The Buzz Factor (6 Guerrilla Ideas in Action) Bob Baker's "The Buzz Factor" Delivering music marketing tips, self-promotion ideas and more since 1995 - http://TheBuzzFactor.com/ August 1, 2003 - Vol. 9, Issue 22 In This Issue: 1. Are You Ready for the Fall & Holiday Blitz? 2. Six Guerrilla Marketing Ideas in Action __________________________________________________ See the end of this message for details on how to get on and off the Buzz Factor mailing list. __________________________________________________ Welcome! => 1. Are You Ready for the Fall & Holiday Blitz? As the heat of summer chugs along, it's time to start thinking about fall, and yes, even the upcoming holiday season. The plans you make now will go a long way toward making the last few months of the year profitable. First off, read my new article, "Six Guerrilla Marketing Ideas in Action," in the next section of this issue. I dug out a half dozen of my favorite real-world self-promotion examples from the past year's Buzz Factor archives. These stories will hopefully inspire you to make some creative plans of your own for the months ahead. Thumbs up ... Have you read Gilli Moon's new book? It's called "I Am a Professional Artist: The Key to Survival and Success in the World of the Arts." If you haven't, I recommend it. Gilli is an entrepreneurial dynamo. A successful indie musician, performance artist, actor, visual artist and author. She runs her own record label and publishing company and founded a grassroots organization called Songsalive. Incredible. She grew up in Australia but spends much of her time these days in Los Angeles. Luckily for us, she shares a lot of her great wisdom in "I Am a Professional Artist." This compact paperback book reveals lessons, tips and healthy philosophies that anyone going into a creative field needs to hear. Written in a conversational style, the book makes you feel like you're sitting across the table from Gilli in a cafe as she spills her guts about passion, creativity, independence, optimism, opportunity, diversification, promotion, success and more. I have only 10 copies of the paperback book available right now at $19.95 each plus $2 for shipping to the US or Canada. The PDF e-book download version is only $14.95. I don't even have a sales page for this book on my web site yet. Right now, it's only available through this e-zine using PayPal with these links: The paperback book: http://makeashorterlink.com/?U28924475 The PDF e-book: http://makeashorterlink.com/?A56926475 Download instructions will be e-mailed to you later the same day you order. Learn from an artist who has made great strides in her career and is destined for even bigger things to come. Get "I Am a Professional Artist" today. __________________________________________________ => 2. Six Guerrilla Marketing Ideas in Action You've certainly heard the term "guerrilla marketing" thrown around a lot (particularly by me). Just in case you didn't know, a guerrilla music marketer uses creativity instead of cash. She doesn't limit her list of promotion options to the traditional tried-and-true. Or he doesn't accept the age-old limitations set by the industry or the majority of frustrated artists. To help this guerrilla attitude sink in, here are six examples of real music people thinking outside the box and doing innovative things to boost their careers. Use these examples to create your own guerrilla marketing ideas and tactics. The Power of Food Members of the act Twelve:12 (www.twelve12.org) found themselves doing a 20-minute interview on a rock radio station in their hometown ... all for simply bringing breakfast to the disc jockeys. "We stopped at a restaurant and ordered some omelets, bacon and biscuits to go, then brought them to a local station for the morning show hosts," says Eric Luedtke. "They talked to us on the air for 20 minutes about our music." Eric points out that this happened in Madison, Wisconsin. "So we're not talking a small town where anyone can get on the radio just for knitting a nice sweater," he says. Many media people love food, particularly morning jocks, who often don't have time to get a good breakfast on the way to work. Fill their stomachs and they just might reward you with exposure. Perform a Guerrilla Concert Kenny Kinds of Blue Fortune (www.blue-fortune.com) performs what he calls a "guerrilla concert" before shows. He explains, "We find a location near where we'll be performing, like a market or cafe where a lot of people gather. Then we acoustically perform a couple of songs -- just long enough to tease people, hand out flyers, complimentary CDs, etc." Many of those unsuspecting people, of course, are inspired to attend Blue Fortune's show. Stamp of Approval Here's a cool marketing idea from Corey Palmer of the band Monday Conspiracy. Like most club-playing musicians, his band gets booked at venues that stamp the hand of every patron who enters. Most bands don't give this common ritual a second thought. But not Monday Conspiracy. "We had a stamp made that spells out our web site address," Corey says. "Before every show, we ask the manager if he or she would mind using our stamp at the door. Most managers say yes, which results in the entire crowd being temporarily branded with our web address." And the