So youʼve been doing the local open-mic night circuit for a while now, youʼve just recorded your first EP or album and are ready to start getting the word out about your brand. Hereʼs a quick music marketing check-list to help you get on your way:
1. Define your brand – Ensure you branding is clear, consistent and professional across all your online and offline platforms. Define your identity who/where you target audience are. Go to your fans, donʼt expect them to come to you.
2. Collect “currency” – Email addresses, mobile numbers and zip codes are the new currency of the music industry. Email is one the most effective direct marketing channels to fans. Make sure you are collecting fan data wherever you are both onlineand offline. Two great newsletter services are mailchimp.com or fanbridge.com
3. Create a website – having your own website instantly create a professional brand. It also acts as a uniting hub for all your other social networking sites. Remember, if Myspace or Facebook died tomorrow, all your fan data would be lost. Having a website ensure you are in total control of your brand and fan data. If you canʼt afford a website yet, then just get a holding page with a newsletter sign-up on it and links to your social networking sites.
4. Prioritize quality over quantity – Prioritize connecting with fans one by one over applications that “autobot” fans onto your social networking sites. This will inspire loyalty in your fan base and will ultimately be the most effective way in turning potential fans into super fans.
5. Be media ready – Ensure you have both physical and digital copies of your music available, and a biography and/or press release too. Many journalists still want to receive physical product in order to judge the professionalism of an artist. However make sure you also have your full album available for download via a hidden website. I recommend Soundcloud for this.
6. Donʼt forget about offline marketing – Online marketing has made connecting with fans on a global level so much easier. We can now communicate with people in real time all over the world. However, donʼt forget about your offline marketing. Your live performance, fan interaction at gigs, and face to face networking are still fundamental. Be aggressive (but nice!) in BOTH your offline and online marketing.
7. Know your rights – Ensure you aware of the different ways of earning money online and offline. Make sure you sign up to SoundExchange (itʼs free!) in order to collect your digital royalties and keep up to date with issues affecting musicians by checking in with The Future of Music Coalition.
8. Be creative, be personal - Donʼt be afraid to ask your fans for input into your creative process. If they see you are listening to them, it will incentivize their loyalty and you will create word-of-mouth buzz.
_
Jem Bahaijoub is the founder of imaginePR, a music PR and marketing company based in
Washington, DC. You can connect with her on twitter @jembahaijoub or Facebook
www.facebook.com/imaginePR
