Creative Indie Marketing- What's Your Motivation?

If you are getting lost in the midst of your creative indie marketing campaigns, and your motivation level toggles back and forth, it’s time to take a good hard look at what is truly motivating you to do what you do.


Before you start any marketing campaign, it’s best to know what you want to accomplish and create a list of what you need to make this happen. Next knowing why you want to do this will be your determining factor for the level of your success.

If wanting to be rich is your motivation, I’m sorry to say this, but you will most likely fail. Everyone wants to be rich. Being rich is not a motivator. It is a bi-product of motivation. If you don’t believe me take out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side list all the people you know who wants to be rich and on the right side, place a check next to the ones who are.

If you have anyone on the right, go and ask them how they acquired their fortune. I’m willing to wager I wanted to be rich will not be their answer. Most of them were in search of something deeper. They had a thirst for something money alone could not quench. Riches were simply a result of satisfying that need.

So if your drive for success is dwindling, take time to step away to put things in proper perspective. You’ll be amazed at how things will change for you and rekindle your motivation.

RonSher Brooks Author of the book “5 Minutes 2 Show Time! How to Effectively Promote You!” Available at http://www.4creativeindiemarketing.com/ If you enjoyed this blog, or even if you didn't, please comment below. I'd love some feedback.

Creative Indie Marketing- Top 15 places to Post Your Videos

Here's another Creative Indie Marketing tip. If you are making videos and you are only posting to Youtube, you are missing out on a lot more viewers than you think. The phrase “Never put all of your eggs in one basket,” fits perfectly when it comes to posting videos.


Yes Youtube is the most popular site, but it’s not the only site. So spread your video around to at least 15 different sites and increase how many viewers you market to.

Just as a company will air the same commercial spot on multiple TV channels, you have the opportunity to do the same with your videos. But yours are free advertising.

Here are the top 15 places to post your videos on the web.

Youtube
Daily Motion
Blip.tv
Videoegg
Jumpcut
GoogleVideo
Veoh
Eyespot
VideoJug
Vimeo
Viddler
Youare.tv
Revver
Howcast
Metacafe

Take advantage of every place to attract attention and post in multiple venues. RonSher Brooks Author of the book “5 Minutes 2 Show Time! How to Effectively Promote You!” Available at http://www.4creativeindiemarketing.com/

Ceative Indie Marketing- & 6 Ways To Grow With Blogging

Creative Indie Marketing includes blogging. Blogging can become tedious over time and which can make you stop blogging all together. Especially when you haven’t seen your following grow. Here are a few tips to help you keep blogging and gain some subscribers while you’re at it.

• Be sure to sprinkle 3 of your keywords and italicize them. This helps your ranking in Google.
  
• Invite people to subscribe to your blog. Ask them to click that RSS feed.
  Sign up with Blog directories.
  
• Have your blog syndicated on your website.
  
• Tweet about your blog.
  
• Blog frequently. At least once a week. This will help move you up in ranking as well.
  
• Keep your blogs short. This will help you write more frequently.

As I tell my clients, “Steady wins the race.” So be consistent, and invite others to read your blogs, and you will see your list grow.

For more information, visit RonSher Brooks Author of the book “5 Minutes 2 Show Time! How to Effectively Promote You!” at www.4CreativeIndieMarketing.com

Creative Indie Marketing- Using Google Talk to Connect With Your Audience

Having trouble connecting with your customers? Do you wish there was an easy way to answer their questions? You know, chat with your audience. Well now you can and it won’t even cost any money to do so. Here’s a great way to market more effectively.

Google.com/talk has a feature that allows you to chat with customers on your website for free! By doing this you can warm up potential sales, calm the fears of internet purchases, and bring more clarity to your product.

To add this feature to your site you must first have a Google account. After you have one, go to www.google.com/talk and download the program to your computer. Next go to www.google.com/talk/service/badge/New to make your badge. To customize your badge click the edit button and write what you what it to say. You only have about 24 character spaces so be precise.

If you don’t want your email address showing you can change that to display your name or company rep as well. Save your changes and the program will generate a HTML code for you to copy and paste onto your website or blog.