results? "We've seen our web traffic jump quite a bit since we started doing this. People are less likely to forget our address with it stamped on their hands." The Eye Candy System Nicola of Hot Cherry Records (www.cdbaby.com/nicolanyc) relates that after her set ends, she has "two or three attractive girls -- usually our friends (not to be sexist, since I am a woman myself, but this marketing strategy works best) -- go out to audience members. One will handle the CD sales and one or two will circulate the mailing list and get names, addresses and e-mails." She continues, "Women seem to be less threatening to both sexes than men, and that is why we have found this approach to work best. It enables us to come off the stage and immediately meet and greet people, without having to worry about selling and dealing with paper and mailing lists. It is a great system!" Print This For the most part, using the Internet means doing away with paper and printing. Unless you come up with a cool idea like Bob Houlston has. To promote his guitar tips and tabs site, Bob invites visitors to print and distribute small fliers available at http://www.houlston.freeserve.co.uk/flier.htm Great idea. In the past, I only considered printing fliers and physically handing them to people. But there is obviously another option: Have your fans print out the promotional items themselves. Considering doing this to promote your CDs or live shows. You can also ask fans to print coupons for discounts on recordings and admission fees. Let Your Fans Help You "One of the best tips is to appreciate and respect your fans," says Nyree, a singer-songwriter and author of "Booking, Promoting and Marketing Your Music," in an interview on the artistpro.com site. "Everything great that has happened to my career has been because a fan has gotten involved," she continues. "Playing with Crosby, Stills & Nash, Santana and other great people happened because a fan knew somebody. When you try just to sell yourself it never works. But when somebody's really thrilled about something, they can sell it to anyone." Nyree says a recent East Coast tour also happened because of her fans. "Some people saw shows I did in Palo Alto, and they asked me when I was coming to their town. My answer is always, 'I'll come to your town when you set something up, or help me set something up, because it's gonna be really hard for me to get something good on my own.'" Are you asking your fans for help? __________________________________________________ => What They're Saying About ... "I recently read the 'Guerilla Music Marketing Handbook' with great enthusiasm. Thanks to you, my to-do list has quadrupled! The nature of your ideas are amazing -- from one idea comes ten!" -Jenn Lindsay, www.jennlindsay.com More info: http://bob-baker.com/buzz/music_marketing.htm __________________________________________________ "Bob Baker's advice on harnessing and expressing your creativity comes from someone who's pursued his dreams, made mistakes and shares wise lessons. If you have been putting off a creative project, buy his motivating 'Unleash the Artist Within' book and you'll soon get cracking!" -Marcia Yudkin, author, "Six Steps to Free Publicity" and 10 other books More info: http://www.bob-baker.com/buzz/unleash.html __________________________________________________ "I've been creating and sending out press kits for years. I never knew if I was sending too much or too little information. I didn't know how to optimize my kits. Finally, I found your 'Killer Press Kits' report. Now I have a roadmap and the exact helpful detaiIs I need, all in one place. And at a great low price, too." -Dan Johnson, guitarist for Soulpajamas and co-editor of the Songwriter's Tip Jar, www.songwriterstipjar.com More info: http://www.bob-baker.com/buzz/presskits.html =========== Cool Music Stuff You Need =========== Guerrilla Music Marketing Power Course http://www.bob-baker.com/buzz/gpc.html 197 Promotion Tips, Tricks and Resources for Indie Musicians - http://www.bob-baker.com/buzz/197.html How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet http://www.rainmusic.com/htpma/buzz.htm Earn Cash as a Buzz Factor Affiliate Make 40% on every title sold through your affiliate link! http://www.bob-baker.com/af/BuzzAfil.html Get Your Own Domain Name for Only $15 a Year http://www.bob-baker.com/buzz/url.html __________________________________________________ REPRINT PERMISSION Would you like to run some of the content from this issue on your web site or in your e-zine? You may do so for free as long as you add the following credit: "Reprinted from Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor, featuring free marketing and self-promotion ideas for songwriters, musicians and bands on a budget. Visit www.TheBuzzFactor.com for details." __________________________________________________ To START getting The Buzz Factor, send an e-mail to addme@thebuzzfactor.com with the words "Send Me the Buzz" in the Subject line. Or visit http://TheBuzzFactor.com/ __________________________________________________ The Buzz Factor is published by Bob Baker PO Box 43058 - St. Louis, MO 63143 Phone: (314) 758-7578 - E-mail: bob@thebuzzfactor.com http://www.TheBuzzFactor.com/ (c) 2003 by Bob Baker - All Rights Reserved |