When you’re an artist, managing your marketing strategies is as important as what you play.
Think of Marketing as a Process, Not Just a One-Time Task
- Marketing isn’t just a one-time task, but rather a process of building relationships, trust and following that will help your career.
- In order to be successful at marketing (and business in general), you need to think about it as a lifestyle. The best way I’ve found is by writing down one thing that you will do every day to move yourself forward in some way. If you don’t have this discipline, then it’s easy to fall off track and stop growing your fan base or building your brand.
#1 Define Your Audience
Reveal where the audience is coming from or how they like their products delivered. Once you’ve identified your target audience, start looking at all the other things that are out there competing with yours — competitors, products similar in nature or function as yours, etc. Take an honest look at each competitor individually before deciding on a strategy for how best to compete against them.
#2 Realize That Music Tastes Differ
The environment where you listen to music can affect your perception of the music.
For instance, if you’re in an airport, there is usually a lot of ambient noise and frequent announcements over the loudspeaker. This can make it difficult for you to focus on your music or even hear what’s going on in the song. If you’re in a quiet space like a library or coffee shop, then it’s much easier for you to pay attention and enjoy the sound quality.
In order to get more out of your experience as a listener, try listening under different conditions:
- Try listening with headphones during rush hour on public transit
- Headphones at a loud bar (or any bar) will give you a good idea of how loud songs should be mixed so that they don’t get lost under chatter from people around them
#3 Develop a Unique Selling Point of Your Music
A Unique Selling Point (USP) is a way of describing why you are different from other artists. To develop a USP, ask yourself the following questions:
- Who am I as a musician? What kind of music do I play? Who are my favorite artists and what do they do well?
- How can I stand out from other artists who play similar types of music? What makes me unique on stage or in the studio?
- If someone came to me for advice about making their own music, what would I tell them about what makes good music versus bad music and how can they improve their skill set?
Once you’ve answered these questions, use them as part of your marketing strategy by putting them into practice wherever possible. Developing an authentic USP is one way that you can differentiate yourself from other artists while simultaneously attracting new fans who enjoy your brand’s unique qualities!
#4 Dig Deep Into Your Fan Base
- Have a clear understanding of your fan base.
- What are they like?
- How old are they? What do they look like?
- Where do they live? Is it urban or suburban or rural? Are there any other demographics you can use for reference (race, gender, sexual preference)?
- Who are your competitors and how is their music similar/different to yours? How well do their marketing strategies work for them versus how well do my current ones work for me?
#5 Keep It Personal
- Use your own name and image, or at least the name of the band and its members. When people see a familiar face, they feel like they know you better than someone else. This also helps with branding — people love to follow artists who look like them (the Beatles, for instance). If you’re in a band with other people, make sure everyone’s image is clear by using their full names on social media and web pages.
- Don’t hide behind an anonymous handle or avatar; let them know who you really are as well as how excited about making music together! If possible, make this connection personal by asking for their stories of how they came across your work through social media posts — it’ll encourage others to share their stories too! That way everyone knows they’re not alone when listening or performing together.”
#6 Concentrate on Your Website and Mailing List
You should have a dedicated web page that looks expertly and contains all relevant information about you, including contact details. This will help people find you, but it also helps them feel like they know more about who you are as an artist.
Also, sending out newsletters every once in a while is really helpful! People like getting updates on what’s going on with their favorite artists, so keep everyone up-to-date by sending out regular newsletters that let fans know about upcoming shows or new music releases.
Conclusion
On our blog we started out with a mission to help bands and artists manage their websites, and today we’ve expanded into marketing tools as well. We know how overwhelming it can be to take on marketing tasks, but that’s why we strive to make things easy and fun for our customers.