%20Podcast%20-%20%20Episode%2010.png)
Beyond the DJ Booth
Brian B and Joe Bunn tackle questions about the private event DJ industry, share music, gear/gadgets, and stories from their gigs.
Beyond the DJ Booth
Ep. 10: Marketing Moves That Won't Break the Bank
Ever wondered how to navigate the holiday season with less stress and more joy? Tune in to Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast as we unpack our Thanksgiving plans, sharing both the humor and chaos of travel logistics and the satisfaction of a home-cooked meal—minus the hassle, thanks to Honey Baked Ham. As we shift from turkey talk to wedding waltzes, discover how couples today are breaking away from tradition with private first dances, and why some old customs might just be ready for retirement. It's all about finding the sweet spot between honoring family traditions and embracing personal preferences during life's most cherished celebrations.
Curious about how to make your brand stand out without breaking the bank? We've got you covered with a treasure trove of marketing insights, highlighting the surprisingly powerful impact of platforms like The Knot and Wedding Wire for lead generation. But that's not all; we'll also reveal the secret sauce of leveraging reviews over paid ads and why quality video content is king. And when it comes to branding, forget generic gifts—it's all about the thoughtful, personalized gestures that leave a lasting impression. Join us for a dynamic discussion that blends the personal with the professional, ensuring you leave with actionable strategies for building meaningful connections in every sphere of your life.
RESOURCES & LINKS
Our website. Please leave a review! - https://www.beyondthedjbooth.com/
To book Joe Bunn: https://bunndjcompany.com/
To book Brian B: https://djbrianbofficial.com/
Joe’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djjoebunn
Brian’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djbrianbofficial
DJ Event Planner free demo: https://www.djeventplanner.com/signup.php
Brian B's Coaching Options: Https://www.thdjscreativeedge.com
Welcome to Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. I'm Brian.
Joe Bunn:B? Yo, it's Joe Bunn.
Brian B:It's crazy to think you know when this drops, because we're batching content, we're batch creators, content creators yes, we have to be.
Joe Bunn:It'll be Thanksgiving week, the day before when this one comes out. When this one comes out.
Brian B:What's the?
Joe Bunn:game plan for the Bonacicis.
Brian B:You know we've thought about doing like the drive to the parents in florida.
Joe Bunn:I don't know if we're gonna go there dude flights if you mention the word florida yeah, on a holiday right 3x.
Brian B:Toast 4x it's drivable enough yeah plus, then I can leave whenever I want to leave.
Joe Bunn:Technically, oh smart, you're not watching this.
Brian B:Smart, smart but anyway, what about you? What's the beach last year? I remember that I did go's the beach last year.
Joe Bunn:I remember that I did go to the beach last year. You know we alternate the beach with my uncle's family. I think they have it this year. So I was talking to my mom about coming to Raleigh and hosting Thanksgiving at my house. But, bro, then mom was like, didn't you go with Ashley's family last year to Thanksgiving? I think it was at Ashley's family last year to Thanksgiving, I think it was at Ashley's sister's house. And I was like, yeah, I did. But here's what's crazy it was. I think it was 19 people is what I'm trying to get at. Okay, let's just say me, my two sons, right? My mom four people. Ashley, her daughters now we're at seven. Her mom eight. Then her ex-husband was with his girlfriend Now we. Then her ex-husband was with his girlfriend, now we're at 10. They had two little girls, that's 12. Then his parents that's 14. His parents, yeah. Then ashley's sister 15, husband 16 and they have two kids.
Joe Bunn:That's 18 people or 19 people, but wait, I thought you were at the beach last year I think I went to the beach, but then I also also think I went to like a Thanksgiving thing for them. Or maybe I'm mixing up what year it was, or maybe I'm mixing up the holiday. Maybe it was Easter, but the count was the same. Yeah, so I may host that at my house, though, and do you do the cooking or what?
Brian B:No, no, I'm turkey, only Turkey, only only turkey.
Joe Bunn:I'm gonna do two nice size turkeys everybody. Then bring a delicious item. You want a hack, sure?
Brian B:honey baked ham. I know their stuff is legit do they have? Turkey, though they do okay, because I'm not a big ham guy.