Every time you log into your gmail account, your status will automatically update and your customers can chat with you. You will receive an alert on your desktop informing you of some one who wants to chat. You can even set a certain time for your customers to reach you. That way they will know when they can get in touch with you about your product.

Just think of how many things you’ve purchased all because you had your questions answered. This is one free marketing tool you can’t afford to ignore.

For more information, visit RonSher Brooks Author of the book “5 Minutes 2 Show Time! How to Effectively Promote You!” Available at http://www.4creativeindiemarketing.com/

Ceative Indie Marketing & 2 Ways To Use Twitter

Do you have a Twitter account but you’re not quite sure what to do with or how it will benefit your product? Well I was in that same boat for about a year then the light came on. What is the question Twitter is always asking? “What are you doing?” right? So what are you doing in terms of your business, that is?

I am a musician and an author, so when I tweet I tend to talk about things that deal with music and writing. Even if all I am doing is taking a walk, I tie it into my music or writing somehow. Like I’ll tweet I just wrote a slammin’ melody while walking today. Hope to share it w/ you soon! This helps people learn more about my interest.

Twitter is a place to meet people, not to make a sale, so once I have a crowd that’s interested in what I do I send them to my other social sites so that they can get to know even more about me.

Another hurdle is having adequate followers to tweet to. Here are a few tips on how to quickly grow your list. I suggest you open an account at www.socialoomph.com. You can set up you account to automatically follow whoever follows you. Also, if you are simply too busy to tweet 10 times a day, you can pre-write your tweets and schedule them to post through out the day.

After you’ve done that, place in the “find friends” keywords of the type of tweeters you want to follow and follow them. Generally they will follow you in return as common courtesy.

Here is the key to gaining followers quickly. Twitter allows you to 70 new follows per hour and doesn’t take long to get up to 70. Depending on how much time you have, you can jump from a few followers to 250 in as little as two days.

So get to tweeting and gain new followers today.

RonSher Brooks Author of the book “5 Minutes 2 Show Time! How to Effectively Promote You!” Available at www.MyMelodiesNowMg.com/5m2st.htm

Did you get your copy of 5 Minutes to Show Time yet? Well what are you waiting on? Order it today and create better marketing campaigns for your book or CD today!

http://www.MyMelodiesNowMg.com/5m2st.htm

You can even order the ebook for instant download.

Over the years I’ve had talks with many marketing coaches, publishers, and record labels on every step of the ladder. I have spent countless hours taking part in seminars and workshops in order to gain insight on how to achieve my desired awareness, only to hear the same thing over and over again. They were all filled with broad statements which give very little insight into how to make those statements happen.

One day the light came on. I said to my self, “Maybe you’re asking the wrong questions.” The more I thought about that the more I realized I was right. I have been asking the wrong questions. After all the number one question for many Independent Artist is how do I bring awareness to my product? My mother used to tell me, “Stupid questions get stupid answers.” Same thing applies here. Broad questions get broad answers.

With this new discovery I began my quest for notoriety with a brand new zeal. By revisiting the very same broad solutions and taking a closer look at the building blocks of each solution, I was able to turn things around. If you truly want sizeable results in your quest of marketing your product, it’s your turn to do the same.

Begin by answering these very sobering questions.

Why do I want my product to be number one or reach global popularity?
You know you want to be the best, but do you want to be the best? Keeping your motivation before you will help you determined how much time and resources to invest in your vision. This is so because having a top rated product is not the end, but rather a spring board or a platform to something new or bigger. Start thinking about what new opportunities this accomplishment will bring you and what you are willing to do with these opportunities. By thinking like this you will come up with solid ideas to make this come about.

Am I willing to hear the word no?
Let’s face it-not everyone is going to instantly fall in love with your product. You will have to swoon some of your audience, potential partners and so on, and others will never see the light. Are you willing to stand on a mountain of no’s just to get one yes? Every great inventor had to deal with undesired results before they did it right. Toughen your skin my friend. If you don’t believe you have something of value to offer the world even when the city thinks you don’t, who else will?

