Tag Archive - music success in nine weeks

Music Success in 9 Weeks – Week 5

August 3, 2010 in Music Success in 9 weeks with 2 Comments

After a successful week 4 it’s time to begin week 5…

This week is all about my newsletter vs my email list and conducting surveys. (If you have “Music Success in 9 Weeks 2010″ this week is really about blogging) However let’s begin with my first task to identify who is my marketing demographic? Who really listens to my style of music and would come out to a performance or buy a cd?

In business I know it’s very important to identify your demographic and I’ve always skipped this step however, this time I’m going to spend the time to do it! So with my pen in hand and Ariel’s worksheets at my desk to guide me, away I go…

Week 5 – Day 2… this is really tough trying to pin down who my fans are. For sure, the number 1 fan is the part time guitar player, 30 to 55 years old, male with a middle class income. Then there is also a large demographic that loves to listen to my music in while commuting in their car or during a dinner party. Mostly men and woman 30 to 55 years, professional people such as lawyers, optometrists, restaurant owners and managers, etc… Ariel lays out a lot more details to determining my fan demographic. I guess that’s why I tend to pass over this task. I think this could be a good poll question to ask my fan base in one of my Newsletters.

Week 5 – Day 3… Creating an Engaging Newsletter. The 3 G’s (I guess you will have to buy the book to find out what the G’s stand for) However, This is great! I never realized how generic and dull my newsletters have been. Up to now they have been a big Ariel Hyatt no-no! I’ve been just sending them out to announce my next gig, cd, video, etc… How awful, I apologise to my subscribers! I vow from today forward they will be way more interesting and engaging! Today I’ll begin crafting my next news release to go out this week.

Week 5 – Day 4… Today I’m thrilled that Ariel stopped by to comment on my blogging efforts and passed along a few extra tips. I was also a little puzzled today to see my week 5 tasks were not in sync with my book. As I kind of suspected, I have an older version so, this is great! (and I mean that in a very positive way)

So this week is really all about Blogging!! Yipee! Now as a newly blogging addict, I can’t wait to dig in to Week 5 – 2010! I’ll also spend the week re-reading the first 4 weeks to see if there is any updated info I missed. As for Fan’s and Newsletters, I’ll jump back into that next week as week 6 is now all about my newsletter.

Wow! There is a lot of great additions in the latest edition of Music Success in 9 weeks. I’m doing a little back tracking today by adding a few more good Facebook apps to my Facebook page and next I’ll join I’m off to join Music Alley. With a little more reading I should be back on track and on the revised week 5 tomorrow. Btw.. just finished signing up with Music Alley (Podsafe Music Network) and uploaded a lot of tracks for all you wonderful pod casters out there. Now back to week 5 and Blogging…

Week 5 – Day 5… Ok, I have finished re-reading the first 5 weeks and it looks like I’m now up to date in my blogging challenge. As for the revised week 5… I have my blog and I still need to find more bloggers to connect with and more blogs to leave comments. This is a task that I know in my gut is supper important however, it’s really eating up a lot of time finding a great blog to read, do the reading, post a good relevant comment, add the site to my blog roll and then to my Google reader to continue to read and post comments. I know I can’t possibly find and post to 50 blogs in one week, so my goal is one a day. (like my vitamins) At the end of the year I’ve hit 200! (ok, I’m allowing myself to miss a day or two)

Today I was also busy submitting more tracks to Music Alley. (with 5 cd’s under my belt it takes a little while to upload everything) BTW… If you are an artist with your own cd’s and music, may I suggest signing up with Music Dealers. It’s free, you set up your band, upload your tracks and if you get selected your music could be licenced for TV, movies, commercials, etc…

Week 5 – Day 6… Today I have my Google reader in place and I now have a few blogs I subscribe to. Also, I’m now connecting with a few other bloggers. I’m also now signed up with mybloglog.com & Google friend connect.