Joe Bunn:Yeah, no, no no, no the line. Have you seen the line?
Brian B:you have to put the order in early.
Joe Bunn:Right, right, right, they have police out front directing traffic at the honey baked ham. Oh, I didn't know. Yeah, deep, you must have got chairs like early or something.
Brian B:We put it in the order, right, we had to pick it up days beforehand.
Joe Bunn:And they had it ready.
Brian B:Like you get a text hey, come on this day Reminder Right.
Joe Bunn:If you miss it, you're going to have to back it up, dude, I bet that week they make their entire nut for the year, because I don't see anybody in there otherwise gotten a sandwich, even Me neither.
Brian B:Crazy dog, this stuff lasts a long time too. They give you a lot for what you're paying.
Joe Bunn:Oh, they got sides and stuff. They got everything. Oh, shoot, I might have to do that, bro. I'm telling you, and no one will know the difference. You just put it together and just make that move. Thanksgiving. Wow, it's crazy dude.
Brian B:So, in the spirit of that, what would be a wedding tradition, we'll have been coming out of major weddings.
Joe Bunn:Sure, when this drops.
Brian B:And you see all these traditions kind of going to the wayside. Is there one that's still like you just love to see happen? Is there one that kind of stands out for you?
Joe Bunn:No man, anything that's dropped is okay with me. You know what I mean, and I'm even like encouraging that in my calls with these couples.
Brian B:I'm like'm like, hey, you don't have to do the bouquet and garter anymore, like you know, you even have that on your forms still, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, you took it off off. They bring it up. Okay, we'll add it back in. We took it off.
Joe Bunn:Um, we haven't seen a lot of it this year. Have we say kwan nah, yeah, no we haven't seen a lot of it but even things like you know, the formal introductions like I am okay with just bringing, just bringing Chris and Steve, Like for me it makes our as collective private event DJs lives easier. I mean, some of the last names are insane here. I don't know, man, Anything that's gone away, I'm okay with it going away. Do you miss any of the stuff that went away?
Brian B:Well, I was going to mention one that I think is new.
Joe Bunn:Do you like the?
Brian B:cake cutting no, torching cake cutting, just torching the dance floor no, it's the worst. It's the worst. One thing I've seen this year and I've had it happen multiple weddings, especially in the spring, and I'm loving this tradition is they're taking the first dance and they're not using it during the actual official reception. They're actually shooting it before the reception starts. So traditionally they would be like hey, let me just practice at one time before people come in Now.
Joe Bunn:I don't know if some of the venues.
Brian B:here you may be doing cocktail and reception in the exact same spot when I'm at a lot of times there are cocktails in a completely different area, so none of the guests are in there. So what I've seen. I thought this was a joke, but I've had multiple couples go. Hey, we're not going to do the first dance at all during the main reception. We just want to be a great dance party.
Joe Bunn:We're going to knock that out before we even are introduced in whoa, we haven't seen that yet and I thought me and saquon, it's kind of weird kind of awkward like is this going to be fake? You know, like with the emotions, that you're feeling yeah no, it was like the best so it's like private last dance, but it's at the beginning, before anybody walks in, with the videographer and the photographer directing them wow oh, hey the light's better.
Brian B:Why don't you guys kind of move over here while the song's playing? They can say those things, because they're not yeah, the guests aren't there, right and I'm like man. I hope this catches on, because this has been something that I've really enjoyed seeing this year Do I like that? And I didn't think I would.
Joe Bunn:I honestly thought it was going to be kind of cheesy Right, Like what are we doing Right? Or was it taking the emotion out of it, like you said?
Brian B:No, I think they were more into it because they knew this was the one that was being recorded. They knew that this was being thing, so they were less nervous. I I guess there's part of that because you don't have the crowd looking at you.
Joe Bunn:Yeah.
Brian B:And you're being directed by professionals. So it's like the output of that, the memory of that, is going to be something that will always look great, because it's we have not seen that, we have not.
Joe Bunn:It's kind of you know we're all.
Brian B:You guys are about three or four years behind right, we're easily four years. We're seven to 10 behind New Jersey and about four behind Florida, behind florida, I think yeah. And then now the other one. You know as a young dad to a girl.
