Getting The Marketing Band Together; Hiring Business Help
There's no guarantee that a good musician will also happen to be a savvy business person as well, which is why hiring outside help can often be a good idea. Here we look the proper way to go about hiring business help so that an artist can instead focus on honing their craft.
________________________________
Guest Post by Murris Johnson
There are many elements to the music industry, and breaking in can be difficult even when you’re not expected to do everything yourself; as stated before, musicians aren’t often entrepreneurs as well. Nor should they necessarily have to be, since specialization allows musicians to focus on refining their skills while a business like a market firm can handle the less musical parts.
Certainly, marketing yourself while also creating content, musical or otherwise, and managing every other aspect of your business is possible and there are those who do. In the cases of musical groups, delegation across members can make it more feasible. There are some elements of self-promotion that you can set up yourself quite easily or would be your responsibility regardless of hired help, such as creating an official, verified Twitter account, monitoring your reputation as both person and artist, and finding the right people to trust with the entrepreneurial aspect of your business. However, in the case that you haven’t the time or the interest in juggling all of the pieces of self-promotion with crafting new pieces of music, looking for help is likely going to be the better option for you.
Which leaves the question: how do you actually go about finding a business like a marketing firm?
The first item of business is to determine what you expect hired help to be able to do for you. Coming in new to the idea of a marketing firm might require a bit of research on your part to establish what you want. You also have to determine a budget, remembering that hiring on others to help you is an investment and that you get what you pay for. Once you establish what you can realistically afford, that will allow you to enter a dialog with any potential business partners about budget. If the budget is small, consider more specific and tailored practices based on the priority of what services you need. Consider, for example, finding a SEO service and working from there. Always keep in mind that as a musical artist, you are also a business owner selling products of music under your own brand name. When you see advice about marketing for “small business owners”, think, “That’s me.”
If you do decide to look for help with marketing, keep in mind that it can be a dangerous place to navigate and keep an eye out for red flags. Quality marketing requires the building of relationships and trust, and in the music industry, good marketing agencies can be difficult to find. Writing good music and pulling the weight yourself is a good way to show that you are serious about your business and thereby attract the help you seek.
