Lefsetz Is Wrong

This guest post first appeared on Kate Bradley's  Outlandos Music blog. Kate served as  the Music Director of The Loft at XM, did stints at WYEP and WNCS and was a music supervisor at Pump Audio.  Outlandos Music is a consortium of resources for fans, artists, and businesses, including the The Daily Dose app offering free music discovery for adults, The Insiders Network consultancy for indie artists, the Rogue Marketing web-based social media marketing consultation service, and Cut Through The Noise, a political music insiders blog.

Yes, being great at whatever it is you do has merit (for it). But quality isn’t nearly enough. You HAVE to huck it, kids. Every second of every day. Re: The Death of Marketing?  Sorry Bob, I respectfully disagree.

I don’t care how friggin spectacular you are… if you don’t have anyone to tell, it might as well not be true. It’s a chicken and the egg deal. Almost. Because, you CAN have real, passionate, loyal fans at every stage of your career, from fledgling to Trent; if I like you, I’ll help you. Period.

Think of it like this: the way you make me feel about your product handily trumps the actual product. In a heartbeat.

So… how do you do it? Um, it’s called MARKETING.

Singer-songwriter Seth Glier recently quoted a fan who said it best:

“You know Seth, I know we don’t see each other a lot but I consider you a friend…..Coldplay is JUST music to me.”

And Seth is hands-down one of the most spectacular self-marketers I know.

It works like this, in this order:

1. Make friends and fans.
2. Do/make something that’s meaningful to you.
3. Tell your friends and fans about it ASAP… DO NOT polish it to death or worry about it not being perfect (any successful entrepreneur will give you this exact advice). Get it out there as fast as possible. Make it pretty/hone your skills later.
4. Inspire and ask your friends and fans to help you/buy your stuff.
5. Rinse and repeat.

It really is that easy.

Don’t believe it? Here’s something I probably shouldn’t tell you. 21 people work for me for free. Our online views have increased 127% in four months. 6000+ people read our newsletter. And we’re in the black after less than two years. Certainly, I hope it’s because we’re doing great work but for sure, friends and fans made this possible. As in, 65% them. No joke.

Did someone say the value of emotional value? I’m just sayin.