Guerrilla Marketing Your Music

By Mitch Meyerson, Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coaching

As a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach my mission is to help lots of businesses increase their visibility using time, energy, and imagination rather than money. But, like you I am very passionate about my songwriting and plan to sell my songs to major artists. Pursuing this goal led me to TAXI and resulted in my friendship with Michael Laskow.<p>

Here’s what happened: A few months ago Michael contacted me after he read my book, Success Secrets Of The Online Marketing Superstars. We became aware that we had many things in common and we met in Scottsdale, AZ. There we traded band stories, discussed the changing landscape of the music business and talked about the challenges and opportunities facing songwriters. During our conversation I commented that in addition to using TAXI, there are other creative Guerrilla tactics that musicians can use to get paid for their music if they take the mindset of a Guerrilla Marketer. One cool out-of-the-box technique that I had recently used caught Michael’s attention, and he asked that I share it with you…<p>

Writing and selling music to established business owners<p>

Over the last three decades I have written many types of songs including Pop, Country, Rock, and Jazz. And more recently I have written business theme songs for some best-selling authors like Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen, as well as for my own companies the Product Factory and Online Traffic School.<p>

So when I was searching for endorsements for my newest book, Mastering Online Marketing (Entrepreneur Press, January 2008), I was understandably interested to learn that Michael Gerber had begun a new program called “The Dreaming Room.” Michael Gerber is the well-known author of one of the top selling business books in history, The E-Myth, and a businessman with a huge following. The title “Dreaming Room” immediately engaged my inner songwriter and I started hearing a melody.<p>

Creativity is not enough: Guerrilla songwriters take action<p>

Feeling inspired, I wrote, produced and recorded the music and lyrics in my home studio and uploaded it to my Web site within three days. With the song edited, tweaked, and mastered I uploaded it to the Web in Flash audio with the lyrics neatly typed on the page. I knew I had only one chance to make a first impression.<p>

Long story short… he loved it. He then wrote a killer foreword for my book and used my song to promote his program. You can read it and hear the song at www.MitchMeyerson.com. As a result we’ve had the opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level. This has already led to more exposure for my songs and business and will likely result in additional partnerships and revenue.<p>

I hope that this story may inspire you to approach some businesses with an idea for adding music to their marketing mix.<p>

Here are four important Guerrilla Marketing points to keep in mind for approaching potential business partners and growing your own business.<p>

1. Realize every contact counts. This means the following are VERY important:<p>

• The way you dress

• The tone of your voice

• Your enthusiasm

• The clarity of your message

• The lack of typos in your e-mails

• The way you answer your phone

• Your cleanliness

• Your Web site </ul> If you are tired of playing bars until 4 in the morning and want to start creating new streams of income with your music these "small" details are actually very big.

  The good news is you can sell your music to a whole new market if you start seeing your music as a business and seeing yourself as a solid business person with a solid business strategy.

  2. Begin with a business mindset not a gigging mindset. Most musicians erroneously believe that being an exceptional "songwriter" makes them qualified to operate a business that specializes in selling songs. Not true.

  Think about it. You've spent years, maybe decades becoming an artist. How much of this time did you use to develop your skills as a business person? This means leading, planning, organizing, and marketing your business.

  If you haven't taken any time to focus on business, you are not alone. Many musicians don't. Probably because they believe they already know what they need to know — and they don't know what they don't know!

  If this sounds like you, here are some tips:

  • Realize that being good musician does not mean you'll succeed at running a music business. Learn all you can about developing your business skills.

  • Objectively assess your business skills and knowledge. Begin by taking the "Business Self Assessment" at my Web site. Answer the questions honestly so you can identify your business strengths and weaknesses. </ul> Play to your strengths, passions, and skills. Do what you do best and enlist others to help you. Build a small team of people who are more skilled than you in key areas.

    3. Develop clearly articulated goals. Did you know that the very act of writing down your goals substantially increases your chances of success? If so, you may be surprised to learn that most entrepreneurs do not:

    1. Articulate their goals<p 2. Define the action steps required to achieve a given goal

    3. Track and measure their progress

    4. Approach potential business partners the right way. Successful partnering requires a real understanding of others and what motivates them... and there's no better way of learning that than by observing them and/or asking them. If we don't we often risk offending others by incorrectly presupposing the answer based on our own sensibilities.

    Following are some quick tips for developing healthy joint venture partnerships:

    1. Do your research ahead of time. Make sure they're the type of person you like and their business is healthy and respectable.

    2. Approach them with a "what's-in-it-for-them" stance... not how great you are.

    3. Be specific... don't leave things unclear regarding anything. This is how misunderstandings begin.

    4. Respect their time. Let them know you value theirs as much as your own.

    5. Develop simple deals; especially ones which don't require either of you to "look over the others' shoulders."

    6. Give before you get, particularly if you're just starting out. People are understandably more leery of opening up their hard-earned business resources before you've proven yourself.

    7. Avoid using a "sales pitch" because it's no way to begin a give-and-take partnership.

    8. Don't obsess over who's getting more out the deal. Just make your best deal and forget about it.

    If you are a musician looking to create new income streams, maybe it is time to start using your time, energy, and imagination to implement innovative ways to market your music to businesses. Are there some companies that would be thrilled to have you write a theme song for them? There is one way to find out.

    Mitch Meyerson is the author of eight books including of Mastering Online Marketing, Success Secrets of The Online Marketing Superstars and Guerrilla Marketing On The Front Lines and has certified over 200 Guerrilla Marketing Coaches. You can hear his songs and download your own Free Marketing Success Kit at: www.MitchMeyerson.com.