Become Performance Attractive
This article will show you how to make yourself more Performance
Attractive by standing out in the musicians' marketplace. One of
the secrets of attracting lots of performances to you (as
opposed to pushing hard to get them, like you may be doing now)
is to stand out big time and offer things others don't.
There's a standard marketing term called the USP, Unique Selling
Proposition, that's going to be very important in helping you
(and prospective performance managers) figure out why they
should hire you as opposed to the other musician down the street.
Let's face it, as human beings we are all unique and different.
As musicians (especially self-employed!), we all have something
that sets us apart from everyone else, including our friends and
competitors. We may have a different genre or playing style, a
pitch that has more benefits, a speciality or music niche that
we know better than anyone else does.
It is crucial for you to identify and communicate whatever sets
you and your music style apart from others. If you can offer the
Latin style with an Asian spice in it, why not tell them.
Imagine one of your potential performance managers looking
through the phone book and seeing 65 musicians and ads for your
category. How would you stand out? What would make them call YOU
as opposed to the next musician?
Be able to clearly communicate what your USP is whenever
speaking to a potential performance or venue manager.
Your Unique Selling Propositions answers these questions:
* Of all the people in my field, what do I do that others do
not? * What features of my music style sets me apart from
others? * What benefits can I promise that others do not? * Why
should a prospective venue manager or other musicians work with
ME as opposed to the musician down the road?
Grab a pad of paper and take some time to think about what you
offer as opposed to what your competitors offer and write this
down. Write in detail. Even go one step further and write down a
whole list of songs you play and the different styles you play
them in. Maybe this will inspire you to go even further and try
new styles for existing songs and become even more creative.
If you want to make it straightforward so that you REALLY stand
out, write down and create a marketing document stating the 10
things that make you different from your competitors and give it
to potential performance and venue managers as one of your
Performance Attraction tools.
Take another step and send an email out to everyone you know
letting them know what you can offer them through your music.
Ask them to tell others. This works magic. Whether now or later,
you'll get people coming to you asking you to perform, teach and
much more. Remember what we've discovered in previous editions
of this newsletter - the universe will respond to your desire!