[Dixielandjazz] Fw: Band Advertising 101 -- More - a long read

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Like a lot of you I have over the years bombed out with advertising.  I found out that it's expensive and not very productive.  I spent a lot for several years doing Yellow Pages but unless you buy a big ad, you get buried in with the dozens of others then you really need multiple spots in the pages which costs more.  My experience was that you got a lot of people pricing and I would bet most of them were the other bands calling to see what you were doing.  This was an expensive bummer.  Then when I dropped the yellow pages the tele guys changed my phone number and not only that wouldn't tell me what it was until I got my next bill.  Double bummer.

I then tried newspaper advertising.  The band ran a business card size ad in a weekly and a monthly Catholic newspaper.  The weekly split into three and for awhile ran the ads in all three then they wanted three times the price.  We went along with that for about five years but it kept getting more expensive. Our advertising in the 80's was costing us $60-$70 a week.  As long as we were making top dollar it was OK but It's out of sight now.  Eventually it ate us alive and quit doing us any good.

I got the bright idea of advertising on the obit page but the daily wanted several thousand dollars for a years ad there.  So much for that.

One of the things we did was passing out ad packets on windshields at the bridal shows.  We were threatened a couple of times.  We played for the shows for several years but then they started wanting $1200 to appear.  What's wrong with this picture?  So we tried going around them.  Yes we got gigs but it was a big hassle making up the packets, passing them out and being threatened by the show DJ's.  We eventually gave up on the bridal shows.  At one time we did three of them.  Weddings can be a money maker but now I only do the small weddings and home weddings that can't afford or don't want a full size band.  I am a good alternative to a DJ and cheaper most of the time.  They like to get $300-$500 for a reception and I can beat that or be in the ball park.  That's not too bad for a Saturday afternoon.

I had tried direct mail several times and each week we would go through the newspapers for Weddings and various events.  The events were always too late to book a band but we did book a few that way.   We also booked a few weddings but it just didn't turn out to be worth it time wise.  By the time you made up an advertising packet and did the leg work it was just too expensive time wise.

The problem was that weddings don't have return customers but they do have word of mouth.  This was the best advertising but unreliable.  Occasionally we would get a group of girl friends who would all hire us but those groups always petered out eventually.  

The trouble with most advertising ideas is that they are shotgun approaches and are mass marketing.  That might sell soap flakes but doesn't do much for bands.  I think DJ's do well with this kind but many have multiple set ups and can send out any number of DJ's for the hot dates.  Not many bands can split off and do multiple gigs on the same day although that used to be common in the 60's and 70's with some bands here.  Some band leaders were more booking agents than band leaders.

The best bet is targeting and return clients.  Targeting clients is the most difficult to pull off but you have to figure out what your niche is and who will buy and how many times.

I have definitely targeted Seniors because they like OKOM.  I market my music as Nostalgia music.  One of the tag lines that I use is No Rap, No Rock and I won't blow you away.  This tells them in one line that they will like my music.  Truthfully if they want those things I'm not your guy and don't bother me.

There are over 100 senior venues in St. Louis and that doesn't count the Senior clubs.  Almost every community has one or sometimes several.  There are also civic groups such as the Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, Jr. League, Hospital groups.  It's almost endless.  Last week I played for a Rotary Club and Optimist club.  The Optimists were a return gig.  BTW I don't just target Senior groups but as it turns out they buy OKOM more than younger people.

These groups are return gigs and may be multiple gigs for other things and fund raisers.  I have found over the years that you can expect to get three annual parties from groups.  Then the committee changes and someone's brother in law has a band.  The same is true of corporate gigs.

My next target is going to be Veteran's groups like the American Legion and VFW.  There are several dozen halls around here.  I think I have a product they will like.  At the end of my tribute to veteran's ( I'm in uniform) I stand up and do an Arlington slow salute while bowing my head while the trumpeter sounds taps.  There isn't a dry eye in the place when I'm done.

Your personal involvement in civic groups is important and a source.  Use the old six foot rule.  Everyone within six feet of you needs to know that you have a band.  Tuesday I did a Masonic Lodge Christmas party and a single this Wednesday at a men's luncheon.  That's the result of my being a member and part of the Scottish Rite Brass here.  Tomorrow I have a trio with female vocalist at a high end Senior home.  This one pays very well.  Basically it's the horn front line, trombone, cornet and soprano backed with a computer rhythm section.

I started a data base for Senior venues and now have about 115 names.  I got most of them out of the Yellow pages but I got a little book that seems to be published other places too so it might be available in your area.  It's called New Lifestyles.  www.newlifestyles.com it lists every retirement home and senior service in my area.  I would bet they are in every major market area.

