Among the many different types of promotions staff that your organisation may need to hire for an upcoming public event such as a product launch or trade show, it can be so easy to wait until too late to start thinking seriously about the DJ – or even whether to have a DJ at all.
After all, you might have been planning at first to simply have a Spotify playlist at your promotional event, or even go in the other direction of arranging for a live singer and band to perform.
However, waiting until too late a stage during your event planning to start contacting potential DJs, may give the impression that you consider having a DJ at your event an afterthought – a mere “finishing touch” to your broader event.
And you should certainly not be treating the best and most talented DJs as mere afterthoughts, especially as many of them will have their services booked up well in advance of the date.
So, our first message on arranging for a DJ at your brand’s next promo event, is to take a DJ and their skills seriously. They can play such a profound role in your event’s success, that you should be making a decision on whether to hire a DJ at an early stage of your event planning.
And what are our other messages? Well, here are a few steps you can take to help make sure you choose the DJ that your company’s upcoming promotional event needs and deserves.
Establish what your budget will be for a DJ
Yes, no one wants to talk about money when they are considering hiring the services of someone – like a DJ – who is supposed to help make us forget about many of those mundane cares for a while. But organisations have finite resources, so you won’t want to waste the limited budget you are likely to have for promotions staff.
Good professional DJs tend to cost around £400 to £600 for one event, including travel. Bear in mind that DJs in this price range are likely to have excellent equipment, which will contribute greatly to the audio experience for everyone at the event.
And of course, such a top professional DJ will have formidable experience and an extensive library of music from which to select, as will be key to keeping the positive mood and atmosphere going right through the event. Cheaper DJs will almost certainly lack these skills, and will be less effective at engaging with event guests, so they could turn out to be a false economy for your brand.
Be clear about the type and style of DJ that you are seeking
Yes, believe it or not, a DJ isn’t “just a DJ”! Different types of DJs exist, encompassing the likes of party DJs, nightclub DJs, and even karaoke DJs. More importantly, the kind of DJ that you hire will have certain implications for what they will bring to your event.
A karaoke DJ, for instance, is a DJ who tends to be confident and experienced in getting guests involved at an event, encouraging them to get up on stage and sing. A nightclub DJ, meanwhile, may provide especially fast-paced entertainment akin to the nightclub experience, and you will need to think carefully about whether this would be the right match to your brand’s requirements.
You will notice that we have referenced the word “style” above, not just “type”. By that, we are referring not just to the style of music a DJ might play, but also their style of audience interaction. Some DJs, for example, may specialise in a high level of audience interaction and even party games, while others may prefer to talk very little, instead making the music the big focus. Your brand’s expectations in this regard should be clearly communicated when you are looking to book a DJ.
Ask for customer references and research each potential DJ’s ‘reputation’
There are certain things about the service the DJ provides that might not be entirely clear from their website – such as how effective they are at reading the audience and keeping the entertainment and ambience going on the dance floor.
At the very least, the DJ that you choose should be skilled and experienced in DJing events like yours. If, for example, they have only previously DJed weddings, this might be a concern given the differences between weddings and brand promotional events.
To find out more about all these aspects, you should feel free to ask for a lot of testimonials from the DJ’s previous customers. You might even look online – such as on social media – to see what people have said in the past about events they have DJ'ed.
DJs, then, absolutely aren’t promotions staff that you should be ‘cutting corners’ with, in terms of the standards you expect. Contact the BrandWarriors team now, and we will be pleased to draw upon our contacts to help ensure you benefit from the best DJ and other specialist staff for your fast-approaching promotional event.