BlogDo You Exist on “the 2010 Web?” Watch this to find out! Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 As we wrap up 2009, I thought I would give you my predictions for 2010 and give you a heads up about something you may never have thought about that could be severely affecting the growth of your business. It’s a big problem, with a simple solution. To learn the solution, watch this 2 minute video I prepared for you: As always, I’m here to help and I wish you a very safe and prosperous New Year. ~ Nick Have you met the 3 foot giant? Monday, November 9th, 2009 I don’t often post entries that aren’t about some sort of way to grow your business directly, but every now and then, something comes along that is simply worth sharing. First, let me pose a question to you: Would you trade places with a 3 foot man in a wheelchair? Before you say “NO WAY!”you need to watch this video from a friend of mine, Sean Stephenson (it’s only about 3 minutes and TRUST ME, it’s worth watching): Seriously, just watching this 3 minute video of Sean, will eliminate any and all self defeating beliefs within you. I hope this helps you realize, as it did for me, that anything is possible and that you really can achieve anything. This is beyond inspiring – it’s a wake … ADWEEK: Business Leaders Most Persuasive Celebrity Endorsers Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 I just got this from Michael Fishman at Juniper Pond Media: It’s an article written by AdWeek that shows that Business Leaders are the “Most Persuasive” Celebrity Endorsers of products in ads. Business Leaders Ranked Highest with 37% of the “Most Persuasive” vote, followed by athletes (21 percent), TV/movie stars (18 percent), singers/musicians (14 percent) and former political figures (10 percent). Read the entire article here: So, that leads me to the question, what are you doing to become the business celebrity that endorses your own products or services?! If nothing, you need to start seriously considering it. Richard Branson, Lindsay Lohan, Jay Abraham and the New Rule of Engagement Sunday, November 1st, 2009 Your customers and prospects are dying to engage online…but you’ve got to give them a good reason to engage with you! And it was my good friend Andrew Lock, of HelpMyBusiness.com that spelled it out in a flash, almost as if it were second nature, and I believe many people missed it! But here is the new rule of engagement: Direct to Fan: Creating an Effective Offer Page and Fan Acquisition Techniques by Mike King Saturday, September 12th, 2009 Although this is an article for fledgling bands, don’t fool yourself. It’s a great article that you can take some real cues from to help you market better using social media combined with solid marketing principles. Thanks to @collinsmatt for sending it my way! Here’s the link: http://blog.tunecore.com/2009/09/direct-to-fan.html Become a Journalist, Quickly and Easily with YouTube Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 I was reading through a Mashable post today, as I usually do– and by the way if you don’t read their stuff, you should be! It’s the best stuff out on the web on social media trends and tips. In any event, today they had a post titled “The Journalist’s Guide to YouTube” that had some great tips in it, but the one that really caught my eye was the last one was a section titled “How Journalists Can Use YouTube” that discussed a really cool way for people all over the world to broadcast local news, and a link to educational content that will teach you how to do it well. They mentioned that one of the toughest things for broadcasters, traditionally, was to get video content from people in local communities, talking about news right as it happens around them. Twitter has obviously made this type of reporting available to anyone with a cell phone, but I hadn’t … Thursday, August 27th, 2009 If you’re looking for something a little different for your website, whether it be for marketing or for pleasure, you’ve got to check out Animoto It turns your photos and videos into movie preview style videos. They look better than just about anything else I’ve seen. Enjoy! Monday, August 24th, 2009 Think again. I found this great video that gives you some hard facts. Check it out and let me know what you think. YOU Are the One Responsible for the Economic Recovery Thursday, August 13th, 2009 I just got back from New York City, where our first group of America’s PremierExperts® launched their book in Times Square! Thanks to your support we hit the best-seller list! We also had some great training sessions including a spectacular 3 hour social media marathon session with Peter Shankman from HelpAReporterOut.com on how he grew his following with social media from 0 to over 100,000 and built a million dollar business in a little over a year. Our final adventure was on a private yacht (the same one they used on the show The Apprentice!) out to the Statue of Liberty to celebrate our Entrepreneurial Freedom. (here is a link to a pic I took of the Statue of Liberty: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=59418242&id=2008767#/photo.php?pid=7973266&id=507820116 As we were out there on the water, Jack gave a really moving speech about our entrepreneurial freedom that got me … I’m a ________ (Insert Your Career Here), Not a Celebrity…or am I?! (Part Deux) Friday, August 7th, 2009 In my previous post, I discussed 3 strategies for becoming a Celebrity in your market niche to lock out your competition and increase your profits. Those strategies were: 1. Websites If you haven’t read that post yet, you can read it by clicking here Now we’ll get to the other 2 that I promised you. Let’s get started: 4. Press Releases This is an easy concept, but most people miss it. So, you may want to read this part twice. People do not know what you are doing unless you tell them. It’s as simple as that. Did you land a big settlement? Did your practice just celebrate its 20th anniversary? Are you under new management? Are you opening a new location? Are you involved in a charitable cause? I’m a ________ (Insert Your Career Here), Not a Celebrity…or am I?! Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 When people I meet first learn that I Coach on the topic of Celebrity Branding®, many of them shut down almost instantly. It’s funny, because if there were one subject most American’s are obsessed with, if they would admit it (yes guys, you too!), it’s Celebrities. But I’m actually not talking about Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Oprah or Dr. Phil, I coach entrepreneurs, CEOs, professionals and many others how to charge more for the same services they are offering now, create recurring revenue streams in their businesses and lock out their competitors in their field of expertise. How, you ask? Using the power of Celebrity Branding®! Interested now?! Celebrity Branding® is a series of strategies used to get a specific market, those who are looking for what you have to offer, to find you everywhere they turn. When executed correctly, your prospects hardly know anyone else exists, but you. It’s all about finding out what your potential clients are searching for, and how they’re searching for it. … Thursday, May 28th, 2009 This morning I went to breakfast with my dad for his birthday. So first of all, happy birthday Dad! But, afterword I was inspired to record a video, you can view it below, or keep reading to see what I talked about. But, our waitress was so unfriendly that I almost didn’t want to buy breakfast, and I was hungry! But our experience reminded me of a couple things that happened recently that I like to call “sales prevention.” And I do think some of the activity in this “new department” is responsible for the slump in many people’s businesses. The other day I was placing an order for some new business cards for our Celebrity Branding Agency™ and the salesman from the print shot kept telling me that the things I asked for “were going to be expensive.” What he didn’t take into account was the fact that he’s used to seeing … Friday, May 15th, 2009 It’s a very cool website that allows you to pick up great brand concepts and designs– sometimes even with domains! They’ll even sell you an entire business concept! Here is a quick video I filmed about it, check it out: http://tinyurl.com/qtnznp THINGS YOU NEED TO SEE: Cool Gadget for Web Videos Thursday, May 7th, 2009 A friend of mine, Brook Pifer of www.Brook-Pifer.com, just sent me an Xshot Camera Extender today. If you are doing any flip videos or anything else where you need to video or photograph yourself, this is the best solution out there, it makes life so much easier! UPDATE: Now, FOR THE RECORD, I’m NOT suggesting that you need to use this thing in public, although the two friendly girls in the marketing image suggest that may be a great idea. LOL I’m suggesting that anywhere your comfort zone might let you use it (for me, that would be in my office), that it’s an easy way to get a good image of yourself. It’s never better than say…someone else you trust to shoot it for you. ok, now that the air is clear, enjoy your day! Texas and Australia Collide!!…??? Friday, March 27th, 2009 It’s hard to believe that 1 week ago last night, Thursday night, I was in Austin at South By Southwest (SXSW), the biggest music festival in the U.S., rocking out to one of the bands I represent, “A Day to Remember.” These guys have been tearing it up recently. Their most recent release hit #21 on Billboard’s Top 200 records in February of this year. You can check out some video of them on youtube, there’s lots of them out there! Be forewarned, they rock pretty hard and heavy But the story I’m going to tell you about actually happened exactly a week ago, on Friday morning, at one of the biggest brunches you can be invited to, the BMI SXSW Brunch. BMI administers royalties to songwriters and music publishers all over the world to names like Aretha Franklin, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Shakira, Kanye West, Mariah Carey and about a million others. They always have GREAT music at … All You Need in a Video (Part II) Thursday, March 5th, 2009 In my previous post “All You Need in a Video” I talked about the fact that a heartfelt video that connects with your prospects and clients, regardless of production value, is all you need in order to connect with your audience. Well, here is an example of me taking my own advice (notice that the birds weren’t added sound effects! they were just part of the background, and I was still able to get my message across!) Here is a link to the video: http://www.celebritybrandingyou.com/cby-video/ Celebrity Branding You™ – Isn’t He Just Talking About Personality Driven Marketing? Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 I was being interviewed on Inc. 500 CEO, Chris Hurn’s Small Business Success Strategies series, last week and he asked a question that I answer all too frequently in person, but I’m sure many of you have never heard my answer. What he essentially asked me is, “How is Celebrity Branding® different from personality branding, and the long-standing concept of a personality driven business?” While I can’t summarize everything that Celebrity Branding® includes in one short article, let me tell you one of the main differences. The main difference is in the magnitude of focus and commitment you give to your positioning. You can have personality in any brand. But Celebrity Branding® is taking your personality and making you the focus, not the back-story for your product or service. Once you make that switch, you develop a system of marketing that is centered on you as the celebrity expert, which separates you from your competition. No longer is your product or service … Somewhat like on American Idol, “I’m going to Hollywood!” Friday, February 6th, 2009 I’m heading out to the GRAMMY’s with my wife and my business partners tomorrow. We’re really looking forward to it and we’re actually staying right across from the Kodak Theater where they film the Idol finals. We even got invited to Ne-Yo’s after-party. We’ll let you know how that goes… Anyhow, as I was packing, I was reminded of the last time I flew on a plane, a few weeks ago when I was coming back from France. I had so much time on the plane I actually ran out of things to do, watch, read etc, so I resorted to the airline’s shopping catalogue…in german. I saw an image very similar to this one:
Now I can tell you, I would be willing to bet that the first time that the tobacco companies in the EU were told that they would have to start using this label on their tobacco products, they probably weren’t really excited about … Saturday, January 17th, 2009 I’m writing this at 5:50am at the Nashville airport, getting ready to hop a plane back to Orlando. I arrived yesterday afternoon to watch our client Johnny Bulford www.johnnybulford.com compete in the finals of the Colgate Country Showdown. It’s kind of like American Idol but it’s only for country music and it’s been going on a lot longer! It’s in its 27th year! Artists like Garth Brooks, Martina McBride, Leann Rymes, Billy Ray Cyrus and many others got their career starts in the Showdown. There were thousands of local and regional contests that all culminated in the final that was hosted last night, by Leann Rymes, with the top 5 winners from the final 5 regions. Johnny was the winner from the Southeast region. Anyway, Johnny WON last night! So big congrats to him and we’re looking forward to lots of big things from him! I’m heading home now for about 24 hours and then I’m off to Cannes, … Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 I wanted to show you a video from none other than LeAnn Rimes. I went to her website because I’m actually going to be in Nashville on Thursday where she’ll be hosting the finals of the Colgate Country Showdown on TV and one of our clients is in the Top 4 and is competing for the title. I’ll let you know how it goes! But, in any event, check out the video she has up on her site: http://www.leannrimesworld.com/splash/splash_wicc.php It’s to promote her song, “What I cannot Change.” What I want you to notice is that even big stars don’t always spend lots of money and time to get a great quality video up online. Many of us hide behind the fact that we can’t get into the studio, cost etc, in order to get a video up. We all need to take a lesson from this video, it’s heartfelt and connects with the audience. She’s got her hair up and you can … Building a Business on the Back of your Blockbuster Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 In the past several months I have been traveling the country and meeting with many highly successful business owners and entrepreneurs, including several “household names” that you would certainly recognize if I mentioned their names…but that’s not the point of this blog. The point is that I’m going to teach you how to avoid making the big mistake that most people make at the height of their success. These celebrities, at one time or another, had millions of dollars media (radio, television, internet and newspaper), F-R-E-E media, talking about them and giving them publicity because what they had to offer, whether it was simply an entertaining personality, answers to a burning question the fans wanted to know, or the answer to a common problem the world is facing, was in high demand. And that’s a wonderful position to be in. The problem is that 99% of them never planned for the next phase of their career. Whether it’s an athlete, actor, musician, … New Product for Making Money in Music! Sunday, September 28th, 2008 I’ve just finished working on a product with Music Marketing GURU, Bob Baker, author of the best-seller Guerilla Music Marketing. It’s called “7 Secrets to Making Real Money with Your Music.” Check it out, I think you’ll like it! Do your clients think you would wash their kids in your kitchen sink? Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 What do all of these images have in common? Keep reading and I’ll tell you!
