I think a huge element to the answer is where you’re based and what happens on the local scene.
In the North East Of England I’ve found that hitting the phones either to speak in person or to exchange texts and Facebook Messenger has worked for my bands.
And even though as individuals or as entire bands we have many many years of experience on the local circuit, that doesn’t make life any easier. Often being in touch at the right time is more important than being brilliantly prepared and being in touch at the wrong time.
If you look at agents, are they “proper” agents and what will THEY do for YOU? In my neck of the woods there are too many people who ask for £25 simply to pencil your bands name down in one of the diaries that they’ve (IMO) fooled a pub into handing over to them. Ditto showcases and Battles Of The Bands, never done one, never needed one, done alright for gigs in the grand scheme of things without them.
I also feel, and this is just my opinion, that at a lot of the pubs we play in the job of the band is to entertain the people who will be there expecting to see a band, not to draw a crowd over and above the usual. Not that we don’t care about attracting more people but what I’m saying is that it’s a low bar. Pubs aren’t expecting brilliance or innovation or stupendous musicianship, they simply don’t want a band to be so bad that their customers will walk out.
Yes websites and a Facebook presence keep the pot boiling but they won’t proactively get you gigs. And yes video clips on your sites or YouTube CAN be useful, but in one of my bands we took the decision to take down almost every video that had been posted because they were done on phones and the quality of the videos (not the quality of the band I’m keen to stress ;-) ) didn’t do us any favours. Better to have very little, but good stuff as opposed to loads of tat.
Getting a multi camera video with properly recorded sound is the best bet if you want to look good, but if you want to do that I recommend rehearsing and reherasing and rehearsing what you’re going to play, how you’re going to play it, and how you’re going to stage it so that it comes out as good as it can be. Too many bands get excited at the prospect of a proper video and jump in when they’d have been better off rehearsing their material whether or not it was going to be filmed.
I do agree that social media and digital media have an importance nowadays, however ANYONE can rustle up fantastic imagery and people aren’t fooled by it as much as they were. A brilliant poster and Facebook site does not necessarily mean a brilliant band.
I suppose the short answer is that there are no universal right answers and no “easy” way to do it. It takes persistence so that your name gets remembered when a pub needs a band (& one late cancellation that you fill could lead to 2 or 3 gigs a the same place every year thereafter) & to work to what the bookers want. If they say they’ll get in touch next week and they don’t, you politely get in touch with them. If they say their diary opens on a certain day, make sure you’re in touch the day before.