Franchize Marketing 101.

Ive been saying I was going to write this FOREVER, and keep putting it off. But im really going to sit down and write this. Im going to point out some flaws and give u some tips from the prospective of a FAN, Business Person, and someone who has somewhat worked with artists.

Artists, what are your goals?? Is your goal to get known, to get a deal, to make money or what exactly??

I Challenge you to really sit down, think about your goals and see if YOU feel like you are on the right track to getting there. And then go to someone that you trust to be real with you (tell you good AND the bad) and discuss it with them. To quote someone, it’s the Music BUSINESS, so you gotta have your music AND especially your BUSINESS right to get anywhere. If you’re serious about being an artist and making money at it, you have to approach it as your JOB, and do things the right way.

1. Networking

You need to network. You need to get outside of your Circle. While hanging with your friends is cool, and doing shows with all the artists from your clique/hood/group/whatever. If you stay in the same circle and are always around the same people, HOW do you expect to gain more fans, get known, meet IMPORTANT people, reach outside of the city or better yet perform outside of the city??

Just meet people. You never know who u might be standing beside, or talking to, or be in the same room as. You might meet a random person and it’s a DJ, Producer, Artist, Personality, Booker, Club Owner, Management, Label Executive or anything. And you never know what could happen. It could grow into a great working relationship and yall do big things together, or they could put you onto some new business deals or people that really boost your career. Or it could just be a cool person u keep in contact with, and then years down the road, you encounter them again and they are in a totally different position and can offer something that boosts or changes your career/life.

Use people that you don’t know or have never worked with when you do songs, shows, and etc. You might have a track with a particular artist; someone hears it and loves it, and they are looking YOU up and you just made new fans, got a few new shows, or made a new connection. You may have someone new perform at your show; and their fans and people and etc come out and see YOU and love it. Again, you just made some new connections, met some new people and opened up new opportunities. A label, a manager, a booker or anybody could have come out to see that particular artist, but was impressed with you, so now they are interested in working with you. #BAM, by simply working with new people, u just made some moves.

2. Marketing

You need a PLAN. SERIOUSLY. You need to sit down and take the time to put together a marketing plan, press kit and a lot more. Im only going to touch on a few things here, but theres a lot more you need.

a. Online Marketing

As an ARTIST u need to make yourself, and your contact info, easy to find. If a fan or business person hears about you and wants to find your music or contact you, then they need to be able to do so. People will google you, look you up on facebook and things like that. U need to have one of those or BOTH that is under your artist name, so people can find you, and/or you need a website of some type. People want to follow you, friend you, contact you, know when your shows are, maybe even book you and etc. Google your artist name and see what comes up and where u are in the results, its very important to know what people see when they are looking for you and that they are able to find YOU.

Also, you need to make your website, twitter, facebook or etc have the same name and url, if possible. Ideally, if your artists name is J-Spade, I should be able to search J-Spade on Twitter, Facebook, or google and find you. And u preferably want to have a simple common URL, like facebook.com/jspade, twitter.com/jspade, www.jspade.com. Or if you have a name that a lot of people use, come up with something to add to it, so people can still find you. Something like jspade615, jspademusic, or Iamjspade… facebook.com/iamjspade, twitter.com/iamjspade, www.iamjspade.com. This will make it easy for people to remember and locate you. If someone contact you and want to add you on facebook, u can easy give them the url and they can remember it. And if they want your twitter too, “oh it’s the same thing”. It also makes it easy to write, say and market. “Holla at me, yourfavoritesite/iamjspade”. You don’t want to have someone ask you to give out your contact info to a crowd or group of people and u give out 3 very different (and complicated) addresses for your facebook, twitter, and website. Keep it simple!

When people go to these sites, you need to define yourself. On your profile, Say you are an artist on your profile, what kind of music you do, what you sound like, where people can find more info about you. Occasionally post a new track or a link to your music. People on your list that may not know, NEED to know you are an artist. Or they may have heard you once and don’t remember how talented you were. Post up something like, “I have a show coming up next Wednesday, May 18, I will be doing my single “I love facebook”. Take a listen and come and check out the show. You can even learn the words and sing along!”

