Promote Your Band With Cool Promotional Products
by Gareth Parkin
Your band may have started out as a fun thing, but if you want your music making to be more than a hobby, promotion will become a part of your life. Promotional products and business gifts can give your band a leg up on the competition and help boost your band’s bookings and music sales off the charts.
More and more bands are taking their marketing into their own hands these days – and that means knowing a little bit about how to design promotions, choose promotional products and business gifts and create a long-range marketing plan. Here are a few of the ways that you can use promotional products as part of marketing your band and earning money doing what you love.
Leaflets and flyers are promotional products.
Many companies that specialize in promotional products employ professional design departments that can help you create outstanding flyers, leaflets and promotional postcards that you can use to publicize your band, concerts and bookings. Hand out promotional postcards before concerts and offer a discount at the door for admission to anyone handing one in.
Use promotional products to create additional income streams.
Put your band on a t-shirt, visor, cap or promotional mugs and sell them at concerts and appearances, as well as offering them from your band’s myspace or web page. You get double benefits when you sell promotional items, especially those that “travel” with their buyers. First, you get income from the sales. Second, and perhaps more importantly, you get more exposure – of the most valuable kind. When fans wear or carry promotional products and advertising gifts with your band’s name, logo or photos on them, they’ll be telling others that they LIKE your music and publicizing it. Fan recommendations are the highest form of praise – and the most effective type of publicity you can get.
Order promotional products for special events and parties.
Attending a battle of the bands or holding a release party for a new CD? You’ll need banners, paper products and promotional giveaways for the fans that attend. Fun and celebration go hand in hand with promotional products – balloons, Frisbees, bracelets and other fun toys can be imprinted with your band name and/or logo and go home with your fans. Add in t-shirts for attendees and every person who wears one will be publicizing your band or event.
Hand out promotional products for other giveaways.
Radio station play can make or break a band – and radio DJs are always looking for novel and interesting ways to engage their listeners. You can garner extra publicity by handing over a dozen printed mugs, promotional pens or t-shirts to radio stations for them to use as prizes in trivia contests and the like. Again, you’ll get double exposure – first you get the radio exposure, then you get the visibility when your promo products are used by their recipients.
There are many ideas for unique promotions and publicity events that you can use with promotional products to publicize your band. For more ideas, contact a sales representative for a company that specializes in promotional products.
For additional information on advertising gifts, corporate gifts or promotional items then why not check out the leading promotional gift suppliers online today and start to make big savings.
Gareth Parkin is the co-founder of Ideasbynet, the UK's leading online promotional products, promotional items and business gifts company based in the north of England. Established in 2001, he has taken the UK gift market by storm by the application of modern business thinking and the latest search engine marketing techniques.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gareth_Parkin
BRITNEY SPEARS VMA 2007 (Uncensored)
Friday, September 14, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Promote Your Music With Myspace
By Brandon Robertson
It’s 2007 and the internet and other technologies are having a huge impact on our world as musicians. Promoting your music and yourself or group has become easier and more effective than ever. Distributing your music has also become easier and more profitable than ever. But not every musician is aware of the new technologies available to them, nor have they kept up on the developing trends and upcoming changes. In 2007 and beyond, we’re only going to see more reliance upon digital technologies and the internet to promote ourselves and sell our music. As for promoting ones self, there are numerous ways to do it online. For local promotions, it’s still effective to hand out flyers and spread the word-of-mouth, but you still need an online presence to promote your music. If you’re trying to gain the attention of potential new fans local and beyond, you must get involved with some online promotion. Myspace is the best place on the internet to promote your musical project. It has the largest network of users interested and/or involved with music in the world. It’s easy to get friends on there and very simple to send out mass bulletins to your fans so they know when your next shows are, where they are, and whatever else you might want to promote, including new music you’ve just released. If you don’t have a Myspace page (or several) for your musical project, then you are really missing out. Having a Myspace page is practically mandatory these days, and you must get one ASAP if you’re still don’t have one. The first question a fan will ask you is “What’s your myspace page?” It used to be, “Do you have a Myspace page?,” but anymore it is expected that you have one. Don’t let down your fans, go to Myspace and sign up, but first, read the rest of this article so you don’t make any foolish mistakes. There are a few little known tricks to working Myspace properly to get the most out of it, so listen up as I share those with you. When you get a profile with Myspace, make sure you sign up for an “Artist Profile,” otherwise you won’t be able to upload your songs onto your page and your page won’t be setup right to promote yourself. To do that, go to www.myspace.com, and once there, click on the small link on the upper right hand area of the page that says “Music.” Once you are at that page, click on the link in