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The Attractive Character For Musicians

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I have loads of books related to the music business. Songwriting, recording, touring, getting fans, legal stuff, and of course… marketing.

And I love those books. I think a lot of them are great.

But as I started to study direct response marketing more, I started to have a theory crystallize in my mind.

Part of that theory is that marketing principles are essentially the same across a lot of industries. Sure the product and the specific tactics will change if you’re trying to sell music rather than insurance or vacuum cleaners or something, but it’s all still marketing.

Then I started to think that if you wanted to stand out in your industry, maybe you shouldn’t do exactly the same thing that everyone else is doing to get noticed.

Otherwise you just become part of the noise and can be easily overlooked.

*Sidebar: I had this reinforced by a genius real estate marketing coach. Pretty much all real estate agents promote the same way… And no one wants to see a real estate agent coming toward them!

And if you only read books on music marketing, chances are you’ll follow the advice and do the same stuff that pretty much all musicians do.

It’s not even that any of this stuff is particularly bad, it probably even works! It’s just that it’s not the best way to distinguish yourself from the pack and be memorable.

So how do we start doing stuff in a different way?

Enter Russell Brunson

Russell is the founder of Click Funnels and has had the opportunity to learn directly from some of the biggest names in marketing.

He’s a pretty sharp guy and he wrote a book called DotCom Secrets. It’s a great, great introduction to direct response marketing that you can get for only the cost of shipping. I highly recommend it. There’s so much awesome info in there.

But today, I want to focus on one specific concept that I think is particularly relevant to musicians, the concept of The Attractive Character.

He defines the Attractive Character as “a persona that attracts clients or customers and helps you build your following to eventually make sales.”

The reason this is necessary is that people aren’t really going to pay attention to your marketing message if they aren’t interested or attracted to the person delivering the message.

He used this concept to stand out in the online marketing space, one that’s filled with competitors (and a lot of shady people too).

The Attractive Character for Musicians

So how does this apply to you as a musician?

Well, think about this. You probably have good music. Maybe even great music. But guess what?

So do millions of other guys and gals out there competing with you for people’s earbuds.

What makes you stand out? What makes you different?

I’m going to argue in almost all cases (with rare exceptions) that it’s not your music…

It’s you!

It’s your back story. It’s your current story. It’s the story behind your most recent song. It’s your look. It’s your sound.

All of these things contribute to what makes you unique as an artist. Good music is pretty much a given. It is the cost of entry now.

Besides, people that aren’t musicians are often fascinated by musicians. This is an industry where you can talk about your craft and there will be people who are interested in what you have to say.

This doesn’t happen everywhere. Believe me when I say that no one wants to read about a real estate agent or insurance agent’s work on a daily basis! But a musician… That’s a different story.

How To Do It

There are a number of possible ways to go about this. Social media is one. It’s valuable to bring your fans inside your world using Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Videos are great because people can get a feel for your personality, how you look, how you sound and more.

There’s another way that a lot of people go about doing this, and that is with an email newsletter. As you know, I’m a firm believer that musicians absolutely need to be using email marketing to communicate with fans.

So you can and should use one of those routes, but now let’s take it a step further.

But first, some background.

The Millward Brown Study

In the Millward Brown study, researchers used MRI technology to study differences in the brains of people looking at print materials and digital materials.

You can read the linked PDF, but here are 3 of their takeaways from the study:

  1. Tangible materials leave a deeper footprint in the brain.
  2. Physical material involves more emotional processing, which is important for memory and brand associations.
  3. Physical materials produced more brain responses connected with internal feelings, suggesting greater “internalization” of the ads

Even the researchers say that this is in no way to say you should stop using virtual communications, they absolutely have a place.

So… ?

I know this recommendation is going to come across as bizarre, but what if you sent out a print version of your newsletter to fans?

We already have evidence that print materials affect the brain more deeply than digital/virtual materials. So would a greater emotional attachment to your Attractive Character that you built up in your newsletter benefit your career?

Maybe it would get you more gigs if you sent it to someone who books a venue. Maybe your fans would support your new release or crowdfunding project. Fans could have a paper calendar of your gigs to supplement your website and emails.

Conclusion

Again, I know this idea is probably a lot to process, but think on it for a little bit.

In a future post I’ll lay out how I envision putting this process into play.

