Sunday, June 10, 2012

5 Creative Marketing Ideas for the Aspiring Musician



            With about 7 years of music industry experience, I’ve seen some bad ideas and some good ideas. Marketing in a failing industry such as the music industry is an everyday grind. Personally, I was grinded out so I got out. It’s a dog eat dog industry, it is not kind and it is not easy. There are a lot of ups and a lot of downs but, every once in a while you see something so simple, so absolutely brilliant that you think “Why didn’t I think of that?” This is what kept me around for so long, it was the bright ideas in the marketing of the industry. Here are some tips I hope will help ease the everyday grind.
1.       The Band Stamp
         This is easily one of the most brilliant ideas I’ve never thought of. Go to Staples or any other business depots and get a stamp made of your band name, email or website. Ask the door person to use it on everyone that comes in. At the very least, everyone in the bar or venue will remember your band name or, know how to contact you. At the very most, the stamp will make the show seem like YOU are the focus. It’s a win/win, low cost, high reward advantage over everyone else at the show. It free advertising and mass branding that you only paid $15 to $20 for.

2.       Gift Giving
         This is also a very simple, low cost and effective way to make friends and fans. The hardest part is simply talking to people. Create a signup sheet asking for a full name, date of birth and an address. You don’t necessarily need the year just the day and month of their birthday. Keep the list on hand and whenever one of the birthdays comes up, mail that person a gift! It can be as simple as a shot glass (if they’re turning 18, 19 or 21 depending where you are), a cd or a card simply wishing the fan a happy birthday. This goes a long way in building a relationship with someone. The key is to hit the fans one by one. It is much easier and much more accurate to hit each target one at a time than to knock off a whole bunch at once. 

3.       Getting Creative
         Getting creative is about your band/artist name, a song title or the title of a CD where you can get a creative hook. Consider the Leaderdogs that had an album called Lemonade. While distributing the CD and the singles, they inserted a small packet of lemonade. Fans, radio program directors and producers actually fought over who would get the tasty beverage that cost a whopping five cents. That album charted. Do you have a song title or name that you can get a creative hook out of? Make the most out of it.

4.       Band Expo
         Although every other artist is your competition, the music industry is funny in that your biggest competition could be your biggest help. How about getting together with 5 to 10 artists at a local shop or nightclub that supports local talent and promoting each other. Set up boards, create a power points, hand out business cards and have unplugged single songs scheduled every once in a while. If businesses can have trade shows to show off their products and services, why can’t bands have the same to show who they are and what they do. This is the perfect opportunity to engage with fans, start a conversation and build relationships without the loud music in the background. Keep one thing in mind here, this WONT be about making the sale. This will be about STARTING the CONVERSATION. It is simply letting the customer get to know who you are and what you’re about. It is your opportunity and your responsibility to yourself to leave a lasting impression.

5.       Lastly, Engagement
         This is the least expensive yet, the most powerful tool you have. It’s about NOT marketing to people at all, it’s about NOT trying to sell your music. Engagement is all about having a conversation. It’s about listening to your fans, people with similar interests and fans of similar bands and talking to them. Not about your new single, not about your new t-shirt but, talking to them about what you have in common, what you love about that genre of music or even as simple as how the weather is. Stop trying to make a sale, start trying to make fans want to buy from you.
        Social media has made this a lot easier to do. Things like Twitter, Facebook among many other websites have created one giant conversation for you to be a part of. So many time I see bands misusing these tools. “Yo come out to our show! It’s going to be the best time ever!”. One, this is not managing expectations of the fans because its most likely not going to be the best time ever. 2, you’re trying to make a SALE, this is not cool. Something better would be,  “What crazy thing would you like to see us do at our upcoming show? A. Star Wars Costumes B. Strippers C. Fireworks”. People will talk, they will answer you and if you can pull off all three of those, you’re going to be famous. Stop marketing, start ENGAGING!!!


                I hope this helped out you Musicians out there! As a music lover, musician and formerly in a band, I really want to see you succeed! The music industry needs a boost and if this article can help you be that boost in any way, I’ll feel like a hero. Not the hero you need, but the hero you deserve. Because I’m not a hero really, I’m more like a silent guardian, a watchful protector… a marketing student that really likes to help people out and is really into batman, or a dark knight. If you have any other ideas you might want to pass along, please feel free to comment below, you’ll only be helping out the fellow musician.

2 comments:

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