Raves and Music Festivals : They're Marketing Goldmines

This past Friday, I attended a music festival put on by the Portsmouth Rave Project in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was so much fun, and if you're in the area I would totally recommend that you get tickets to the next one (this is not promoted-these events are actually so much fun). As far as I know, this is the only organization in the Maine/New Hampshire area that puts together live DJ sets in large social spaces for people to attend. The event had a great turnout, and I could not help but notice that PRP's marketing approach was well thought out, effective, and applicable to any business or event with similar model. Every business can learn alot from the way raves and music festivals take advantage of marketing. With that in mind, I'm going to be walking through a couple things I noticed PRP excel at and explain why every business should practice these tactics as well.

1 - In Person Influencer Relationship Building

Raves and music festivals are an awesome example of a business that can employ this tactic, but in reality every business can with a little creativity. There are a few main DJs who are behind the PRP. They appear frequently on social media, and they're the ones who DJ at the shows. On Friday, before the music set started they were walking around the venue saying hello to people who had showed up early. One of them came up to me and even went to grab some glow sticks for my friends and I (major, I know). This stuck in my head for the rest of my night, though. There HAS to be a face of your business making connections with people if you want your customers to return. I can say firsthand that this really enforced my support of and connection to PRP, and I promise you that if your business puts effort into building relationships with your clients, it WILL make a difference.

2 - Client Involvement On Social Media

To begin with, there were photographers, videographers and several different media people present - as there should be at an event like this. Especially when your goal is to have returning customers and market to new ones through capturing your service through media, it is absolutely essential to document your service or event well. Secondly, the day after the event, PRP reposted everyone's content to their instagram story who tagged them in a post of some sort. This is an easy, but extremely effective action that any business can take. People want to be seen and heard - especially if they're buying something from you! By doing this, PRP is acknowledging them. It's essentially saying 'we know you were there, and we appreciate it, so we're showing you that by engaging with your content.' This a message that businesses should be sending clients for obvious reasons, and I highly recommend you incorporate this into your strategy.