Guerilla Marketing is the use of unconventional
marketing techniques intended to get maximum results from minimal
resources, which let's face it; most indie musicians have minimal
resources. Today, guerrilla marketing is a non-traditional, low-cost,
and highly effective marketing endeavor, which when used properly
can reap many rewards for the diligent user.
So what can you do to use guerrilla marketing to help further
your music career? The first piece of advice I can give you is
to think outside the box. Don’t do what everyone else is
doing. Here area few ideas to get you started:
• Use podcasts to broadcast your music, helping to expose
your music to a lot of people who may have never heard it before.
Make sure that you plug your website and where they can purchase
your products.
• Why not go to your local library and see if they will allow you to do
a free concert there in exchange for a percentage of your sales of product after
your show. Libraries are in dire need of funds.
• Another easy and free way to get your name out there and seen is to write
reviews on every product your own, have used, read or heard. Then post the reviews
on places like amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
Make sure to put a small two or three sentence bio at the end
of each review that has the name of any CD projects you have
done. You can’t post your URL there; they will delete your
bio. When you post your reviews, put your vanity email address
inside your “real name.” While those sites won’t
allow you to post your URL, if your URL is part of your “real
name,” they don’t say a word. Check out amazon.com
and look for one of my reviews.
This is what you will see: “Jaci Rae - The Rae of Hope.
raeofhope@jacirae.com.” (Don’t use a real email address
or you will end up with a lot of spam. That is my website, but
the email address if fake.) Why is this an important step? Because
people will read your reviews and you get your name out there.
Most consumers are Internet savvy and if they are interested
in you, will check you out.
These are just a few ideas. A very important part of the guerilla
marketing process is the business side. In order for all of the
ideas you come up with to benefit you, you have to be registered
with the correct places so that when your hard work begins to
paying off, other people know it as well. Here is a list of some
of the places you must register:
Broadcast Data Systems
attn: (find out who is in charge at that time)
Los Angeles
6255 Sunset Blvd., 19th Fl
Hollywood, CA 90028
323-817-1506
323-817-1511
http://www.bdsonline.com/
and
SoundScan
http://www.soundscan.com/
Retail 914-684-5505
retail@soundscan.com
Venue 914-684-5506
Fax 914-686-1556
venue@soundscan.com
I list more ideas as well as places to register your music that
will be crucial to your music success in, The Indie Guide to
Music, Marketing and Money and its companion The Indie Guide
to Contact Information. There are a lot of Guerrilla Marketing
techniques I am sure you can come up with yourself. If you want
different results and what you have been trying in the past always
turns out the same, then you must do something different! Guerrilla
marketing is what you need to do differently.
Go after your audience with fervor and diligence, but think
outside the box to get the results you desire and the exposure
for your music that you need. Wishing you the greatest of successes!
Jaci Rae – “The Rae of Hope TM” Copyright 2006
Jaci Rae
Jaci Rae is the #1 Best Selling author of “Winning Points
with the Woman in Your Life One Touchdown at a Time” ISBN
0974622907 and “The Indie Guide To Music, Marketing and Money” ISBN
978-0-9746229-4-1 as well as the host of the Jaci Rae show. To
hear Jaci’s popular show, with some of the top behind the
scenes as well as famous bands go to:
http://www.jacirae.com click
on the weekly show link.