In the interest of helping a few bands that have recently been diagnosed with bumping disorders, I thought I'd start a thread for brainstorming purposes, for people to share ideas and information about marketing your music on a low/no budget. That way we get a MUSIC RELATED topic that can benefits everyone. More experienced bands can share what they've found to be effective, AND new ideas may result.
NOTE- this is NOT a bump bashing thread, or a place to defend your bumping disorder. This is a sincere effort to help EVERYONE learn more about promoting and marketing their music.
One other thing I wanted to suggest is that you clearly identify your "Target Audience". These are the people you want at your show. And yeah, I know you want EVERYONE at your show and listening to your music, but identifying a specific group you may want to target gives you a place to start.
So other than posting on Rockpage, how do you advertise your shows? Print, TV, Radio, Flyers? Let's hear what works and what doesn't and maybe get some new ideas in the mix too!
Effective Promotional Ideas and Marketing Strategies
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morningangel
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Baceman Spiff
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DirtySanchez
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Mostly we promote with flyers, playing out anywhere, doing shows for free
we're also running an ad in the May PA musician. I was thinking about telemarketing but, that damn do not call list and all. Merchandise is probably the #1 generator for any band, we're just getting started as a band so having barely any merchandise means we have to use and yes
sometimes seemingly "abuse" our other avenues. But, I have been in inside sales and marketing management for a few years so I've learned
10% will buy no matter what.
10% will not no matter what.
The other 80% are "on the fence", we will inevitably drive some people away with our ads, pitches, posts, in order to get to our "target Audience" no matter what. You will actually turn people off from your
service to get loyal compassionate customers "target Audience"
Hell geico can't even get 100% customer satisfaction.
we're also running an ad in the May PA musician. I was thinking about telemarketing but, that damn do not call list and all. Merchandise is probably the #1 generator for any band, we're just getting started as a band so having barely any merchandise means we have to use and yes
sometimes seemingly "abuse" our other avenues. But, I have been in inside sales and marketing management for a few years so I've learned
10% will buy no matter what.
10% will not no matter what.
The other 80% are "on the fence", we will inevitably drive some people away with our ads, pitches, posts, in order to get to our "target Audience" no matter what. You will actually turn people off from your
service to get loyal compassionate customers "target Audience"
Hell geico can't even get 100% customer satisfaction.
"You are now either a clueless inbred brownshirt Teabagger, or a babykilling hippie Marxist on welfare."-Songsmith
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ToonaRockGuy
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With SCREAM (www.screamrocks.com), we try to do posts on Rockpage, posts on our own website (www.screamrocks.com), newspaper ads the week of a show, we have a monthly ad in PA Musician for our website (www.screamrocks.com), word of mouth about www.screamrocks.com, and that's about it.
Oh yeah, check out our website, www.screamrocks.com.
Oh yeah, check out our website, www.screamrocks.com.
Dood...
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bassist_25
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- Location: Indiana
The thing that everyone has to remember first and foremost is that you absolutley must have a quality product to present before any marketing is going to have a lasting effect. People do not give the audience enough credit. No, the average bar-goer isn't going to be able to distinquish the tonal variations between your rythmn player's Marshall and your lead player's Mesa or be impressed with how well your bass player utilized that lydian fill over that Fmaj7 chord, but he/she will be able to distinquish a singer that's out of key, a mix that's muddy or shrill, a drummer who drags/rushes the beat, song endings that aren't tight, etc.
The best marketing is to network with other bands. Some bands get terroritorial or jealous if another band starts coming into their area. I always think that's funny because A.) It shows how insecure they are B.) It shows how much of a lack of business sense they have. Clubs do well if they have a reputation for consistently booking quality acts. We play at the County Line Inn, and Flight 19 is playing there this weekend. I'm very happy about that because I know that Flight 19 is a kick-ass band and the more kick-ass bands that come through the door means the less reluctant people are going to be to come and see us. They know that the chances of seeing a good band are pretty good. I consider many of the musicians in the area to be good friends, and I like to promo them whenever possible. I always drag my House of Cain CD along with me to shows and ask our engineers to play it during the breaks. I want to see good bands do well. As Nightcrawler Steve says, "Music isn't a competition sport." Technically, we are in competition with each other, but I never looked at it that way. And if you do look at it that way, you're going to get very frustrated with this business. Sometimes a higher drawing band is going to be playing across town. You just have to deal with it. If you haven't played to a room full of chairs during your life, then you haven't gigged.
TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT!
I cannot stipulate that anymore. No, I'm not saying that you should kiss the ass of the rambling drunk who keeps asking for asinine request in the middle of the set. But there will be people who are courteous and sincerely respect what you're doing. Take the time to talk to these people. I've met some of the most interesting people in my travels in this business. People will be more apt to see you if you're personable.
