Bob Baker's Indie Music Promotion Blog

News, notes and ideas on music marketing, self-promotion, artist empowerment and more

May 13, 2005

The Power of Personality - Part 3

In this third and final post on the power of personality, let's take a look at a couple more examples of smart communicators who know how to relate to their customers and fans. (In case you missed them, feel free to read part 1 and part 2.

As you may know, MySpace.com is a growing community site that more and more musicians are using to connect with fans. Here's an e-mail that Opulent Records send recently about it's new space there:

Opulent Records is a member of MySpace and is inviting you to join.

I have set up Opulent Records onto myspace.com in hopes of better interacting with many of you whom I consider friends and valuable business associates.

If you don't join, I'll look like I have no friends and it will make me cry, because others will make fun of me. It may result in my signing angry death metal bands and spamming you with their songs and imagery ... don't make me do it!

Ok ok, so join up, say hello and see what's new. It's actually a bit addictive ... I'll also be posting exclusive Opulent Records photos, music and other things just for those of you in the circle ... and in the know. :)

See you on MySpace!


Nothing earth-shaking here, and I would liked to have read a quick reference to the type of music that Opulent promotes, but it is light-hearted and stands out from the standard "please visit my site" crap that litters much of my Inbox.

The thing is, there's only so much human warmth you can get from a computer. Anything you can do make your online communication more warm and fuzzy will make you stand out and be more appreciated.

No one does this better than Derek Sivers and CD Baby. If you've ever purchased music from cdbaby.com, you've probably received this shipping confirmation e-mail -- one of the classic "power of personality" messages you're likely to see:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day (date inserted here).

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you once again,

Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music


Think twice before sending your fans another e-mail message. And always remember the power of personality!

posted by Bob Baker @ 3:29 PM   4 comments

4 Comments:

At May 18, 2005 8:22:00 AM, Anonymous Kate Carpenter said...

Hello Bob,
Just a note to tell you I really enjoyed and benefited from the 3 Power of Personality Posts. I loved the Perpetual Pestering line. Can I use it? Thanks for all you do.

 
At May 18, 2005 9:28:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with being more creative in your newsletters and blog posts, etc, and showing who you are to your fans, but why is it that almost everybody gravitates towards humor in these "Personality" posts? What if your personality’s serious side speaks more of who you are than making jokes? Is it OK to show that side, too? I believe it is OK, but the odds seem against it when all I’ve read on the subject (your posts included) focus exclusively on humor. I’m not talking about injecting morbid images of death and destruction into newsletters, but insightful, perhaps potentially more useful (ethically or philosophically/psychologically speaking) comments. That’s what I do, and it reflects me and certainly the music, particularly the lyrics. I’d be interested to read your thoughts on that, especially since almost no other author has shown the subject in that light.

 
At May 18, 2005 10:34:00 AM, Anonymous Diane Falcone said...

Hi Bob,

Thanks for those tips on the Power of Personality. I really think they are great and plan to use these ideas in the future.

Diane Falcone
http://www.dianefalcone.com

 
At May 18, 2005 11:23:00 AM, Anonymous Michelle said...

Hi Bob,

I just wanted to solidify your comments. I have been a huge fan of yours for three years now, and can't get enough of your witty candor. Your outlook on the personality subject fits me to a "T". I was the Promotions and Marketing agent for The KGB here in Sacramento, and I have used many, many ideas from your news letters. We used some ideas for our website www.thekgb.net for our plea for Street Team Members. You actually featured the page in one of your news letters last year! Thanks again, and people..if you don't know about Bob...Please get wise! Michelle (Sacramento)

 

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