Whatever it is that you do in life, if you want to make good money doing it, you need to do it well and you need to market yourself. We all have experience marketing ourselves, from getting a girl to like you to getting your resume to the top of the pile at your dream job. Today, I’m going to write about how to market yourself like a rock star, even if you aren’t one. The idea for this post was spawned by the very example I’ll show below, which should be proof enough that it works.
Some background
I run an internet radio station, so I get a few press kits and CDs a week. As a standard, I ask for an autographed 8×10 for my collection and provide my t-shirt size just in case. I’ve gotten a lot of stuff in the mail, from indie DVDs to CDs, buttons and stickers to full posters to shirts. Once, Penthouse sent me a press kit and the DVD for something called Space Vixens from Mars (or something similar), for some unknown reason. The point I’m shooting for is that I am used to the same old stuff, and if you are promoting to the right people, they will be too. You need to stand out. The Young Werewolves have clearly figured this out.
Rise to the top
The first thing I noticed before I even opened the package was the package, itself.
It was covered with spooky little Halloween stickers. Not only did this grab my attention, but it also made me very curious about the contents. I wanted to open it already and take a look.
Pay attention to detail
Anyone can send off a press kit. Anyone can put that press kit in a plain white folder with a boring white press release. You should be different. Take a look at what you are promoting. You put a lot of effort into your product, right? You should put just as much effort into making your press kit look good. If you have a lot of money, you can accomplish this easily by hiring a firm to do all the creative work. Another option is to dig into your own creative resources and see what happens. Take a look at the following images.
TYW went with a plain brown tri-fold pocket folder and cut up stickers in the shapes of werewolf claw marks. This is important because it tells me that they’re obviously creative and resourceful. When I opened the folder, I saw that they didn’t stop at just the claw marks. Anyone can be boring, a handful get creative, and a select few go all out. The Young Werewolves fit into that last category. They left boring for the boring people, touched on creative and then kept going for the win.
Personalize your message
Sure, I ask for the 8×10, but something tells me they have a stack of them ready to go. Putting your signature on anything gives it more credibility and makes it feel more personal. Take a look at any e-book sales page on the internet and you will almost always find an image of the seller’s signature at the bottom. When you take just a minute to make the message feel more personal, it will be more likely to be read.
Get them to spread the word for you
This one is a no-brainer, but it’s often over-looked, so I’ll touch on it just to remind you. If you have something worth promoting, you can often get the people you are targeting to promote for you. TYW picked the most common methods associated with a band, and those are t-shirts, stickers, and flyers. Stickers are great because a lot of people love to put stickers on their cars to show their support. Flyers make it easy for someone to share your information with a friend, and most importantly, t-shirts buy you a walking billboard for years. I have one shirt I’ve been wearing for 13 years, promoting a Canadian band I’m not even a fan of. Figure out what works for what you are promoting and include it.
But I don’t send snail mail press kits
You don’t have to do traditional mailings or be a band to take advantage of these tips. Let’s take a blog, for example. Your packaging is your domain name and your post titles. You want them to be unique and stand out so people click on your links before all others. This is even more important on the web. Unlike a package that would just sit on my desk and get noticed days later, your link may never be seen again by a person if they see another one that looks more interesting and get side-tracked. In a blog, you pay attention to detail by showing examples, using pictures to illustrate your point, and making your blog easy to read. In a blog, your message is already personalized, but you can add to that by replying to comments. Some blogs (the kind that think like TYW) go that extra step and have the blog auto-generate an email, thanking each person for their comment and reminding them to come back soon. Finally, there’s several ways you can get your target readers and others to promote your blog for you. One obvious way is to link to other blog articles that offer track back links.
Take a look at what you’re trying to promote and apply these general principals to your marketing efforts and see what happens. Have you done this already? Share an example of how you’ve already put some of the above into action and how it worked for you.
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