Formulating Your Best
Music Promotion Plan
by Bob Baker
A lot of people who subscribe to my Buzz Factor e-zine, read my books, and attend my workshops tell me that once they shift into a brainstorming mode, the self-promotion ideas come faster than Billy Joel behind the wheel of a Mazarotti. My first piece of advice regarding this fantastic state of mind is:
Buy a notebook or journal and capture these thoughts by writing them down. Don’t expect to remember everything later. That rarely works. Grab ideas while they’re hot.
If you’re driving when inspiration strikes, carefully pull over and scribble down your thoughts on a gas receipt, fast food bag, or whatever is handy. If you’re in a bar or restaurant, use a napkin. If you’re in the shower … well, be creative and find a way to record those great ideas.
So Many Ideas, So Little Time
Once you have a master list of earth-shattering, career-boosting concepts, things don’t get any easier. Now you probably feel as if you have so many options, you don’t know where to start. Most music people get so flustered at this point, they do nothing. Or they do a little bit of everything all at once and spread themselves too thin, with nothing to show for all their hard work.
Well, I believe in keeping things simple. Don’t overwhelm yourself. For starters, before you jump into any new grand schemes, there are two basic things you should do every week, if not every day, no matter what else you may be working on:
1) Write, record and perform great music. This is no secret. The most creative promotion ideas in the world will do nothing to help mediocre music. So work on your music-making craft constantly. All it takes is one killer song to light a fire that will sustain an entire career.
2) The second thing you should do almost every day is to take steps to connect with and attract more fans. Don’t get sidetracked with technicalities and industry connections and stuff that doesn’t matter. Keep a constant focus on fans.
Creating Your Music Plan
Now, what about those specific big ideas you have for getting exposure, selling CDs, etc.? Get out a calendar that covers the next 12 months, and start writing down your best ideas and the times of the year they would work best.
Think this through and move things around on the calendar until you’ve got one or two great ideas listed for each month. Doing this will give you a promotional road map so you know the best ways to spend your time and energy every month. Your efforts will be more focused this way and more likely to generate results.
Don’t just wing it and leave things to chance. This is your career and livelihood at stake here. Set priorities. Create an action plan. You can always tweak and alter the plan as you go. But having one in the first place gives you a starting point and a direction … and a reason to get busy and start promoting your music now.
So formulate a plan — your ideal plan — then … get out there and promote yourself!
Bob Baker is the author of “Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook,” “Unleash the Artist Within” and “Branding Yourself Online.” He also publishes TheBuzzFactor.com, a web site and e-zine that deliver marketing tips, self-promotion ideas and other empowering messages to music people of all kinds. Get your FREE subscription to Bob’s e-zine by visiting http://TheBuzzFactor.com today.
