Thompson with mainly free lines and on their web sites foc as well.

We had a web site designed, but to be honest this is more trouble than its worth and very costly, however it is useful for your clients to refer to and gives a good impression that you are serious about what you do.

We attend one wedding fair a year, this is good for at least 10-15 weddings a year and is cheap too, especially if you offer to do the music for the catwalk shows free, we usally get the exhibitor costs waived.

And of course a ready supply of business cards in your top pocket, telephone number on your karaoke request slips etc and ad pages in your karaoke books.

I have even handed people a business card in the supermarket if I have heard them talking about a do that they are arranging, cheeky perhaps, but I have had bookings as a result!

Now the majority of our bookings are referals or repeats, not bad considering we have only been going for a bit less than 2 years.

We only have two others that we recommend, we keep it amongst the three of us, and pass work on if we are booked, we have all attended each others gigs so we know what we are recommending, we never ask if prospective clients if they have other quotes or who they have booked if they dont book us and never indulge in making comment on other mobile djs other than our 2 mates.

Being seen to be proffesional, is the best way to get bookings.