the upper right hand area that says “Artist Signup.” Just follow the instructions from there and your account will be setup in seconds. That’s just the beginning though. After you’ve setup your artist profile, you should really setup another profile as a normal account. This is the main type of profile available on Myspace, and is easy to find once you go to their main webpage. The reason you want to do this is so that you have maximum exposure and flexibility for promoting your project on Myspace. Each of the two account types have different abilities within the Myspace realm. These abilities limit some of the things you’re able to do, and when you have an account of each type for your musical project, you will have the ability to do anything possible within the Mypace realm. The features of each account have only grown more different over the years and I expect this trend to continue, so be sure to get a normal profile now if you don’t already have on. If you didn’t know already, Myspace has recently added the ability to block friend requests from bands. This really hurt a lot of bands and groups as far as promoting on Myspace goes, but you can completely work around this problem just by creating a second normal profile to reach people who have blocked friend requests from artists. Not to mention, you will get a lot more fans by showing up in the search and browse results as an artist and as a “normal profile.” It’s quite likely that you’ll be able to double your friend requests by doing this. Once you have your normal profile, be sure to promote your artist profile on there so people will add you as a friend on both profiles and get a chance to listen to more of your music. Also, be sure to add a song to your normal profile from the songs you uploaded on your artist profile, that way this page is also very clearly promoting your music. If you know html code, create a direct link within your normal profile that people can click on easily and immediately to access your artist profile and become your Myspace friend. If you don’t know html code, just look up “create html link” on a search engine to get the html code you need to create such a link. Now listen up, because here’s one of the most overlooked tricks for taking full advantage of Myspace. A lot of musicians have their own website. This can be useful, but it’s not really necessary with Myspace. There are many advantages to using Myspace rather than using a website. Myspace is free and is within the biggest and best network for promoting your music. It also allows you to permanently befriend thousands of people on this network and communicate with them easily and conveniently for promotions and other reasons. Lastly, your fans are probably accustomed to using Myspace and understand how to search within it and to get the most information from your page. They don’t have to try to figure out how your website works and hope they find what they’re looking for in relation to your music. And because of this, you’re more likely to gain fans and get their attention. But taking full advantage of Myspace is difficult when your web address (URL) is a Myspace address. Not only are many of the names you may want already taken, but it’s hard to verbally tell people your web address and have them remember it. The trick is to buy a domain name and redirect so that when people enter your web address, they land on your Myspace account page. A lot of people don’t realize this is possible, nor how cheap, easy and powerful this trick is. It’s totally worth buying a domain name to do this. It costs less than $10 per year to register a domain and if you get it from Enom or GoDaddy, they can help you redirect the domain to your Myspace if you don’t know what you’re doing. Having a domain is a more professional way to promote your music and it’s much easier to communicate to your fans. These tricks have proven extremely effective for me and I’m sure they’ll work for you too. Make sure you do this right away. Brandon Robertson is "The Home Recording Guy." Sponsor of The Independent Musician Source. As a studio owner and veteran musician he's an expert at making great sounding recordings in home environments and on a low budget. He's teaching musicians all of the world how cheap and easy it is to record themselves and avoid wasting time and money at recording studios. His love of independent music has driven him to do whatever he can to support DIY and independent musicians everywhere. He's the author of two current books that every musician should read or listen to, including "The Ultimate Home Recording Guide For Anyone On Any Budget," and "The 22 Proven Secrets For Saving Tons Of Money When Buying Music Equipment." His books are available at: http://www.Guide.EasyRecordingHelp.com He also has a Free Audio mp3 Course that every musician should hear about promoting, recording and distribution available at http://www.Your.MusicianPartner.com Home site: http://www.IndependentMusicianSource.com
50 Cents Catches Bootleggers
By Brandon Robertson
It’s 2007 and the internet and other technologies are having a huge impact on our world as musicians. Promoting your music and yourself or group has become easier and more effective than ever. Distributing your music has also become easier and more profitable than ever. But not every musician is aware of the new technologies available to them, nor have they kept up on the developing trends and upcoming changes. In 2007 and beyond, we’re only going to see more reliance upon digital technologies and the internet to promote ourselves and sell our music. As for promoting ones self, there are numerous ways to do it online. For local promotions, it’s still effective to hand out flyers and spread the word-of-mouth, but you still need an online presence to promote your music. If you’re trying to gain the attention of potential new fans local and beyond, you must get involved with some online promotion. Myspace is the best place on the internet to promote your musical project. It has the largest network of users interested and/or involved with music in the world. It’s easy to get friends on there and very simple to send out mass bulletins to your fans so they know when your