Week 5 – Day 7… Today I’ve added many more Twitter followers and added a new app to my blackberry to help with posting pictures & video instantly to my Facebook, Twitter and Flickr accounts. (The app is called iTookThisOnMyPhone)

I’m now really starting to understand the power of Twitter Although, I’m still having a hard time understanding how to effectively use it. I’ll keep posting and will continue to get involved with my new network and I’m sure I’ll be a TwitMaster in no time. I’ve also found a few great blogs and sites that are helping.

Music Success in 9 Weeks – Week 4

July 26, 2010 in Music Success in 9 weeks with 0 Comments

After a successful week 3 it’s time to begin week 4…

This week is all about the power of blogging, twitter, facebook and flickr!

I visited commoncraft.com and watched all the videos recommended by Ariel and yes, these were great. The video’s were all about social networking, rss feeds, wiki, etc… There’s lots of good info here.

Next it’s time to create a blog and this is something I have done and now I’m a daily blogger. Yes, there is a lot of power in blogging! Here’s a couple of examples why blogging is working for me…

#1: I’m now posting new content to my webspace which in turn gives visitors and fans a reason to return to my site to see what’s new with John Gilliat. It’s my own reality web show. I post behind the scene gig pages so people can see and read what it’s like living a guitarist life.

Because of my posts I’m adding content and keywords that is increasing my google ranking and relevant web traffic. I have currently increased my daily traffic from an average of 125 visitors per day to 225. And I know that’s directly related to my blogging.

#2: I had a client contact me because they read a post about a wedding I played. The client was considering the same venue for their wedding and was looking for a guitarist. I was found by a google search for the venue and a guitarist.

Week 4 – Day 2… Now my big task this week is to find blogs related to my music and my guitar style and post comments, I need to be involved with other bloggers and begin developing my social network of like minded bloggers. I’m going to dive in and develop a circle of new blogging friends. I’ll also have to be sure I include the blog sites I comment on to my blog role. My goal this week is to find and comment on 50 relevant blogs!

Week 4 – Day 3… Today I didn’t have any time to find my 50 blogs however, as I’ve been doing regularly I created a new blog post. “Back to Whistler Mountain, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics to perform at the Squamish Lilwat Cultural Centre” It’s been a busy day with travel and a gig were I have to set up 2 sound systems, perform in 2 locations, etc… Some days it’s hard to find the time to put my social networking hat on.

Week 5 – Day 4... Today I’m going to learn to take twitter a little more serious. I already have a twitter account http://twitter.com/johngilliat and I’m going to tweet and hook up with new friends here. Also, I have found an app for my blackberry which allows me to tweet anytime/anywhere. It’s a free app called UberTwitter for anyone interested. I can also see what’s new with Twitter friends I’m following.

Week 5 – Day 5… So here’s what’s going on today, Just downloaded and installed twitbin – very cool browser app to keep me up to date tweeting. Also I’m posting to as many relevant blogs as I can find and having fun meeting other bloggers. It’s fun getting involved!

Week 5 – Day 6… Today it’s Flickr day. I wasn’t aware of this photo gallery, social networking site. I checked it out as per Ariel’s book and it looks great! I have re-activated my Google account and will create a Flickr account as soon as Yahoo re-activates me. (I created an account some time ago and never used it. Yahoo takes up to 24 hours to get me re-activated. Then I can create my Flickr account.) I really need a good and easy to maintain photo gallery on my website and blog. This has been a task on my to do list for years. Flickr looks easy to create and I should be able to instantly upload photo’s from my blackberry to my website, blog, facebook page. Keeping my fingers crossed that this comes together easily as it could be a wonderful edition to my internet space!

Week 5 – Day 7… Flickr is up and running visit me on flickr here. Lot’s of work to do here at flickr… upload photo’s join groups and discussions, create galleries, widgets and I need to learn to embed a flicker gallery into my website. (all great stuff, I need more time!)

I almost missed checking the CyberPRMastermind blog this week for the supplement post. I must begin following at least 100 tweeters and need to add Ariels “must have” apps to my facebook account!

In summary the toughest part of this week is finding really good blogs (at least 50) to become involved with, add to my blog roll and post comments to. I’m continuing to forge on with Ariel’s program however there is a lot more on going work to be done from this past week.

