10 Steps for hosting a successful music event on a budget

I posted the below information on one of my other blogs but I thought I should add it to the Knoxville Gospel Blog as well.
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As I have mentioned in the past, Highland Baptist does not have a music budget. So, I have to be very creative and frugal when it comes for extra things such as concert promotions. Everyone loves a good gospel concert (especially me) but what they tend to forget is that everything costs money and involves a lot of time. Through my years of experience as a church Music Minister, I have learned how to successfully host musical events without breaking the budget. Below I have listed 10 steps for hosting a successful low/no budget musical event.

1. Use free print ads. If you are in the Knoxville, TN market, there are numerous weekly newspapers that allow you to post your church events for free. I ALWAYS turn to them for my number one resource. It takes a little bit of time and effort but it is well worth it. Here are the ones that I use:

*Shopper-News Now - this is a weekly newspaper that goes out to all of the Knoxville area. They also have an online edition. They will add your event to their "Church Notes" section free of charge. Just send an email to news@shoppernewsnow.com

*Fountain City Focus - this is also a weekly newspaper with an online edition. I always have people tell me, "I saw the add in the Focus and that's how I knew about it." This is a very family friendly newspaper that is run by a great group of local folks. Send your event information to staff@knoxfocus.com and they will run it in their "Church Happenings" section for free.

*Knoxville News Sentinel - The News Sentinel will add your church event in the "Religion" section in both their print newspaper and on their website. They have a special section just for Church events. Contact the News Sentinel to have your event posted.

2. On-line Advertising - Many newspaper, radio stations, and other media outlets, have websites that will let you post your community, church, entertainment events for free. Below are a few that I use:

*Knoxville News Sentinel Classifieds - If your event is a non-profit event, you can post a full color add with pictures, on the News Sentinel's website. Here is the one I posted for a recent Chuck Wagon Gang concert: http://knoxnews.kaango.com/feViewAd/13646558 to add your event start here: http://knoxnews.kaango.com/feChoosePostAd

*Knoxville.com - Website just for posting Knoxville related events. It is free. All you have to do is sign up and post your event. HERE is a recent one that I added. To get started just click this link: http://www.knoxville.com/events/submit/

*SoGoCity.com - This is a social network site, however, it is more of a Southern Gospel promotion tool. Lots of groups are signed up on this site and there are many resources for you to advertise your Southern Gospel event. They have a special section called "Events" that lists concerts all over the U.S. I recently added my Chuck Wagon Gang event to the site. To get started, just sign up: http://sogocity.ning.com/main/authorization/signUp?

*Love 89.1 FM - The Christian Hit Radio station in Knoxville. They have a community events listing where you add your own events and concerts. Start here: http://www.love89.org/default.asp?pid=3350&f=psa

*Joy 62 WRJZ FM - Christian radio station in Knoxville, TN. Also has a free community events calendar that you can add your event to. Start here: http://www.wrjz.com/default.asp?pid=3324&f=psa

3. Radio Stations - Some local stations will announce church events for free. You simply have to call them or if they have a website, many times you can email them. If you, your pastor, or a friend has a radio broadcast on stations such as, WKXV, this is an excellent place to announce your event. Other stations will also announce your events for free. Just call them up and ask. Of course you can always run paid ads on radio stations but I'm not covering that in this post. To find out more about radio stations in your area, just do a google search. Oh, and don't forget to use their free online community event pages that I mentioned in step 2.

4. Social Networking - Do not discount the power of social networking sites! MySpace, FaceBook, Ning, Twitter, Bebo, and MyChurch are all excellent places to advertise your events. Many people spend hours on these sites and as long as you put forth some effort to get your event out there, it will be seen. You can create an event on Facebook that allows you to send invitations to your network and also to folks outside of Facebook. Also, these are great sources to interact with gospel groups, soloist, and other Christians. I know there has been a lot of negative publicity about these types of networking sites but it is just like anything else, you can use it for good or bad, I choose to use them for good. If you are nervous about getting started, just add me as a friend and I'll be glad to help you out: http://www.facebook.com/people/Byron-Chesney/659141097

5. Your own website or Blog. If you frequently plan events for your church or your music ministry, you owe it to yourself to start your own website or Blog. I have been in cyber space for many, many years and have amassed tons of experience with both of these resources. I am the webmaster for my church, Highland Baptist, and I run the Knoxville Gospel Blog, as well as several others. It is not as hard as you think to get started. If you aren't very skilled at html or web authoring tools, then you should probably start out with a blog. It is free and easy to get started. Just visit Blogger, Wordpress, or Xanga, and sign up. I have tried several and I prefer Blogger, but that's just my preference. I know if my 12-year old son and my mother can run their own blogs, then you can too!

6. Flyers, handbills, posters, etc... If your budget allows, you should always try to print out something to announce your event. Most Southern Gospel groups, soloist, and performers, have readily available flyers for you to print out from their websites. See THIS .pdf example from the Chuck Wagon Gang's appearances page. Print them out, fill in the information, make copies and distribute. Your best resource for these are your church members. Print out several hundred and place them in the church where members can get them. Ask them to give them to their friends and neighbors. DO NOT place paper advertisements on vehicles in parking lots. Nobody likes this type of advertising and it will give you and your church a bad name. Many businesses, towns, cities, have rules against this and you just might be breaking the law! Always ask permission before placing your printed add in a public or private place. Many local stores have places to post ads. If you aren't sure if you can place one somewhere, chances are you can't.

7. Web Forums - Forums can be a good place to advertise your events. I will caution you however, be very careful of which forums you post on. Many that proclaim to be "Christian," "Southern Gospel," etc... are not very Christian. Posting your event may not cause any issues, but since you don't have control over what other people say, you are at the mercies of the forum admins. I have witnessed many un-Christian and negative comments being made in these so-called "Christian" forums. Visit the forum for a while and see what kind of people are frequenting. If they are using fake names, anonymous names, posting rude or derogatory comments, or negatively speaking of groups, singers, etc....STEER CLEAR! There's a lot of miserable people out there and they want you to be miserable too. So, use caution.

8. Word-of-Mouth - Probably the very best form of advertising and certainly the cheapest and easiest. If you are excited about your event then others will be too. Work it up when you are talking with your friends, neighbors, co-workers, fellow church members. Nobody wants to waste a day or hours out of a day to attend something that isn't worth their while. Let people know that your event is worth attending. Make sure you announce it during announcement time at your church. If your church prints a bulletin or newsletter, make sure you get your event published in them. Use the resources that you have at your disposal.

9. Email and letters - Everybody uses email these days. We forward stuff back and forth among our friends and family. Most of it is useless junk. Why not email everyone in your address book a friendly announcement about your upcoming event? Surely with all of the SPAM that people receive, they won't mind something legitimate! If you are afraid of email (yes, there are still those folks out there) then sit down and write your friends a letter. Tell them how much you love them and miss them and also invite them to your event. Might as well add one of the flyers to your letter before you lick that envelope too!

10. Prayer - I started to put this as Number 1 on the list but I reserved it for last so you wouldn't forget it. This is without a doubt the most important thing for your event. Ask God to be in the center of every activity. Ask for His blessing on your event. Let Him know that you are counting on Him to be there, remember Matthew 18:20! If you skip this last step, none of the other ones will matter. So, get on those knees and talk to the Lord. He died for you, He certainly wants to hear from you!

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I can tell you without any hesitation that the above information works! If you will just put forth a little bit of time and effort, you will have a successful event that you can be proud of and will be remembered for years to come, and the best part... it won't break your budget, even if you don't have one!