How do I get people to my clubnight?

May 13, 2005 6:07 AM

I just started up a clubnight in my university town. Everybody who's been has had a good time, but they are far too few. I need ideas...

I have come to the end of my inspiration on ways to promote this night, and ideas of what could happen on the night itself to generate excitement and hence good word of mouth. What happens at great indie nights near you? What's the coolest thing you've ever seen at a nightclub? How do your local clubs promote?

The night itself is simple: indie/eighties/punk, as poppy as necessary to keep people dancing 'til 2am. The drinks are fairly cheap, and we project a few cool films in the club. Our main problems are that 95% of our potential customers have never been to the club before, and are more than willing to go where everyone else goes i.e. the established, central clubs.

posted by godawful to media & arts (16 comments total)

Ok. I work for a local entertainment rag, and this is what I'd tell you: First off, almost all metropolitian areas have a monthly/weekly with listings. Make sure it's in there. Also, there are sites like upcoming.org, make sure it's in there too. A website helps, like this one for an event that looks similar to yours.
Then, and this is the most important, choose an iconographic name and image and flyer the fuck out of your town. Seriously. Cool graphic design (again, check their flyers) and sheer fucking coverage make sure that everyone will know about the event. You'll get some people on the strength of that, and everyone else will show up through word of mouth. (You can also send invites to people in local bands you like or things like that, but that's up to you).
posted by klangklangston at 6:30 AM on May 13, 2005

Have a cover-free, excessively cheap drink night. Provide prizes for being there. Try to get a beer company to pony up some money and give away free beer. It will cost you quite a bit in the short run but it will get people out to your club.

Advertise it well in advance.
posted by dflemingdotorg at 6:45 AM on May 13, 2005

Thanks for the suggestions. The local listings idea is one I'll definitely follow up. To be honest though, the poster/flyer route isn't working so far. I've got a designer putting out great posters (he turns out 5 different designs a week!) and a pretty good name "Fabattoir", but it's still not persuading people to take a walk out of town and try a new clubnight.

Have you ever had something really cool happen at a night other than music/films/drinks?
posted by godawful at 6:48 AM on May 13, 2005

I work in promotions -- but that doesn't really qualify me for anything. It really depends on the town. What may be good for the clubs I work for might not be good for you, so pick and choose from the answers here.

We make flyers for everyone of our events, and staple them to kiosks around town. If your town has kiosks, do this. If not, make handbills, and pass them out to people who populate areas where the demographics match what you're looking for, ie: college campus, other hang outs. Be careful passing out handbills while in other bars. Some bar managers don't take too kindly to this. We have an in-house printer, but we used to do everything at Kinko's. Still, it's probably the cheapest way (aside from word of mouth) to advertise.

Also, how much money are you willing to spend? Print advertising is generally going to be pretty expensive. Are you making money by promoting this night? If so, stash away EVERYTHING you make from it for future advertising. Don't expect to get rich quick.

It sounds to me that this night would be something a college radio station would like to be involved with. Perhaps see if you can underwrite a few shows, or try to get them more involved. Our local college radio (KCOU) has been known to sponsor nights like this at various clubs, and do live, remote broadcasts. If you get the indie-snob college-rock hipster kids coming down, soon everyone will follow.

Who DJ's the night? I've done nights like this where instead of having just one DJ, we've had a bunch that rotate, and even give the option of having Joe Schmoe sign up to be a DJ. This has to be tightly regulated, as you don't want to jeopardize the "feel" of the night with shitty music, but it's still worth a shot. When you bring new DJ's in, they bring their friends... so the more new DJ's you can handle, the better. Again, this has worked for us, but it might not work for you.

I'd be more than happy to share more with you, though listing off everything I've ever done in the past to promote club nights doesn't seem like a great idea. Feel free to shoot me an email if you want to discuss further.
posted by nitsuj at 7:06 AM on May 13, 2005

On a side note, many states regulate the ability to give away free beer during a public event. I highly doubt the beer companies (and club owner) will let you do this.