next shows are, where they are, and whatever else you might want to promote, including new music you’ve just released. If you don’t have a Myspace page (or several) for your musical project, then you are really missing out. Having a Myspace page is practically mandatory these days, and you must get one ASAP if you’re still don’t have one. The first question a fan will ask you is “What’s your myspace page?” It used to be, “Do you have a Myspace page?,” but anymore it is expected that you have one. Don’t let down your fans, go to Myspace and sign up, but first, read the rest of this article so you don’t make any foolish mistakes. There are a few little known tricks to working Myspace properly to get the most out of it, so listen up as I share those with you. When you get a profile with Myspace, make sure you sign up for an “Artist Profile,” otherwise you won’t be able to upload your songs onto your page and your page won’t be setup right to promote yourself. To do that, go to www.myspace.com, and once there, click on the small link on the upper right hand area of the page that says “Music.” Once you are at that page, click on the link in the upper right hand area that says “Artist Signup.” Just follow the instructions from there and your account will be setup in seconds. That’s just the beginning though. After you’ve setup your artist profile, you should really setup another profile as a normal account. This is the main type of profile available on Myspace, and is easy to find once you go to their main webpage. The reason you want to do this is so that you have maximum exposure and flexibility for promoting your project on Myspace. Each of the two account types have different abilities within the Myspace realm. These abilities limit some of the things you’re able to do, and when you have an account of each type for your musical project, you will have the ability to do anything possible within the Mypace realm. The features of each account have only grown more different over the years and I expect this trend to continue, so be sure to get a normal profile now if you don’t already have on. If you didn’t know already, Myspace has recently added the ability to block friend requests from bands. This really hurt a lot of bands and groups as far as promoting on Myspace goes, but you can completely work around this problem just by creating a second normal profile to reach people who have blocked friend requests from artists. Not to mention, you will get a lot more fans by showing up in the search and browse results as an artist and as a “normal profile.” It’s quite likely that you’ll be able to double your friend requests by doing this. Once you have your normal profile, be sure to promote your artist profile on there so people will add you as a friend on both profiles and get a chance to listen to more of your music. Also, be sure to add a song to your normal profile from the songs you uploaded on your artist profile, that way this page is also very clearly promoting your music. If you know html code, create a direct link within your normal profile that people can click on easily and immediately to access your artist profile and become your Myspace friend. If you don’t know html code, just look up “create html link” on a search engine to get the html code you need to create such a link. Now listen up, because here’s one of the most overlooked tricks for taking full advantage of Myspace. A lot of musicians have their own website. This can be useful, but it’s not really necessary with Myspace. There are many advantages to using Myspace rather than using a website. Myspace is free and is within the biggest and best network for promoting your music. It also allows you to permanently befriend thousands of people on this network and communicate with them easily and conveniently for promotions and other reasons. Lastly, your fans are probably accustomed to using Myspace and understand how to search within it and to get the most information from your page. They don’t have to try to figure out how your website works and hope they find what they’re looking for in relation to your music. And because of this, you’re more likely to gain fans and get their attention. But taking full advantage of Myspace is difficult when your web address (URL) is a Myspace address. Not only are many of the names you may want already taken, but it’s hard to verbally tell people your web address and have them remember it. The trick is to buy a domain name and redirect so that when people enter your web address, they land on your Myspace account page. A lot of people don’t realize this is possible, nor how cheap, easy and powerful this trick is. It’s totally worth buying a domain name to do this. It costs less than $10 per year to register a domain and if you get it from Enom or GoDaddy, they can help you redirect the domain to your Myspace if you don’t know what you’re doing. Having a domain is a more professional way to promote your music and it’s much easier to communicate to your fans. These tricks have proven extremely effective for me and I’m sure they’ll work for you too. Make sure you do this right away. Brandon Robertson is "The Home Recording Guy." Sponsor of The Independent Musician Source. As a studio owner and veteran musician he's an expert at making great sounding recordings in home environments and on a low budget. He's teaching musicians all of the world how cheap and easy it is to record themselves and avoid wasting time and money at recording studios. His love of independent music has driven him to do whatever he can to support DIY and independent musicians everywhere. He's the author of two current books that every musician should read or listen to, including "The Ultimate Home Recording Guide For Anyone On Any Budget," and "The 22 Proven Secrets For Saving Tons Of Money When Buying Music Equipment." His books are available at: http://www.Guide.EasyRecordingHelp.com He also has a Free Audio mp3 Course that every musician should hear about promoting, recording and distribution available at http://www.Your.MusicianPartner.com Home site: http://www.IndependentMusicianSource.com
50 Cents Catches Bootleggers
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