Is it the time to market?

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Jeff Romard

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Sep 4, 2006
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Sydney, Nova Scotia
Lets face it most of us are going to lose money this year. Most of us have tightened up our budgets and most aren't spending much on marketing but is that a mistake? Are people going to forget you when this is all over?

I've noticed a lot of DJ Facebook pages have become idle also since March. If you're not doing the free stuff it is a mistake


 
Lets face it most of us are going to lose money this year. Most of us have tightened up our budgets and most aren't spending much on marketing but is that a mistake? Are people going to forget you when this is all over?

I've noticed a lot of DJ Facebook pages have become idle also since March. If you're not doing the free stuff it is a mistake



Of the 26 weddings I had booked this year personally, I think 16 of them pushed into 2021 dates. And that's in addition to other clients that have also booked some of those dates. So if restrictions are lifted, I feel pretty good about what my calendar looks like for the year right now already making the marketing spend not quite worth it for me.

For DJs that aren't already in that situation of looking at a decent calendar for sure be marketing! I also think touching base with local DJ networks is important right now. The wedding I was supposed to do Saturday got pushed to a date in April I'm already booked. So, one of my associates is going to end up with the booking. But I'm certain DJs are going to have overflow as more and more dates continue to cancel.
 
Of the 26 weddings I had booked this year personally, I think 16 of them pushed into 2021 dates. And that's in addition to other clients that have also booked some of those dates. So if restrictions are lifted, I feel pretty good about what my calendar looks like for the year right now already making the marketing spend not quite worth it for me.

For DJs that aren't already in that situation of looking at a decent calendar for sure be marketing! I also think touching base with local DJ networks is important right now. The wedding I was supposed to do Saturday got pushed to a date in April I'm already booked. So, one of my associates is going to end up with the booking. But I'm certain DJs are going to have overflow as more and more dates continue to cancel.

I'm in a good spot too for next year and I don't market a lot anyway referrals have been good to me I'm thinking if there are people that aren't in a good spot they should be

I have a couple of dates next year my Daughter is playing (The clients have agreed to this) because we couldn't find anyone to do it in the local DJ scene so this whole thing might be a moot point I would imagine there are a lot in this situation
 
I think there's a point of absurdity that occurs when people realize they are being bombarded with advertising and PR messages from vendors who aren't even allowed to deliver the services they represent, and the very future of the customer's ability to pay or even consider that service remains unknown. I don't want to be that guy who hits people one more time with the phrase "uncertain times." I have no plans to promote "future ideas" or a "when we get back to normal" message.

What I'm doing now is making my existing clients aware of certain capabilities that they probably never even knew I had. For example, people who might have thought of me only as source of lighting - unaware of my video/live streaming capability. Perhaps people who know me as DJ - but not as source of graphics or set design. People who hire me for live event sound but now have need for media and push-presentation production.

Most of my customer's already know me as a problem solver - albeit for whatever specialty they repeatedly hire me for. Now, I just have to expand for each of them the range of problems they believe I can solve.
 
At the moment No Paid advertising. I have done a couple of face book posts each of them received about 30 to 40 views. I am certain nobody is going to book a DJ here right now for a new event until 2021. Things are still uncertain. I think January through March is going to be dead. April is a bit more likely. May is the month I think events start up again. Nothing NEW, but postponed events to dates in May likely will happen this month. I don't think anything new will come in for June either, but I think SOME July/August/September/October events have a modest chance of rolling in.

Because I only have 6 events for next year at the moment, I MIGHT do a Bridal show in January. There are a couple of them still scheduled that I get emails about. I will wait to see if a shutdown into January occurs first. If Maryland does not shut down by December 20th, then I may try to get a booth a discounted rate at one of these shows. I don't want to PAY for a booth, then the Governor comes out and announces we need to shut down, then the show promotors hold my money to a new date in the future.

