Do It Yourself Marketing

I realize that I never quite finished up sharing my notes on the songwriting conference.  Today I would like to wrap up with a synopsis of presentation called "Do It Yourself Marketing".   I really only have one more presentation to post on because I only stayed at the conference for about one more hour.   I had to leave early to pick up my child from the babysitter before the conference got over.  There were many ideas that were shared during this portion of the presentation, but the points that stuck with me were:

#1.  Create some sort of a brand.
Decide what you want to accomplish and stick to the plan.  What do I do really well?  What is my niche?  Decide what you want share and move forward.  That Brand keeps you focused.  What are you trying to communicate?  Hone in on the quality and it will push it out itself.  There should be a demand for your product.  When you have a good product it will sell itself.

Here is a logo created by my talented Friend Mishelle Stott for a band I belong to called One Horizon.  I thought of this logo as I learned about the importance of creating "some sort of brand".

#2.  Decide what you want your image to be.
Who is your demographic?  Who do you want your audience to be?  Build off of your demographic.

#3.  Recognize the benefits of Social Media.
Share what you have on youtube.  Realize that followers have expectations.  They want to know when the next video is.  Post at certain times.  If you schedule at certain times people can come back. Find out what they like and deliver it to them.  Recognize that you do have to start somewhere, so be realistic.  Do what you can to bring quality because it DOES matter.

#4. Get your music to as many people as possible.
It takes time.  Put focus on one song at a time.  Post and promote that song.  Put effort into the initial climbing phase until people want to come back to your art.  If there is not a demand for your art re-evaluate and improve the art.

These are all great bits of advice that can help improve a songwriters business.  I look forward to trying to apply these ideas into my own musical life.  Please share any experiences you might have with these ideas by commenting below.  Until next time.... Happy Song writing!!