DJ Branding Guide

Branding yourself helps you be remembered and can add professionally to your career. This post is filled with ideas on how to create your brand.

Choosing your DJ name

Some people would choose their first name but this is probably a bad idea if you have a common one.

Before picking a name you should Google it and see if any results come up. The best way to do this is put it in quotes e.g. if you were searching for DJ Name you would type "DJ Name" into Google.

Some people use numbers or symbols instead of leters but I believe that this is more common with rappers. An example of this is Deadmou5. I believe that this makes it harder to type and wouldn't recommend doing this.

Colors

Colors can play a factor in your branding. Certain brands may make you think of different colors. For example you may think of red when you think of coke.

In business colors have unique meanings however this may not applicable to DJs. In the music industry black would signal darker sounding music such as Industrial or Hardstyle.

While you don't have to pick colors based on the traditional business mindset, I have included some options anyway for you to review.

If you want to spread joy perhaps yellow may be appropriate. Orange can give a friendliness vibe.

Red is meant to invoke passion but it can symbolize anger too. However Coke and McDonalds uses this color so I believe that it can be used without signaling anger.

Some DJs have a mask

Some DJs such as Mashmello, Angerfist and Deadmou5 have a mask. Most DJs do not use a mask.

I imagine that a mask could be a good option if you don't have confidence with taking pictures.

Your clothing and accessories

Your clothing can be part of your brand too. Perhaps you always go on the decks with a black tank top.

You may have a signature accessory such as a necklace.

Most of your accessories can potentially promote your brand. For example you can have water bottles or cups with your name on it. Even your vehicle can have your brand on it.

A logo

A professional graphic designer would usually design your logo. Some people even hire five designers and pick the the logo that they like.

Many logos involve graphics but some are just text with a particular font with some modifications. For example they may have a triangle replacing the letter "A"..

You can get many fonts online. You want to make sure that you have commercial rights to the font otherwise you may get in trouble. Alternatively you can hire a lettering artist to do create your logo.

Your profile picture

Most DJs have social media pages. Several types of profile pictures exist.

Headshot: This is just a photo of your head.

Picture of you DJing: Many DJs go with this.

A headshot/photo with digital alterations: This is a photo with digital effects added to it. You may take this in front of a green screen.

A logo: This is usually professionally designed.

You can also choose to have one of the above styles of pictures as your cover photos on social media. Some DJs just put their latest event posters as their cover photo.

The personality and message that you want to output

Many DJs in my experience want to give off a positive vibe to the universe.

Others may want an anti establishment feel to them.

Some DJs may want to tell jokes on their social media. Laughter is great for spreading joy.

Go where your fans are

Most young people are on TikTok and instagram so you'll want to be on those platforms if young people are your target audience.

If your target audience is older people then Facebook may be more appropriate.

Consistency

It's worthwhile to be consistent with your colors, pictures and personality across all platforms including social media profiles and your website. While this is not essential it might help people recognize your brand.

You may want to have a consistent tone across all communication channels such as social media, website, email etc.

Business cards

Most people have business cards and most printing places can help you with this. You can probably order them online too.

Some business cards have QR codes too.

These cards typically have your name, what you're offering, logo, website and public contact details.

Publicity photos

You may want to hire a professional photographer to do publicity photos for you. Getting photographs of you DJing a gig could be worthwhile too.

The photos could be used on websites, social media, event posters and in many other places.

Your story

If you want to put your story out there then this can be part of your brand. You may want to put your story in the "About" section in your website.

Many people like hearing stories; especially relatable ones. Stories can inspire others.

If you would rather not share some things then I believe that's fine.

Privacy

How much you want to share with the world is up to you. Just because you have a personal brand doesn't mean you have to share everything about your life.

As you can gather with our masks section; some DJs even hide their faces.

Managing social media

You don't have to use personal profiles for your DJ brand. If you want to have some privacy then you might be better off dedicating social media profiles/pages to your brand.

Website

A website is good to have if you want to have additional credibility to your brand.

Some people believe that websites are unnecessary in the social media era. However websites make it easier to distribute things like press kits etc.

Merchandise

Merchandise can be a way for your fans to promote your brand. I have also written an article on merchandise.

I have written a guide on selling merchandise.

Press kit

A Press Kit is typically a file in PDF format with a biography, picture, music, video and links to your website and/or social network pages. This can be located on your website. It doesn't have to be a PDF file, you can just have a page on your website with the items.

Alternatively you can put the items in the zip file. PDFs do have a reputation of not containing viruses.

If you don't have a website you can still host a PDF or zip file on a file sharing service. You can also Email the file to people wanting it. However putting it on a website would look more professional.

How to create a DJ Press Kit or EPK

Response times and interactions

Remember to answer enquiries in a reasonable time frame. If you don't then you may lose business and opportunities.

Remember to be polite and kind. If you don't do this then it could reflect badly on you.

You may want to hire people to answer your Emails for you. If you're bad at answering emails then this may be a good option.

Costs

There can be costs to branding. You don't have to do everything immediately. You can do things as you get money.

It's possible that you don't need to do everything in this article.

Doing good with your brand

You may want to actively find charity events that you can be involved with. This will give you the opportunity to help others and give publicity for yourself.

You could offer to DJ charity events. Another approach would be to do an event and give the profit to charity. Another possibility could be doing limited edition merchandise and giving the profits to charity.

Reinventing yourself

If you become unhappy with your brand then there's nothing stopping you from reinventing yourself. Perhaps you're no longer into that techno music that was once popular and want to be a wedding DJ.

This could cost time and money. It'll probably cost more money if you change your logo and/or colors.

Thanks for reading

I hope that you have everything that you need to develop your brand as a DJ.

I have also written a DJ branding guide.