I do know that couples going to a bridal show in January are most likely to be looking at 2022 dates. I might as well just look at 2021 as a crap year for me, and just focus on building 2022 up. If I book a couple of Summer or Fall 2021 weddings at the show that will just be a bonus the way I will look at it going into the show.

This is all up in the air though. This is really conjecture as well because I'm not really in a good financial situation to be throwing money at a bridal show. It would be going on a credit card of course. Really depends on if a shut down occurs or not in the next 4 weeks here in Maryland. Right now we are pushed back to Stage 2 basically with indoor dining still open at 50% (25% in some counties). If a shut down does happen, then the bridal show idea is going to be scrapped.

I do need to reconnect with other vendors though. I did a poor job of this in 2019, and 2020 this has been non existent. I hope to get together with other vendors in 2021, and start to make connections again. Doing a bridal show would be a start to making connections. Also it would be valuable for seeing how the local industry has changed and affected by the Pandemic.
 
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IMHO, events won't kick back up in earnest until many people have taken the vaccine.
Gotta be honest, if I was still in this business, my slightly OCD mind would be doing summersaults.:pillworried:
 
IMHO, events won't kick back up in earnest until many people have taken the vaccine.
Gotta be honest, if I was still in this business, my slightly OCD mind would be doing summersaults.:pillworried:

Yeah, about that Vaccine...

The fastest EVER Vaccine in history was the MUMPS Vaccine. It took FOUR YEARS to design, test, do all the trials, and get to market. Most Vaccines take 7 to 10 years.

Now...They expect the public to truly have trust in government and these companies that a VACCINE being brought to market in like 12 to 18 months is completely safe to take?

Not to mention it will be the first type of vaccine of it's kind.

I am not counting on a Vaccine to bring an end to this in 2021. I certainly won't take it right away.
 
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Not to mention it will be the first type of vaccine of it's kind.

That's not true this vaccine is quite similar to other flu vaccines I have read
 
Yeah, about that Vaccine...

The fastest EVER Vaccine in history was the MUMPS Vaccine. It took FOUR YEARS to design, test, do all the trials, and get to market. Most Vaccines take 7 to 10 years.

Now...They expect the public to truly have trust in government and these companies that a VACCINE being brought to market in like 12 to 18 months is completely safe to take?

Not to mention it will be the first type of vaccine of it's kind.

I am not counting on a Vaccine to bring an end to this in 2021. I certainly won't take it right away.
I think they’ll start giving it to VIP’s early in 2021

then frontline workers
then young people who have the most chance or spreading It.
the older people that are vulnerable can wait because they aren’t out spreading it
but then older people and medically compromised people should get it.
then the rest o us.

I have no problem waiting, but I’ll get it when available for me.
 
Advertising should be continuing regardless... people are still getting engaged, and while they're not locking in vendors and venues, it is important to plant the seed that you exist for when the time arrives. Those videos I made over the years really paid off during covid, as I didn't have a lot of new content to put out, but I guess with people being home, youtube was a popular time killer and a lot of my new inquiries and bookings came as a result of those videos.
 
Advertising should be continuing regardless... people are still getting engaged, and while they're not locking in vendors and venues, it is important to plant the seed that you exist for when the time arrives. Those videos I made over the years really paid off during covid, as I didn't have a lot of new content to put out, but I guess with people being home, youtube was a popular time killer and a lot of my new inquiries and bookings came as a result of those videos.
I think for a lot of DJs time matters. It may for example, take 10 years for the economy to recover to a point where what we see in your videos returns as the prevailing profitable party style. We have to to ask ourselves: "is that what we intend to be doing ten years forward?" For many people of any age - they had an exit plan or growth/skills strategy that was shorter than the present horizon.

In addition, the future value of DJ service is presently not quantifiable. It remains to be seen how consumers who have been forced to become tech-savvy video-conferencing gurus and meeting hosts in their own right might evolve with respect to social event expectations. I'm confident that "convenience" will still be the driving force, but it remains to be seen whether paying others to provide it will have the same balance of equity.
 
