Get More Gigs BY Promoting Yourself as a Mobile DJ at a Wedding Fair

0:00 What's known as a wedding fair

Alright, so you've been a DJ for a day, maybe six months, maybe six years, maybe you've been a DJ for 50 years and you just want to get a few more dates in the diary. Well one way of doing it is to go to what's known as a wedding fair. Now these are held practically all the way around the world. Check your local press for details on the next one in your area. So what is a wedding fair? Well let's imagine we have a whole bunch of businesses in a room or two rooms, three rooms, in a nice venue somewhere and these businesses are there to promote themselves to future clients. The clients of course being... The new brides and grooms, their weddings may be on that year or it could be one or two years time. These people could be just having a look around, maybe sort of interested or maybe they're there for one reason only and that is to book you as a DJ or book you as the videographer, the photographer, the chauffeur, the caterer, the entertainer. In other words...

If you've done weddings in the past and all of a sudden some guy on stilts has sprung up out of nowhere, he hasn't just turned up, excuse me I've lost my way, oh there's a wedding, I'll tell you what, I'll entertain you. No, the guy's been booked. So what is the wedding fair? Well it's you going to a venue and promoting yourself as the DJ that you are. Now firstly, you need to of course make sure that all of your kit is up to standard. If you're going to go out as a professional mobile DJ stroke wedding DJ, 60th birthday and so on, but generally these are for weddings. You need to make sure you have public liability. Your kit's good. There's no point spending six grand on all of your CDJs and mixer only to find that you had a bargain on eBay for 150 euros, pounds, dollars for your PA system that's a thousand watts aside and brand new because you're wasting your money. Make sure you invest highly in the kits you have in front of you,

2:48 What are these wedding fairs?

So important. And I did this many, many years ago. Turn up to the venue, excuse me, can I use a table please? Don't do that. Make sure you have your own console. In fact there are only two things you should be asking from the venue and that is a roof above you so if it does rain you don't get rained on. Of course generally most of the time we're inside anyway. And the other one is electricity because it would be very silly having a generator outside pumping out smoke. Not a good idea. So, what are these wedding fairs? Well I have got one this Saturday in the Marine Hotel in Aberystwyth. Now all being well we should have quite good footfall in there. That means people walking in and hopefully...

Booking me. Now the idea is for me to promote myself as a wedding stroke mobile DJ, to explain who I am and what I do and how I can make the client's day the best day they've ever had in their entire lives. I need to prove to them that the disco I will give them will be second to none. It will make the event finish with a big bang. In fact, if you imagine a firework display, imagine thousands of pounds spent on a firework display only to have the last firework, a sparkler. People spend a great deal of money on weddings. The last thing they want to do is spend a few quid on a sparkler. So just listen to this advice. If you think it's a great idea to... First of all, undercut, digressing slightly.

If you think it's a great idea to undercut, if someone has phoned another DJ, they'll do my wedding for $350. Will you do it cheaper? I'll do it for $250. You may get the booking, but you have lowered yourself. You have not only lowered the price, but you've made yourself not look as good as the last DJ. Stick to $350 because... They've got a choice then, and 50% chance you might get the gig. If you do get it, guess what? You've got an extra 100 quid. Anyway, let's get back to the wedding fair. So you've turned up like this. No, make sure you're booted and suited. Make sure you have your diary with you. Make sure you have cards with you. Make sure you have some form of social media activity on an iPad. Not your phone, on an iPad or a laptop.

5:25 DJ tutorial by Ellaskins, The DJ Tutor

So people can see gig logs, pictures of your setup. Get to talk to them. Now this here is the most important part about a wedding fair. When you get people walking up to you, the first question you need to ask, this is so important because I've fallen into this pitfall. Who's the bride and groom? Don't automatically look at two people and think they're the bride and groom. DJ tutorial by Ellaskins, The DJ Tutor. Show me who's the bride and groom, and they'll point to you. It could be two ladies, it could be two men, it could be anybody. Always ask that question first. And then ask them, so, are you interested in booking a DJ? They may say yes. That's the second question. Because there is no point saying, oh I'm the DJ, I can do this, because they might say, well, we've already booked the DJ. Again you look an idiot. So that's the second question.

Are you looking for a DJ for your entertainment? No, we've got a DJ. Thank you very much. Have a nice day. By the way, if you're interested over there, great chauffeur or photographer. Oh, great. Oh, do you remember that guy who pointed us to the photographer? What a nice guy. They might tell someone else about you. You never know. Alternatively, they may say, well, no, we were actually just thinking about and then start to explain about yourself. But remember, don't talk about yourself too much. Ask about what they are looking for. Talk about them. Talk about their evening, what they want. You are trying to sell them some emotion. You are trying to sell them the best night of their lives. That is what it's all about. So talk about them. Ask them what they're looking for.

Now, again, this comes with experience. I'm not there yet. But slowly but surely, if the vibe and the energy is right, you could be opening your diary for this year or next year or two years from now. You could be pencilling or putting in a date in stone. And you could be there and then getting a deposit off them. You've got yourself a gig. All right? Try not to lower your price. In fact, if anything, if you're going to a wedding fair, increase it. You've always got to remember if your price at the moment is 300, whatever, a random number, put it to 400 because it's psychological. If you see something for 150 and it's over there and you see the same thing for 300, okay. I hope this has been a help. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.