These are all multi booking venues.  They tend to change entertainment directors fairly often though.  Since there are over 100 in St. Louis if I get work from 15 or 16 of them every other month or so that's around 100 gigs a year.  I don't do quite that well but I get a very respectable return for my time from them.  The best thing is that they are all one hour gigs and I can often work a couple of them a day.

Remember these are all gigs that I had no hope of getting 15 years ago as a single horn player.  I am a better alternative to the guys that just play piano or guitar and maybe sing a couple of tunes.  That's why I make more.

One of the ideas that I had to overcome was the that I was selling music.  If you think that, you may have your head screwed on wrong as mine was.  They can buy music anywhere, anytime or slap on some CD's.  Today music is everywhere.  People want entertainment today not just music.

For you it might mean one thing but for me it's wearing bunny ears at Easter and a Sombrero for Cinco de Mayo.  I like lots of color and I do vocals as well as tell a few jokes.

Speaking about vocals.  It took me years to get my head out of my ass about that.  I never liked my voice a whole lot.  I hired singers and still do.  A good female vocalist sells although they can be incredibly high maintenance.   I have always sung a couple of tunes during a gig but it wasn't a big thing.  I started thinking and analyzing vocalists and types.  It takes three things to be a vocalist.  First you need a good voice, second you need to sing in tune and last you have to style music.  It turns out that the first one isn't very important.  Singing in tune and styling is everything.  Once I got over that then I started working on styling especially where my voice is weak.  If it goes out of my range, which isn't hard, I speak the words and sing the phrase end.  One thing that I can do that many singers can't and that is do jazz styling especially where my voice is weak.  I change the tune to fit my voice exactly in the same way  horn players move around the melody or to solve a range problem.

When I started singing my bookings doubled.  It doesn't take long to figure out that people must like what I'm doing more than I do.  You might not be the best judge of your own singing voice.  Get over mike fright.  I now sing almost everything I do.

I also learned from the radio DJ's.  I repeat the title of the tune and often the main performers and the year it was popular at the end of the tune and while I'm talking to them I'm selecting the next tune and queue it up before I'm finished.  While the intro is playing I name the tune and the year or maybe the band and artist.  Learn from your competition.

Something is always happening.  I can't get up and dance around but I can talk to them and keep a patter up so I have verbal action.  People get incredibly bored and mentally go off somewhere else between tunes.  I try to hold them.  That's what the radio jocks do.  Listen to them, they are talking before the tune stops and often into the intro for the next tune.

I think I said in another post that I started using a computer ten or twelve years ago with gigs.  I use Band In A Box which is a great program.  You can get enough tunes off the net to get you started.  Learn to input music.  If you use a good sound system you are home free.  Tip:  don't use any of the horn sounds - they suck although they keep improving that and the newest version uses sound samples for some horns so there may be possibilities.  Also, the newest version will make medley's.  I have had to do that manually.

A computer gives me a great deal of versatility.  I can go from a Jamaican or Cajun tune to swing to rock to Dixie and even a Viennese Waltz and anywhere else I want to go.  I have between 500 and 600 tunes in my main library so I can do requests in a lot of styles.  BTW if you play for ball room dancers you can sell them on correct rhythms for all types of music especially Latin.  I would bet that no one else in this area can do all the South American rhythms correctly and hold the correct dancing tempo.

Originally other musicians and some customers scorned the computer.  Today I can hire the best horn players in town and more importantly I can work singles and duos.  It allows me to do what only piano players could do before but I'm better because I can do the whole band and what's best is they don't charge me anything.  The down side is that I have to haul more stuff to a gig but it pays me more than I can make on a Saturday night with any band in town.

I quit treating music as just music several years ago and what some of the guys on the list said inspired me too.  I quit talking about music except in that I try to maintain the highest quality, variety and I hire the best people in town.  I talk about my shows (collections of tunes like my Christmas show, WWII or my 50's show) more than the music.   Right now I have about 15 shows.  WWII, Veteran's day tribute, Dixie,  The music that made the 20's roar, 40's, 50's, Christmas, Latin, Irish, Valentine's day, Gay 90's, (come on guys, not Gay, gay) a European tour, Fourth of July, A tour of the South, At the Movies, The Best of Broadway, Gaslight square, Paris in the Summer.  Each of my shows lasts an hour.  If they want more I do dance sets.  

I have distinctive music stands for some of the shows like the 50's Dixie band and WWII.  That might be a little expensive for you to do but I need only one stand for most things and do my own designs.  Owning a sign shop helps for this end of things.  I get my stands from Mike Brooks at EMBee Ideas.  www.embeeideas.com  Distinctive stands aren't 100% necessary but they help with the overall image.

