Marketing Your Act

Tend to your various lists separately ought to be your marketing mantra to really get results. As I was watering the vegetable garden, I noticed the tomatoes needed pruning, the cucumbers needed a bit more water, and the lettuce needed some harvesting. Each one needed something a bit different. Funny, how tending to my garden reminded me that it is very similar to tending to your fan list, your list of presenting organizations or bookers and your media list. Each one requires a bit of unique information from you in order satisfy their specific needs. So even though all of my plants are in my garden, I’ve planted them in…

How can you Uniquify Yourself? Are you following the crowd? Trying be like other artists you know so the fans will like you too? These days it is so important to call attention to yourself and your art by standing out from the crowd and to uniquify yourself! That is why you must find your unique qualities and promote them. In the search for acceptance, so many artists try to be like the artists who everyone already knows and likes. But that artist became known and liked because they stood out from the rest. They were unique. What makes you stand above the fray? What quirks, physical attributes, vocal qualities,…

Knowing how to write audience specific press releases can make a huge difference in how much press coverage you receive. Writing press releases for an intended audience is not a one size fits all, scenario. If you want to broaden your outreach, you may need to narrow your focus and vary your writing to speak more directly to your various audiences. Start with a basic press release that covers the main information you want to get across. This may be as short as a three or four sentence second paragraph. The first and last paragraph will normally include the informational who, what, where, when, why and how of the press…

Re-frame your communications to boost your bookings and career. Lately, I’ve been paying attention to how people express themselves in both written and verbal communications. I’ve been finding similarities among friends, family, and clients. What I am finding is that most emails, promo materials, negotiations and even conversations with family members are all self-focused or inward focused right from the start of each communication. I call it the, “Let me tell you about me first” syndrome. This kind of communication may be an offshoot of an attention to so many daily details that keep one inwardly focused and absorbed. A great example is when speaking on the phone with someone,…

Do you have compelling mailing list invites on your website or at your shows? As you gaze at your home page, you might have placed an invitation to sign up for your mailing list somewhere on that page. You know exactly where it is. Perhaps in the upper right-hand corner or bottom left corner or bottom right corner or even in the middle of the page somewhere. And it probably says something like sign up for my mailing list. OK, here’s my question to you… Why! That’s right, why should I sign up for your mailing list? I know this sounds silly, you’re probably thinking, why not or because then…

This week we tap into the power of niche market networking as I continue to share the 4th step to help you turn cold calls into friendly calls. If you have already discovered a unique niche market that is perfectly suited to your performance, congratulations! If you haven’t, review Chapter 8: The Art of Touring in my book, How to Be Your Own Booking Agent, for all the details on how and why you should explore niche marketing. Now, here are 5 suggestions to put this valuable asset to use and turn cold calls into friendly calls. If your niche market is an organization with multiple chapters or offices that…

Do you struggle to become more news worthy? What is news worthy to you—may just not be news worthy to the editor, the program director, or the producer. They are looking for items that will interest the largest segment of their readers, listeners or viewers. Or they are looking for items that will interest an important niche segment of their customers. So you must begin viewing your communications to the media from their perspective. Here’s an example that may be near and dear to you, a CD release. This is of course great news to you and something that is very important to your career. But, to the media, it…

Hate selling yourself to bookers? If you are like many of the artists I speak with each day, the thought of selling yourself to venue bookers is, well, challenging. But, if not you, then who will spread the word about you? How about letting the folks who have already experienced your music or performance tell your story? After all, their experience of your show is likely to be more exuberant than your description of what you do. If you hate selling yourself to bookers, use that third-party energy to sell yourself to new venues, festivals, house concert hosts, radio DJs or the media. So here are my questions of the…

Your name impacts your marketing and sometimes it makes your marketing much harder. Name things to make your marketing easier. This is a motto I live by and frankly so should you. Why make your marketing harder than it already is. Your name for your business, projects, CDs, shows, books, your act, when well chosen, can be a boon to your marketing or a complete hindrance. I recently had a conversation with a band member who was concerned that their band name and then the album name was going to be problematic for their future. I tried to demonstrate how a good name can make a world of difference when…