4 Ways to Get the Celebrity You Booked to Promote Your Event

When you book a celebrity at your venue for an event, you are going to want to do what you can to make the event a success. Celebrities have a built-in fanbase that otherwise might not consider checking out your venue. And if you get the celebrity to help with promotion, you’re guaranteed to reach people you couldn’t have reached on your own.

But how can you get celebrities to do it? When negotiating your deal with the celebrity, you can add clauses for promotional work. This is also a deal that benefits both you and the celebrity – it’s in their best interest to promote the event, because an unsuccessful or poorly-attended event reflects just as badly on them as it does on you.

Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the ways you can get celebrities to promote your event or venue. Before we dive in, it should be noted that some celebrities don’t like to do any promotion for their shows or for the venue, so you may encounter some resistance when trying to add in promotional duties to their contracts. But you’ll never know unless you ask, and luckily for you, this list includes some options that are pretty much painless for the celebrity, which should increase your odds of getting them to agree to do promotion work on your behalf. Read on for some of the most effective ways to get celebrities to promote your event.

Do a Drop

One of the most effective methods of promotion is known as a “drop.” A drop is essentially a quick audio or video recording done by the celebrity telling their fans to come to your venue for their event. (You can find an example here.) These are really effective for a few reasons. First, because it’s so quick, it doesn’t require much effort on the part of the celebrity. They can do it from anywhere, and a standard drop only lasts about 30 seconds to one minute.

Not only do drops promote the event (and, by extension, your venue), they also let their fans know that the event is legitimate. You’d be surprised by how many fans are skeptical that their favorite celebrity is coming to town unless they hear it directly from the celebrity themselves. A good drop will legitimize the event and cut down on the number of no-shows in the audience, and they’re about as painless a process for the celebrity as possible.

Social Media Promotion

Another equally simple way for a celebrity to promote your event or venue is through social media. Most celebrities are already active on social media and won’t have a problem writing a post about their upcoming event at your venue. As an added benefit, a social media post takes very little of the celebrity’s time, making it more likely that the celebrity will agree to it.

As with drops, social media promotion can also go a long way toward giving legitimacy to your event. When you’re the one telling fans that their favorite celebrity is coming to your venue, they have a tendency to be skeptical; when the celebrity tells their fans directly, they’re much more likely to accept that the event is legitimate.

This method is most effective when it’s used by a celebrity who’s typically active on social media. For example, if you are booking Rae Sremmurd and they post on their social media, your event has the potential reach of their 2.2 million followers on Instagram. Also, you should consider booking digital influencers, as they specialize in social media and know how to spread messages through their channels effectively. So, be sure to research how prominent a figure the celebrity is on social media before negotiating the way their promotion will be presented.

Radio Interview

Radio interviews are a tried-and-true classic, and there’s a reason they’re still considered a great way to get a celebrity to promote their event at your venue: they’re effective, and they can reach a segment of the celebrity’s audience that doesn’t follow them on social media but would still be interested in attending the event. Radio stations are also usually happy to have a celebrity stop by for a short interview. Also, it’s also extra promotion for the celebrity to do this as well, especially if they have an album, movie, book, or anything in general to promote.

The only potential drawback to a radio interview is that it requires significantly more effort than a drop or a social media post. The celebrity has to get to the radio station, sit through an interview, promote themselves as a brand and promote the specific event at your venue. Some celebrities are simply not comfortable with interviews in general, and others might find them to be more trouble than they’re worth. But if you’re working with an celebrity who is comfortable giving interviews, definitely mention this one as an option.

Meet & Greet

Meet and greets are a great way to bring public interest in an event to another level. First of all, they incentivize people who already purchased tickets to actually show up in order to meet the celebrity. Secondly, they can also boost ticket sales among people who might not normally be interested in seeing the show but would love the chance to meet the celebrity.

Another great thing about meet and greets is that you can tailor them to whatever the celebrity is most comfortable doing. If the celebrity doesn’t want to meet more than, say, 50 people, you can limit the number of people who get a chance to meet them. And if there is a limit, you can either say the first 50 people who show up get to meet the celebrity (ensuring that people will show up), or you can offer VIP passes to 50 people, which increases your ticket revenue.

As with radio interviews, not all celebrities are comfortable doing meet and greets with their fans, and some of them may not be interested in all the extra effort on their part that they’ll have to expend taking pictures and signing autographs before or after their show. That said, a lot of celebrities love the opportunity to meet their fans and chat with them, so don’t be afraid to ask!

When requesting promotional work from a celebrity, you might encounter some resistance on one or two of these methods. For example, most celebrities won’t do video drops, since they require more work to make sure they look their best before filming. But even if a celebrity is resistant to one or two of these options, you’ll likely find that they’re open to trying one of the other methods on this list. All you have to do is ask; worst-case scenario, the celebrity says no (which, as we’ve mentioned, is as much a risk to their brand as it is to your venue if people don’t show up). And if they’re open to it, both you and the celebrity will benefit from a well-attended event.