You have been working hard producing an album, and you volunteered yourself (conveniently) to create all of the advertising and promotional materials you require...but then you sit down at your computer and you draw a blank on what to say in your copy. Do you riddle it with clever tag lines and send it off to the printers? Do you cover your ad with large mysterious artwork that appeals to maybe just yourself?
If you are actually spending your hard earned cash promoting your show, album, or single, you want to make sure you are communicating efficiently and clearly with your fans. Below are ten essential copywriting tips for your band.
1. How is your band better than other bands? Have you won music awards? Were you the top most downloaded artist in your city? Do you have the best drummer in the world? Can you sing eight octaves high? Whatever it is that sets yourself apart from other similar bands, make sure your fans know about it. Put it in your flyers, brochures, CD inserts, and web banners. Remember, die-hard music fans listen to a lot of music, and when they’re browsing you want to catch their attention.
2. Take advantage of other bands’ weaknesses If you are an instrumental artist, how are other instrumental artists inferior to you? Do they use crappy equipment to record their album? Do they use the most recycled loops over and over? Whatever it is, turn their weakness into your strengths.
3. Who are your fans? When you create an advertisement, you must understand to whom you are promoting yourself. As an exaggerated example, if you were an artist writing kids’ songs you would write your promotions so that kids could relate. Similarly, if you were a classical artist performing at an opera, you would tailor your copy in a more sophisticated way. Speak the language your fans can understand.
4. Communicate how you will affect your fans lives positively Does your band support a cause? Are you offering a free t-shirt for the first 100 people that pre-order your album? Do your shows have a free cover? Are you running an exclusive offering of any kind? Simply announcing that you have a new album out is not enough these days. Tell your fans how buying or attending your show benefits them directly.
5. Talk to your fans and not about yourself How often have you seen ads that say, “You can save 50% now!” or, like my favorite Geico tag line, “15 minutes can save YOU 15% or more on car insurance.” Word your ads in which you are using the word “you” rather than “we.” Instead of saying, “We just dropped our second album.” A better ad copy would be, “You could be first to hear our second album by pre-ordering now.”
6. Where are you advertising? Are you advertising in a newspaper, magazine, online, or through a flyer? In the marketing world we call these mediums. Be sure to not only be consistent across the different mediums, but to also modify what you say with each. You could say a whole lot more in a full page in a magazine than with a business card.
7. Don’t tell me your life story How many advertisements do you personally come across in a day? We are to the point where if it does not capture our short attention spans, we basically just stop listening. It would be wonderful if everyone that looks at your ad spends thirty minutes on it, but I’m sorry, reality just doesn’t work that way. Be concise and to the point. Create your ad, and then trim it in half.
8. What do you want fans to do? With every ad that you do, make sure you blatantly tell your customers what to do. I find it amusing that some bands hand out these extravagant flyers with their elaborate artwork and fancy glossy paper with bright colors, but the flyer doesn’t tell me to do anything. What do you think I do with this flyer? Yep - it goes directly into the recycling bin. Don’t rely on your fans to decode your vaguely passive aggressive sales pitch to see your show. Actively tell them what to do.
9. Deliver what you promise If you advertised in last month’s Rolling Stone Magazine that if fans buy an album they get a free ticket to your next show, you’d better give it to them. Are you giving away your album for free if people friend your facebook page, tweet a shoutout for you on twitter, and leave a comment on your blog? If you are, give them what you say. Never advertise what you can’t deliver. If you can’t, all of your fans will hate you. You don’t want that...do you?
10. Do you know how to spell? Once you have created your ad, pass it around to your other band members for review. If you’re a solo artist, get your friends or family to review it. Get their insights and opinions. Proofreading your work not only makes your promotion better, but it’s a learning experience in making your next ad better.
Reference: www.madeloud.com
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