The beer companies ARE willing to sponsor nights, though, and give away free schwag. We had PBR sponsor our hipster night, and everyone loved it. People were walking out with PBR shirts and trucker hats (back when those were cool, heh).

Also, I noticed the website is down. Make sure it's up, and stays up, and the address goes out on every piece of advertising you do. Put a messageboard up there if you haven't already.

Is having bands play live something you can do? If so, find local, cheap, "hip" bands that are looking for a gig. Give it to them, and make them do the promoting (which any good band will do regardless). Spin records, have them go on for a few songs, spin more records, etc.
posted by nitsuj at 7:12 AM on May 13, 2005

Fabattoir?! I see that and I think "fat ass" with just a hint of "fag". Did you do any market research on the name before you decided to go with it?
posted by mischief at 7:19 AM on May 13, 2005

I've been involved in the club industry, both as a worker and as a consumer, for almost ten years now. (Ssssh, don't tell anyone I was underage).

Flyering, in general, is a waste of time and money. It does, however, work when the people getting the flyers already have some idea about the event. I've been a flyer bitch; 75% of the flyers handed out are on the ground within 20 feet. More than half of the rest never get looked at again. This is not a good ROI; they're just that much more visual noise.

Targeted flyering, however, does work, to a greater or lesser extent. Local listings are what you need. Further, most local mags will feature a weekly club spotlight. Get them through your door, and they'll do half your marketing for you.

You need to take a cue from the viral marketers. Get some of your regulars and some of your friends to hardcore spread the word amongst their friends. Offer them guestlist or something as a bribe. In the club industry, there are only three things that matter: reputation, reputation, and reputation. Listen to what your partiers are saying about the night, and adjust accordingly.

It's an indie/80's/punk night? See if you can find (and afford) some name from that scene to come in as a special guest. I don't know what your budget is, but talk to the club owners about who they have sponsorship deals with, get in touch with those sponsors, and get money out of them. Honestly, if you can assure them that they'll make money off the night, they will practically hand you a blank cheque.

Don't underestimate decor. Fabbatoir is a fucking awesome name for a club night-- so run with it. Make the bar staff wear those long white coats that butchers wear-- with, say, thigh-high PVC boots on underneath (boys and girls; 'fab'). Have shooter specials on some drink that looks like blood (Sourpuss would be the easy and cheap choice, but it would be easy to whip something up). Show bad 80's slasher flicks... but project them in non-traditional places. Ceilings, the floor, across the DJ booth, across the stalls in the washroom, whatever.

Theme nights. Free cover for, say, people who are fully rocking out the 80's glam look this week. Next week, free cover for punks. The week after, free cover for anyone born in X year in the 80's.

I've been to a lot of really incredible club nights, that did all sorts of awesome things (girls dressed as angels walking around with trays of chilled fresh fruit at 2am; the shooter bar being in a hot tub; free massages... the list is endless), but most of them are either beyond what is probably your budget, or way out of theme. Avoid contests; they're cheesy (unless it's a random draw for something cool... like say... free cover for you and three of your friends for the next couple of weeks).

Basically, you have to remember that unless you have fish in a barrel to shoot (such as the massive gay sunday night event that happened here for quite a while), club nights will take a while to build. Happily, you're heading into summer, which is party time, and a time when people don't mind going a bit further to get to/from, as the weather's more conducive to it.

On preview: Mischief, you might think that... but from what's been said about the night, I think the target market will get it.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 7:26 AM on May 13, 2005

Fabattoir? Seriously? Well, y'know, I'd never go to something called Fabattoir. At least without knowing that it was already cool, despite the name. What's your market? It's a great name if you want Rufus Wainwright and disco queens. For indie rock? Not so much.
And as for flyers, don't hand them out to people. You want to create the perception that this thing has been going on for a while, and is already established as cool. If this is really for indie rockers, you want them to find it.
posted by klangklangston at 7:40 AM on May 13, 2005

Ladies Night.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:08 AM on May 13, 2005 [1 favorite]

klangklang, 'indie rock' covers an extremely broad range of music. Given the inclusion of 80's and punk, I'd say this is more to the hipster/alternative/alternaqueer crowd, in which case the name is apt.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:52 AM on May 13, 2005

Sorry, but "Fabattoir" stuck out at me as a horrible name, too. Just wanted to add my voice because I know if I saw a night named that I'd 1. laugh, 2. not go to it. All I see is "bad pun".
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 9:27 AM on May 13, 2005

The indie/punk/80s night I go to here in Boston has free admission before 10, and half-price admission before 11:30 with a flyer (which you can print off their website).