I get my business cards from www.FreeVistaProducts.com   250 cards for postage only.  I also get my post cards from them pretty cheap. This year I got very nice pocket calendars from  www.AmsterdamPrinting.com That cost about $350 for 200.  Next year I will have a different hand out. They sell pens and other advertising give aways.  Next year I'm thinking about a desk clock or calculator with my ad on it.  It's More expensive but will be for return customers or cold calls.  It may actually be more cost effective.

I was apprehensive at first about what the other musicians would think but when I lay anywhere between $50 and $100 on them for an hour I make a friend for life.  I try to pay around $60 for a week day and $75 for an evening going to $100 or more for a Friday and Saturday night for the first hour.  After that I pay $25 an hour so on a Saturday night I can pay more for three hours than most bands pay and still come out good for myself.  St. Louis is a medium pay city.

I try to sell a whole package.  Entertainment, good music and a good time with lots of color.  Hope I don't get boring with the line "it's not about the music" but it's true.  You need to have a quality product but there are dozens of guys that have a "Quality product".  Why should they buy your brand?  You have to figure out what sets you apart from everyone else.  Emphasize your strengths which includes your musical credentials if any.  I emphasize continually my playing in the AF band,  and places I have played.  There are almost no nationally known bands from here so I use what I have.  Some guys have played with a lot of big names but big names don't usually come here so the lesson is use what you have.  I advertise the local well known bands and leaders that I play with besides my own.

I have several bands but I am a brand too.  After playing in bands for many years I had zero name recognition.  No one knew me and worse still after playing with the same group for 15 years the other musicians and leaders didn't know me either.  That's a quick trip to nowhere.

I had to get off my ass and do something or quit the music business.  Now it's about name recognition.  I am now a name, a personality that people can talk about and not just an anonymous guy in a band.  Every stand I have and every piece of literature and my web site is all about my name and who I am.  That effort won't stop until I finally die or quit playing.  A good friend of mine, Gary Dammer, has been doing that for years and has great name recognition around here.  He can draw a crowd on his name alone.  Why didn't I think of that?  DUH!!! Learn to advertise yourself.  

Get over this modesty bull or that people don't like a braggart.  So what?  They are called customers and who cares what they think as long as it's positive and they think you are cool.  If you don't tell them who will?  Learn to guide conversations to yourself and what you do without seeming that you are doing it.  I take charge of conversations in strange groups and like a funnel the bottom is always me and my bands and no matter where it swirls the end is always the same.  The trick is to not over do it and you guide the conversation not force it.  The civilians out there don't have a bunch to say after they have talked about the weather or today's ball game.  You are a musician and that's fascinating to a lot of people.  Learn to talk about yourself and then get away from it.  You can always come back to it later if someone is interested.  Remember you are in show biz and so take the stage....what are you waiting for?

I hired Gary Dammer who is about the best jazz trumpet player/leader in town the other night and a couple of people recognized him and came up to talk.  I don't think he had a clue as to who they were but you wouldn't have known that by the conversation.  The woman that hired me was blown away when he showed up.  She thought I was only name dropping when I told her I played with him.  I can tell you right now I will have that gig for a long time.  I'm not above using other band leaders fame or recognition.

Today I watched a Blue Man concert on TV and I picked up a great take off on how to attend a rock concert.  Well you can't be above a little theft now and again.  Remember Plagiarize, Plagiarize let nothing evade your eyes.  I think of it as "Creative borrowing".

I want people to talk about me as something special and give them status around the water fountain Monday morning.  I had "Larry Walton" at my party or some variation of that.  Just how do you think all those "big names" got that way. 

It's tough for most musicians to think of themselves as a product but if you want to do well that's exactly what you need to do.  A product first of all must be available, can do the job, is packaged attractively, is advertised, has at least the illusion of being better than other products and is worth what you pay.  Soap companies do it, why not you?

Every one of us has something different to offer and has different skills but every one of us can work off of our strengths.  After all it's about playing, enjoying yourself and doing what we like while making money at it.

As I learned and am still learning that being a good musician is only one part of the package but it's not necessarily the most important part.  I have no real competition for what I do.  The only thing I fear is another guy like me.  My safety comes in that few people want to spend the time, effort or money I have to get ahead.  I have guys around here ask me for my BIAB files.  It took me six or eight hundred hours to program that library and constant maintenance and I'm not going to clone myself for free.  This is not an easy business to make it in but it's still a business and I treat it as such.  I think some of my musician friends look down on what I do but frankly I don't care.

Thanks to the guys on the list, especially Tom and Steve who have passed on ideas.  They are much appreciated.  I continue to reinvent myself but it took a long time to come to that and get comfortable with what I needed to do.

As they say "old age and treachery can always overcome youth and skill".
Good Luck 
Larry
StLouis