Kurb Promotions NZ - web 2.0 and new media promotion for bands and brands

Online Promotion: It's all about content
By Matt Turner. Copyright 2007. Don't steal without asking.

Your online promotion strategy: Its all about content.

Whattya mean “Content”? Y’know, stuff!

Well theres primary content. That’s your music (kinda) and your gigs and your merch. Where your earn is. I don’t deal with that stuff. I make CD’s and posters and I can put you in touch with engineers etc. but basically all the promo stuff that makes you seem cool – your words, pictures, website and profile designs, videos, that’s your secondary content. And it’s my jobe to make sure thousands of people see it.

Remember what I was saying last time about how if your content is good and they can get it, then people will like you, and you’ll make money? Oh but remember how I said – if people can find you amongst all the “access”?

I think what I’m really trying to reinforce to you is that my end of things – the bit where everyone finds out about you – that’s sorted. Just leave that to me. But sure, so if I can make 10,000 people watch your video, what if your video is crap? Or worse, what if you only ever do one decent thing and people think you must have died? I mean I’m open to strategies but . . .

I said do you want to get famous and make money not doing some normal job or not?

But it is kinda why I’ve launched the 3 month thing because if we wanna build your fan base up in a way that’s real we gotta put some work in! Even if you’re amazing it’ll take 6 months at least.

I think I’ll do a post “the cost of fame: $NZ2000?.

Which brings us to the subject. People want cool stuff. Stuff that grabs them, cool stuff they can enjoy, stuff they can feel cool telling other people about. That happens so quickly now its insane.

People come to my blogs. I’m tip toe spamming round some of the biggest internet communities in the world linking musicians I’ve targeted to my blogs and they’re coming and they’re liking and they’re linking and googles reading the links and the blogs are coming up on searches and people are clicking the links and googles reading the behaviour and next thing Kurb is beating out huge established companies in NZ for searches on “online promotion” AND “cd duplication” and “postering”.

THIS IS WHY BLOGS ARE MASSIVE. Because Google pays attention to them. Those little google spiders read EVERY WORD.

Helps if you’ve got 20-odd like me, but I’m lazy I should really get another few hundred up and running.

I can’t tell you all my secrets. But if you can get into the habit of writing about cool stuff that the kind of people who listen to your kind of music like at least once a week, y’know, 2-300 words - you’re gonna have something to work with even if you don’t work with us. Just make sure you put your links! Back to your website! You do have a website don’t you? Oh then make your wordpress blog your website then, shit!

Seriously. Did somebody say “Radiohead”? Your website is now MORE IMPORTANT than your CD. And having your myspace as your website is basically like having a cd without a case. It looks unprofessional and things will get messy.

Your myspace is (or bebo if you’re a teen act or facebook if you play to the discerning crowd) the doorway to well exactly what youtube calls it – your channel. A place where you’re engaging them on your own terms. Myspace is like the gig. Now invite them back to your place and make it personal.

It’s totally like “Like our myspace? You should totally come back to my site and check out our band – we’ve got downloads and everything, it’ll be crazy. I’ve totally got this blog about like, the craziest gig we did ever its like got pictures and everything. Just leave your email if you wanna know when the video for the song we wrote about it is up.”

Now doesn’t that just sound like a bunch of dudes?

And now I’m talking about videos! Videos are different from blogs – they’re not special in a jedi geek way like blogs are because they’re not text, google spioders can’t “read” them, they don’t link, they don’t tell google anything. But videos . . . they sure say something.

As I’m moving onto in part 3, people don’t want to pay for your CD!! How do you think you’re gonna get paid? They’re just gonna throw money at you? Why does rich come before famous uh “syntactically”?? If it ever did in reality it certainly doesn’t any more.

We’re gonna have to work – I can get these people to you but you’ve got to really get to these people about who you are, what your music is and what it’s about. It’s gonna take more than one cool video to make them part with their cash, but if you’re the real thing it’ll happen eventually.

If you are the real thing then let people know. Blog about it. Film it. Sorry to be old balloonhead over here, but when it comes to internet campaigns I’m the real thing and that’s why I go to the trouble of explaining that the experience is real, and people who pursue this information connect with it and they want to be involved. And they want to spend money. Your music works in the same way. We do business on the internet now. Trust = earning.

And if you’ve already got well recorded songs and you know you’re ready to start blogging and making videos and keep doing it then as I say - write the cheques and leave the rest to me. Then you’ll have plenty of time to make videos and blog posts. Being an industrious fellow I’ll probably be able to do both of those things for you as well soon enough.

We’re already working on our studio set in the garage so we can start filming, bringing content live that people can connect with. Do you think I’m going to be dropping 5k every time I want to make a shitty little clip for youtube? And being all “Te Irirangi Motu” on it? Don’t hold your breath.

Have you seen youtube? People record themselves in their rooms talking to shitty little webcams. And they get famous. People are engaging this shit. Video does so much more than blogs to break down the anonymity of the web and create bonds, connections, whatever - for creative and thoughtful people theres endless ways to use video to bring character to your musical identity.

This is what media is all about. Some people love the tight playing, some people love the style, some people know all the lyrics, some people think the bass player has a real attitude and great hair. How are people gonna get that message if you’re not sending it? And I mean every month because you know they’ll just forget if you don’t remind them.

So.

See the way media is converging – as a musician you’ve got to see the SERVICE you provide as part of a larger product which is an experience. To have a career in music these days – well we knew when video came along it was less about the sound - now promoting yourself as a musician on the internet is about promoting yourself as an experience! When people believe in the experience, when you’ve provided someone with the experience of the music and what it represents and it’s real for them . . . people want to feel closer to that experience, and that could mean as little as buying the T shirt. Or the box set. And they’re gonna be there next time you play, and they’re going to bring all their friends.

That’s what happens when people discover something real amongst the shit. They hold it up. They say, “look what I found!”

So when it comes to providing content as the engine of your online promotions campaign remember that now, what you’re providing is more than ever, more than a sound, more than a catchy tune, it’s an experience, it’s a way of life.

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