Jumpstart Ticket Sales to Your Gigs

Decide if the theater box office is best, or an agency, or your own system. They may take higher commissions, but they take the headache from you.
Get your own online system with Eventbrite. Free to create event and sell tickets - both open seating and reserved seating maps available. They take a total commission of 5.5% + 99 cents a ticket.

Send out a Press Release. Sign up for E-Release for maximum distribution. Make sure this fits your budget, though. I recommend it for a tour of many shows, not for a single small gig.
Use your really unique picture and graphic that you created earlier in this action zone (if you don't have one, do it here, now) in all your social media outlets, your website and the event listings we will use.
Make a list of all events-listings-sites that get decent traffic. To do this:

Search for an event similar to yours that is hot and will sell. Visit the sites that list that event, and copy their contact information (either an email, or an online submission form, or a phone number).
Look at all the newspaper calendar pages or the list of editors on the inside cover and add them to your list.

Submit your graphic, your straight photo or your unique photo, as appropriate, to everyone on that list.

Create an event on Facebook. You may need to format your graphic to fit the banner size FB events use.
Add your best descriptive text, with ticket purchasing information
Invite all your friends and contacts
Plan to make daily posts about the show, about a song, about anything interesting. If it's not interesting, don't post it.
Share your event on your wall, and on the walls of friends (who won't mind) who have a wider circle of friends.
Every so often, make an important post, such as a new video, to the event and to your timeline. Create and keep a buzz, but don't pester! Use your judgement.
Similarly, follow the rules of Social Marketing on Twitter, Myspace and wherever else you circulate. Post personal stuff, entertaining stuff and promotional stuff on a regular schedule. Keep in the public eye, and keep them engaged.
Consider online advertising. Facebook ads allow you to target your audience by location, age, gender and interests. Make a FB ad, set a budget you can handle and a time frame you can handle. Target carefully and run the ad. I recommend promoted posts rather than the ads that go on the side bar.

If you have a subscription-based mailing list, great. If not, it's time to make an announcements list.

Start with people in your email address book, and then start collecting emails through your website and social media. If the list is large, you will need a dedicated email list server. Try freelists.org (free), and AWeber (paid). Sign up and start growing your list. In my business, about half our sales come from the list, if not more.
Use your list up to five times before a gig, as follows:

First teaser announcement. I suggest a special discount for the first three days tickets are on sale (you can limit it to a set number of tickets). In this announcement, you basically say "Something awesome is coming on May 10th, and the first to get in on it will gain a benefit. Look out for the next message.".
Second message - launch announcement. "Here it is, our gala concert. Get your tickets in the first three days, by May 13th, for only $__.
Third message. Details about the show, a full sales letter. This goes out about a month before the show, a week after the launch.
Fourth message. A reminder about 10 days before the show with some additional information such as musician bios.
Fifth message. Last chance to get one of the ___ remaining tickets. This should be no later than three days before the event.

Advertising. If there is a publication that everyone in the area checks for events, you need to be there. Consider an ad on the day of the week that most people read it. I usually advertise a month and then two weeks before a gig. I rely on the calendar listing for the week before, but sometimes will do an ad then as well.
Network marketing. Use friends and fans to spread the word. Consider allowing friends or fellow performers to invite their friends for a special discount. Example, any member of the band can bring in 15 friends and family for a 40% off discount. This will start you off with a crowd. Give friends an incentive to go out and sell tickets for you.

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The Music Zone