Lights, cameras, and packed venues are the dream of any artist going on tour—but packed venues don’t happen by accident. Talent can open doors in the music industry, like taking your show on the road, but it takes a stellar promotion strategy to deliver as many fans in front of the stage as possible.
The key to successful concert promotion is a well-built strategy that builds buzz, drives tour sales, and promises a memorable experience for your fans. This guide breaks down how to promote your concerts with insider tips and tricks to help you work your way to playing sold-out shows that fans can’t stop talking about.
These eight concert marketing approaches are guaranteed to lead to show-stopping success.
The way you announce your tour sets the tone for the event from the get-go. A huge part of playing a show involves selling the experience. The more exciting, interesting, or creative your tour announcement, the easier it will be to capture fan—and media—attention.
In other words, you need to make it impossible to ignore.
The best tour announcements are crafted with elements that generate anticipation. For example:
Remember, this is your chance to make a lasting first impression.
Still, even the most compelling tour announcements can get lost in crowded feeds. The most impactful announcements land where they’ll actually be seen, bypassing algorithms entirely to reach fans who get exclusive, real-time access. This upgrades your concert promotion from broadcast to behind-the-scenes experience.
Build buzz that converts. See how direct fan engagement via SMS drives ticket sales.
Social media platforms connect you to your fan base in an environment that simultaneously facilitates engagement and promotion. If you’re on any of these platforms, now’s the time to use them to get the word out.
It’s a good idea to diversify your concert marketing campaign by using as many avenues as possible to share the details. Use each platform strategically. Just make sure to focus on sharing content that sparks real engagement, not just promotional noise.
There are a number of ways to do this:
With billions of people around the world using social media regularly, some of your biggest fans might not even know you exist yet. Spread the news about your upcoming tour by utilizing each platform’s advertising tools to target an even larger audience—remembering that only authentic engagement converts followers into ticket buyers.
Strategic collaboration can make a huge difference in how you promote your concert—as long as you find partnerships with the right brands, venues, or businesses.
These partnerships can open doors to:
The right partners can even contribute to your credibility. When a popular radio station plays your music with a ticket giveaway or a respected creator hosts an exclusive meet-and-greet, it gives your tour a major status upgrade.
Rather than just chasing big names, choose partnerships most likely to drive tour sales or improve the fan experience. Any collaborators should genuinely align with your fanbase.
Your previous concerts are a treasure trove of promotional material that can help build excitement for your upcoming tour. Every successful show becomes a concert promotion example for your next tour. Leverage high-quality photos, video clips, and fan testimonials from past shows to showcase what fans can look forward to from your live performance.
Additionally, consider creating a highlight reel or behind-the-scenes video to give fans an intimate glimpse into your touring life, further fueling their desire to experience it in person.
The most effective approach? Send these exclusive moments directly to fans who’ve opted for behind-the-scenes access. When content like this lands in fans’ hands instantly, it goes beyond casual updates to create anticipation that feels personal rather than promotional.
Explore how artists use Subtext as a fast track to lasting fan engagement.
The opener you choose can double your impact. They bring their own dedicated fans to your show while earning new fans from your audience, creating a win-win that energizes the entire venue.
Your opener can make or break the overall experience. Booking a well-liked opener, one that complements your sound and appeals to your target audience, can:
This way, your audience is more likely to have a good experience. In turn, they may build on your concert marketing efforts with positive word-of-mouth promotion.
Here’s the multiplier effect: When you connect fanbases directly before show night even arrives, you turn two separate audiences into one excited community that builds more buzz than either artist could generate alone.
For this, you need a direct channel.
Make amplified concert promotion happen with advanced SMS marketing tools to target these potential concertgoers by location and interests, so every text message you send reaches the right audiences at the right time.
Amplify your reach with the SMS platform for the entertainment industry.
Spotify is the world’s most popular music streaming service, with 615 million users and counting, making this a prime location to amplify your concert promotion campaign.
As a platform, Spotify can help you tap into a highly engaged community of listeners in two major ways:
Keeping your Spotify presence tour-ready can increase the likelihood that casual listeners become new faces in the crowd at your shows.
Better yet, reach out to fans directly with personal invitations to check out your Spotify profile, playlist, and pre-sale links. It’s the best way to foster unbreakable audience loyalty.
The modern concert experience is nearly all digital, and it will continue along that trajectory for the foreseeable future. In a digital world, your website and online ticketing platforms are crucial gateways to reaching and converting potential concertgoers.
Ensure a seamless user experience by:
Optimizing these digital spaces can also work to your advantage. Streamlining the checkout process can minimize cart abandonment, while including buttons for sharing could encourage organic promotion.
It also allows you to implement retargeting campaigns to re-engage visitors who didn't initiate a purchase initially.
But the best concert promotion strategies optimize every touchpoint. Don’t forget to capture contact information in the process—then follow up with buyers directly for show reminders, venue updates, and exclusive pre-show content that gets fans talking about your show ahead of time.
Take a deeper dive into effective event promotion with Subtext’s guide to SMS event marketing.
When it comes to fan engagement, personalized experiences are your secret weapon. Social and streaming platforms are essential for concert marketing, but the power of direct engagement through SMS is truly unmatched.
Text messages keep your most loyal fans in the loop with exclusive updates, presales, and special offers for your tour—and it all happens on their devices in real time.
When you use text messaging to promote concerts, you can:
Smart artists leverage SMS channels from multiple angles to promote concerts:
The key is making the kind of authentic connections that translate to sold-out shows. Following proven best practices ensures your direct SMS strategy feels genuine rather than forced—and drives real sales.
Check out how other Subtext clients use our platform to maximize their reach via SMS.
Forget waiting for your big break—take concert promotion by the reins and pull off a successful marketing campaign for your tour. The artists selling out shows combine multiple strategies, but prioritize direct fan engagement to cut through the noise and start conversations that convert.
Promoting your concert effectively means relying on strategies that consistently deliver packed venues. Utilizing SMS can empower artists, managers, promoters, and event planners to effectively get the word out about upcoming concerts to their target audience. Subtext has what it takes to pull this off and more.
Subtext’s user-friendly platform boasts a range of powerful features to keep fans informed, engaged, and ready for your upcoming tour. Book a demo to see it in action today.