Last week did we start with this course of the Independent Artist Wake- Up E- course. In the E- course am I explaining how to maximize all possibilities for your future success, especially for success in 2011. Today will we continue so welcome to…
Part Two
We are going to focus on effective marketing ideas to help you sell more CDs in today’s course, assuming that you are doing at least a few live shows every few months and have a CD you have made or intend to make. I would highly recommend that you focus on one or two of these ideas at a time, or as many as you can execute EFFECTIVELY. If this is all new to you then don’t be overwhelmed by it. Take your time but focus on getting results utilizing one or two ideas that you know you can put to use immediately. On the other hand, if you see a few ideas that are familiar to you, ask yourself "Am I implementing these ideas" and if so "How can I continue to implement these ideas MORE effectively". These are tried and tested marketing strategies. Don't take them lightly.
1) Give away sample CDs at gigs and other people's gigs
It’s vital that you designate a good amount of regular time to increasing your fan base. Let's face it, you only have so many gigs and the average band is waiting for their next gig to promote their music. This is all well and good but there are very often large gaps of time between gigs. So what do you do? You use this time to drum up seductive ways to draw new fans into your lair!
Make a sample CD of say 3 songs with your website spelled out in large letters on the paper sleeve and have as many printed up as you think you can use. Think about who your competition is on the live scene. Stand outside the club and wait for people to walk out the door and hand them your CD. It's a freebie, why wouldn't anyone want to take one? If these folks liked your rival band, chances are they might dig you. (For an in depth street marketing strategy utilizing this and many other tactics, you can read more here)
2) Send fans and potential fans a slideshow/audio sampler
Have a new CD coming out? Why not give them a sample of what's to come? This is actually what the big record companies do but on a different scale. Usually when a major label releases a record, they will promote a single to radio at least 6 weeks ahead of the full-length album's street date. The reason they do this is that it creates a demand for the record and retail stores feel comfortable taking larger orders of the CD if people want them. In your independent situation, you can do something similar by sending your existing fans a sample of your new music and offering them a subscriber's only discount when the album arrives. You could either have one or two downloadable mp3 files on your site (not full length songs!) or send them a cool slideshow and audio sampler. I recommend the "AL Screensaver & Slideshow Builder". This program allows you to create screensavers and slideshows using any kind of image files (BMP, JPEG, JPG, TGA). You may also add any soundtrack (MID, WAV, MP3 and .m3u formats are supported) into it. It's really cool and fun to watch. Check out more here.
3) CD discounts and specials
There's no more powerful place to sell your CDs than at your own shows. Make sure that it is obvious where fans need to go in order to be able to purchase your merchandise. Announce that your CD is "available here tonight" several times during your set. I have found that a great way to sell CDs after a live set is by giving discounts to those who want to purchase more than one CD. If one CD costs $15 then two CDs might cost $25 and three CDs maybe just $30. This is particularly effective when you have a catalogue of say three or four different CDs. If an audience member was wowed by your show, they are very often prone to wanting all of your albums that night through sheer spontaneity. Giving them a discount will work wonders for you.
4) Offer 20% off to your website subscribers
Make it known to your fans, new and old, that if they subscribe to your newsletter on the website they can get 20% off (or any percent you designate) when they purchase your CD. You can set up an auto responder to new subscribers and give them a promotional code to buy online or a unique URL to purchase a "Discount only to subscribers" album. "Mailloop" is the perfect tool to automate all your fan lists, broadcast your newsletters and autorespond to new fans in this way. You should consider this tool if you are serious about building your fan base locally, nationally and internationally. It is the ultimate tool for automating your online business. Check out more here
5) Have someone walk around tables after your show selling CDs for you
Immediately after your live show you should have a friend or street team member walk around each table selling CDs and collecting names for your mailing list. This is extremely powerful. I have found that many people are so busy talking to their friends that they don't make the effort to go to the merchandise stand. By approaching them directly, you are increasing your chances of selling by sometimes up to 50%.
