Back To The Grind

Sometimes I feel like I totally go off course and that I’ve been off course for a long time.  Thank God I am writing these blogs because it just proves to me that my little detours have only been for short periods as opposed to lifetimes.  I have so many things that I want to accomplish that I am not finding the time for and also getting held up in road blocks.  A couple of days ago I talked about not being able to actually upload my video content and not really knowing how to insert video from other sites…videos that I really liked and would recommend seeing.  So I need to give myself a little pat on the back for actually getting that help that I needed to be able to move forward. 

I have got to admit that that road block also transferred to my exercise time and my practice.  Its been about a week and half since I have a really good workout, a really good singing practice, and a guitar practice.  I wonder if the crazy weather attributed to it.   I know that the traffic to the city has been wearing me out, so I have made  a point to try and take the train a couple of time per week.  It is so much better for me stress wise.  I am not freaking out in traffic for and hour and half to go a distance that would regularly take me 20 minutes if there was no traffic at all.  AAAArrrggg!  It is so frustrating.

For a moment, my mind veared away from my singing and thoughts of another passion of mine, helping and motivating other women to live their dreams too, creeped in and took over for while.  I am formulating my plans to share with other women business owners how to utitlize the internet to take their dream business to the next level, especially mom’s, who feel like there is not enough time in the day for themselves nor their dreams.  I am going to keep developing on that plan but stay the course as far as my plans for my music career.

6 Steps to Stay Motivated with Your Music

I’ve got to admit, I did get discouraged at one time with my life in the music industry, and I just couldn’t keep going. Mentally and emotionally drained, I left for years, ignoring that music was my passion and I was my authentic self only when I was performing or doing anything that surrounded music. I’ve learned how to stay motivated to keep on going, which seems to me to be easier, with internet, because I have a sense of having my life in music in my own hands. Here are some tips on How To Stay Motivated and Focused in Your Music Career.

1. What Are Your Goals. Are you a singer and just want to get out there and sing. Do you want to be a solo artist or a background singer and travel the world with a big named act. Things to think about right? Figure out what is truly important to you, in your heart, and write it down. Then stop at noghting to achieve them. For me this takes some “time blocking” and life balance because I want to spend quality time with my family too. Write down your goals and focus on getting them done.
2. Dream Big – I am now always of the mentality that if something good or miracle like should happen to somebody, why not me. It’s like the saying, you have to be in it to win it. Well, you have to dream big, the dream that you really hold in your heart, and believe that could even happen to you. Your dreams kind of go hand in hand with goal setting and putting those goals into action and not just words.
3. Daily Action – Some days I am able to accomplish a ton of things that move me closer towards my goals and my dreams and other days I can barely get a thing done, but If I do even the smallest, thing, like making a phone call to a new producer I’ve met and want to cut a track with, I feel like I am still moving closer to my goals. I recommend even stead strides forward…yo’ll hit that mile mark faster than you think.
4. Don’t pile too many projects on your plate at once- Now I am a culprit for this…and you know what…it leads to procrastination and I don’t get anything done. Choose one to three things (three things IF you are a good multi-tasker which a lot of my music mama’s are) that you want to focus on completing.
5. Focus on Priority Items – OK…stop checking your email every two seconds, and responding and uploading your new status on facebook. Set those things aside for a specific time in the day to do them and knowck it out all in that on or 2 hours. That way you can concentrate on the things that really bring you the results you are looking for with your music.
6. Don’t let the Nay-sayers knock the wind out of you – You can do it.. You just have to keep making good music, great songs, getting them up on your site so that the world can experience the passion and the music within you.

Hey…it may not be easy, but playing music, marketing your music to the world, performing your music to an audience, can be the most rewarding life you can live as a musician. Remind yourself everyday that you are bringing emotional joy to your fans, by filling there sould with your music. You can do it…just remember the steps above and keep it going.

10 Tips For Email Marketing Your Music To Your Fans

How can you really keep in touch with your fan base, especially when they want you too…send them an email. Email marketing is not dead. Your family, friends, and fans who want to hear about what new in your music career and life want for you reach out an touch them with great current info to keep them up to date. Here are a my top 10 tips for creating a great email marketing campaigns.

1. Make sure your content is current. When you send that email out, make sure it does not refer to comething that happened 2 months ago in the news unless it has something to do with what your talking about today. Your readers don’t want “late” information.

2. Know the “vibe” of you emails and what you want them to do for you. Do you want the emails you send out focused on getting people to buy your latest download, or do you want to drive them to your website or both. Make sure whatever direction you decide, you convey that in your email message and make it easy for your readers to follow…like a link back to your site or an embedded buy button that takes them to the purchase page on your cdbaby.com page.

3. Make sure they also know its you all the time. Everytime one of your readers opens your email they should see the same logo for your music company or your band’s name, in the same place. You should make it easy for your fans to know who you are verytime, plus, you start really making name for yourself when your emails are designed this way. You “branding” your image in your readers minds.

4. Create a subject Lines that get them to open the email. What you right in the subject line is probably the most important part of your email campaign. It’s got to pop and appeal to the reader’s emotions and inspire curiosity. You can follow my lead by offering Secrets, Tips, and Tactics, or Little Known Stratetigies for…as some examples of lsubject lead ins for your campaigns.

5. Tell them right away What you want them to Do. You don’t want your message to get lost in the body of the email. Put it at the very top of the email, maybe in the subtitle. You might to say, “Download the band’s new song ‘YourSong’ now being offered as a ringtone.” Make sure you include the links to right pages.

6. Really be you, not the business. Make your emails personal. Your friends and fans want to feel that they really are special and have a connection with you on a personal level. I think that’s why Oprah is so huge around the world. From the start, she could relate to her audience AND she would share her personal experiences and struggles. Marketers have found that with personability comes a higher rate of emails being opened. Don’t be scared to let your hair down a bit. People feel comfortable with others who know they are only human. If you can, send your email that are addressed to the person’s name…Hi Jennifer…you know what I mean…it makes it even more personable.

7. Write mostly text…not too many images, but make it pretty. You want your emails to load quickly. Too many images, flash, video, etc…can slow down the loading of your email. Many people nowadays don’t have the patience for emails that load slowly. They will just click off of it and move to the next email and your email is lost forever.

8. Be consistent, follow-up but don’t bug. This is such a touchy area. Some marketers say that you have to have a frequency campaign before any viewers actually make a purchase on your site or after watching commercials or seeing ads. Supposedly, a fan needs to hear from you or see an ad at least 5 times before they may buy something. If they do, make sure you follow with a personal thank note email. Maybe send an email once a week for 12 weeks at first, then slow it down to once a month, if you have your campaign set up on auto-pilot.

9. Repeat the types of emails you find get opened. If you find that a certain type of email always gets opened every time you send it out, create more emails set up in that same fashion. Many email managers give you the ability to measure your results and see how many on your list actually opened the emails.

10. Track ‘em. Email marketing managers like Constant Contact and Aweber have email tracking so you can figure out what your fans like to read about. You can try to hone in on what works and what doesn’t by changing the subject headlines, or the format of the newsletter itself. You can also see if sending an email out Monday night is better than Wednesday morning, so can see when your emails are more than likely to get opened.

Much success to you in your email marketing adventures!