You might have seen this commercial recently for the Clash of Clans game featuring Christoph Waltz and James Corden.

What’s happening here is that the advertisers are trying to sell the game by framing the gameplay within a narrative.  They are basically ‘telling a story’ as a way of market the product.

This is the secret behind all marketing.  We naturally respond to stories, it’s how we communicate with other people and stories are what naturally hold our interest.  This is something that musicians aren’t really aware of and they should be if they want to market themselves and their music effectively.  As an artist you need to find ways of how to tell your story.  Here are some ways you can do that:

Your Biography

You probably don’t release it but your biography is a story. It tells people who you are, where you have come from, what makes you do what you do and what you hope to achieve.  TV talent shows do this incredibly well.

All your communications to fans (newsletters, blog updates and social media messages) serve to continue this part of your story.

Your Music Releases

Every music release is a journey.  From the writing stage right up to the final release, the narrative here comprises your songwriting inspirations, how a song is crafted, the trials and tribulations of recording and the headaches and challenges of its eventual release. You need to make sure you find ways to tell these stories, video blogs are very effective at this.

Your Gigs

Have you ever read a restaurant review?  The best ones are nothing but stories, here is a great example at the Guardian website.  The stories often discuss the chef’s career, the history of the building or a story about how the reviewer’s day went before they arrived at the restaurant .

When promoting an event musicians or artists simply say “I’m doing a gig at XYZ town/City please come” but it would be more effective to sell the gig through a story.  Is this the first time you have played this town before? What does it mean to you to play here?  Have the musicians of this city been an influence to you (and in what way)?  If you have played at this location/venue before what interesting tales can you tell of the adventures (or nightmares!) you had here previously. Again, find ways to tell these stories through your channels.

See what I mean? Think about your stories and how you can begin to tell them better.

Got any questions about this post or how you can better market yourself?

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