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What I am going to list below are 3 awesome forms of passive advertising for your band. Passive advertising means you are getting exposure for your band without trying to. Aggressive advertising is when you walk up to strangers and hand them a CD and get them to sign your email list. Passive is when your on the way to the store and, unbeknown to you, someone sees the name of your band or website and checks you out on their own without you even doing anything. Here they are:

Vinyl Banner: Chad and I due to the nature of our business meet many people in bars, mainly in bars with live music. This way I can multi-task, I can take part in whatever meeting but also check out hot bands in the area. BUT, I have a little disorder called attention deficiency, meaning, when I’m done with said meeting I will see something shiny that will distract me from getting the info for whatever band. Annoying. Solution, give me the info on your band right as I walk by the stage, you don’t even have to stop the song and hand me a flyer. This is the best way to get your name out while playing out. Especially when you are on the bill with 2-3 other bands. It helps people see the name of your band, how to spell it, and possibly your website. Banners are also great for events that your not even playing at or for outside the bar while you are playing inside so fans know where you are. If you don’t have a banner you need to invest in one immediately. We get all our banners done with Greg and Wes at www.admansigns.com. Drop them an email and they will hook it!

Car Magnets: I don’t see anyone with these, and with the amount of driving the average musician does, minus gigging, it is a great way to get your band name out while picking up milk. Not only is it easy exposure for when you are sitting at a stoplight with 5-10 other cars, it’s a great when you roll up to a venue. Your chariot looks official, fans know you’ve arrived and sometime cops will lay off while you unload because your vehicle is marked with something mildly official. Plus, I won’t lie, it’s just pimp rolling up to your show with your band name on the side of the car. And, you can remove them the next morning when your rolling to your 9-5. We got 2 big ones for around $60 for both of them here http://www.buildasign.com.

Stickers: I know, your like, “DUH!” Well then why don’t I see any stickers out there! No one gets butt-siced over a paper flyer. Give them a couple stickers to slap somewhere and they can get your show info from your website. This has got to be the oldest strategy but still a good one. Though, you have to be willing to invest in some good looking stickers. You can slap a sticker anywhere and walk away and that thing will get your band name on people’s mind without you having to be in the same state, country…
We get emails about how folks saw our stickers in random places that we haven’t even been and were curious about the site. And these are just the folks that emailed us, countless more probably hit the site and never reach out. Yes, it’s more expensive, we get ours from 123 Stickers. My advice would be to start with cheap black and white but try to work your way to 4-color stickers eventually to stick out from the crowd and make it more appealing for your fans to slap them on their rides, cases, laptops, walls, locker, etc…

To recap: It’s hard being in a band and it’s even harder to make time to hand out flyers or friend everyone in Russia on MySpace, but these are some great ways to use your everyday life as exposure for your band. I’m sure you have strategies that are working, but I am willing to bet they all take man-power and initiative rather than just smart placement and clever thinking. Hope this helps.