Online Marketing Strategies for Recording Studios and Artist Managers

If you are in the business of studio recordings or artist management, you might want to read this post till the end.

I’m going to cover the online marketing strategies specifically for recording studios and artist managers.

An online presence is no longer enough.

With so many recording studios readily available (almost everyone has one or access to one), so if you are earning a living from this, it only makes sense that you find a strategic way to market your business.

Before we begin, I want to make it clear that, the following ideas are not “hidden secrets” or anything of that sort.

In fact, some of you might even be familiar with some of these tactics.

I took already existing online marketing concepts but I decided to put them together for people involved in the recording industry.

So without further ado, let’s go through them.

DESIGN A WEBSITE

Before you shut down this idea and say “But that’s obvious”, please hear me out.

Most people don’t understand the real purpose of having a website in the first place.

What is the purpose of a website?

A website is basically your “online business card”. But it has to sell.

What I mean by that is, each time someone visits your landing page, your message should be loud and clear.

In other words, you need to convince a potential customer to do business with you.

Say you are an artist management company (or aspire to become one); your copy should be attractive enough to sell your services.

But you before you design a website; you have to register a domain name

Just in case you don’t know what a domain is. It is the URL name of your business, brand, etc.

Here is a basic example:

yourbusinessname.com

When your domain is registered, then you can build a website.

I won’t explain how you should design it because the topic is broad and that would go beyond the scope of this article.

The design is important but then again, it’s not as important. Sounds counterintuitive right?

But I will tell you what is more important though……..

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Yes, that’s right, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial if you want to “make it” online.

If you get this step right, then half the battle is won.

When I built my first site, I heard about this acronym but I didn’t pay too much attention to it.

Instead, I focused on my web theme.

It sounded complicated and intimidating and I thought I could bypass it and still find success online without it.

I would later find out that education is not expensive, but ignorance is.

What is SEO anyway?

SEO is basically the phase where you have to ensure that your website is optimized (with the correct keywords) in order to generate organic traffic from search engines.

You don’t have to be an IT Guru to do this; you just have to know the basic theory behind all of this.

Let’s say you are a musician searching for a recording studio in and around South Africa.

When you type in the search phrase Recording Studio in South Africa, Google would then give you a search result of the first 10 sites based on your query like the one below.

It increases the probabilities of generating leads and sales because most of the traffic (clicks/visits) goes to the websites that appear on the first page (especially the Top 5).

I know this SEO thing might be a foreign concept for you.

It’s completely understandable because it has nothing to do with the music industry but it helps to know about it, even if it’s a little.

Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand for now and try to give some pointers on how you should approach it.

Before I proceed, I just want to state that you don’t have to do this task on your own.

Truth be told, it can be time-consuming especially if you have a business to run. The bulk of your time is probably taken up by other activities anyway.

If you have the funds, you can enlist the services of an SEO consultant.

But still, it doesn’t mean that you should remain ignorant like I once did.

It is better that you have an idea so you don’t fall prey to a slick salesman should you decide to hire a professional to do this for you.

Alright, back to the program.

If you want to rank for those “golden” keywords, it is vital to do what is known as keyword research.

I use the word golden because that is where the traffic and money (sometimes) follows!

However, please bear in mind that I will only cover this briefly. I would have to write an entire book dedicated to this subject alone (But maybe that’s not a bad idea after all).

Keyword research is done using various tools such as Google Keyword Planner, wordtracker, and many others.

This is the process of finding the potential keywords (and the search volume per month) that you want to rank for.

If you are offering studio recording services, chances are musicians searching online would type search phrases such as the following:

Recording Studio near me
Affordable studio in Johannesburg

These are known as Long Tail Keywords.

But instead of taking an educated guess, it’s better to do the research and analyse the data once you have it.

The following screenshot below is an illustration of keyword research. My keyword words are Recording Studio

When you have this information at your disposal, you are better off.

But choose your keywords wisely. It’s advisable to write down a list of search phrases first.

