Because the 12 months winds down, the workforce at Bandsintown For Artists requested 16 high music entrepreneurs how they market in the course of the vacation season and the way they use the season to prepare for the 12 months forward.
From the Bandsintown For Artists weblog
Q: WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR HOW TO MARKET / PROMOTE DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON OR HOW TO SURVIVE THE HOLIDAY SEASON WITHOUT BURNOUT?
And right here’s what they answered:

SUZ PAULINSKI – THE ROCK/STAR ADVOCATE
www.instagram.com/rockstaradvo
www.instagram.com/rockstarlifeplanner
Simply Do ONE Factor
In the case of surviving the vacations as you construct your profession – draw boundaries. Take a trip like everybody else and determine forward of time ONE factor you’re going to market and work out ONE factor you need out of the promotion – extra followers, extra engagement, extra provides to playlists, extra merch gross sales – so as to clearly plan and execute a marketing campaign that is smart and is targeted. When you’re overwhelmed or confused by every thing you need one promotion to perform for you, your viewers will likely be overwhelmed.
Your viewers has SO a lot happening proper now, be sure in the event you’re selling one thing it’s simple to know what it’s and it provides them VALUE. Suppose lowest hanging fruit – unimaginable reductions to maneuver extra stock of your merch, bundled reductions to maneuver merch and CDs (possibly supply free gift-wrapping with every sale – get artistic!), a personal streamed vacation live performance to all who pre-save your music, a downloadable PDF of your high picks for vacation items for the music-lovers of their household once they join your e-newsletter.
Plan forward, schedule your advertisements or social posts forward of time and ensure wherever you’re sending them to the hyperlinks work, and the gross sales cart and/or coupons are working. Undergo the method your self to ensure it’s simple for them to take motion and transfer on with their day. Bear in mind to maintain it easy. Don’t really feel like that is your ONLY likelihood to make an influence. Know your viewers and perceive that you simply’ll have one other full 365 days coming as much as construct relationships with them and promote to them in a much less crowded market.

JAY GILBERT – MUSIC BIZ WEEKLY PODCAST, CO-HOST AND CURATOR OF YOUR MORNING COFFEE NEWSLETTER
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygilbert01
Take into account a Remix, Stay, Acoustic or Reimagined Tune
It’s an “all the time on” music enterprise at the moment. “Out of sight, out of thoughts” because the saying goes. Maintain the communication going and your model entrance of thoughts with new music.
Model new music not an possibility? Take into account a remix, reside, acoustic or reimagined model of a beforehand launched observe.
Your followers are busy and distracted this time of 12 months however many will discover themselves off work in some unspecified time in the future, accessing the online with a brand new machine and probably trying to buy issues with newly acquired reward playing cards.

EMILY WHITE – MANAGER, COLLECTIVE ENTERTAINMENT, INC
Make Vacation Themed Songs
Gross sales, specials, and vacation themed songs! Don’t let your on-line merch retailer simply sit there, get artistic with vacation gross sales and specials to entice your followers to interact with the shop. Additionally, if you may get forward of the vacations, and write and document vacation songs (which don’t have to be non secular, they are often about winter, snow, and many others) over the Summer time, that’s when music supervisors are in search of such materials for the forthcoming vacation season. Only a few songwriters / artists are impressed to take action over the summer season, so put your self in the very best place to land syncs by writing a vacation music now (or if you end up impressed), and get it out to your synch workforce subsequent summer season for pitching.

MICHAEL SHERMAN – DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, FEATURE.FM
Converse Softly and Carry a Huge Stick…
My recommendation can be to take care of as a lot authenticity in your advertising efforts as attainable – particularly across the holidays. There may be a lot content material being thrown round on-line, out of dwelling and it’s all fairly loud. It’s in the end extraordinarily cliche however converse softly and carry an enormous stick…

ANGELA MASTROGIACOMO – OWNER MUDDY PAW, PR
https://www.instagram.com/Angela_Mastro
https://www.fb.com/AngelaMastro
Provide Festive Distinctive Merch
The vacation season is such an unimaginable time to market your self! You may completely bounce on the Vacation bandwagon and use it as a spot to jumpstart your creativity—for example, creating vacation merch (stockings, vacation playing cards, santa hats, mugs with cocoa—all of which may be DIY completed on a budget) to supply your followers one thing festive, distinctive, and wholly YOU.