As I was driving into my neighborhood a couple of weeks ago (before I moved into our new house, which is tiring to even think about, and why I didn’t get a chance to send you this sooner!) I saw a sign taped to a stop sign that read: College Babysitter Now, it doesn’t take more than about 4 seconds to find your own punchline, but if you’re like me, the first thing your mind conjures up, is probably something like one of the above pictures, or this:
No one gave this “well-educated” college kid the first lesson in marketing! You’ve got to make your message CLEAR and it’s a huge mistake for you to leave room in your message for the consumer to come up with their own objections in their mind, before you even get a chance to sell them … Thursday, July 24th, 2008 I am writing this blog on my flight back from New York City after some great meetings. I flew up yesterday to speak at the New York/Northern New Jersey chapter of Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle on my book tour to promote Jack and my new book, Celebrity Branding You. You can check out some pictures here: When I finalized my trip to New York, I decided to take up George Ross, Donald Trump’s Lawyer and Chief Negotiator as well as his board room co-star on The Apprentice, on his offer to visit him at his office next time I was in the city. So I emailed George and we set up a time to visit yesterday morning. You can see a picture of George and I in his office as well as a short 2 minute video I recorded after our meeting by clicking here: Photos: http://tinyurl.com/5peokz Video: A Funeral Home that has Members and the Secret to Moderate Success Thursday, June 19th, 2008 As I write this blog post I’m sitting in the exit row on an airplane I can assure you the marketing conferences and meetings I have been Help Out The OaKs – Lollapalooza Thursday, June 5th, 2008 For those of you who haven’t heard the OaKs, you’re missing out. Check them out at www.myspace.com/wearetheoaks Anyway, they are great people and great musicians, I got this from Matt Antolick today, the OaKs drummer and I figured I’d share it. You don’t even have to give anyone your email address to help them with the first part, it will literally take 10 seconds. Take a minute to help them out, they’d really appreciate it and so would I. thanks for your support! – It’s Matt from the OaKs. We’ve had the honor of being featured on this month’s BMI Podcast. Not only that, but we’re up for a really important prize — whoever is voted the favorite band on this podcast will win a CD Dupilcation package from Discmakers. We could really use that, we’re almost completely out of the first printing of Songs For Waiting! The address is: www.bmi.com/podcast And you DO NOT need to enter an email to do this. … Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 I hope my subject line didn’t make your heart skip a beat because you thought I was being rude, but my point is that this should be the exact question you ask yourself when trying to communicate with your “audience” of prospects and customers. If you can stay relevant, and integrate current events, pop culture and news items that your prospects and customers are paying attention to into your marketing, your message will be much better received and it will be more likely that your audience will act on your message. If you have been reading my posts and articles for the past few months, you’ll notice that I have posted several times about American Idol. It’s currently the biggest show on TV, and I have found several ways to relate it to what I’m talking about. If you haven’t seen those posts (as well as my CORRECT prediction for the American Idol 2008 Top 2 Finalists, David Archuletta and David Cook more than 9 … Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 Back on March 17th, on my Business Blog, I posted the following post: http://www.dicksnantonagency.com/blog/the-idol-factor.php When there were 10 left, I made my top 5 picks for American Idol. Interestingly enough I got the top 2 right and Brooke White did make the top 5. 3 out of 5 isn’t bad odds for the music biz! I think David Archuletta will win, however, when he puts out his first record, if he tries to go too pop I believe he will be eaten alive. I believe he will do best in the A/C market with Josh Groban and Michael Buble. We’ll have to wait and see. I do feel that David Cook will sell way more records, and that he’s a more mainstream artist, but I don’t think he can overcome the 12 year old girls who are in love with David Archuletta that will hang out for hours and text into the show. Tune in next week and we’ll see. Nick Nanton, Esq. with Conrad Dimanche Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } I met Conrade Dimanche last year for the first time at the 4th Quarter Entertainment Music Industry Seminar. You may recognize him from MTVs hit show Making of the Band. Conrad is Senior Director of A&R at Bad Boy Records. I have a lot of respect for Conrad, he’s a hard worker and for all the hype that his boss (Sean Combs, a.k.a. P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Diddy, Sean Jean, etc.) creates, Conrad understands that hard work and No B.S. is at the core of creating great music and great artists.It was great reconnecting with him this year and speaking on panels with some other great industry folks. If you missed it, … Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Up close and personal with Tim McGraw at the pre-show party to kick off his first show on the 2008 Live Your Voice Tour. It was great to see Tim again and the show was great! Be on the lookout for Tim’s new singles. You won’t be disappointed. Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 During this time of constant media coverage of the impending Presidential election, I am constantly reminded of the words of Dr. Frank Luntz, world-renowned professor, political consultant, and author of the book Words that Work. In the book, Dr. Luntz discusses the “Beer Factor.” He says that, although many factors weigh into electing a President, one of the most important things a candidate can do to create a loyal following is to sit down and have a beer with potential voters. Bill Clinton was wildly successful due to his charisma and an overwhelming majority of people found him interesting whether or not they agreed with his past. Thus, he passed the Beer Factor test. The underlying principle here is that he had the ability to connect with people. This principle is one of the pillars on which the concept of Celebrity Branding® stands. The reason “people buy people” is that a person can engage you more concretely than an inanimate object, logo, … Monday, April 21st, 2008 It always amuses me when I go to a group meeting of some kind (like What I have done is started a conversation with them through blogs, Event Update: Songwriters and Sales Letters 2008 Monday, April 14th, 2008 .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } We held a client appreciation party called Songwriters and Sales Letters at this year’s Glazer Kennedy Insider’s Circle™ SuperConference in Nashville, TN (April 3-6, 2008) along with Chris Hurn of Mercantile Commercial Capital (2007 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies). Our friends and clients got the extremely rare opportunity to hear four of the greatest songwriters of all time play their hits. These songwriters don’t go out into public often but, due to a few of our connections in the music business, we were able to steal them away from the Nashville’s yearly summit! .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; … Why YOU Are Such an Important Part of Celebrity Branding® Friday, March 28th, 2008 I spoke at the University of Florida’s Music Law Conference just a few weeks ago and the topic of discussion that surfaced (as it always does) was, “Where music is headed and is there a solution to stop piracy and free digital downloading?” When I gave my answer, there was a puzzled look on many faces, not because it was a profound answer, but more likely because it was an “I knew that!” kind of answer. The computer has made many things possible and many common tasks easier. But every sword cuts both ways, and the fact that digital data can be perfectly duplicated has wreaked havoc on many industries. Even though many industries have felt the effects of this phenomenon, one of the most high-profile industries that has received much of the media attention regarding this issue is the music industry. My answer to the question was that the solution to this problem is what it always has been — there is only … Ok…so I don’t want to sound like broken record Thursday, March 20th, 2008 but at least it will be a broken multi-platinum record. I know I’ve already posted twice on this blog about Colbie Caillat. And I don’t know how to explain it other than I just know when I hear something special. My prediction is her record “Coco” will be one of the top 3 records of the year and maybe the biggest record from a new artist period. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, you need to do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. Its definitely this year’s “room for squares.” Its so even tempered and intimate you can’t help but love it. I guessed that Daughtry would have the biggest record last year, and I was right, but I didn’t post it before it happened so I don’t expect you all to believe me Let’s see what happens. Good luck Colbie…my money’s on you! Monday, March 17th, 2008 About 30 million viewers tune in to watch American Idol each week. With significant interest and business in the music industry (and for a touch of guilty pleasure) I tune in each week and play “Armchair Record Exec” along with my wife, Kristina. I have even taken a stab at playing some “Fantasy Idol” and picking the winners. I had a good run at it last year but alas Sanjaya Malakar staying on the show led to my demise because I continued to pick him to get the axe each week, but much to my disgust (and my Fantasy Idol ranking) he stayed much longer than any of us expected! But I digress… The interesting thing about American Idol is, if you watch from the beginning of the season through the first few weeks of auditions, you can clearly see who is talented and who is not and you can usually see why the judges would let certain parties through to Hollywood week. … The Secret Summit of Million Dollar Marketers Monday, February 18th, 2008 I just returned from a meeting that you probably had no idea existed. I had heard rumors of this meeting taking place in the past, but this time I too got the call to attend. The meeting took place in a midwestern town that was practically in the middle of nowhere. I assume this is because it was very inconspicuous and no one there would recognize the celebrities who were present, 20 of the best marketers in the world to be exact. I don’t know for sure how many total there were, but I do know there were at least 3 private jets at the airport from the members of this group. All that to tell you that this was