 

b. Promo materials

You need promo materials as well. You need several great pictures you can post, so people looking at your website/facebook/etc can see or even save them. And you need them on hand to send when people are putting you on the flyer for an event, promoting you in some way (even keep them in your phone for emergencies). Nobody wants to see camera phone pictures or you at a party holding a plastic cup on flyers, its not professional. Get a photographer to come to your show and take a couple professional pictures of you performing. And then do a mini photoshoot with them. You can get this done cheap, because everyone is a photographer now, but make sure they are quality, there are at least a couple where your face is unobstructed and clear, and above all they represent YOU.

To take a step back, I understand a fitted and/or sunglasses are cool. There is nothing wrong with having pictures like that, if that’s your image. BUT you still need some pictures without them, so people can see you and who you are, and recognize you from the picture. Also be mindful of what clothes you where in your promo pictures, don’t wear something random, wear something that represents you and who u are as an artist, and that u look GOOD in. For females, pictures with your breasts hanging out or a too short dress may be sexy, but realize you may not always be performing in the club. You may have a classy upscale show or you may since the national anthem somewhere or anything. You must have a few different looks/styles, so that u can have a few options of what picture you send to who, when u are being promoted.

c. In person marketing

Here is something that I personally think is a good idea. Have SOMETHING with your contact info PRINTED on it, on you at ALL TIMES. Whether it be business cards, cds, press kit, or just a piece of paper. The reason I say this is, people can hear you say your contact info, but not everyone speaks or hears the same, so they may misunderstand you. People are in clubs, and drinking, smoking, flirting or distracted a ton of different ways. You cant expect people to always remember your contact info or who you are, or hear/remember it correctly, and sure don’t expect them to write it down. Yes, they can put it in their phone, but how often have you put a number in your phone and forgot who it was?? If you give someone a business card, or a cd or something like that… they may look at it the next day, remember who you are, and go look you up immediately. Or they may stuff it in their wallet, a drawer at home, or their car and forget about it. But then 6 months or a year down the road, they find it, look you up and by that small thing, uve kept a fan, reminded a business contact of who u are, or sold a ticket to a show, because they wanna come out and see how much uve improved.

Also, it can be a good idea to keep Music on you. Even if it’s a CD with 2 songs on it. U can sell it for 1 or 2 dollars. Someone may meet you from out of town, buy a CD and take it back across the country with them. And suddenly uve got fan is IOWA because they heard ur CD and thought u were talented. Or you may have a bad show, and someone was there scouting you, but they get a CD to see how good you are, and decide to book you for a show based off THAT. And theres always the long shot, someone gets a CD and their cousin is in the music business. They hear it and think WOW, this person has potential, so they have suddenly got you on their radar. Above all else tho, uve making a little money and getting your music heard. Isnt that your goal??

3. Fans

This is a tough one for me. A lot of artists neglect FANS. Don’t you want people to like you, enjoy your music, come see your shows, BUY your music, talk about you to their friends and family, request you on the radio, vote for you and etc??

Then you need to MAKE fans. Get out and talk to people. After your shows stay around and watch the other acts or just chill, let people approach you and say how much they enjoyed your performance. Tell them to look you up on the internet, add you, follow you, whatever.

I see a lot of people that aren’t using the internet to their advantage. USE your twitter, facebook and etc to let people know you are an artist. As I said before post up things like, “I have a show coming up next Wednesday, may 18, I will be doing my single “I love facebook”. Take a listen and come and check out the show. You can even learn the words and sing along!” If you have 1000 friends on facebook and 10 know you do music, then you are failing! Promote to them, post music, Talk to them, invite them out to shows(both with event invites and post saying it, maybe even hit their wall or inbox), ask then what they think about your music, etc. Get an email list and email your fans when you have shows, when you need votes, when you drop new music and more. People may be interested in you, but if you have to give them the chance to follow you, check you out and interact with you. I know I personally have always liked to see artists post when they have shows, or send out emails, if its an artist I like, I might have gotten out and checked them out. I have seen many people just be friends on facebook/twitter, end up interacting and then it grow into them doing business together or it lead to an opportunity they would have never gotten. So u never know what might happen from simply interacting with a friend/fan.

I have also lost respect for some artist who feel like they shouldn’t have to take the time out to market themselves, and email or post when they have a show, but complain no one is paying attention to them or there is no one at the show. And even complain they aren’t getting the attention they deserve!

Ultimately, if you are going to be a successful artist, u will need fans! Refusing to interact with them, being antisocial, having a huge ego, and etc, is only going to hurt ur career.

4. Sales

TO BE CONTINUED.