Overdeliver to your music fans
If you’ve been following my work for any amount of time, you’ll know that I believe today’s independent music scene must focus more on building a community of interaction and deeper relationships with fans than building an iconic figure that is distant and “out of touch”.
Define what your music is about. What do you want it to do for your fans? What meaning do you want your fans to take away, if any? What’s the promise you’re giving them from your music and what are you going to deliver to your fans when they spend their hard-earned money on you?
Once you know the answers to these questions and you’re building a relationship with your fans through your blog, your newsletter list and anything else, remember to overdeliver to your fans - especially those who purchase from you. The best musicians treat their customers like royalty and this results in repeat music sales on MP3’s, CDs and gigs.
Seth Godin defines overdelivering as “means doing more than you said you would, which is the secret to word of mouth.”
And word of mouth is crucial as independent musicians. Your fans will tell their friends and bring them to your gigs. The same will happen to their friends. And so on.
When someone downloads your MP3, send them an e-mail and thank them. (You could automate this with a system like Aweber). You could do the same for anyone who buys your CD or merchandise. How about offering a free download for customers who purchase your merchandise about 30-days after… it shows them you remember them, shows them you care and invites them back to your website if they’ve forgotten about it. Make your fans feel they count.
What else would you do as a musician to overdeliver? Please share.
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You get what you give. Being an artist is also being a person that most likely has to deal with a lot with the “EGO”. His or Her own and other artist. It’s easy to think “oh! I’ve given so much all ready”. But one needs to relize that they have a God given Talent.. And just to share that and to be thankful for that..
And the best way I know to realy thank God is to always Thank my Fans and Friends.
What goes around does come around
marti
This seems to be true at live shows as well. People really seem to enjoy the chance to have something signed and have a little time with the musician they have just heard. I have picks with my website that I give out to anyone who buys CDs or signs up on my email list and again, and people appreciate the free souvenir of the concert. Kavit, you have a good understanding of the need to put oneself in the other’s shoes, which seems to be the key to most marketing. Thanks for your useful tips!
I think you are spot on with the relationship building idea. As a musician, my greatest joy is being able to share the music I write with other people. It leads to conversations about mutually appreciated artists, writers,painters, whatever. It’s that shared feeling, that unstated communication, that lies at the base of music and it’s appreciation.
I particuliarly like the ideas of being personal and accesible with the folks at your shows and through the blog.
Dave, you’re right. It’s important at live shows. The personal touch goes a long way.
Giving more onstage is good marketing too. Talk to the audience. Show them a little of your persona. Tell a story. You can tell a fictional story about what a song means, or the real story, if you can tell it interestingly. Exaggeration is totally acceptable. Make it interesting. One of the things we find most appealing in others is that they make us laugh. You’ll get them to pay attention and they will keep paying attention when you begin to play.
If you’re comfortable with serious matters, politics, religion, you can talk about that, but be prepared to have people disagree with you, be turned off, and not buy your product. They may even give you bad word-of-mouth advertising. You may only lose a few, or you may lose a lot. The few you lose may have been the most likely to have bought your product. You never know.
Before the show, during the show, after the show, you’re the salesman. And you are the product. Your courtesy and friendliness are strategic factors in what they think of the service of your live performance, your CD’s, t-shirts, caps, pictures. Whatever you’re selling. They want a memento, hopefully the music, but maybe more. You may be able to make as much merchandising the other goods as you do playing the music. But even more. They may want a longer-term relationship, an interactive relationship you can set up with email, and snail mail. Give the customer what they want. Listen and make notes about what they say they want, and try to sell or give it to them.
Yep, your audience feel like they know you a lot of the time and so it’s important that you acknowledge them and treat them as a ‘friend’. It’s impossible to do it all the time for everyone, but something I like to try to remember is that if one fan feels dissatisfied/ripped off or that you dismissed them or forgot them, they tell a couple of people and they tell a couple of people….etc…..
It puts a bit of pressure on to tell you the truth - especially as your fanbase gets larger and larger - the more automated you can get the better (and that’s something I need to learn more about!)
I love the ‘personal touch’ and Gary, you are right about telling stories about your songs. I always like to tell the real story myself, but I guess a bit of “poet’s licence” is OK
I wholeheartedly agree with the personal touch (as much as possible) with fans. After a recent performance, a woman from the audience gave me what I consider the great compliment - she felt like I was speaking personally to her and she was very moved. This, for me, is the beauty at this stage and time in my career . . . opening the space for a timeless moment, a shared “universal” human experience - which is the jumping off point for establishing contact, and building relationship. For me, the best way I can do that is be first engaged intimately with my music, the story of the song, “why am I up here and what am I saying” . . . and then becoming merely a channel for the audience. There are fantastic (automated) ways to continue contact, build fans, etc. via technology today, but your initial best hook is still through live performance. I make a point of connecting in person with as many people as possible after a concert. I send thank you’s to fans via email after a performance, with personal notes to some. It’s part of the work of hopefully a long and meaningful career.