Seems every time I read an article about music promotion, they seem generally the same thing. "Play in your local market with a fifty mile radius of your hometown." That's actually pretty smart advice. If you can build a buzz in your region, that local buzz will eventually spread outside of your market into others. But there's a problem. It is no easy task for any unsigned band to build that buzz. Take my hometown, Austin. Whew! I can't tell you how many bands there are here. The market is flooded. Getting through the clutter is pain in the arse. Guess what? I learned an untapped secret to break through the band clutter, earn you web traffic all from your local region. And you will generate good-will in your community. Here's the secret. Write reviews of local businesses. I wrote a short review of a small Irish pub just outside of Austin called the Irish Dragoon Pub. They had no website. So I gave them one and added a few kind words. This past St. Patrick's Day the owner of the Dragoon embarrassed me. He took the microphone before we started playing. Not only did he talk us up to the audience, but he thanked us for the kind review that "put the Irish Dragoon on the map". You can do the same for ANY business wherever you're playing. And it's easy. Here's what you do. 1. Pick a local business you want to support. 2. Write a short review about that business. Don't just say it's cool. Tell your readers what you've bought there before to make it more personal. 3. Put that business name in the title of the webpage. For instance, "Irish Dragoon Pub in Killeen, TX". 4. Add a small banner with your next gig listed. 5. Submit that webpage to the search engines. That's it. More than likely, you'll come up easily as one of the top 10 sites listed. To improve your search ranking, add additional links to that webpage on your website and others. And don't forget to let the business know that you appreciate them. Send them a link to that review as well. SPECIAL NOTE: While this is a great way to bring in a bunch of random traffic. It's not targeted. Meaning those who DO come to your site, more than likely will have little interest in your music, UNLESS the business you write about attracts your type of fans. So do a little bit o'research and good luck! |