6) Stamp hands at club entrance with your website address
By the time your live show is finished you should have made every effort to make sure that everyone in the audience knows who you are and where they can go online to get more info, subscribe to your newsletter and find out more info if they want it. Of course you need to do all of this is in a charming very non-pushy kind of way. A couple of announcements during the gig won't hurt. Have someone stamp your website address on people's hands as they walk into the club. How many times do you walk into a club and get stamped? And how many times can you actually read or see what it is they have stamped? Hardly ever! Why not take advantage of this and have an ink stamp made for you.
7) Collect names for your mailing list
Collecting e-mail addresses is something that you HAVE to do if you want to build your fan base and just as importantly, sell your future merchandise to. At each club or venue you play at, you could offer a discount to those who are interested to buy your album if they sign up for your mailing list. Make this your top priority. Building you list is building your fan base, and YOU control it. Imagine this: You have 100,000 subscribers on your list that you have diligently nurtured over the years. Of those 100,000 subscribers, provided they are all folks who chose to be on your list, you could expect about 25,000 CD sales every time you release a new CD. That's a lot of money going in to your pocket I can tell you!
8) Include an "add your name to our mail list" form inside your CD
Don't forget that, in a perfect world, you will be making more albums in the future. When you manufacture your CDs you could add an insert that prompts people to add their name and e-mail address to your mailing list. Give them an incentive like "Discounts to live shows and future albums". Include a PO box they should send it to or give them a URL where they can alternatively subscribe online.
9) Sell t-shirts with your website in big letters across the front
Promote your website and get a good flow of traffic by selling t-shirts with your website plastered all over it. You might also give a bunch away as prizes to fans that bring say, over 5 friends to your gigs.
10) Be personable to all fans and get to know them
There is nothing as powerful and more flattering to your fans than personally getting to know them. They will tell their friends and their friends will tell their friends and so on. Spend a good amount of time after your gigs talking with your fans. You are on a mission to spread the word. You can retain a little mystery, that's cool too; most rock musicians seem to enjoy that. Just don't be an ass****! Make them feel important. They'll love you for it!
So that is it for now. Next week will we be covering Part 3 of the course on how to improve your live show. See ya next week and keep on hustling to reach ya objective.
We are going to focus on effective marketing ideas to help you sell more CDs in today’s course, assuming that you are doing at least a few live shows every few months and have a CD you have made or intend to make. I would highly recommend that you focus on one or two of these ideas at a time, or as many as you can execute EFFECTIVELY. If this is all new to you then don’t be overwhelmed by it. Take your time but focus on getting results utilizing one or two ideas that you know you can put to use immediately. On the other hand, if you see a few ideas that are familiar to you, ask yourself "Am I implementing these ideas" and if so "How can I continue to implement these ideas MORE effectively". These are tried and tested marketing strategies. Don't take them lightly.
1) Give away sample CDs at gigs and other people's gigs
It’s vital that you designate a good amount of regular time to increasing your fan base. Let's face it, you only have so many gigs and the average band is waiting for their next gig to promote their music. This is all well and good but there are very often large gaps of time between gigs. So what do you do? You use this time to drum up seductive ways to draw new fans into your lair!
Make a sample CD of say 3 songs with your website spelled out in large letters on the paper sleeve and have as many printed up as you think you can use. Think about who your competition is on the live scene. Stand outside the club and wait for people to walk out the door and hand them your CD. It's a freebie, why wouldn't anyone want to take one? If these folks liked your rival band, chances are they might dig you. (For an in depth street marketing strategy utilizing this and many other tactics, you can read more here)
2) Send fans and potential fans a slideshow/audio sampler
Have a new CD coming out? Why not give them a sample of what's to come? This is actually what the big record companies do but on a different scale. Usually when a major label releases a record, they will promote a single to radio at least 6 weeks ahead of the full-length album's street date. The reason they do this is that it creates a demand for the record and retail stores feel comfortable taking larger orders of the CD if people want them. In your independent situation, you can do something similar by sending your existing fans a sample of your new music and offering them a subscriber's only discount when the album arrives. You could either have one or two downloadable mp3 files on your site (not full length songs!) or send them a cool slideshow and audio sampler. I recommend the "AL Screensaver & Slideshow Builder". This program allows you to create screensavers and slideshows using any kind of image files (BMP, JPEG, JPG, TGA). You may also add any soundtrack (MID, WAV, MP3 and .m3u formats are supported) into it. It's really cool and fun to watch. Check out more here.
