Promoting a band these days isn’t quite like it used to be back in the heyday of the music business. After all, recordings just aren’t selling like they used to, and touring acts aren’t always bringing in a ton of cash until they reach superstar level.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t make money and promote your band to get to the next level. It just means you need to be smart about how you do it. Use this guide to learn more about promoting your band without breaking the bank and burning all of your profits in the meantime.

Social Media Matters

For every young musician, social media is something that’s already a known entity. However, the importance of connecting with friends, family and followers can’t be overstated when building a career in the entertainment industry.

To stay relevant, make sure you’re posting and letting people know about gigs, events and things like CD release parties before they pop up. Photos never hurt either.

Play Free Gigs

No matter how the music business changes, you can’t forget the fact that fans are always going to love live music. Even if you don’t have a huge turnout every night, playing for a crowd brings new attention to your group and helps you refine your skills.

Booking paying gigs is great, but sometimes there’s nothing better than playing for free. That’s especially true if you’re opening for a bigger band or playing a venue that draws a large number of people every night.

You might make up for that free show in exposure and merchandise sales in no time.

Create Inexpensive Giveaways

CDs, audio, t-shirts and posters are all the lifeblood of the working musician. Even in this modern day and age, merchandise sales are still a big deal. That’s why you obviously can’t give those away for free – at least not to people outside of the business.

There are some items that make excellent promotional giveaways though. As a way to say thank you to fans, you can’t do much better than items like guitar picks and custom stickers with your band logo.

Best of all, you can make custom stickers and small items for just a few pennies. For a fan, that free giveaway is worth a whole lot more than the negligible amount you paid for it.