Unless you have major label money behind you, the ability to self-promote your music is one of the most important skills you can have. When you don’t have money to hire PR people to run media campaigns for you, it is up to you to make sure people know about the music you are making. Getting started can be a little overwhelming, however there are steps you can take that will help you start out on the right foot.
Identify Your Goals – Try not to cover too much ground. Have a specific campaign in mind to promote a specific thing, such as a new single or album, a show or gig, or a website. Once you know what to promote, you will be able to make clear goals for yourself. With these goals in mind, you’ll find it easier to come up with promotion ideas and judge their success.
Promote your music
Target the Right Audience – especially important if you are on a budget. No point wasting time and money letting a Hip Hop magazine know your new Folk album is out. With your promotional goals in mind, figure out who your target audience is. For example if you have a limited edition single coming out, your primary audience is your band mailing list, plus the media.
Have a Promo Package ready – this should include:
- A press release
- Any previous media coverage
- A short band/artist bio
- Contact details including email
- Colour photo or web link to one
- CD (this maybe a demo or the latest album)
Find your Niche – Try to find something that will make people more curious about you – give them a reason to want to know more. You don’t have to devise a huge, designed persona, but giving people a reason to check out your show or your CD before the others can only help.
Bribe Them – Even media people and label bosses love getting something for nothing, and you’ll whip your fans into a frenzy (and get new fans) by giving stuff away. One idea is to give away CD singles at a gig to every person who signs up to your mailing list.
Branding – Get your name out there. Make up stickers, posters, badges etc. and leave it anywhere you can. Soon, your name will be familiar to people even if they don’t know why. And next time they see your advert for a gig – they may decide to check you out.
Keep Track of Your Contacts – Keep a database on your computer for the industry people you have met and another database of fan contacts. These databases should be your first port of call for your next promotional campaign.
So as you can see having CDs of your music is an essential part a campaign. It’s important to use a professional, effective and affordable company like Duplication Centre or Replication Centre to help create these CD used in this self-promotion process.