Category: MarketingCategory: Marketing

Seth Godin in 2011 on “Getting serious about the attention economy:

“Every interaction comes with a cost. Not in cash money, but in something worth even more: the attention of the person you’re interacting with. Waste it–with spam, with a worthless offer, with a lack of preparation, and yes, with nervous dissembling, then you are unlikely to get another chance.”

Tweet another “new song” link, or post a static image to the Instagram feed when you should be posting a video (as IG boss Adam Mosseri said in this interview).

While the bar is low, there’s so much we can do, without a massive amount of effort.

Even with just plain old text:

🚫 “Hey, we’re on Revolver’s 6 Best Songs Right Now list.” [LINK]

✅ “Djent riffage that rumbles like a chunk of glacier breaking off and crashing into the choppy sea,” says Revolver Magazine [LINK]

Copy and paste what the established media outlet said about you, and then show it to your fans.

Do the thing that other people aren’t!

“Change comes from intrinsic forces, not extrinsic ones. If you think things are shit, you can — whisper it — stop making shit things.

We’ve be throwing “shit things” at the walls for so long it’s hard to notice the stink.

Now, do you have to chug Starbucks drinks to promote a new single, get 62K views, and covertly get 62K people to listen to track in the process?

Well, no.

You don’t need to make dance videos, or start a podcast, either.

But you need to do your thing, in a way that translates online, that your fans can actually view and get excited about.

Find a way to display your magic on these cursed platforms, and do it in a way that feels comfortable and sustainable.

The world needs you, and so do your fans.

✅ “Djent riffage that rumbles like a chunk of glacier breaking off and crashing into the choppy sea,” says Revolver Magazine [LINK]

🚫 “Hey, we’re on Revolver’s 6 Best Songs Right Now list.” [LINK]

You got a split second to catch someone’s attention, so put the juicy bit (what someone says) ahead of the boring facts (we’re on this website).

1. Clean up your “link in bio” links – seriously, there are some messy ones out there.

2. Update your social media header images – use a photo you’ve taken, or find something for free on Pexels

3. Promote someone doing good work – like my pal Bariann Tuite Smith, who is crushing it lately!

I love this quote from Rick Rubin.

“Everything was trying to make something cool to play for our friends that they would like.”

You run into problems, though, when you turn this into “make something cool to post on social media and hope people see it.”

Yes, there’s a chance it might take off. A slight chance. Hell, there’s a slight chance your existing fans will even hear it.

Better to have an email list that your fans can subscribe to, so when you make something cool, you can send it out and know that most everyone on your list will see it.

Maybe they won’t open it – things happen, people are busy. That’s why you send an email more than once a month, because people don’t open every email. Just the way it is.

So email your fans. Email it direct to friends. Call a friend and tell them you’re sending them something to check out.

Make cool stuff, show it to your friends.

Just make sure your friends actually see it.

Here’s the slowest, least-scalable way to grow your email list – “just ask, man.”

Want to reach a new audience that could help grow your fanbase?

Ask to be on a podcast.

Offer to write a cool feature for someone’s site that you like.

Did you make friends on a Discord? Don’t be a jerk, but maybe ask for someone to check out your newsletter on occasion.

Meet someone in real life and hit it off by talking about your art, your business, your offering? “Hey, I write about this stuff all the time, here’s the link to sign up for my newsletter.”

Have a cool back-and-forth on social media in the comments. DM them and ask them to subscribe.

Have a QR code on your merch table – people who sign up for your email list get 10% of their purchase, or a free sticker.

Neil Mason (LinkedIn) spent $3,000 on a photo booth to set up at shows. It runs on an iPad and captures people’s email addresses:

Since purchasing the photo booth, we’ve averaged 80 emails captured per show.

We’ve played 63 shows in 2023, with 62 to go.

80 x 63 = 5040 emails

I know not everyone reading this is in a band, or if you are, maybe you’re not interested in setting up a freaking PHOTOBOOTH, BUT… take these ideas and run with them.

Do interesting things, meet interesting people, and, on occasion ask them to check out your stuff.