Some Hopefully Helpful Tips on Flyering

To further the discussion that was on Couches on Fire. I've decided to make an update dealing with flyering before I make my next topic that I've been working on.

So, why would you want to make flyers for your shows?

The answer to this is very simple. It's probably the lowest form of cost and most excellent way to get the word out on a local show that you're involved with. Not only do you get out of the house and get a little exercise (which all of us heart attack Americans could use, anyways) you also insure that you'll have a good time with a group of people enjoying some music at this event.

How should someone go about making a flyer?

Hopefully you're inventive enough to get your band noticed by making your own creative flyers. You can do anything from the old flyers of cutting out an image from a magazine and using scotch tape to put in your band's text and logo and going straight to the photo copier. You could make your own art or have your art school dropout friend to make one for you (don't ask the kids in the art school... they'll want some money or something... just kidding! or am I?) Screen prints, magic marker, photographs, hand made with crayon, or any other way your brain can perceive someone seeing this and wanting to know more about your show.

When starting out it is usually best to stick to putting on the band's names with a description (the description is so important, honestly), the date, the venue (directions to the venue if it's not that well established), the time, the age restrictions, the cost, and any other important information that you want to put on there such as drink specials, a little rebelious quote, or whatever.

As your band (and in most cases, your ego) gets bigger then you can leave things off that are already understood to your fans and might draw a curiosity to someone that doesn't know about the band. Sometimes a band's logo is just as prominant as the name of the band.

Where should I get my fliers made?

There are not really that many places in town to get copies. I could recommend Office Max, Staples, or some other overpriced copy shop in town but they're just the same as cheaper places and if you're going to get something like copies from a larger place it's usually better to scam them out of some copies anyways.

Whenever you do anything in this town, it is always good to look into using your resources to use WVU to your advantage. The university is set up for such a large mass of students that if you can't get it for free somehow then it's usually dirt cheap anyways.

If you go to the copy center in the Mountain Lair you'll notice the self serve machines are a nasty 10 cents per copy. You can do better than that. If you walk up to the counter. The very nice lady or even Jeremy Groghan will do your copies for a cheap 5 cents a piece!

One helpful note on cool fliers that I like to do is take an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and make your design with the band names on it and whatever art work you'd like. Go to the copy center in the lair and ask them to make it 11 x 17. They'll blow it up for you and it will leave about a 3-4 inch gap at the bottom. Write your show date, price, time and venue in that area and get the rest of your copies made. For 2 cents more on the copy your fliers will be much larger and stand out in the general public of those 8 x 11s. This is all about getting your project noticed, after all.

Now, I've got the flyer made. Where should I put them up?

Everywhere!

Now, I've heard how illegal it is to post in public areas downtown... but looking around, if The Pita Pit, D.P. Dough, the WVU Rugby Team, and any other person that has no general knowledge of fliering rules can post their fliers on every trash can, street light post, and electrical box then I say go right ahead. Aside from having some etiquette (which I'll get into later) then it should be equal time and space for everyone.

Now, I've heard about possible fines and things that can happen to a club but aside from one instance (where it sounded like the bar in question was just squeezing these kids for their door money) I've only heard of one person getting a minor complaint from the manager at the Dairy Queen on High Street.

I've gone in a three man group flyering every trash can (both sides to get all walking traffic), light post, wall, and public stature and was in open view of police and have never even been given anything more than a stink eye from a cop.

Put them everywhere. All they usually do is tear them down. All you have to do is put them up again.

Some friendly places (if you're too concerned about such things as causing a stink) are:
the Mountainlair (make sure to get them stamped at the front office)
The Den
Any College Building WITH A GENERAL POSTING BULLETIN
The Tomb of the Unkown Fanboy
The Blue Moose
The Pita Pit
The Mountain People's Co-Op
***The venue you are playing (123, Flipside, 213 Green St... we'll let you post them downstairs in the basement)
***I know that Matt at Quiznos usually doesn't care about posting a flyer in the window
Black Bear
The Creative Arts Center
The corner of Walnut and Beechurst underneath the PRT rail
Buisnesses with a general posting outside (Kroger on Patteson)
Cool Ridge (hey, trendy hippies go to shows, too...)

Wheat Paste Recipe

Personally, I'm tired of hearing people complain about torn down fliers. If you're too lazy to make round trips on the town and post them back up then don't bother posting fliers in the first place. Post a bulletin on your myspace. Asking cleaning people or cops not to tear them down is ridiculous. Fliers are always going to be torn down by these people. If you don't want your flyer torn down then there is only one last resort and that's to make sure it sticks with wheat paste.

Please note that store bought is more consistent but if you're broke or whatever and have these items around the house. Here's a nice recipe for you.

Pour one cup of corn flour starch into 1 1/2 cups of water
Stir to remove all lumps
heat to boil until it thickens and add more water until it turns into a thick clear goop
cook on low heat for at least a half hour
DON'T BURN IT (it'll expand a lot)

voila!

When using wheat paste, use a wide paint brush to slop it on the back of the poster. There's a debate on whether to slap some on top of the poster, too. I think it looks messy. Just go over the corners. The corners are extremely important to make sure that it can't be ripped down.

This is definitely a two person job. Have one person handle the posters and one person handle the paste. you don't want a stack of gluey fliers all stuck together. It'll suck and slow you down extremely (which is something you really don't want when doing something like wheat pasting... most policemen REALLY don't like this method).

I've read about people using everyhing from a bucket on the front of a bicycle to an empty dishwashing soap bottle to squeeze it right onto the brush. Get comfortable with a method that you can quickly and cleanly get your stuff up. Good luck!

Some asshole put their flyer directly over mine. What should I do? (Etiquette)

I don't know about other people, but there are just certain things you do and don't when flyering. Rather than write a story about it, here are some do's and don'ts that I've thought about and experienced:

DO tear down all fliers you see of someone that has posted a flyer directly over one of yours (I'm looking at you WVU Rugby Team)
DO feel free to move another flyer on a posting board if it's necessary for you to get some space on the board so that everyone can share the board.
DO ask a buisness before slapping a flyer on their window.
DO try to take down some of your fliers after the show has happened. Litter sucks.

DON'T post your flyer of someone else's flyer.
DON'T post your flyer at a venue for a show at a different venue (ex: playing at 123 and flyering all over the Corner Cafe for it)
DON'T tear down other people's fliers no matter how lame you think their bass player is.

Treat others how you'd like to be treated in return.

Some other helpful tips.

Some other things that are a great way to get noticed are:

Chalking-if the weather's nice get a box of chalk at the Dollar Store, hit the sidewalks of Morgantown, put a unique piece of art... maybe a directional trail to the venue... be creative! make it better than the horrible frat party chalk you see all the time

Handbills, handbills, handbills-You really don't know how much more effective this is than almost flyering itself. It puts you out in the public. You meet new people. They get to meet you and see what your band is about. You can put 4 handbills on the page that would be the price of one flyer. The get to keep it and can look at it later. Position yourself in front of the Mountain Lair right before noon and hang out for two hours. You can easily move over 400 handbills. 100 more than a sold out show at 123.

Whenever you get some fliers made. It's nice to "accidentally" drop some in high traffic areas. The entrance to the student library, the hallways of Armstrong or Life Science, or anywhere that has that little section of doors before you enter the actual building.

The internet is a great tool for promotion. Myspace bulletins, email lists, instant messages, or anything else that doesn't require them to click a link or do any form of work. The less a person has to do to know about your show, the more likely they are to actually sit down and read what it's about.

***all fiers by me.