Once you are done with your selection, make sure they are placed strategically on your website’s Header, Meta descriptions, content and title tags, etc.

CREATE RELEVANT CONTENT FOR YOUR AUDIENCE

I’m pretty sure that you have heard of this mantra before. Well, it’s not just noise, because content is here to stay.

In the music industry, an audio recording is sometimes referred to as content.

But I’m talking about a different type of content here.

As an artist manager you might be asking, “Why on earth would I want to create content? I’m just a manager”

For starters, you might want to consider educating future potential clients (especially for those artists just starting out or trying to get a break) about the industry, presentation skills, grooming, etc.

The list is endless; you won’t run short of ideas.

See, there are many ways you can add value besides being just another representative for musicians.

Three Ways You Can Create Content

YouTube – If you are not camera-shy, you might want to look into creating videos and upload them on your own YouTube Channel.

In case you might not be aware, creating a YouTube channel is free of charge.

If you have a Google Gmail account, a DSLR Camera, good audio and content ideas then you are good to go.

For a recording studio, you could demonstrate, a “How to connect a monitor speakers to a PC” to newbies for example.

At the end of your videos, don’t forget to include a call-to-action.

A CTA can be a subscription to your channel, instructing viewers to visit your website or a free download offer, you name it!

Blogging – Blogging is more about putting your thoughts on paper in a literal sense. But when done right, a blog can increase visitors to a website and boost your credibility as an expert in your field.

People tend to shy away from blogging because of a lack of knowledge and/or the amount of time, resources and work that is required to put a proper blog together.

But you don’t have to invest 100% of your time. Five or even ten per cent of your time can make a difference.

When you have interesting topics to talk about, blogging can make you stand above your competitors.

EBook – Say, you are an up and coming manager trying to sign new artists. You could write a mini eBook anything related to the music industry and distribute it free of charge (or sell it if you want to).

An eBook can be made available as a free download on your website and you can also include your name, contacts, web address, social media, et cetera.

I mention the word “free” again because not many people would be willing to purchase an eBook unless you are a household name.

This free strategy would help to build a following as more people get a hold of your book.

It goes without saying that you should share and market your content on social media.

But don’t approach it blindly though. Instead……

BUY FACEBOOK ADS

It’s pointless to share your content on your personal Facebook timeline only to forget about it.

Chances are most people won’t even care about your post and won’t bother reading it.

Instead post it on your Facebook page, join relevant groups and share your content there every now and then.

But don’t be a spammer. Observe; join discussions and then post a link later if that is allowed in the group.

Depending on the number of followers you have on your FB page, most people won’t see your posts.

However, Facebook paid ads allow you to target and reach a wider audience much quicker than organic posts.

Just remember to install a Facebook pixel on your website before you launch your Ad campaign.

Oh and don’t forget to…….

ANSWER QUESTIONS ON QUORA

I don’t know why many people neglect Quora.

I think it’s a fantastic marketing platform. If you’ve never heard of Quora, well it’s basically a Question & Answer site.

When you type a question in the search bar, the search results will give you a list of questions or similar questions with answers.

However, some questions are yet to be answered. So this gives you the opportunity to write a compelling answer if you are knowledgeable about a subject.

The screenshot below shows a list of questions and answers relating to audio, recording and mixing.

If you know the answer to any question, you can share your thoughts based on your background, knowledge and experience.

But what is the benefit in doing all of this, you say?

When you add a compelling answer(s), more and more people on the platform will trust you based on the upvotes.

The upvotes increase your credibility as a thought leader.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I just took you through five important online marketing strategies that you should implement (in that order) going forward.

If you don’t have a website, I suggest you start working on one as soon as possible.

If that sounds like something you don’t want to do on your own, then you can leave it to the professionals.

But you read this far which is good, so you can use your new-found knowledge and instruct whoever will be doing your marketing to implement these strategies on your behalf.

Well, that’s it for now and I hope you enjoyed reading this article but writing it was so much fun!

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