Promoting your music is always a challenge. Finding ways to consistently interact and draw fresh new fans in, or land more gigs, is not only time consuming, but frustrating as well.
Here are 5 things you should be doing as a musician to make promoting music more efficient and more effective, creating more opportunities to draw in more fans.
Creating a Solid and Consistent Brand
One of the biggest mistake musicians tend to make is they don’t understand the difference between brand and band. A brand represents the experience fans develop, what they feel and think when they see you, hear you, or think about you, and what distinguishes you from competitors. The brand is the established difference between you and any other band that plays in the same genre. Your music style, the clothes you wear, the messages you deliver can be important elements contributing to your overall brand identity.
A solid brand singles you out and makes a clear statement of identity. For instance, think of a favorite band. Now note the images that come to mind, the music you hear in your head, or the image of the players. This is all a result of consistent branding. If you are not or do not have an established brand, you probably should start thinking about what it is that sets you apart from “the other guys.”
Brands must be consistent and constantly driven as the center piece of the musician’s image. Your brand should span across all the channels your fans will interact with and consistently deliver the same message. Websites, social media, electronic press kits, blogs, email campaigns, and any other channels of interaction with your audience should all have consistent branding.
Professional Grade Music Press Kits
Music press kits are probably the most under used tool by musicians. The fact is, music press kits are the best way to promote your music to industry decision makers and are now considered a necessity with artist managers and PR managers. It is a quick and easy way to get the point across without wasting too much of your prospect’s time. Many venues and music promoters get tons of submissions and have very little time to sift through them all.
Many so-called press kits are either the band’s website or a template version of some online provider DIY platform and simply look generic and like everyone else. A well-designed, one-page, music press kit should be captivating and give your audience a swift rundown of your music assets and plenty of reasons to remember you. High visual content, high quality music players and content customization is the key to building great examples of an EPK that engages the reader and leaves a lasting impression.
If you’re not using a professional looking electronic press kit to promote your music, then you might consider investing in getting one made. A well designed EPK can be an essential weapon for landing more opportunities in your lap.
Engaging Social Media for Email Subscribers
Social media has become the go to for most musicians to promote their music. Why not get subscribers from those sites and turn them into regular fans you can start sending email campaigns? One of the best ways to get new subscribers is by creating an email campaign that can be posted as a link on social media platforms. These posts can be done on a regular basis and crafted to consistently promote your brand image while continually generating new subscribers. Some post like on Facebook fan pages can be pinned to the top when visitors come to your page. Often, re-post the link at optimal times to keep the link in circulation and fresh on feeds. This should draw a steady flow of new subscribers to your list each month.
You don’t have to be super creative to get subscribers with these emails. But, keep consistent with your brand, use high resolution images, and build a sound list of subscribers for future promotions.
Using Musician Website Platforms
There are a lot of sites out there that can do a little this, and a little that. But, there never seems to be one that has all the tools you need to promote and sell your music, especially royalty free. Moreover, you need certain tools and features that are necessary for musicians to build a highly functional and fan interactive band website. For instance, a music player is critical for allowing fans to buy, download, or listen to your music. Subscriber forms keep new fans coming into the list. Email marketing tools with built in triggers and automation to send fans targeted email campaigns. Those are just a few to name.
The point is, you need a reliable music friendly hosting provider that has all the tools, not only to create a stunning website, but also offers the necessary promotional marketing tools like SEO and analytical tools, fan base management, easy payment integrations, email and social media marketing tools, video making tools, custom online store, music promotion and sales tools, and a personal blog platform.
Many platforms offer several alternative integrations to connect your already paid for services. But those additional services add up and can create unnecessary expenses. For instance, why have this web platform, that email account, that band site, this band site, that EPK site, etc., when you can have it all in one place and cut the added cost? Make sense, right? It’s easy to consolidate and take your assets to any new platform. You just need to know how.
The important lesson here is to use the right delivery platform that allows you to get the most promotional music marketing tools for your investment.
Engaging Fans on a Personal Level
Far too often it’s forgotten why your music is liked. Because you have fans that like it. Don’t forget who they are. Social media interactions are probably one of the best ways to connect with your fans on a personal level. Email can also be a good way to interact with fans. However, offer more than just your music and merchandise. Offer conversation pieces that are music related or touch on some level of common interest you and your fans can share. Social media has a huge opportunity to build a solid fan base. But you must make it attractive. If you want people interested in your page, liking your page, and sharing it with others, then you need to be willing to interact with a variety of topics they find interesting.
It’s not always about selling your products. In fact, the general rule of thumb for posting is 80% non-product related. That means, create genuine content to interact with your fans and get them involved in the conversation. Keep it clean, stay away from politics, and develop a culture that grows a positive community of fellow music lovers and new fans.
Making great music means nothing if you can’t get it out there to be heard. These 5 tips should help give you some new opportunities to connect with the people you need to promote your music. Take the time to figure out and build your brand. Invest in a killer electronic press kit that will get you noticed and remembered. Consistently work on getting new subscribers by engaging them with custom email links. Don’t be afraid to re-evaluate the cost of your online assets and move to the right platform made for musicians. And start getting more personal with your fans by engaging them with conversation about topics other than your music and merchandise.
For more information on how our music marketing agency can help you go to https://www.opk.solutions