Am I willing to establish credibility?
No matter what level of fame you attain, it is all based on trust. Your audience must be able to trust you. Being a writer or performer is no different than the trust you build with your employer. If your employer can’t trust to come to work on a consistent basis and perform your duties well, they fire you. Your audience is your employer. You live off of their dollars, and if they can’t trust you, they stoop giving them. Now this credibility is established both practically as well as morally. Know that just because you are an Independent Artist, you do not have divulge everything about your life in order to gain credibility, but you must be honest and true to what you do share. The same holds true for the practical side of credibility. You must be willing to prove that you are the real thing. Have the business side of your product in tact. Making sure everything is in place now will save you a world of regret later.

What is my plan?
Here’s another cliché for you. “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Take time now to develop a plan. Micro-manage your plan and leave nothing to chance while at the same time stay flexible to change. How do you do that? Well I have found that’s really a gut call. However, if you logically weight out the pros and cons of this change as to how it will effect you and your goal, you will make a sound decision. As an Independent Artist, especially when you are first starting out, you are everything. You are your own A&R Dept., your own marketing Dept., your own publicist, support team and more. So it is your responsibility to learn as much as possible about each area. You must also know when to let go and let the experts do their job. Just because you are the head of every department, that doesn’t mean you have to perform all the duties as well.

Am I willing to delay gratification?
Don’t be apart of the “Internet Gold Rush.” Incase you haven’t noticed, the California Gold Rush Syndrome is repeating itself with internet marketing. Daily thousands of people are flocking to their computer screens searching for that gold mine in the caverns of the internet, hoping that this will be the day of overnight success. Reality Check: OVERNIGHT SUCCESS STORIES DON’T EXIST! Even the artists or authors who appear to be “overnight success stories,” have spent years of dedication on their craft. The mountain of their success is built on all the rocks of implementing on a daily basis the things you have just read about when no one knew who they were. Your true so called overnight success stories are those whom we fondly refer to as the one hit wonders. Is that the alumni you’re trying to join? I didn’t think so. Be patient and diligent to what is before you today and tomorrow will take care of itself. If you have your why’s how’s, and when’s in order, the rest of your puzzle is easily put together.

Take some time to answer these questions. Once you have this foundation, if you’re ready for the small bricks that lead to the broad statements, join me May 5, 2009 for a series of Stardom Bound Workshops with real applicable answers. You can join by sucribing to this blog or emailing me at sbworks@mymelodiesnowmg.com and place SB WORKSHOP in all caps just like this. Tell me you want to be apart of this sharing of information, and I will send you confirmation information for this life changing event. Now as for the cost..... all I ask for is your time. yes that's right your precious time is cost of this workshop. I look forward to meeting you in class!

Be Blessed!

RonSher
www.MyMelodiesNowMg.com
www.tinyurl.com/5minutes2showtime

For a complete e-guide on how to effectively to promote you visit: www.MyMelodiesNowMg.com/ebook.htm

Cyber Marketing

I've given quite some time for you to work out a rhythm with organization. I know things are running smoother for you. Lets move on to places to promote you. No matter where you promote yourself the road should always lead home. In cyber space; home is your own website.

The amount of cyber resources designed to help to promote you are endless. Myspace is one source you can use that has multiple A&R platforms. But don’t stop there. Not everyone has a myspace account and because of this, building awareness in other social networks are an asset to you. Knowing where to find your audience on the web will save you time and frustration. Here are some effective networks that are either free or low cost.

Your Main Website
You need your own website. It is without a doubt the doorway to global recognition. Here are some things to keep in mind while creating one or editing an existing site.

Content is still king
Your site should have some content before the directories will list it. Pages of affiliate links or banners, one page "flyer" type sites, etc., may make it into the search engines (for a short time) but they won't make it into the directories. Remember that there is a human editor looking through your site to decide on its suitability. You want to do everything in your power to make that editor feel that your site is a legitimate and helpful addition to their directory.
Try having some information on your site such as articles, or resources that someone interested in your business, service or field might find useful. Also try to have a good bunch of links that you think might be relevant to those visiting and try to give each link some actual description as to its content. Giant pages of links are generally frowned upon - but pages of links with explanations as to why they're being included, will be seen as a genuine resource for your visitors. Exchanging links with other sites is also one of the BEST ways to both increase your site's "popularity" with the search engines, and make a connection with other webmasters administering sites like your own. Who knows where that networking might lead?