BRUCE HOUGHTON EDITOR OF HYPEBOT, BANDSINTOWN SENIOR ADVISOR, PRESIDENT SYKINE ARTISTS AGENCY, PROFESSOR BERKLEE ONLINE
I all the time stay up for the vacation season as a time to recharge. There are fewer gigs occurring across the holidays and the music business, basically, shuts down. I exploit that point to relaxation and to plan the following 12 months together with which conferences I wish to attend and making a advertising calendar to unfold our efforts over the following 12 months.
This 12 months I’m going so as to add in a Suppose Day, my very own mini-version of Invoice Gates’ notorious “Suppose Week” the place I’ll spend a full day away from dwelling and workplace fascinated about how one can higher run my enterprise and life relatively than simply letting it run me.

ARIEL HYATT – FOUNDER, CYBER PR MUSIC
https://www.instagram.com/cyberpr
Ship a Touching Two-Means Vacation E mail & Create Superfans
It’s so simple to get loopy making an attempt to run gross sales and specials to become profitable on the holidays. In case you are not up for that use this season to take the time to REALLY talk along with your followers about what the season or the previous 12 months has meant to you. Ship a abstract of what your 12 months was like and embrace the nice, the unhealthy and the ugly. Encourage your followers to write down again to you and share their highs, lows and tales. It’s going to take effort in your half to reply to the e-mail that are available however consider this as a novel time to essentially bond with the followers who take the time to write down again – even when it’s only a handful – these are followers who might change into superfans in the long term. Bonus: That is additionally good as a result of it trains your e-mail supplier to know that you’re really having 2-way conversations and never simply broadcasting.

MICHAEL BRANDVOLD – MICHAEL BRANDVOLD MARKETING
https://www.instagram.com/michaelbrandvoldmarketing
Take Inventory & Shield Your Accounts
As a result of the vacation season is commonly a slower interval for a lot of artists I counsel utilizing this time to evaluation who has entry to all of your accounts, take away those that not want entry. Change your passwords. Evaluation what apps have entry to all of your account. Confirm you might have constant branding and messaging on all accounts. Make domains and net server are set to auto renew.

CASSIDY TAVCAR – ARTIST FAN SUPPORT, BANDSINTOWN
https://www.instagram.com/bandsintownforartists
Schedule in Advance and Take pleasure in As an alternative!
Reap the benefits of platforms and merchandise that assist you to schedule your posts, releases, and content material. This fashion artists and groups can get pleasure from their holidays whereas nonetheless interacting with followers. Staying forward of the sport and being proactive in planning out your vacation months is essential (:

BRYAN CALHOUN – VICE PRESIDENT OF NEW MEDIA & EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AT SOUNDEXCHANGE
https://www.instagram.com/bryancalhoun
Leverage Free Promotion
Competitors for consideration is at its best this time of 12 months and advert charges are at their highest, so leverage the free or actually cheap instruments you might have entry to to assist hold prices down. As an illustration, Pandora’s Artist Advertising Platform that enables artists to run Artist Audio Messages with CTAs so followers can hyperlink to the place they will buy. Or, possibly simply want followers joyful holidays. E mail followers, however be respectful. Take into account that their inboxes are probably full of provides. Ship messages with provides through textual content utilizing Superphone or Neighborhood for provides if they’re well timed.

ALEXIS JENKINS – ARTIST FAN SUPPORT, BANDSINTOWN
https://www.instagram.com/bandsintownforartists
Break Out Your Favourite Vacation Songs
One of the simplest ways to advertise in the course of the vacation season is to narrate to your consumer with private touches like speaking about your favourite Christmas traditions/songs. It’s additionally a good suggestion to provide some sort of low cost or free delivery, particularly throughout Black Friday when individuals are shopping for items! In an effort to keep away from burnout be sure to plan forward and persist with your calendar. Additionally don’t be afraid to say no and ask for assist in the event you want it.