Joe Bunn:You know the father daughter dances wrecked me still to this day. I just I hope that doesn't go away.
Brian B:I don't want that to go away, oh I don't want to either, but I also feel awkward, like, just like tearing up while this thing's going on for people you don't even know I'm like why am I like a mess over here? Get me like a shower, sheesh. But like that part I just love because it just you know, I think years down the road that stuff always everybody always says it comes quicker than you realize yeah and I'm just like I can't imagine that and how I'm gonna hold it together, you'll be 77 right it could be, could be that whole.
Brian B:I could be in the wheelchair, bro. They could be just like bringing me from the home. You.
Joe Bunn:I'll hold you up. Are you reading? Like a whole soliloquy before it starts? That's a great word, by the way. I don't even know what it is Like. What are they called the love story Like? Oh, no, no, no, you know the whole. How they, how he, you know, grew up reading her Win Shakespeare turn, I think.
Brian B:No, no I don't do that.
Joe Bunn:I've just introduced it, but I don't want those to go away. By the way, that couple from last weekend wanted me to do 30 seconds for all the special dances 30 seconds. And I said the photographer and the videographer are going to shit. Please give me a minute to 90 seconds. I promise you I'll get you out at that point. 30 seconds is crazy. Hey, can you grow a beard?
Brian B:No, Not really. You don't want it's. They call me Patches of Houlihan. It would be all over the social body.
Joe Bunn:I don't know why I'm just staring. What do you mean? I mean, but I see like a little bit of stubble. I've tried.
Brian B:Trust me, no good, I had it for a little while. I had a little go one point when you worked for pioneer, maybe flavor saver, maybe whatever you know what, I'll put a pickup, yeah, episode.
Joe Bunn:yeah, I know you had the highlights, but I had the highlights too the sugar ray, the frosted tips those were a thing yeah, that was hot anyway, but no, no beard, I'm okay, this is clean buddy. Yeah, I know, I know, I know for the most part, but you're saying you can grow it, but it's just not like connected.
Brian B:Yeah, not connected, gotcha it takes me a week to kind of get it all like at least looking somewhat yeah and it still doesn't look great right, some people just have it, you know, and that's the saquon like look at that beer bro, yeah, I got it, he's got I said I got it genetics, bro.
Joe Bunn:It really is good genes this question is crazy long. What would jen? I would just walk out right now. Jen I hates a long question more than anybody, but he can give a long answer, boy that boy can talk, he's on a ride, he gets he gets going that kid.
Brian B:I kind of love it actually I do too. He gets going cursing anyway well, this is from chris abel yep from st louis st louis, missouri, which is my home birth state who?
Joe Bunn:did not know that fun fact.
Brian B:Damn bro, you've been all over this country. I lived there till I was two okay, still counts still born there, your boy, saquon, was born in japan, wow, okinawa okinawa, yeah mom was in the navy or something like that. Yeah now, why was that? Where the karate kid was like allegedly taking place? Okinawa? I don't know, I don't know, maybe try to get part two oh, okay for the part two.
Joe Bunn:okay, got you anyway. What's the record? Part two Okay, got you, anyway. What's the question?
Brian B:So, here we go. Chris was asking us about our marketing strategy.
Joe Bunn:Yes.
Brian B:This is a five four-parter here.
Joe Bunn:Yeah, four-parter. Oh, you want to just take it line by line. Should we do that?
Brian B:Yeah, go ahead, all right. Do you utilize platforms like?
Joe Bunn:We had the lowest paid tier you can have for the knot and wedding wire. So we do pay. We don't have a free account just so we can show up and I think we get a little bit better deal because we have so many offices. So we all basically agreed to have that lowest tier. Do we get a ton of leads from it? Not a ton, but we do get leads from it. Right, it's worth keeping every year. But we don't do like the featured or the premier listing Google and Facebook. The only thing I do for Google and Facebook are run ads for Crate Hackers and.
Brian B:Bun Gear, we don't run ads for my DJ company. How about you we?
Joe Bunn:don't do any paid advertising Zero.