Also for others working through Ariel’s Music Success in 9 weeks program, be sure not to miss signing up to be involved with Ariel’s CyberPRMastermind Group/Blog. There are some fantastic supplement posts to each week that you must not miss!

Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success in 9 Weeks – Week 2

July 12, 2010 in Music Success in 9 weeks with 0 Comments

After a successful week 1 it’s time to begin week 2…

This week is all about branding myself online and off line. To be more specific it’s about creating a short pitch that quickly and effectively will tell anyone who and what I’m all about as an artist.

Because I’ve worked through the first few weeks of the Music Success in 9 weeks book previously to this blogging challenge, I have already spent a lot of time on this task. And yes, it’s a very important one indeed.

Thanks to the help of Ariel and a few other artist from Ariel’s CyberPRMastermind network we’ve worked together to create my current brand and pitch that is…

John Gilliat - Ottmar with a Twist, Fiery Rumba Flamenco guitar to Energize you and Soothe your Soul

So this week I’ll revisit and blog about Ariel’s week 2 instructions to tell you a little about the process I took to get to my current pitch. (and who knows, maybe we’ll tweak it a little more)

Before I began reading Ariel’s book I had already spent a considerable amount of time on branding myself. Originally it went similar to this…

John Gilliat… Passionate and fiery guitar that will energize you, soothe your soul, and let your spirit soar! (I also in conversation would tell people the music blends elements of Rumba flamenco & latin jazz)

It looks like I was on the right track however it was a little wordy and I had never thought it would be to my benefit to incorporate a popular artist that I sound like.

Also it appears that I’m doing it all right as I have my pitch on everything. (I think – I’ll double check this week and add it to anything I’ve missed) And yes, everything includes websites, blog, business cards, cd’s, demos, price sheets, press kits, guitar case stickers, bumper stickers, you name it, it’s gotta be there! Including contact info and the website address. Looks like Ariel has come across many artists that are completely missing the boat on this one. Are you??

BTW, for members of Ariel’s CyberPRMastermind network, Today along with reviewing and updating my week 2 tasks I’ve added new audio files and a video to my profile for those curious enough to drop by for a listen.

Week 2 – Day 2… So the first thing I did to re work my pitch was to recreate my outline… Who do I sound like, what music style do I fit into, what feeling and vibe does my music convey. Then I used the outline to rewrite my pitch.

Ariel also mentions www.15secondpitch.com a site designed to help a business create a pitch. Unfortunately for me the sites pitch creation tool didn’t do a lot for me however, Ariel believes that creating a profile there will help me get found in search engines. Therefore I consider my time here well spent. Just for a fun I’ll let you see what the 15secondpitch engine created for me…

My name is John Gilliat and I am a guitarist specializing in rumba flamenco Latin jazz. play guitar and entertain people my music gets people excited and feeling great performing fiery rumba flamenco guitar to make you feel great.

Ok, so it’s not quite what I had in mind, but for some it could be a good starting point.

The biggest help in creating my pitch was the feedback I received from other artists at Ariel’s CyberPRMastermind network. I highly recommend posting your ideas on the related forum. There is a lot of wonderful brainstorming and creative work going on there!

Week 2 – Day 3… So today I began branding again and found that I hadn’t placed my brand (pitch) on my twitter, myspace, facebook and reverbnation pages. I checked through all my off line media to ensure the new branding was in place.

Week 2 – Day 4… Ariel talks about saying your pitch out loud to know for sure if your comfortable with quoting it forever and there is still part of my pitch I’m not to comfortable with. It’s the “to energize you and soothe your soul” that doesn’t feel right. So I felt I could drop it completely if my pitch now read like this…

John Gilliat is:  Ottmar with a twist… Passionate and Fiery Rumba Flamenco Guitar.

The word passionate, to me, replaces “soothe your soul” It tells you that my music is very deep and from the heart. (very soulful) Fiery already replaces “to energize you”. (So no reason for that text, it just becomes redundant.) Now I’m much more comfortable with my pitch! It defines who I sound like, what’s the music style is and gives you the vibe.

Week 2 – Day 5… Time to go back and update my online and off line material to the new pitch.

Now it’s time to jump the cue and begin week 3

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