3) CD discounts and specials
There's no more powerful place to sell your CDs than at your own shows. Make sure that it is obvious where fans need to go in order to be able to purchase your merchandise. Announce that your CD is "available here tonight" several times during your set. I have found that a great way to sell CDs after a live set is by giving discounts to those who want to purchase more than one CD. If one CD costs $15 then two CDs might cost $25 and three CDs maybe just $30. This is particularly effective when you have a catalogue of say three or four different CDs. If an audience member was wowed by your show, they are very often prone to wanting all of your albums that night through sheer spontaneity. Giving them a discount will work wonders for you.
4) Offer 20% off to your website subscribers
Make it known to your fans, new and old, that if they subscribe to your newsletter on the website they can get 20% off (or any percent you designate) when they purchase your CD. You can set up an auto responder to new subscribers and give them a promotional code to buy online or a unique URL to purchase a "Discount only to subscribers" album. "Mailloop" is the perfect tool to automate all your fan lists, broadcast your newsletters and autorespond to new fans in this way. You should consider this tool if you are serious about building your fan base locally, nationally and internationally. It is the ultimate tool for automating your online business. Check out more here
5) Have someone walk around tables after your show selling CDs for you
Immediately after your live show you should have a friend or street team member walk around each table selling CDs and collecting names for your mailing list. This is extremely powerful. I have found that many people are so busy talking to their friends that they don't make the effort to go to the merchandise stand. By approaching them directly, you are increasing your chances of selling by sometimes up to 50%.
6) Stamp hands at club entrance with your website address
By the time your live show is finished you should have made every effort to make sure that everyone in the audience knows who you are and where they can go online to get more info, subscribe to your newsletter and find out more info if they want it. Of course you need to do all of this is in a charming very non-pushy kind of way. A couple of announcements during the gig won't hurt. Have someone stamp your website address on people's hands as they walk into the club. How many times do you walk into a club and get stamped? And how many times can you actually read or see what it is they have stamped? Hardly ever! Why not take advantage of this and have an ink stamp made for you.
7) Collect names for your mailing list
Collecting e-mail addresses is something that you HAVE to do if you want to build your fan base and just as importantly, sell your future merchandise to. At each club or venue you play at, you could offer a discount to those who are interested to buy your album if they sign up for your mailing list. Make this your top priority. Building you list is building your fan base, and YOU control it. Imagine this: You have 100,000 subscribers on your list that you have diligently nurtured over the years. Of those 100,000 subscribers, provided they are all folks who chose to be on your list, you could expect about 25,000 CD sales every time you release a new CD. That's a lot of money going in to your pocket I can tell you!
8) Include an "add your name to our mail list" form inside your CD
Don't forget that, in a perfect world, you will be making more albums in the future. When you manufacture your CDs you could add an insert that prompts people to add their name and e-mail address to your mailing list. Give them an incentive like "Discounts to live shows and future albums". Include a PO box they should send it to or give them a URL where they can alternatively subscribe online.
9) Sell t-shirts with your website in big letters across the front
Promote your website and get a good flow of traffic by selling t-shirts with your website plastered all over it. You might also give a bunch away as prizes to fans that bring say, over 5 friends to your gigs.
10) Be personable to all fans and get to know them
There is nothing as powerful and more flattering to your fans than personally getting to know them. They will tell their friends and their friends will tell their friends and so on. Spend a good amount of time after your gigs talking with your fans. You are on a mission to spread the word. You can retain a little mystery, that's cool too; most rock musicians seem to enjoy that. Just don't be an ass****! Make them feel important. They'll love you for it!
So that is it for now. Next week will we be covering Part 3 of the course on how to improve your live show. See ya next week and keep on hustling to reach ya objective.
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