Consider getting your own domain name: I hate to tell you this, but unfortunately, directories are less likely to categorize a site on Geo Cities, Fortune City, Tripod, or any service like that. Even if they do, you're likely to be low on their totem pole. Tripod and sites like it certainly do serve a purpose - and a valuable one at that - but unfortunately, they don't have a great reputation for quality with the major directories. I always advise those wanting to promote their business or service on the net to get their own domain name. It's not very expensive at all these days. Try a service like http://www.dotster.com/. If you're intending on making any money from your website, it's time to get serious. Having your own domain name lets other people know that you mean business.

The DIY Website
If you have decided to build your site, and that’s fine. Just note that the same tactics you use for your Newsletter, and other copy materials, must transform here as well. Now when it comes to building your own website, you should keep these pointers in mind. Control your navigation paths. All of your sub pages should lead to these three areas.

Home page
Sales/ order page
Frequently asked questions

Having sub pages that give more insight of your character and of other band members are fine; just make sure you tunnel them back to your product. That’s your number one goal right? To sell your product, right? Every single aspect of your Web site should serve the same master — your product. Nothing is more important than the product that you are going to sell.
Keep your pages simple. Go for that corporate look. I know it’s hard to turn down flashy widgets, and jazzy intros, but they distract your viewer, or it may cause your page to load slowly. Viewers are very impatient. What is the purpose of your sight and what kind of result do you expect? The answers to these two questions should drive your design. You must capture their attention quickly. If you don’t they will leave your site at the drop of a click.

White space is your friend. Having white backgrounds will keep your readers reading longer. The more difficult it is to read your content causes your viewer’s eyes to quickly tire and leave before they get to your sales pitch.

Use traditional fonts. There are thousands of bizarre looking fonts available. If you think they’re cool, use them on your CD artwork. But as far as the Web site that sales millions are concerned, stick to Times New Roman, Arial, Veranda and other long-established fonts that are both conservative and easy to read.

Be consistent. Repeat many of your design components such as type effects, images, layouts, from page to page and promotion to promotion. Choose a graphic theme and use it for all of your promotions. This is another way to have your branding stick in the heads of your audience.
Use contrast. When elements are different, make them really different. Use color, contrasting typefaces or type weight, and other ideas. Centering everything is very amateurish.
Web counters are only good for your site if you have 1 million unique visitors per day. Small numbers will make you appear insignificant, and you want to look large!
Check out these sites that can help you jazz up your site for free.

http://www.cooltext.com/ is a really nice site for creating eye catching fonts, logos, and buttons .

http://www.3d-pack.com/ this site enables you to create 3D boxes, CD and DVD cases. (I love this site!) You can create these 3D creations in Adobe Photoshop.

http://www.glassybuttons.com/ is another site to create cool buttons for your site.

http://www.dafont.com/ you'll find a huge selection of great free fonts here.

http://www.wantedfonts.com/ categories are listed on the left navigation.

http://www.sxc.hu/ is great place for free photos.

http://citrusmoon.typepad.com/citrusmoon/ offers a wide assortment of pretty tiles and backgrounds.

http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html offers a very easy to use color scheme generator.

http://colormatch.dk/ is a utility that will help you select a matching six color pallet for your blog.
Now if you realize that you have bit off more than you can chew, it's okay. You can use a company like http://www.hostbaby.com/ and use their templates, email, get your own domain name all for an affordable price. This will free you up to learn with out pressure.

For a complete e-guide on how to effectively to promote you visit: www.MyMelodiesNowMg.com/ebook.htm

As always, Be Blessed!RonSher Author of "5 Minutes 2 Show Time!" http://www.mymelodiesnowmg.com/www.tinyurl.com/5minutes2showtime

Organizing Goals/ Picture & Calendar

Let's move on to your picture. You’ve heard the cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words”. That’s right. As one who adores the art of picture taking, I will say this as gentle as possible. Candid pictures of you taken by your family or friends are beautiful and have there place, yet your promo picture should be done by a professional. You need someone who understands the art of bending light to perfectly capture your personality in a snap.


