As a musician, you likely enjoy performing in front of people and sharing your musical talents. There’s nothing like the rush of performing on stage. Although you love music, marketing yourself as a musician may not always be top of mind. However, marketing yourself is essential if you want to get new gigs and play more shows.
At Insurance Canopy, we provide small business owners with insurance, musicians included. We also share business tips so you can succeed. Today we’ll give you ideas on how to market yourself as a musician so you can grow your business and expand your brand.
Decide What You Want
The first music marketing strategy is to decide what you want. This is the time to think about what goals you’d like to achieve. Do you care more about the amount of gigs you play, or would you rather focus on the quality of the gigs? What types of events would you like to perform at? Perhaps weddings are your speciality. Maybe you’d enjoy more upbeat and lively events, like bat mitzvahs, dances, or birthday parties. Whatever it is, pick your speciality and go from there.
You’ll also need to decide what your business model will be, which will include a marketing plan. If you haven’t already registered your business, consider doing so. Take a look at the Small Business Administration site to learn more. You will also need to think about a budget. How much money can be spent on equipment? How much money can you afford to spend on marketing your business? Keep in mind that, as a registered business, you can write off business expenses. Keep track of these expenses so you can have tax write-offs at the end of the year.
Establish a Personal Brand
What is a personal brand? A brand is how people recognize you as a musician—essentially the look and feel of your business. You establish a personal brand as you perform, post on social media and other online platforms. If you don’t have a set brand, it will be much harder for you to stand out as a musician.
Your brand should be unique to you as a musician, but also recognizable. It should also convey what you do as a professional, showcasing your talents and skills. Keep in mind that your brand needs to be consistent, which will help it be recognizable. When establishing your brand, think about how you want your audience to perceive you. You can also establish a certain style that you will convey on social media, like what types of content you want to share.
Not only should your brand show your personality, but you should also remember to engage with the people that interact with your brand.
Build a Personal Website
Creating a website is the first step to creating an online presence for yourself as a musician. On your website, you can list your services, have pricing and contact information readily available, and have online reviews from your clients and venues. Ask your current clients to leave reviews on Google so potential clients can see the quality of your work.
Create an Electronic Press Kit (EPK)
Another music marketing strategy is to create an electronic press kit, or an EPK. An EPK is a digital version of a promotional package that musicians used to mail out to venues, festivals, or talent buyers. Essentially, an EPK is an online resume of your music. You can put your EPK on your website so venues can listen to your music before booking with you.
Use Social Media to Your Advantage
Social media can really help boost your brand and be a great music marketing strategy. Take advantage of social media platforms to share your talent, announce where you will be playing, and much more. You can do this by streaming Instagram Live videos, creating TikTok videos, creating and updating Facebook group pages, and using analytics, like Google Analytics, to see how your content is performing. Don’t just post on your social media platforms—interact and engage with your followers too.
It also wouldn’t hurt to learn the digital marketing basics. With so much marketing being done online, it would be to your benefit to learn how to market yourself online with digital ads, blogs posts, search engine optimization (SEO), and much more. Do some research and see what aspects of digital marketing would work best for you and your business.
Create an Email Marketing List
One of the best things you can do for your business is to create and maintain an email marketing list. You can collect emails from venues you play at, shows where you perform, from online resources, and more. You don’t need to worry about having the perfect list before you start sending out emails. As long as you are making an effort to build your list daily and sending consistent content, you are sure to see results.
With an email marketing list, you can send regular emails that include any upcoming events you may have, your availability so you can schedule more events, and any company news you may have to share. Some may say that email marketing is more valuable than social media, so see if it works for you. See what works for your business and stick to it.
Make Sure You’re Insured
Aside from some local areas requiring permits, some also require insurance for certain venues. Check into local area rules and guides. In general,having insurance can help you perform and do what you love with peace of mind. If someone trips on your equipment and sustains an injury, your equipment gets stolen, or any damage happens to the venue, you can be covered with musician liability insurance.
Insurance Canopy provides different policies so you can get the coverage you need. We offer show policies which are available for $59, and an annual policy which starts at $199. If you have any questions about our policies, contact our licensed insurance agents who will be happy to help.
You can also use musician insurance as a music marketing strategy. Insurance Canopy provides a proof of insurance seal you can use on your website, business cards, and wherever else you would like to display your proof of insurance. Having musicians insurance can also help you get more gigs because many venues will require you to add them to your policy as an additional insured. Without insurance, you wouldn’t be able to perform and do what you love at several places.
Continue Making People Happy
We hope these tips on how to market yourself as a musician have been helpful. Decide what you want and create a business plan, establish a personal brand that is unique and recognizable, use social media and digital marketing to your advantage, and purchase musician insurance. These tips will help you keep doing what you love while making others happy with your music!
