8 Ways to Book More Wedding DJ Gigs

by Chris Brower
Last Updated: December 13, 2021

Let’s assume already that you’re a good wedding DJ/emcee. You’ve built the skills and the foundation of a good wedding DJ business. Now you’re ready to get DJ gigs and lots of them. So what are some things you can do to get more business inquiries and book even more wedding DJ gigs?

Tell People You’re a Wedding DJ

Seems like a “duh,” right? But it’s easy to underestimate just how many bookings you can generate by simply telling a friend, coworker, family member, acquaintance, etc., that you’re a wedding DJ. And I’m not even talking about making a great website, paid advertising, and other promotional methods that I cover in an article all about promotion (you should do those things too, of course).

I’m just talking about literally saying, “I DJ weddings” to people you meet.

Of course, you want it to feel natural and not random, but when people ask you about yourself, what you’re up to this weekend, what you like to do for fun, what you do for work – anything – why not mention that you’re a DJ?

Here are some of the bookings it’s led to for me:

One of my best friend’s sister is a high school math teacher. When it came time to plan their school dance, she recommended me to the principal, simply because she (the math teacher) and I are friends. She had never seen me DJ or even knew much about my business – she just knew it was something I do, and she’d rather the school hire a friend than some random DJ she found online.
Numerous friends (or friends of friends) have hired me for their wedding. Easy DJ gigs to get, and it helped us grow even closer, because I got to help them out on their special day. Additionally, a lot of our friends were guests at these weddings, and some reached out to me for their own weddings years later. We were friends, plus, they had seen me DJ and knew I was good.
I once worked at a medical association, and it got around that I DJ events, and a co-worker I had never met contacted me about DJing her husband’s 70th birthday party. That simple connection of working at the same company, even though we had never met, was enough to make her consider hiring me.
My high school hired me for their winter dance 14 years after I was a student there. I had emailed them to say, “I’m a 2004 graduate” and that I now DJ weddings. My graduating class was over 450 people, and I was by no means well-known there, but this little fact stood out to them. Soon, a student emailed me asking if I was available for their winter dance, and I booked the gig. At the dance I realized I was at least twice as old as the students there and felt old, but hey, it was another booking!
I met someone at a party, and she said her sister was getting married soon. “Oh cool, I’m actually a wedding DJ,” I said. “Really?” she replied. I gave her my card, and a few months later I was DJing her sister’s wedding.
A girl I dated hired me for her wedding. Okay, it’s not as weird as it sounds. We just dated a few weeks and remained friends after. A few years later when she got married, I was happy to DJ her wedding.

You can get DJ gigs in all kinds of ways. Don’t be afraid to simply tell people you’re a wedding DJ. That alone can get you a lot of business.

Create Advertisements

Of course, word of mouth can’t always get you enough business, so you might need to actively advertise, such as creating paid ads on social media, the Knot, and other websites. I’ve covered that extensively in the article all about promotion, so I’d recommend reading that to learn several ways you can actively promote your wedding DJ business and get more DJ gigs.

Create an Awesome Sales Pitch

Unless you live in a remote area, there are likely dozens, if not hundreds, of wedding DJs in your city. What can you do to stand out and get more bookings?

Your website and marketing materials should have a clear sales pitch – something attention-getting about why couples should hire you. It doesn’t have to be just one thing either.

Examples include:

“Over 100 events of experience”
“Dozens of five-star reviews”
“Award-winning”
“Offering lighting packages unlike any other DJ”
“The easiest vendor you’ll work with”
“For couples who want AWESOME rather than CHEESY”

Think about the concerns of your potential clients and address them in your sales pitch. Common worries include:

“Is this DJ reliable?” If it’s true, say how you’ve never canceled once.
“Does this DJ have experience and know what they’re doing?” If you’ve DJed over, say, a hundred weddings, include that fact. Have you been in business over five years? Mention that too. Any numbers that sound impressive, include those. If you’re brand new or have only done, like, 10 weddings, then you might want to leave this out of your sales pitch. If so, you can stick to something more vague like, “Delighting couples all over the St. Louis area” without adding a number to it that might make you seem inexperienced.
“Is this DJ good?” Hopefully you’re getting tons of five-star reviews. So mention that: “Tons of five-star reviews!” Even just a few is a good start. Reviews are the easiest and best way to demonstrate that you’re a good DJ – because other people have said so!
“Is this one of those corny/annoying DJs? One of those ruined my cousin’s wedding.” For many people, the thought of a wedding DJ causes fear and dread. The bad jokes, the cheesiness, the corny music, etc. Hopefully you’re not one of those. You can say so in your sales pitch! “For people who are sick of corny wedding DJs.”