Brian B:And part of it is we are in an anomaly market in Florida destination states where it is venue and planner driven. It doesn't do you any good. Yeah, to get it, because they're not going to book you until they book the planner and them first.
Brian B:It's just the way it is, so it's almost a waste. Google and Facebook, I mean, we use them for reviews, yeah, but we don't use it for paid advertising. I do think it has value, obviously. I mean, people google things all the time and you see the reviews, and if it's high and if it's positive, I I mean I look at it. I do too. I look at reviews all the time. What types of content do you focus on for your marketing? Pictures, videos or something else?
Joe Bunn:I mean I'll speak on it first. I'm a video. You know whore I guess. I mean I love video. I'm going to get the best reactions and crowd participation and emotion out of a video no-transcript, either of the whole weekend or for each particular dj. I mean, for what I pay her. It was totally worth it. She got some great clips from all four or five of the weddings she shot. So video for me. Me. We of course post pictures as well, but I have a hard and fast rule about anything that goes up, you know, on the Bun DJ company Instagram is definitely from a pro photographer and we had to have done the event. Even if the DJ is not pictured. I won't like. We played this event and we're going to tag the photographer, try and tag the couple, tag the venue, tag the planner, and it's shot by a pro photographer. That's my rule.
Brian B:Well, I think even Instagram. They changed the description of the app right. It's no longer a photo sharing app If it doesn't say video. It's got like media sharing or something like those lines. So even if you do pictures, I think it almost has to be kind of in a video type of format, where it's like strung together that way, or something along those lines.
Brian B:And it's become a lot easier with like templates, and those sites are basically giving you the tools to pretty much do it. Yeah, you don't have to be as much of an expert as you would have back in the day.
Joe Bunn:There's just so many tools available there's so many tools just to make any kind of posts easier canva, cap cut, I mean, like all that stuff I mean I couldn't have learned final cut if you paid me. You know, to edit a video cap cut, I learned it in 30 minutes, right, and anything I ever need that. I'm like, how do they do that thing where they take the background out or something? I'll just go on youtube and find out two seconds.
Brian B:Yeah, video is definitely the future. How do you balance paid versus free marketing efforts? Are they talking paid advertising is that what he means versus free marketing efforts, or I don't know what paid marketing would be. What would?
Joe Bunn:that mean paid, I guess would be ads, or doing a wedding show, and then free was maybe be like social content creation or just like a charity event.
Brian B:Yeah maybe don't you have the your company. Basically you guys have everybody has to do a free show.
Joe Bunn:Yeah, Everybody does do a free show once a year, at least once a year. So out of 25 guys, there's definitely going to be 25 people ask for something, and again it could be an open house, a grand opening, a charity event. You know we have a huge charity event Saturday.
Brian B:And they don't have to bring those to the table. If someone calls Bun DJ Co, you could just assign whoever hasn't been on a Correct.
Joe Bunn:I mean we would ask hey, are you available this weekend? Right?
Brian B:You know we see you haven't done your free show yet. You know we kind of need you for this and now that you're like 30 guys deep, or whatever you get, enough of those. Oh yeah, I mean for me the free ones always kind of mean more to me, because I'm like giving up my time Right, right, and so I want to make sure that those hit well.
Brian B:So I tried to make sure that whatever I'm giving away free is going to be like like a good example would be this WIPA thing we talked about on a couple episodes ago. Yeah, yeah, I've found that if I'm playing an after party at best showcases my skill set.
Joe Bunn:then if I'm playing pre meeting, kind of music or giving the microphone to the speaker or whatever right, you would much rather do the after party, where you can actually flex and show like and maximize the free giveaway if we would.
Brian B:So I'm always looking for those kinds of opportunities that is a win-win for them and for me, rather than just filling a need that somebody else could probably do and want to do. So it's got to be positioned correctly, I guess. Last but not least, do you engage in networking or use gifting techniques to build relationships and grow your brand? Both?
Joe Bunn:Always both. I can't think of an incident where I'll stop.
Brian B:You know what?
