With a new year fast approaching we look at five key no brainer marketing techniques for artists looking to gain exposure and widen their fanbase.
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Guest post by Jaimie Watts of the Symphonic Blog
So, you’ve got a career in music and you’re living the dream. This is amazing in itself, but don’t stop there! What are you doing to go even further? Like every business venture, marketing is wildly important to expose your music and widen your fan base.
You probably already do some sort of marketing, but what else can you do to improve your efforts?
With the new year right around the corner, these marketing tactics should be a no brainer:
1. Revisit Your Branding
Over time, it’s easy to lose sight of your true audience. Take the time to revisit who your target is meant to be and make changes to realign your efforts. Focusing your posts to appeal to your respective audience is key. Try a new strategy like teasing your upcoming release on Instagram Stories.
Need some more inspiration? Look up similar posts on Instagram and Twitter using hashtags you think would fit your brand to get your imagination rolling. (Extra points for getting familiar with SEO and using it to your advantage.)
2. Streaming Services
You already have your music on streaming platforms (hopefully), so how can you use this to extend your marketing efforts? Think of the streaming service as another social media account and treat is as such. Make sure your bios are interesting, up to date, and link to your profiles on other accounts.
If you don’t already, inform your listeners when new music drops by creating alerts on Spotify. Aside from this, always be actively promoting your new releases by reaching out to music blogs, sharing Spotify Codes, and sharing everything you can on as many platforms as possible. All this will help you get more followers.
3. Think About Getting a Publicist
Reaching out to the press with announcements of tours and new music is very time-consuming. You want to focus your efforts on things that aren’t going to burn you out or take your attention away from the things you’re best at. Not sure if you’re ready for a publicist yet? Here are 4 signs you’re ready to hire a music publicist.
4. Social Media Is Key
Keeping your social media profiles up to date is a strong and effective marketing strategy in itself. Use a mix of promotional and everyday posts to pull your audience in and relate to them. Instagram is perfect for both of these!
Facebook can be used for promos, touring schedules, flyers, and important dates. Twitter is best for reaching out to fans and communicating with them directly. Don’t forget to use SEO for hashtags to reach your audience and don’t forget to respond to as many comments as you can to let your audience know you’re always listening.
5. Optimize The Way You Tour with Analytics
Going on tour is more than half of the job, so make sure you’re streamlining this process as best you can. Along with promoting your profiles and optimizing the traffic on platforms like Spotify and Soundcloud, you can gain a lot of success from simply knowing how to properly use the tools available to you.
Spotify and Soundcloud Analytics give you insights into your fan base to help you decide things like where you should prioritize your shows and what songs your fans want to hear.
If you want to make your tour the best it can be, it helps to gather some background info about what your audience loves and wants to see more of.
Once you’ve done all these things, don’t just set it and forget it. The key to maintaining growth over the course of your career is to stay up to date with changes and advancements in the music marketing realm.
Check out Symphonic’s Ultimate Marketing Guide to help you through all your music marketing needs.
Jaimie Watts is an avid lover of coffee, wine, and writing. Currently she is a freelance writer for multiple blogs and publications.