Getting Bookings

The last time properly djing was back in the 90s. Bought the P4 spring 2020 & have since bought the whole set up for a mobile dj - including a sign written van :grin:

Website done & SM pages. Have Sumup, Quickbooks & online booking on website - & fully insured. Cut a long story short, I’m good to go & have done a few livestreams on Mixcloud under the lockdown period.

Had my 1st booking Sept 24th. I’ve dropped business cards to local pubs & spoken to some of the landlords etc & whilst I have a 40th birthday booked in March 2022 (!!), I don’t have anything else. Had a New Year’s Eve enquiry via My Google Business profile but no confirmed booking as yet.

  1. What do you do to try & get bookings?
  2. Average prices you charge? I generally start at £200 for private parties (individuals) & £250 for pubs. 4 hrs. Extra fee for additional hrs.
  3. Despite website being fully SEO optimised, I find Google not really fit for purpose nowadays. Ads, sponsored ads & then agency after agency. Things like Bark & Last Minute Musicians etc… before individual websites even get close. Are you registered with a company like Bark?

Any tips & tricks appreciated. Note: I don’t do weddings. I do this because I enjoy it & the money is a bonus. My style is house & techno but I have recently added some cheese to my library because I discovered that youngsters are still liking ABBA, Madness, Cyndi Lauper & Village People (:face_vomiting:) :joy::joy: & so I thought it best to have this stuff in my collection to promote myself as mainstream/party classics etc too.

I’d ditch the social media pages as a way of getting bookings. I don’t know if it’s the casualness of social media but the quality of leads and what they’re prepared to pay for a good DJ just doesn’t stack up to anything realistic. Unless, of course, you’re happy going out for just two digit fees

I’d plough everything you can into the website rather than social media ads

Also, make sure your email address is your own domain name, not some generic broadband provider eg have an email address that is Mike@mikesDiscos.co.uk not mikesdiscos@yahoo.com - your website probably offers email on its domain. People see the yahoo or other generic domain and some might think that if you can’t be bothered to spend £40 a year on your domain and email then what else are you cutting corners on.

Ironically, my March 22nd booking was via FB page - and it’s been confirmed by the events manage at the venue not too far away from me. Totally agree about domain name & pro email. I have both. Sneak peak? mike303.co.uk :grin:

I reckon the work these days is via venues rather than waiting for private individuals to call you.

Consider what people might do if they’re planning something for e.g. their birthday. Are they likely to hire a hall (and pay for it) and then hire a DJ (and pay again), or is it easier for them to just arrange for their mates to meet up at a local free venue (e.g. pub) that has a regular DJ on? Somewhere that’s already got an atmosphere if some of their friends don’t show.

For the web site side, consider what people might search for. If people know you, they might search for mike303 but what about someone just generally searching for a mobile DJ in your area?

Add some pages that contain those phrases. Plenty of mentions of local venues and surrounding town names etc. The more sites that contain a link to yours, the better, so if can set up a tit for tat with popular venues…

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Great idea regarding venues. In fact, it was the venue who contacted me regarding NYE via my website contact form & although they didn’t go on & book (yet), it was the venue who recommended me to the lady who booked the same venue for her son’s 40th in March. So yes, contacting community halls & pub/hotels is a good idea. It is easy to fall into the trap of just trying the young venue bars for Fri/Sat nights or residences. Many have used the same dj for years.

I have added keywords & used the typical ‘mobile dj, disco’ etc in paragraphs on many pages. As you say, I pop up if my name is used but most will search mobile dj / their town and I am well down the list (like 20 pages!). I use my city, surrounding cities & county too but loads of trashy sites appear before mine. Google isn’t what it used to be.

i moved to a new country and had to start all over again about a decade ago…

hell in the country ive moved counties a few times

what works for bar/pub gigs other than running your own events…is to go out.

have a drink, chat with bar staff, be nice, dress nice, relax

after they know you and your favorite brew the moment you step in, then chat them up about gigging…comment positively on the resident dj as well.

if they say no, dont stop patronizing them because of that…go on slow nights, have fun.

one day they may call you in…and when they do, you better be bringing your A game

From the pub gig - you will start getting mobile enquiries…as long as you keep the Hens happy during their nights

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Good tips - I always get chatty with the boss & bar staff as I’m a sociable guy :sunglasses: The downside is that I’m getting on :rofl:

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And another approach is to befriend the resident…once she/he knows you are a dj she/he may feel threatened initially, but if she/he perceives you as a nice guy, there will be one night she/he will ask if you want to cover him/her…say yes…a-game as usual

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Yes, always good to make connections :+1:

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