They leave flyers at local target-market businesses, but also hand out flyers for related theme nights and special events as you walk out the door of their club -- most of it's preaching to the choir, but a significant number of people seem to show up at theme nights you wouldn't expect them to otherwise.

But really, the way to get people in the door is to have a kick-ass DJ.

I went weekly to an 80s night at a club in Northampton, where the DJ was rude, grumbled when taking requests, often didn't have anything you wanted to hear anyway, and played the same 100 or so songs every night, and mixed like a chimpanzee. I was there every week because it was free and on Wednesday night when there was nothing better to do.

But almost every Saturday, I also drove 2 hours both ways (often alone) to dance (with friends in the area) at the club I go to now because the DJ is great, friendly and incredibly knowledgeable, plays a constantly changing mix of songs, and knows which songs start slow and quiet and doesn't leave people standing on the dancefloor for 45 seconds between songs. Now that I live in the area and I'm not paying for a tank of gas, parking, and coffee to keep me awake on the drive home, I couldn't imagine what I would without it.

Get a good DJ, word of mouth will do the rest.

PS. If Fabbatoir doesn't have an absolutely incredible gay night, you're not doing your job properly.
posted by ThePants at 10:33 AM on May 13, 2005

Your Club Night Needs A New Name, Dude.

I just pictured the guys from Queer Eye hanging from meat hooks. Probably not the image you're going for... or is it?

I'd say change the name to something that says "Get In Here, Groove To Tunes, Shake Your Ass, Get Drunk, Get Laid." You know, like "WIN FREE SEX!" Except music related. "FREAK SCENE," "TV PARTY," something like that. Except better.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 10:43 AM on May 13, 2005

Make flyers where you give them out to sub-promoters, each promoter has his own symbol or initials on each flyer he hands out, in turn they get part of the cover fee for each person they bring in. Simple, old school way that we used when I was in college. (90-95) five year plan
posted by askmatrix at 11:20 AM on May 13, 2005

huh. that's a cool idea, askmatrix -- but do you have to require the patrons to have flyers?

although i suppose that would be the subpromoter's problem, not yours.

i'm dealing with the problem of establishing a club myself, and the big issue is rep and networking -- you HAVE to have flyers, but no-one's really gonna go to your night because just because of a flyer (unless the flyer says something like $1 DRINKS ALL NIGHT, then yeah.)

there's a guy here who can start a new night and have it packed from the getgo, but that's because the kids love him, and he's been building that goodwill for years and years.

basically, what we've decided is our system is to HEAVILY promote the night, SAY what we're going to play on the flyer, and then when people show up, PLAY IT.

We've had to cut down on the amount of indie rock stuff we play because we simply don't know enough people in that crowd that will come out to our club -- we've switched format to the 80s/FRAT PARTAY/TOP 40 HIT MACHINE style that the club is pretty much known for, and it's worked out better for us.

i've found that it's more fun to play shitty records to a crowd than to play cool records to nobody, but hey, that's because 1) I'm not a real DJ and 2) I'm a sell out.
posted by fishfucker at 6:16 PM on May 13, 2005

It's May 14 and you "just started" a club night in a university town? I dunno about you but today was graduation day in Raleigh. There's a lot of good advice above (I'm a big fan of consistent flyering on kiosks, in record stores and at events, and word of mouth is also critical), but you might want to consider saving your strength for a massive push in mid-August.
posted by mediareport at 6:25 PM on May 14, 2005