DATABASE [It’s all about who you know.]
One of my weakest areas is taking the time to really organize my contacts. Relationships and contacts are vital. Absolutely vital. As you get more of them, you need to keep track of who falls into which category, and when you’ve communicated and what was said. Take the time to enter people’s info into your database, and come up with casual and friendly reasons to get in touch so that you stay on their radar. If you are not on people’s radar, you might as well be invisible. Walk the careful line of staying in touch without being annoying. DO NOT ONLY EMAIL PEOPLE WITH THE ‘Hey got any work for me?’ MESSAGE! That is not only annoying, but makes you look needy and desperate. Perhaps when you have something cool you’re working on, just send out a little email blast letting people know that you were honored to be a part of such and such, and they can check out the project at whatever website. And then, of course you can include all of your contact info in each email, or even attach your vCard, or whatever your address book program calls it. Reaching out like this is totally acceptable, and anyone in the business understands that you’ve GOT to promote yourself.
LOGO
You’ve probably not considered having your own logo, but the reality is that you are in BUSINESS, and businesses have logos. Having a well designed logo that fits your sound and personality can go a long long way. It can tie all of the elements together in how you present yourself. To have a great logo on your website, myspace page, CD, business card, letterhead, etc. makes you seem much more established and professional. Logos are tricky though, so be prepared to spend a long time developing what you want, and don’t settle for the “name swoosh”. [your name with something similar to the Nike swoosh] We spent about 5 months, going through 3 graphic designers and about $5,000 when all was said and done. But for that $5K, we got a professionally designed logo, business cards, address labels, and letterhead. YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND THAT MUCH. Give yourself time, but keep this on your to do list. It makes a DIFFERENCE!
[Hi all,
Ellen here. I've decided to take a very long handout that I
created for my college students and break it down into a series of
blogs. This is a summary of what I know about promoting yourself and
your music online. If you or someone you know is a self released
artist who doesn't necessarily have a plan of action after the CDs are
manufactured, subscribe to this blog and read the series. I'm breaking
it down into bite sized portions. ]
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