Tailor your sales pitch to what people want. Make it clear and specific. Don’t go on and on about your state-of-the-art sound system. Couples want DJs with professional equipment, but they’re less interested in hearing a bunch of DJ jargon or equipment talk. They similarly don’t want to hear your five-paragraph treatise on what music is best and what music sucks. Keep it focused on their concerns and wants.

The more you immediately speak to what they’re looking for, the more likely they’ll contact you for a possible booking ASAP.

So do yourself a favor and create an amazing wedding DJ sales pitch.

Ready for the complete guide to becoming a wedding DJ? Here you go.

Have Clear Prices

One of the biggest things potential clients are curious about is, “How much is this gonna cost???”

It’s a good idea to give your sales pitch and blow them away with how amazing your services are and then give the price. Hopefully your sales pitch is so good that, if your price is higher than what they were hoping, they’re convinced they have to have you and will gladly pay the higher price.

Leading with the price, before you’ve given your sales pitch, could undercut the chance of that happening. They might be turned off because of the price and immediately dismiss your sales pitch.

However, I don’t believe in making clients jump through hoops before hearing a price. I don’t believe in making them meet you for coffee before you’ll tell them what it’ll cost. Or having to do a long phone call or fill out a long, confusing form. Find a way to deliver the cost as soon as possible but still ideally after your sales pitch.

If you can, give the price in your initial reply. Hopefully they’ve told you some details of the wedding, like where it’s located and how long it is (I don’t change my prices based on length of the reception, but some DJs do). I advocate for simple pricing, not nickle and diming over every little detail. But if that’s your preferred method, hopefully the contact form on your website gets a lot of these answers in the client’s initial email.

In my initial response, after some introductory lines, such as asking if we can do a phone call, so I can hear more about their event, etc., I get into my specific sales pitch. I try to speak to their likely main questions and concerns. And then, finally, I give the price.

As for fees, I try to keep things really simple. No nickel and diming over how many hours or every little piece of equipment like some companies do. So here’s how it would break down:

Reception:
*Unlimited hours
*Unlimited free consultations (unlike other companies that limit the number of consultations)
*I’m the actual person who DJs your wedding (many companies, you might talk to one person and then they send someone else, leading to mistakes). I have been DJing since 2012, with nearly 200 events of experience and zero cancellations.
*You have as much control over the song selection as you want
*Professional DJ equipment (speakers, microphones, lights, etc.). All I ask for is a table. Everything else is provided by me.
*A wireless microphone that anyone can use for toasts, speeches, prayers, etc.
*Glow sticks for you and your guests
*Lights for the dance floor
*Additional second setup if you need a smaller setup for, say, an outdoor cocktail hour or something outside of the reception room (note: this setup is totally separate from the reception setup, so is not a way to, for example, play the reception music simultaneously outside)
*Emceeing – I make any announcements throughout the night but avoid the excessive talking or DJ antics that distract from a fun, smooth event.
*Coordination with the other vendors, so you can enjoy the night and not be worried about the timeline
*Travel costs, setup time, taxes, etc., are all included
*Cost: $1,000

Remember, couples are likely contacting multiple DJs. The sooner you can answer their questions, the better chance you have of them booking you.

Respond to Inquiries Quickly

It’s exciting when someone contacts you to DJ their event. You can already feel the fun of booking an event, not to mention the money coming your way! But before you raise a glass of champagne in celebration, remember: They’re most likely contacting several other DJs too.

That’s why it’s important you respond as soon as you can. Auto-responders are nice, but you need to send a personalized email ASAP.

The speediness of my initial response has alone, I think, gotten me a few bookings, as I’ve heard clients complain that some DJs took too long to respond (over a day, etc.) and that they were thankful I got back to them so quickly. It builds confidence that the DJ is on top of things. This DJ must be a professional.

Think about how you’d be: say you contact five companies about painting your house. It’s a big project, will cost a lot, and you’re overwhelmed. The first company that replies has a BIG advantage over the others.