not a vacation or some gimmicky trade show, these guys were collectively worth hundreds of thousands of dollars an hour and we met for two full days. I learned about all sorts of new business ventures and consumer trends that are going to take … Monday, February 18th, 2008 Continuing on the theme of one of the articles in the Dicks & Nanton Business Growth Report (if you aren’t getting it…you should be! So shoot us an email to let us know!) I wanted to take a minute to look at how “cyclical” opportunities can create astronomical revenue for your business. Let’s look at an example. It seems if you slap the word “organic” on any product these days you won’t be able to keep it in stock (and you’ll be able to charge about 10 times the price for it!). You can look at many industries from food to cosmetics and you’ll see that if organic products aren’t already the fastest growing sector, then they will be very soon. What is Organic? Well there are about a million different definitions online but lets look at a simple definition in the food industry: Food produced without artificial or chemical fertilizers or pesticides. (source: thefoody.com/glossary/glossaryo.html) Translation: food grown the “old fashioned” way. Organic … What lance is doing that you aren’t. Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Oh yeah and they made him his very own website as well: While this is a pretty funny prank that ever so timely in the month of February, what I want to call your attention to is how clear the message is here: Lance is looking for someone to date (or at least his friends are looking for someone for him to date!). And while some might argue that he must have a strong desire to be miserable (that was a joke), lets assume that he’s looking for someone to enhance his life. In dating we look for someone who is capable of enhancing our lives and fulfilling a portion of our personal lives that we are not capable of fulfilling on our own. Now why don’t we do the … Is Music Licensing for Television the New “Record Deal” Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 Check out this article from CMJ that certainly opens your mind to this as a new model and possibly makes it the “highly coveted prize” of today (similar to how major label record deals used to be sought after) http://prod1.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=54047375 I’ve had great experience with licensing music for television. It has really brought some great revenue to some of the band I have worked with. Special thanks to Matthew Antolick from the Oaks for sending it my way. Product Placement and the Football Playoffs Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 Thanks to ad-eliminating “Tivo” and other fast forwarding DVR’s, expensive television ads are hurting and returns on investment are falling. To counter attack the loss, advertisers and the people that sell to them are creating new and different ways of placing your product directly in the main event. This is referred to as “product placement.” This weekend while both working and watching the football playoff games I had turned my attention to the post-game show. “What to my eyes did appear” but Jared …the spokesperson for Subway, giving live advice to all of the sports announcers about which one of the subway sandwiches sitting on the table would be the best for them to feast on. Yes, Jared was wearing his Colts game jersey and that did offer a little tie-in between the Subway sandwich and the game, but what it was all about was pure advertising and everyone got it because you could not click away fast enough. This is the … NashVegas and some great links to make more money in music Sunday, January 13th, 2008 I’m in Nashville right now finishing up producing a record for Hanna Peterson at the County Q recording studio. We worked with an amazing band, here’s the highlights: Paul Scholten – Drums/Band Leader Many thanks to Jimmy Dulin, engineer/Pro Tools wiz for making the record come to life. I’ll post some video and audio clips online shortly. As for some good food for thought on how to do things differently and make money in music, check out these Web sites: Music Lessons – A Must Read from Seth Godin Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 most of you have heard me preach this same message, but this guy gets more press than I do, so maybe you’ll believe him http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/01/music-lessons.htm when you’re ready to discuss “The New Model” for the music business let me know… The Holy Grail for Indie Musicians? Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 Those of you who talk to me on a semi-regular basis know that I’m a broken record when it comes to the following concepts: 1. Make people feel like a “member” of your band and you will have a very lucrative fanbase 2. Make sure you have a product to offer at every price point for those who would really like to spend money with you. That being said, here are two artists that really “get it” and are using these tactics to finance their records. This is exactly what I’m talking about. This is how you make money in today’s market and allow your fanbase to get involved and really get a chance to participate with you. Check out these acts that are allowing their fans to help finance their records: Scott Andrew Adrina Thorpe And here’s the best part, these artists have done the heavy lifting for you