Marketing Your Act

Are you maximizing your email campaigns? Are your emails getting the response you want? Are your emails being opened or deleted?  Are your readers acting upon your suggestions in your emails? Here are a few tips to help get your emails opened, read and acted upon: Personalize your emails. Too often an email arrives addressed to Hi Everyone, or Hello All, or Dear Friends. This is a sure fire way to get your email deleted. How do you feel when you get an email with a greeting, Hi Everyone?          If your goal is to nurture your fans and keep in touch with them, make sure your…

The idea of fitting in or standing out was once again sparked by re-listening to Seth Godin's book, The Purple Cow. So often I speak with artists who are working so hard to be just like someone they admire or who has already reached a level of notoriety. As I dig more deeply into the artist's life and career during coaching sessions, I begin to discover their uniqueness, the thing that sets them apart from the rest of the artists in their field. As we explore these talents or personality traits or mannerisms or performance methods, it becomes clear to them that they left these qualities behind in order to…

The decision of whether to outsource media campaigns or not may weigh heavily on you when you are about to promote a new CD, a tour or other projects. Most artists I speak with cite cost as a main factor in their decision-making process. I would like to offer a few additional considerations for you to add to your process before launching into your next campaign and spending huge amounts of money. Clarify Your Goals:  Of course you would like the broadest recognition for your project. But, let's examine what that means given where you are right now in your career. A great question to begin this assessment might be…

If they can't sell it they won't book it ought to be the mantra you repeat when booking your tours. Most artists I know and work with focus on their music or show or products as they create their marketing materials. They then talk about their music or show or products when they pitch their act to a venue. This often has disappointing results when they don't get the gig. When I approach pitching an act to a venue booker, I first put on their booking hat and begin to think like they might think, worry about what they might worry about and consider the things they consider when deciding…

Do you focus on your big ticket items? Have you ever considered how many CDs you must sell in order to equal the fees you get for playing your gigs? Think about this now and then take a look at your website. Now what is the first thing you are trying to promote to your visitors, your CD or how to book you for a gig? Most websites I view are focused on selling their CDs above anything else. That is a $10, $15, or $20 item. Even if you are booking lower paying gigs, say at $300, it will take 20 CDs at $15 to equal a single gig.…

Never assume they know what you know when writing an email or creating promotional copy. Did you ever get directions from someone and as you are actually driving along, you realize there are a few key details left out? Oh, and those details just happen to make all the difference in the world as to whether you arrive at your gig on time. It used to happen so many times, (before the days of accessible GPS). I realized that the person giving the directions has assumed I knew what they knew about the old gas station that "used to be on the corner," the very corner where I needed to…

Here's a great marketing strategy to get gigs, get media coverage and sell tickets. It doesn't matter whether you are trying to book a gig or get your press release in a local paper. It makes no difference whether you are booking a local gig or trying to open a new market or play in a new venue. There needs to be something familiar that people can identify with before they will book you or buy a ticket to your events. Large and small venues like to book sure bets, often it seems to be name acts that will sell tickets. What if you are just not there yet? What…

It's not how many, but who are your fans? Do you know them? How often have you been asked, "How many fans do you have on your mailing list?" Sometimes a venue booker might want to know that number to consider whether you will have a decent turn out before they book you. You may consider having a huge list as being a great accomplishment that has taken you many years to develop. And I'd say congrats on being so diligent and keeping at it each live performance and through your efforts on your website and social media sites. Having the numbers in each market is certainly going to help…

Hiring a CD Radio Promotions Company is  the 2nd part of this multi-part series. I’d like to share the result-based decision process you may use when hiring a CD radio promotions company to promote a new CD. This is a common expenditure among many musicians who desire the widest exposure for their music. It may be a decision you have grappled with or have even made to promote past or upcoming CD releases. A radio promotions campaign is not cheap. It could cost as much or more than the manufacturing of 1000 CDs for an 8-12 week campaign. So this is not a decision to be made lightly or to…