What do you think? Crazy? Interesting? Have you ever tried it?

Let me know in the comments.

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5 Reasons Musicians MUST Use Email Marketing

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“But I have a Facebook Fan page.”

“I have 1000s of Twitter followers.”

All that’s good, but if you can’t communicate directly with your fans, then you don’t have anything.

*Disclaimer – None of this is new or groundbreaking information, but I still thought it was worth writing about. The more times bands and musicians hear this, the better.

In fact, I had to remind myself of this a coupe of days ago and send a quick email out to my list!

So why is this a necessary step in a world where everyone is completely glued to social media?

1) You don’t “own” your social media profiles.

I was a musician even back in the days of Myspace. That was the end all be all of the indie music industry at that time! People judged you by how many Myspace friends you had. In fact, I’m sure people even got record deals based solely off of these numbers.

But now?

People under a certain age don’t even remember that Myspace existed!

And all the time we spent building up our profile is pretty much for nothing.

I know it’s difficult to fathom, but the same thing could absolutely happen to Facebook or Twitter or whatever social network.

And if that happens and you don’t have any other contact information for those people then your communication has just been cut off.

But you know what?

2) You can’t control what Facebook shows people.

Even if you have tons of likes on your Facebook page, there’s still only going to be a small percentage of people that the Facebook algorithm will show your post to.

Now that Facebook ads have blown up, Facebook has no incentive to help you promote yourself for free to people that they think might not be interested in your content.

You can buy ads, but if you go that route you need to have a solid strategy for making money off them. Otherwise you’re just spending your cash on building awareness, which is probably a losing strategy for most people.

3) Twitter’s newsfeed moves too fast to keep up with.

Maybe this is just me. I’m terrible at Twitter.

But one thing i’ve noticed is that I can never seem to keep up with Twitter because of all the noise.

You tweet something, and depending on how many other people your followers follow, it might be gone in seconds. Then they have to go to your profile and try to find it again, if they even care enough to. And if you’re a prolific tweeter, that makes it even harder to find something.

So you can (and probably should) announce your gigs and album releases and whatever else you’re sharing on Twitter, but most people won’t see it unless they happen to be looking at just the right time, or you tag them in the tweet.

4) Email let’s you target exactly who to send your messages to.

Unlike Twitter’s crowded, fast moving newsfeed and Facebook’s alogrithm, with email you can decide who to send your messages to.

You can segment your lists, send to everyone or even just select a few people you know will be interested.

While you can’t be guaranteed that people will read your email, you can be sure that it will get to their inbox. It might go into spam or the promotions tab, but at least it will get there. And I think it’s a lot easier to search for an older email than it is to search for a tweet or Facebook post.

If you have fans spread out over large geographic areas, you can just send to people in the area that you are playing. Or you can email everyone to let them know about your online concert, or crowdfunding campaign or whatever.

You can drive traffic to your website or a video or even a Facebook post!

5) If your email service provider is going to shut down, you can just export your list and carry on.

If Facebook shuts down, it’s taking your audience with it.

If Mailchimp shuts down, you can export everyone on your list to a spreadsheet and add them to another provider and still be able to communicate with your fans.

Conclusion

In much the same way that you need to have a website in addition to your social media presence, you absolutely have to have an email list to go along with that.

You need to OWN all your internet properties and be able to communicate with people in whatever unrestricted manner best suits you and your fans.

Please, please, please don’t make the mistake of not doing this. It will come back to bite you at some point, I promise.

If you have questions on how to get started with email marketing, hit me up in the comments or send me an email. I’d be happy to talk it over with you.

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Reposted from MattieRocks.com

How Do I Know If I’m Ready?

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Aren’t forums wonderful?

Just a few years ago there were no places where anonymous strangers could give you advice about whatever you wanted to know.

You had to interact with real people.

It wasn’t as easy for frauds with no real world experience to come across as experts due to a higher post count.

But I digress.

Despite that little bit of snark, I really like forums!

There are a handful of guitar/music related forums that I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on over the years.

And also, despite my dismissal of the “internet experts” (or ex-spurts), there really are people on there with tons of valuable insight to share.

I think TGP has its fair share of professional musicians. Guys that really have done what lots of folks only dream of.

How Do I Know When I’m Ready To Play My First Gig?

