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should know without a doubt that it s all coming from the same artist. You can do
this by keeping your logo, typefaces, and the tone of your wording consistent. This
might seem bland and repetitious to the person designing the material, but if you
always change the look and feel of your marketing, you will confuse your fans.
What would you rather have: a lot of people who know exactly what your music is
about, or a lonely portfolio of disjointed press kits, photos and artwork?
College band payoff
The Dirges is a band made up of students who attended Pennsylvania State
University. The band s three independently released albums sold a total of 10,000
copies in three years.
Think about it, says guitarist/keyboardist Steve Bodner, ten thousand people
graduate from this college each year and move to places all across the country.
We go right along with them.
Are you taking advantage of the college market?
Music promotion on wheels
Organic Records has a specially designed flatbed truck that travels city to city to
gain exposure for its artists. The acts can perform live right on the truck or simply
give away samplers and promotional items from it at special events.
Can you develop a fresh method of exposing your music to new groups of people?
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Sunny skies in the forecast
Artist Bryan Duncan released an album called Blue Skies. To make the most of the
album title, his record label ran radio spots sponsoring weather reports in key
regions of the country. Duncan also did radio interviews during which he read the
local weather forecast on the air. You can bet there weren t many other artists
taking this approach.
Is there anything about your CD title or band name that can be transformed into a
creative marketing strategy?
Cover up
Tired of being denied radio airplay because stations prefer to pump out familiar
music to the masses? One solution: Stop fighting and go with the status quo.
Australian band the Clouds received some attention when it recorded a cover of
Glen Campbell s Wichita Lineman.
It s a beautiful song, says bassist Patricia Young. Not only that, it s a lot easier
to pick up airplay with familiar material.
Might there be a cover song that you can put your own fresh spin on?
Thinking outside the box: On a recent trip to the library, I checked out Jay
Conrad Levinson s book Guerrilla Marketing Attack. Like the other books in
Levinson s Guerrilla series, this volume is packed with dozens of usable business-
building tactics.
I ve taken the liberty of giving some of the concepts from the book a musical slant
with the following four tips:
Use eight stamps instead of one
As you know, people are bombarded with snail mail. Music editors, program
directors, managers, distributors they all receive an avalanche of unsolicited
mail. One creative, low-cost way to make your package stand out is to use more
stamps than anyone else is using.
Instead of sending your letter with a single first-class stamp, why not stick on
several stamps that all add up to 39 cents (or whatever the current postage rate
is)? Who would fail to open a letter with eight stamps on it? You might even write
a funny phrase like We re hoping for your stamp of approval on the outside of
the envelope.
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Don t ask fans to join a mailing list ask them to
become a member of your club
Based on the headline above, I m sure you can already see the difference between
being added to a list and becoming a member of a special club. Signing up on a list
is cold and impersonal. Joining a club is warm and cozy.
Advice: Put together an inexpensive package that might include a membership
certificate with the person s name on it, a fan club card, an autographed photo,
free sampler CD, button, and any other fun trinkets you can find at discount
stores.
If people join the club while at one of your shows, you can either give them all of
this cool stuff then or let them know you ll mail a package to them soon afterward.
Then make sure and send it as soon as possible, and follow up with regular
newsletters and updates. Note: You can also offer many of these fan club extras as
free downloads from your web site which would be a lot less expensive.
Research has shown that when you give free things to people, they are much more
receptive and likely to spend money on you in the near future. The rule here is
simple: To reap the rewards of your labor on the back end, you have to give
something away and keep your customers needs foremost in mind on the front
end. You have to give to receive!
Arrange for positive picketers to demonstrate
The idea here is to gather a group of your supporters to demonstrate outside of an
establishment. But instead of protesting, these people would carry signs that
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