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I think for a lot of DJs time matters. It may for example, take 10 years for the economy to recover to a point where what we see in your videos returns as the prevailing profitable party style. We have to to ask ourselves: "is that what we intend to be doing ten years forward?" For many people of any age - they had an exit plan or growth/skills strategy that was shorter than the present horizon.

In addition, the future value of DJ service is presently not quantifiable. It remains to be seen how consumers who have been forced to become tech-savvy video-conferencing gurus and meeting hosts in their own right might evolve with respect to social event expectations. I'm confident that "convenience" will still be the driving force, but it remains to be seen whether paying others to provide it will have the same balance of equity.
I think this is a regional thing at the moment. For example restrictions in New England are way worse than NJ. NY is way worse than NJ. In NJ we were at 150 indoors since September, and continue to be as I write this. With that said, I already maxed out 2021... with my highest avg price per party (meaning people are spending more), and 2022 is even higher as a reflection of a $350 increase to my base price.
 
I think this is a regional thing at the moment. For example restrictions in New England are way worse than NJ. NY is way worse than NJ. In NJ we were at 150 indoors since September, and continue to be as I write this. With that said, I already maxed out 2021... with my highest avg price per party (meaning people are spending more), and 2022 is even higher as a reflection of a $350 increase to my base price.

Yes, but those are PRESENT day clients - reserving on the basis of a prior expectation. It will be interesting to see what changes post pandemic with respect to event planning. What will people put forward as their "new normal ?"

Also, vaccines mean the virus is no longer a medical emergency, but it remains a political weapon. Biden has promised us a "dark winter" and he's unlikely to take the political reigns off the virus and yield all this ex-parte power it provides to a liberal agenda. Don't expect lock-downs to fade into history anytime soon.
 
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Yeah, about that Vaccine...

The fastest EVER Vaccine in history was the MUMPS Vaccine. It took FOUR YEARS to design, test, do all the trials, and get to market. Most Vaccines take 7 to 10 years.

Now...They expect the public to truly have trust in government and these companies that a VACCINE being brought to market in like 12 to 18 months is completely safe to take?

Not to mention it will be the first type of vaccine of it's kind.

I am not counting on a Vaccine to bring an end to this in 2021. I certainly won't take it right away.
I'm not taking it at all. The reason they want people to take this vaccine is because it includes a chip in it that will store everything about you, including when you have sex. So no privacy anymore.
 
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Lets face it most of us are going to lose money this year. Most of us have tightened up our budgets and most aren't spending much on marketing but is that a mistake? Are people going to forget you when this is all over?

I've noticed a lot of DJ Facebook pages have become idle also since March. If you're not doing the free stuff it is a mistake



Spot on. At the very least, you should be doing facebook posts. One thing a lot of people miss on their FB biz page is the publish tool's schedule feature. With that, you can quickly setup automated postings, and I recommend them twice daily (8am & 3p). The new interface will also cross-post to Instagram at the same time so a week's worth of twice daily postings (on 2 social media platforms) will cost you less than an hour of your time.

The other thing I'd recommend is checking into Eventective subscriptions. Not sure how it is on the DJ leads but for venue this thing is what's putting dates into my book. My trial subscription is running out in a couple of weeks ($300 for 6 months) so it'll cost me $110/month, which is peanuts in comparison to the leads it's uncovering.
 
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I'm not taking it at all. The reason they want people to take this vaccine is because it includes a chip in it that will store everything about you, including when you have sex. So no privacy anymore.
This is wrong.
The chip doesn't know when you are having sex😄
 
I'm not taking it at all. The reason they want people to take this vaccine is because it includes a chip in it that will store everything about you, including when you have sex. So no privacy anymore.


Wow...

Why would they need to spend money on a chip when they could log in here and find out anything they need to know about you?

I really hope if they are chipping us they find someone more interesting and relevant than me to do it to. I also hope it's GPS enabled so if I get lost in the woods hiking they can locate me.

Mix I don't know what these chips you speak of are worth but trust me when I say you're safe they ain't spending money to track you