Because I like to know what kind of questions people have about starting to gig, I like to see what goes around on some of those forums.

Not too long ago, someone asked, “How long did you play before your first gig?”

Reading between the lines, I’m going to assume the question really is, “How do I know when I’m ready to play my first gig?”

Now, there are actually lots of ways to answer this question.

From a practical standpoint:

How long have you been playing guitar seriously?

Do you know or can you play any songs all the way through?

Can you play and sing well enough for people to sit and listen for a while?

Do you have any experience at all that is applicable to this situation? (Like being in a school band or choir or talent show)

Aside from the practical matters, there are other things to take into consideration as well…

How do you handle being in front of a crowd?

What kind of gig are you considering taking?

Are you going solo or with a band?

How many people might be there?

How many songs would you be playing?

Are you going to be background or will all the attention be focused on you?

But the real answer is…

Even after thinking about all those questions, there are still dozens and dozens that we could still ask.

The truth of the matter is, there’s no way to prepare for all the things that could happen when you gig.

Even when you have lots of experience, things that you couldn’t have forseen will pop up.

There will be complications that no one predicted.

So, to my mind, the real answer is that if you can play and sing in the context of whatever you are planning, then the best thing to do is take the gig!

I come from the “ready, fire, aim” school of doing.

(This doesn’t apply if you just started playing last week and can barely change chords from a G to a C. In that case, keep practicing. I’m assuming a certain level of skill…)

You will never be “ready” for much of anything in your life.

No situation will ever really be ideal.

The timing will never be just right.

You will never be perfect.

So you just need to get out there and play.

You will learn something from just about every gig.

You don’t have to start with anything huge.

In another post, I’ll talk about where I think the best place to start is.

Stay tuned, and subscribe to the email list now so you never miss a post!

How A Bachelorette Party Messed With My Mind

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Bachelorette PartyAnd it’s probably not in the way you think…

So there I was, at a venue I’ve played at numerous times over the last 8 years.

In fact, I was the first musician they ever booked when the first opened up.

I know the owner, as well as many of the employees, pretty well.

(And they still keep having me back!)

Want to hear a $10 word? Heuristic.

It’s a general strategy or approach to solving a problem.

We use heuristics to shortcut familiar processes to keep us from having to make choices about the same things over and over again.

As I mentioned, I’ve played at this venue many, many times.

I know where to park, what to bring, where I am going to set up.

A lot of my routine is on cruise control here because it’s so familiar.

Pattern Interrupt!

But when I got there most recently, there was a bachelorette party setting up right in front of where I usually play.

One thing you’re likely to learn is that people don’t like to sit directly in front of your P.A. System!

Especially when they plan to spend the afternoon drinking, talking and playing games.

For them, the music is a pleasant background at best.

This really threw me…

Frankly, I’m a little ashamed to admit it.

But this messed with me a little bit!

I started running through solutions to the “problem.”

First, let the manager know about it.

But really, how much sense does it make to relocate paying customers?

Not much!

Second, wait them out. I’ll just start a little later and play a little longer.

But we could tell they were settling in for a long afternoon (and they did stay for about 2 hours.)

Third, it was suggested to play without amplification.

This wasn’t an option, for reasons I’ll discuss in another post.

So What Was The Answer?

What I did was simple.

Ridiculously so.

But I can’t even take the credit!

My wife suggested it first, even though I initially rejected the idea.

Then my friend that worked there suggested it.

Still a no.

Why?

Just being stubborn.

But of course, sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

What did I do?

I set up and played in a different part of the room!

See how simple that was?

The Power of Habit

Looking back, it’s hard to figure why I didn’t do that instantly.

That just goes to show the power of habits, or the huge influence these heuristics have in your life.

Because I had done the same thing over and over again, simple solutions, solutions that were obvious to all outside observers, eluded me.

So while it’s useful (even essential) to have routines and habits, don’t become a victim of them.

Unless you’re a big star (and if you are, shoot me an email I’d love to talk with you!), understand that you need to be flexible.

Most venues probably won’t put your needs above those of the paying customers unless there’s a larger benefit to them.

If you’ve got people you trust around, really listen to their ideas. They’re trying to help you.

Break out of your own head and figure out a way to make it work.

Got any stories like this?

What kind of heuristics do you work with on a regular basis?