and created a new model for you to try out. So here’s the next lesson: Don’t be stupid … How to Sell 15,000 CDs in 18 Months – From the Buzz Factor Monday, November 26th, 2007 Here is a great post from my good friend and music marketing guru, Bob Baker, author of the best-selling book “Guerilla Music Marketing” who was the featured guest on my Music Marketing Mastermind Call a few months ago: How to Sell 15,000 CDs in 18 Months Check out this inspiring video interview with Watch it here. Be on the lookout for a new product from Bob and I in the very near future that will help you take your music marketing to a new level of profitability! Sunday, November 25th, 2007 Per my post back on July 24th, 2007 I mentioned that Colbie Caillat’s song “Bubbly” sure smelled like a #1 song. (You can see the post here) Well, congrats Colbie, looks like the song is still making waves and did in fact make it to #1, not to mention its done great on the international charts as well. You can find details here More song picks coming soon! Monday, November 12th, 2007 Last time we discussed how I was speaking with a sales person on the phone and right as I was warming up to her and asking her to tell me a little bit more about her services and fees, she “flipped the switch” and became a sales drone losing all hope of connecting with me and making the sale. If you didn’t get a chance to read that, you can click here to read What should she have done? She should have told me “the story.” She should have taken the time to understand what I was trying to accomplish and then proceeded to paint me a picture about how much better my business would be 1, 2 3 and 6 months from now because I was smart enough to invest in her marketing system. She should have told me success stories about other clients who had used her services and had skyrocketed their sales. … A Sales Story…with a Sad Ending Friday, October 19th, 2007 I took a call this morning that I was actually rather excited to take. We are marketing some medical products for a client of ours who is a physician and I got an interesting inquiry about marketing through an online community of physicians. This could be a great supplement to the other forms of marketing we are doing. So I took the call and a pleasant sales woman and I began to discuss how she could help us market our producs. From the moment I asked her about the different “packages” she turned into a sales drone. I could tell she was literally reading word for word off of a sheet of “features.” She must have gone on for 5 minutes just listing feature after feature after feature, which as you know if you’ve spent any time … Radiohead, The 4-Hour Work Week and the Importance of Raving Fans – From Copyblogger Friday, October 19th, 2007 Copyblogger continues to put out great content on a daily basis. this post really caught my attention because those of you who speak with me regularly know that I always encourage my clients to think about music and business in a congruent fashion because the music business is no different than any other business at its core. It also has some great commentary about why an indie act would even want to consider getting a record deal…or not. Check out this post for a great perspective and some advice you can actually use: www.copyblogger.com/radiohead-the-4-hour-work-week/ How to Attract More RSS Subscribers – For Real (from Daily Blog Tips) Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 This is a great article about how to attract more RSS Subscribers. You can read it by clicking on the link below: For those of you who don’t know what RSS is, here’s a link to “Feed 101” from Feedburner, the best in the biz! REVEALED: The 1 Trick That Will Let You Fire Your Marketing Agency and Keep More Money for Yourself Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 Jack, my law partner, and I have had this ongoing dialogue for the past year or so about which word is better: 1. Attorney What we do know is that lawyers prefer the “high-brow” word Attorney and so many of them use it in their marketing too. In their opinion, it increases the perceived value of their services. What we didn’t know is whether the general public felt the same way or not. We both had a hunch that the word lawyer was more commonplace, and therefore a better keyword for us to use in our online marketing and pay-per-click campaigns. Now, one year later, WE KNOW WHICH WORD IS BETTER. Let me tell you how we found out: We used a keyword tool to find out what people are searching for. You can try out the Overture Keyword Selector Tool Here. What it … Big Profits From Little Changes Thursday, July 5th, 2007 Periodically we always take a fresh look at our product lines and those of our clients to see if any can be slightly altered to its advantage. Use a list like this, of eight ideas, just to run through quickly in your mind. One big change a year can make a huge difference in your bottom line and sometimes without adding very much in additional overhead. Those changes are Power Changes because they make such a big addition to your income stream. #1) Can you “plus” a product, service or business you have? “Plussing” is adding something to a current product you currently have, to create something else. Look at the beverage industry and all of the flavors of Coke that have come out in recent years. How about the many flavors of water? What will be added to our water next? #2) