Unless you have the machinery of the music label behind you, you must learn how to self-promote your own content and this is perhaps one of the most crucial skills to be had. As is often the case, you don’t have enough money to hire PR people to help run your media campaigns and it is entirely up to you to get the people to know your music. It can be a lot to get started but with a few steps and tips, you can start on the right foot and get good results.
Identify your goals:
When you aim to self-promote your own content, you must clearly identify achievable goals and try not to do everything all at once. Observe the way the bigger artist are promoted and you see that they have specific campaigns targeted at specific things. Promote one thing like a single, a show or a website.
Once you are clear on what to promote, you will be better placed to set clear goals for yourself. If you want to promote your website, the goal is to get more traffic. With this in mind you can create strategies that will fit into that goal and get you results.
Target the Right Audience:
With your promotional aims and objectives at the back of your mind, you must figure out the best audience for your campaign. If you have something important coming up, look at the best channel to use to reach the specific audience you have in mind. Sometimes it is better to use local print publications, sometimes a mailing list will suffice. There are many channels you can exploit and whichever you choose should depend on the audience you want to reach.
Identify your niche:
In the world of today where there is a constant bombardment of content from every side, you need a reason to stand out in the minds of your audience. They need to identify you foe something so specific that they only want to get it from you. Try to find something that makes you stand out from the multitude of people all looking for audiences. Give your listeners and consumers a reason to want more of the same from you.
Branding:
Make sure you have a brand that people can easily identify you with. Design your stickers, badges, posters and flyers and include your brand name, pass them out to your favorite people and clubs and leave them on shop counters etc. let people identify you for something and know what you stand for.
For a lot of people, the concept of self-promoting their own music to their fans is easy to grapple with but the idea of calling press conferences and similar evens can be terrifying. The truth is some of the people you reach out to will be accommodating and others won’t. Some people will return your calls and emails, others won’t. This is a part of the grind and hustle so you must embrace it.