And one of the most important things to remember is that it takes time to build a name for yourself. No band deserves a following after three gigs. You earn everything in this business and gimmicks and hype only last for so long (even nepotism won't get you far. If it did, Lisa Marie Presely would be a superstar now). Build something that last. Make sure that your fan base is more than friends, family, and co-workers. Turn complete strangers onto your music, and many of them will also become friends. Don't try to ride the coattails of past projects' success, because as I said, you will get a reality check after the hype wears off. I've seen many players who thought that their past success was going to carry over, and it never does. Every project stands or fails on its own merit! Respect everyone unless they give you a reason not respect them. Respect the shakey high school band at the benefit you played because even though they may not be pro-level yet, one of them has a good chance going further and being in the next Stept On or Backstreet Law or Halestorm. Respect the sound engineers because they don't feel like dealing with another prima-donna who thinks he's a rockstar just because he's playing covers in Central PA. Plus, he's probaly run sound for everyone from Lifehouse to the garage band down the street, and his opinion is very well-respected and carries a lot of weight in this business. Respect the waitstaff because they very may well have the most pull in the club that you are playing at (our first couple of Pelly's dates had low attendance, yet Harry continued to book us because the staff loved us). And most importantly, respect your peers because bands don't last forever, and there will be a time when you are either looking for a player or looking to join a band. And if anyone else is like me, then you remember just about everyone you've met in this business and you remember who treated you well and who treated you like shit (and that goes back to the first set of people I told you to respect).
Just my 2% of a dollar.
The best marketing is to network with other bands. Some bands get terroritorial or jealous if another band starts coming into their area. I always think that's funny because A.) It shows how insecure they are B.) It shows how much of a lack of business sense they have. Clubs do well if they have a reputation for consistently booking quality acts. We play at the County Line Inn, and Flight 19 is playing there this weekend. I'm very happy about that because I know that Flight 19 is a kick-ass band and the more kick-ass bands that come through the door means the less reluctant people are going to be to come and see us. They know that the chances of seeing a good band are pretty good. I consider many of the musicians in the area to be good friends, and I like to promo them whenever possible. I always drag my House of Cain CD along with me to shows and ask our engineers to play it during the breaks. I want to see good bands do well. As Nightcrawler Steve says, "Music isn't a competition sport." Technically, we are in competition with each other, but I never looked at it that way. And if you do look at it that way, you're going to get very frustrated with this business. Sometimes a higher drawing band is going to be playing across town. You just have to deal with it. If you haven't played to a room full of chairs during your life, then you haven't gigged.
TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT! TREAT YOUR FANS WITH RESPECT!
I cannot stipulate that anymore. No, I'm not saying that you should kiss the ass of the rambling drunk who keeps asking for asinine request in the middle of the set. But there will be people who are courteous and sincerely respect what you're doing. Take the time to talk to these people. I've met some of the most interesting people in my travels in this business. People will be more apt to see you if you're personable.
And one of the most important things to remember is that it takes time to build a name for yourself. No band deserves a following after three gigs. You earn everything in this business and gimmicks and hype only last for so long (even nepotism won't get you far. If it did, Lisa Marie Presely would be a superstar now). Build something that last. Make sure that your fan base is more than friends, family, and co-workers. Turn complete strangers onto your music, and many of them will also become friends. Don't try to ride the coattails of past projects' success, because as I said, you will get a reality check after the hype wears off. I've seen many players who thought that their past success was going to carry over, and it never does. Every project stands or fails on its own merit! Respect everyone unless they give you a reason not respect them. Respect the shakey high school band at the benefit you played because even though they may not be pro-level yet, one of them has a good chance going further and being in the next Stept On or Backstreet Law or Halestorm. Respect the sound engineers because they don't feel like dealing with another prima-donna who thinks he's a rockstar just because he's playing covers in Central PA. Plus, he's probaly run sound for everyone from Lifehouse to the garage band down the street, and his opinion is very well-respected and carries a lot of weight in this business. Respect the waitstaff because they very may well have the most pull in the club that you are playing at (our first couple of Pelly's dates had low attendance, yet Harry continued to book us because the staff loved us). And most importantly, respect your peers because bands don't last forever, and there will be a time when you are either looking for a player or looking to join a band. And if anyone else is like me, then you remember just about everyone you've met in this business and you remember who treated you well and who treated you like shit (and that goes back to the first set of people I told you to respect).
Just my 2% of a dollar.
"He's the electric horseman, you better back off!" - old sKool making a reference to the culturally relevant 1979 film.
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onegunguitar
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ToonaRockGuy wrote:With SCREAM (www.screamrocks.com), we try to do posts on Rockpage, posts on our own website (www.screamrocks.com), newspaper ads the week of a show, we have a monthly ad in PA Musician for our website (www.screamrocks.com), word of mouth about www.screamrocks.com, and that's about it.
Oh yeah, check out our website, www.screamrocks.com.
What band are you in Kevin? Hahahahahaha!!
You know the Palace has been closed (ownership change) for awhile, so there are probably plenty of strippers out of work. It would be like a community service to out of work strippers.Charltor wrote:One way might be to get strippers to put temporary tatoos of your bands name/logo on their naughty parts, look what that babe did for godaddy.com or whatever during the superbowl commercials
Big Boobiez are the Best!!!!!!!!!!