Candid pictures are great for social networks. They allow your audience to see the impromptu side of you. Still stay mindful that the pictures you choose are well lit and in focus. Try not to post a million pictures of other people unless you are either introducing them or you are in the picture with them. Your audience wants to see you not Pookie.


I know that today’s technology doesn’t require much use of paper, but I find it very resourceful to have a hard copy of anything you do with the tech gadget of your choice. I’m a tech junkie. I love looking at, touching, dreaming about, and owning the latest gadgets. Because of this I have learned from the school hard knocks, that it’s always best to keep a hard copy somewhere. Gadgets fizz out at the most inopportune times, and unless you like starting from scratch over and over again, hard copies are best to have. You also need to be able to quickly reference information.

Use this calendar to write down the following:

Dates of joining social networks
You want to write down joining dates so that you can gage how quickly you are building a strong presence in that network

Reoccurring fees
You have endless things to keep up with. The last thing you need is to have a vital service interrupted because you forgot to have adequate funds available.
Sending of promo materials
Sometimes replies to your promo package don’t come as quickly as you like. Keeping track of what, when, and to whom you sent it, will give you a point of reference.

Performance and personal obligations
Forgetting performance dates or family functions and/ or double booking will without a doubt will take the wind out of your sail. I know when I schedule artists and they don’t come; I don’t give them a second chance. Your audience is depending on you to keep your word.
First impressions are the lasting ones. Bad impressions are eternal.

What you have accomplished
When you set goals it’s good to know when you have accomplished them. It helps to give you a base for repeat projects. You know how long it will take and you can possibly work on ways to shorten the time. It is also a way to celebrate every victory. After all… you are your own pep squad.

Meeting important colleagues
Keeping track of who you meet, when, and where you met them and a short note about that person helps you later on. I had this producer that was referred to me two years before I ever worked with her. I was able to find her when I needed her because of my calendar.

Three Ring Binder
Next to your Bible, and this book; your binder will be your most important book you’ll ever have. This binder is the hub of your entire operation. In this binder you will house all pertinent information of your promotional campaigns.

Website login passwords
Forgetting a password every now and then will happen. You can avoid the hassle of retrieving it or creating a new one by keeping in here.

Song Submissions
The greater the presence, and the harder you promote your product you will soon see that it’s more difficult it is to keep up with every avenue of promotion. This section will keep things simple. I’ve placed a sample in the forms sections. Modify it for your benefit.

Yearly Promotion Budget
Keep track of what you are spending, so you don’t over spend and you will know how much future spending you require, this will help you better plan how to bring your vision to pass.

Marketing Strategies
Use this section to write down ideas, what works for you, and what has worked for others. Ask your colleagues what they are doing to promote themselves. Study their myspace pages and websites and incorporate what you can into your campaign. Proper research will save you money and time.

Myspace Quick Posts
Take time to go through and posts comments like, “Just stop by to say hi” and write down which of your friends allow your comments to post immediately with HTML codes and without. Jot down their name and which page of your friends list you will find them on to make your search quicker.
Now the purpose for this is, sometimes people will not approve your comments if you are advertising. Or you may need to announce something very quickly. Not everyone visits myspace daily, and your comment could be waiting in limbo for days, weeks, or worse. This will give you targeted advertising. You will know who allows HTML for things like banners, or snocap storefronts and who you need to inform in text only.
Internet Radio Submission and Air Play
I named this section after the radio station I have submitted to. It is so detailed I had to devote a section solely for each station. This is especially important if you are paying a fee to have your songs in rotation. You can keep track of what songs are being played and how many times they are playing.

Let's stop there for today. Overload is never good. Apply what youv'e learned and we'll pick up from here next time.

For a complete e-guide on how to effectively to promote you visit: www.MyMelodiesNowMg.com/ebook.htm

As always, Be Blessed!

RonSher
Author of "5 Minutes 2 Show Time!"
www.MyMelodiesNowMg.com
www.tinyurl.com/5minutes2showtime

Organizing Goals/Biography

So now that you have your plan prepared, let's talk about point #2 from the first blog: Your Biography.