Follow Up Regularly

In a dream world, a potential client would contact you, you’d respond, and then they’d soon book you. Maybe you’d meet up once or do a phone call, but they’d book you quickly. No hard work needed.

Unfortunately, this is rarely how it goes.

Many couples contact several DJs at once but don’t jump on the responses that come their way. Maybe they’re busy. Or maybe they want to first hear a bunch of pitches before they engage with any vendors. Maybe they’re just people who take a long time to respond to emails.

That’s why you need to follow up soon and frequently.

Until quite recently, I would wait a week or more before I followed up. I’d just send a simple, “Hey, just checking in…” type email. If they responded to that, great. Otherwise, I was done.

I would get some responses to this, but then, talking to some other DJs, I learned they were following up WAY sooner and way more frequently than I was – and were getting great results!

My excuse had always been, well, I don’t want to bug these couples! If they want to book me, they will. A bunch of follow-up emails isn’t going to change them actually booking me or not! …Right?

But I decided to give a more aggressive follow-up schedule a try:

3 days after my initial response to the inquiry (or 3 days after my last response if we have exchanged a few emails, but they haven’t booked me), I follow-up.
5 days after follow-up email #1, if no response to that, I send another follow-up.
7 days after follow-up email #2, if no response to that, I send one last follow-up.

And what happened? I started booking way more DJ gigs! Seriously. This really increased the number of bookings I was getting!

While I can’t guarantee it was the follow-up emails themselves, I did start getting a LOT more responses from potential clients.

Many were almost apologetic, “Oh, hey, sorry, meant to respond. Yes, let’s schedule a meeting…”

Some even thanked me! “Got busy. Thanks for following up. Yeah, I’d love to hear more…”

Each follow-up email is slightly different, but they have a few themes:

I ask where they’re at in their DJ decision (“Have you had a chance to make a decision yet?”).
I restate some of my sales pitch (“Zero cancellations in over eight years of business. Tons of five-star reviews.”).
I suggest meeting/talking more (“Are you free for a phone call soon, so I can hear more about your wedding?”).

Some DJs are even more aggressive in their follow-up strategy, sending daily follow-up emails or texts/phone calls. Those can work too. It’s going to take some experimentation to see what works best and what you feel comfortable with. You want to be persistent without being harassing.

The point is, following up regularly is a key component to getting more wedding DJ gigs. It really has caused a huge change for me.

Have Awesome Visual Proof of Past DJ Gigs

You can write a million words about how great your wedding DJ business is, but potential clients want visual proof too.

Make sure your website and marketing materials contain several photos of happy people dancing it up at your events. It's a good idea to have "a" photo of yourself, but focus the photos on happy couples and guests, not the DJ.

Each time you DJ a wedding, make good friends with the photographer. Get their business card or contact info. And then, 6-8 weeks after the wedding, get in contact with them to see if they can share any photos with you that you can add to your website, wedding-website profiles, and social media. (It takes some time for photographers to edit and finalize photos after a wedding; that's why I recommend waiting a couple months or so.)

If you're a decent photographer or videographer yourself, then you can take some of your own photos/videos, and post them on your website/social media. Each post might not necessarily get a lot of attention, but when future clients visit your social media, they can find tons of posts that give visual proof of your skills and experience.

Network With Other Wedding Vendors

There's another reason it's good to make best friends with photographers: good old-fashioned networking. I honestly love talking to wedding photographers. They can be a lot of fun! They can also refer business your way. It's happened to me, and when it does, it's so nice. A client reaches out to me and says, "Our photographer recommended you." What a nice recommendation!

Same goes for wedding planners, videographers, officiants - any other vendor. Get to know them, follow them on social media, and build relationships. This could lead to booking more DJ gigs.

Plus, these are your "coworkers" in a sense. I love talking to other vendors and hearing how things are going for them, what things are bringing them more bookings/what aren't, what other DJs are like (this helps me with ideas for my own business), and so on. Other vendors are a valuable resource!

Conclusion

There are so many ways you can generate more bookings for your wedding DJ business. It's simply not enough to be a great DJ/emcee - you have to do other things to bring more DJ gigs your way. Take advantage of these strategies, and you could soon see your calendar fill up with tons of bookings.