MIKE WARNER – AUTHOR OF WORK HARD PLAYLIST HARD
Instagram.com/askmikewarner
Wait Till Subsequent 12 months For That New Launch
When you haven’t launched a observe but, don’t put it out till subsequent 12 months. Many individuals take a break over the vacations and are available January 1st, individuals transition out of their jobs and you should enable time for that to occur.
Dedicate this time to your followers, say thanks, do reside streams and chat, want them joyful holidays, present the love that you simply wish to obtain in return in 2020.
Don’t schedule any classes, conferences or work subsequent to the large holidays. That is out of respect to your self, your family members and collaborators.

HISHAM DAHUD – ARTISTPRO FOUNDER | MUSIC ARTIST (AKA RIZIK)
https://www.instagram.com/hishamdahud
Make it YOU Themed
Whereas it could be tempting to fall into cliché advertising ways like providing musical “items”, vacation reductions, or piggybacking off different Christmas themes… I encourage music artists to do that as a substitute.
Get right down to the essence of what observing that vacation (whichever ones you do) uniquely means to you at this level in your life. Mirror on that intensely and supply us one thing that captures the spirit of that point-of-view. It may be a single piece of music, a video, a bit of idea artwork… or perhaps a piece of merchandise. These provides aren’t essentially “vacation” themed, however relatively YOU themed via the guise of a shared expertise that’s the vacation season.
Does Christmas have you ever reflecting on your loved ones historical past? Does the New 12 months evoke a spirit of renewal? And many others, and many others.
The vacations are usually a heartwarming time of 12 months, so I encourage artists to be further weak proper now. Provide us one thing from the guts, one thing notably transferring about your life… and permit us to use our personal that means via your introspection.

MELISSA GARCIA – PARTNER AT COLLECTIVE ENTERTAINMENT
https://www.fb.com/Collective-Leisure
Do Some Vacation Covers!
It doesn’t must be an official launch, however may be within the type of a YouTube video, or one thing to be shared on social media (tales, TikTok, and many others.). Add a vacation sale to your merch technique. Do you propose on having new merch designs for 2020? Must do away with some previous stock? Then run a sale to maneuver merchandise. Put together for 2020. You lose not less than 2 weeks of stable advertising time due to Christmas and New Years. So in case you have something deliberate for January (bulletins, releases, and many others.), be sure to get your technique squared away earlier than the business shuts down for the vacations. Keep energetic on social media. Communicate along with your followers, whether or not via an e-mail greeting or through social media. Share a contented holidays publish and have enjoyable with the content material.

BOBBY OWSINSKI – MUSIC three.zero
HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/BOBBYOWSINSKI
https://www.instagram.com/bobbyowsinski
Chill for the Vacation, and Plan for Subsequent 12 months
When you’re making an attempt to work your manner up the music enterprise meals chain, December could be a irritating month. Every little thing grinds to a sluggish halt early someplace across the second week and doesn’t decide up once more till the second week of January. The very best factor is to keep in mind that the rationale why you’re not having your calls returned has nothing to do with you, it’s simply the seasonal ebb and stream of the enterprise. Settle for the truth that the biz is sluggish, chill for the Vacation, and plan for subsequent 12 months.

CHERIE HU – FOUNDER, WATER & MUSIC
https://www.instagram.com/cheriehu42
Focus On Reflection
To be trustworthy, December is simply one other month within the calendar 12 months and the vacation hype, whereas contagious, is momentary. So my recommendation by way of avoiding burnout can be to make use of this time not simply to squeeze in as many vacation offers as you possibly can, however relatively to focus extra on reflection on key classes from the previous 12 months, and on planning for a 12 months of progress and well being in 2020. The music business specifically is all in regards to the lengthy recreation and about how a artistic imaginative and prescient manifests over a number of months, not years — and rapidly sheds individuals who assume in any other case.