EPISODE 1: DEFINING & REFINING YOUR CRAFT

Marketing, Branding, Promotion, Refining Your Craft Aired on Sunday, March 22, 2020

OUTLINE DEFINING WHAT YOU DO WHAT IS YOUR STORY? SWOT ANALYSIS - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats ELEVATOR PITCH BRAND FLUIDITY DEMOGRAPHIC/TARGET MARKET PROMOTION - Content is King! REFINING YOURSELF

CLICK HERE FOR THE DROPBOX FOLDER LINK

MARKETING/PROMOTION/BRANDING YOU ARE A BUSINESS!! Life is a people business. You are a business. This is the first thing you need to understand. And when you start to learn how to implement a business model that works for you, you begin to set yourself up for long term success. Treat everyone equally and share your story. You never know who someone is and how you could work together in the future. Plan, set goals, and execute! DEFINING WHAT YOU DO What is your story? What do you do? What sets you apart as a person separate from what you do? ** I sing, I write, I am a bandleader, I teach, I arrange ** I value community, I am female bandleader and business owner, I like to mentor and teach people SWOT ANALYSIS *Strengths - what sets you apart, what equipment do you have *Weakness - what are things that you don’t do or offer *Opportunities - jobs, connections, collaborations *Threats - competition, seasonal effects, changing trends Starbucks Sample SWOT Analysis

ELEVATOR PITCH Write down a synopsis in bullet points from the lists above -- the things that stand out the most: what you do, who you are, then craft it into a 30 second elevator pitch #humblebrag -- you need to sell yourself, but it must be authentic Don’t tell your life story, make your pitch fit where you’re at right now. Eg. When I used to teach I definitely would mention that. Now I am focusing on being an artist and a female business owner so I don’t include teaching in my pitch. BRAND FLUIDITY Excerpt from Pixel77 Entitled “The Power of the Modern Brand and How It Is Evolving”

Brand consultants and experts used to say that “People buy brands, not products”, and this is certainly true. But modern business has to show the story behind the company, integrate this message into the brand, and use it in how it is promoted.  A brand must be engaging and unique but must also provide a consistent message and voice.

Each Brand is an experience, diversify your branding to market your story - Imagery, fonts, logo, colors **make a pinterest board with images you like and artists you like, cities you love, sayings you like, and see what images and colors are prominent, look at your closet - what colors are prominent, look at your IG - what do you tend to post TEN TIPS FOR FLUID BRANDING

Know your audience and provide relevant content through appropriate channels.
Keep your message and central values consistent.
Reuse and repurpose content where appropriate (e.g. by using flexible logos to provide variation and avoid customer boredom).
Develop a palette of colours, typography, words and so on to serve as a basis for design and copywriting work.
Make sure your staff are aware of your branding parameters and what is acceptable and not acceptable.
Use storytelling as a branding strategy – give your brand a personality that people will identify with.
Keep your brand human (e.g. random acts of kindness, humour, reaction to real-life events).
Utilise user-generated content.
Get social – use social media platforms as a means of engaging your customers in two-way dialogue (rather than as a way to sell to them).
Promote brand advocacy.

DEMOGRAPHIC/TARGET MARKET Save time and money by knowing where to spend your time and money -- What is your demographic and how to cater to it? -- Age groups, lifestyles, male/female/LGBTQ, how do they dress - fancy, not fancy, values -- Check out artists who you sound like (not necessarily artists you like), what types of clubs are a good fit, spotify playlists, what kind of students do you want to teach --Check your stats on IG/FB/Streaming services - where are you popular? What is your presence - are you an online presence? Do you mostly do live shows? What is the best way to reach your audience? Younger audiences might check IG more, while older ones may be more attuned to email or facebook Look up the artists that are similar to you (not just ones you love) Poll 5 music and 5 non music people - ask them to describe you and your music PROMOTION Content is King - Content marketing informs, entertains, educates, and offers utility. Content is quickly moving past marketing and is becoming a piece of the puzzle that is the way people interact with the world around them. Check out this AWESOME Social Media Content Calendar for Musicians from TheCraftyMusician.com. Get a domain with your name - even just a simple landing page, or a domain that reroutes to a bandcamp or soundcloud. ** wix or squarespace are super user friendly and have templates Consistency - with names and spelling - optimizes SEO in searches, less confusion, easy access -The band Lucius has branded all their stuff as "I Love Lucius" - their website andsocials Get business cards/ print & digital flyers - list your socials -- -- Canva, Pixlr, vistaprint, moo -- still good to have them even though IG is the main connect these days Scheduled posts through Later.com, sponsored ads, IG, FB page, hashtags, connect your accounts Print and Frame something with your socials and payment info - it has info and it will be in pics Call to Action: tell people what you want them to do -- follow me on IG, book us now, call now to book your lesson, tag a friend, share this post, leave a comment REFINING YOURSELF * Work on your craft - always * Practice/learn new songs - make a list of songs you want to learn * Learn how to do stuff on your own or you will be waiting on people forever * Educate yourself - research about music publishing, read music blogs on CDBaby, Bandcamp, etc * Check out other artists who are doing what you want to do - see where they’re playing, what type of content are they sharing, what are their branding tactics * Find a mentor - reach out to people who are doing what you want to do, many people offer free consults * Reach out to other professionals and talk about what’s going on, what’s working, what struggles have they faced * Go out and connect with and support other artists * Try new things! * Check out the billboard charts and Spotify tastemaker playlists * Consistently check your goals and progress and set new ones * Videotape a performance and watch it back * Learn music theory/take a lesson -- so many free lessons on youtube

Be a good person, music is life and life is a people business.
Be Kind
Be Confident
Be Humble
Be Accountable
Be Fair

Lilan Kane Presents

EPISODE 1: DEFINING & REFINING YOUR CRAFT

CLICK HERE FOR THE DROPBOX FOLDER LINK

RECOMMENDED LINKS

Recent Posts

Comments

Contact us now

for a free consultation!