Joe Bunn:I mean I'm going to go to the WIPA meeting, I'm going to go to the NACE meeting. You know I'm going to. You know, try and come up with something clever to send out to all the vendors and venues and wedding planners that sent us hundreds of thousands of dollars of business in 2024. You know, like I think those are two things that will always be stables. Do we possibly stop doing so many boutique wedding shows? Yep, do we stop possibly paying for ads on this site or that site? Possibly, but you know, when I'm in town and on that second Tuesday of every month I'm going and I pay for Randy to go as well. You know what I mean. Divide and conquer the gifting thing. I mean I think you've been just absolutely brilliant on some of that stuff. That's gotten you really far in your career.
Brian B:It did yeah.
Joe Bunn:I mean especially early on, when you weren't as known as you are now with the community you've kind of built by going to Engage and whatnot. You want to talk about that a little bit?
Brian B:You have to be aware of trends because, again, North Carolina might be a couple years behind this, but I just was listening to a podcast not too long ago from planners that are like. We're over the gifts guys. Oh wow, interesting. In fact, there's one planner who was telling the story of how she has what she calls a candle closet. It's like every year she gets a ton of candles.
Joe Bunn:Yeah right.
Brian B:And she's like, yeah, go in my closet. Literally, we have hundreds of candles from whatever.
Joe Bunn:What do they want?
Brian B:No one wants to be gift crop dusted. You know what I mean, just like everything just spray out there you know like they want it to feel intentional like you mean personalized, personalized a bit yeah, so not like part of like the. You know I'm just one of a number.
Brian B:I feel like the one guy that does it really well in the lecture space is jordan khan music company yeah he was doing this thing where, like, he would give them a tumblr and the tumblr was personalized with their name blinged out, but they didn't all go out at once, like it was the same gift, but he would do it strategically. I don't know what the metrics were to give that away. So he was able to kind of still keep the same theme of the gift, but they would ever, every now and then, get it at different times.
Brian B:But I think if it's warranted and it makes sense and you're being genuine and giving it and not just doing it because it's a checkbox on the marketing to-do list On the November 30th.
Joe Bunn:To-do list Right.
Brian B:And I think, if you are going to do it that way, that it is good to do it when everybody else isn't doing it at the exact same time.
Joe Bunn:That was a problem we had one year I'm not going to say where it was Randy and I were hand delivering stuff. They were nice. I can't remember when we did maybe 30 or 40 and we dropped it off at this venue and they actually had a table set up in the foyer of this venue, yeah, and the table was as big as this floor.
Joe Bunn:I mean, it was like a circular table sitting there in the floor and it was stacked to the freaking ceiling and I was like, dude, there's no way, even if this is the nicest thing on this table, we've gotten zero traction off this. So let's change, like at least the timing of when we're going to send something out To me. Man, if you can think of some conversation you had and they mentioned something that is the gold oh, I'm a Seahawks fan, right, and you get their little girls jerseys or something Like to me. If you're really good about putting things in your phone, or just you know, going into the notes section under a contact and just writing down the smallest thing that you heard I got a mountain house and then you get them up whatever I don't know.
Joe Bunn:Welcome, matt, welcome to this cabin, or something. I just think that that is when they're like holy shit, this dude's actually paying attention and not just trying to hustle for business. Here's a pro tip.
Brian B:Yeah, give another gift to the assistant, the gatekeeper of whoever the owner is Sure, sure, sure sure. Yeah, because, especially if they're a referring source, a lot of times they're the ones that are kind of front lines of being able to tell the planner hey, you know, we haven't used so-and-so in a while or whatever, and no one gets those people anything, you know. So I think like that can be something that could be. I dig it that you know.
Joe Bunn:So I think like that can be something that could be. I dig it. It would set you apart A hundred percent. Damn. This is good stuff, chris Abel. Shout out how you doing, man. Hope you're doing good. Hope you like the answers we gave. I hope you guys got something to that are listening here on the podcast or watching the video on YouTube. Any final thoughts before we wrap it up? Happy Turkey, yeah, happy Thanksgiving to you as well.
Brian B:Don't spend it all on Black Friday.
Joe Bunn:Or maybe you should. Anyway, thank you guys for listening and, as always, beyondthedjboothcom you can find the podcast or my YouTube channel if you want to watch the entire thing on video. Thanks everybody. Happy Thanksgiving Later you.