This should go without saying but I will say it any way. You need a good biography. Try to be concise with your information, and it should flow freely. Your bio should be written in third person. To help you key in on the essential information, answer these questions.

1. What is your stage/band name? Does it have a special meaning? Where does it come from?

2. How would you describe your music to people? (This is not a short answer. Discuss it. Please include information regarding genre/style/lyrics/etc)

3. Where are you from? Where do you live? What is your musical history? (Please be specific. Include cities, dates, etc.)

4. Have you recorded any CDs/albums? EP's? (Which studios? Who produced them? Please provide dates/names of albums and/or popular tracks)

5. Major influences that can be heard through your music, different genres and bands. Please be specific.

6. How does your lyrics/music reflect the overall message you want to get across to your fans?

7. Are there any particular songs/albums that are especially important to you/your band? Why?

8. Any big upcoming events or shows, CD Release parties etc...? (Please provide location/date/time)

9. What live performance experience have you had? (Any industry showcases?)

10. Quick Facts. Please list anything noteworthy that you or your band has accomplished in the music biz. Major gigs, festivals, licensing deals, label recognition, radio play, record sales, etc...

11. Any upcoming albums, videos, features in magazines, etc...?

12. What sets you apart what makes your act original different...?

13. History on the band...how long together, individual members, specifics...? (Include names, ages, interesting facts, etc.)

14. What are your immediate music career goals? (In the next 5 years.)

15. What are your long-term career goals?

16. Plug your music. Where can the masses purchase your disk and downloads?

17. Message to the fans?

18. What did we miss? Is there anything else relevant that you want in your bio?

19. Where can the masses find you? (Web site, myspace, pure volume facebook, etc?)

Once you have answered these questions, your bio should flow like this:

The power of music is great. It has the ability to unite people of different cultures and backgrounds in a beautiful way. RonSher uses her talents to do exactly this. Though she is mostly focused in the jazz genre of praise and worship music, her writing and creative process traverses several categories. RonSher says, “Your culture determines the flavor you are most comfortable with, so I write songs in all genres in order to enable others to worship our Creator in their most comfortable element.”

This Michigan native started her musical career at the age of 9. Since then, she has played the clarinet, saxophone, piano, guitar, and drums in addition to singing. Her obvious musical talent has helped her forge a successful career in gospel music, being a part of the choir that won the McDonald’s Gospel Contest in Detroit, MI. Her first project, Melodies From Heaven was released in December of 2006. It was truly her own project, as she sang some songs, wrote, and composed the music for the songs herself.

RonSher has several influences, including Rich Mullins for his writing, Richard Smallwood for his piano skills, and Shirley Caesar for her musical delivery. With sounds that resemble those of Cece Winans, Anita Baker, and Sade, RonSher is sure to reach wide audiences.
She is currently working on her second project, Secret Place, which should deal with the relationship between people and Jesus. Her music is meant to encourage people to find their identities, enhance relationships, and fulfill their purpose through Christ. Her songs are composed through her “own journey in Him as well as others’ when I listen to their testimony.”

RonSher’s message to her fans is, “Music is powerful. If used correctly, it will unite and ignite global change for the better. My music is just what you need to jump start this vision becoming reality.” Find out more about RonSher at www.mymelodiesnowmg.com, www.myspace.com/ronshertbrooks, and www.youtube.com/melodiesnow.

If at all possible create a fact sheet and keep it handy. Your fact sheet should only have the following:
Name*
Address
Web address
Email address*
Phone number (of contact person for bands)
Contact person (If you’re not the one to contact)

*Have this information for every member.

Okay now that the hard work is done, write a condensed version. A bio containing 100 words is prime but definately do not exceed 250 words. It is a good idea to have both versions because not every place you submit your promotions to can handle the long story; so to keep you from rushing to provide a short bio- a good promo tactic is to already have one prepared.

Remember, as your pertinent information change, change your bio to reflect your growth. Next time we'll discuss points 3-5.

Today is your day to take charge of your destiny. Please suscribe to this blog and receive information on workshops and more.

Be Blessed!

RonSher

Author of "5 Minutes 2 Show Time! "

www.tinyurl.com/5minutes2showtime

www.MyMelodiesNowMg.com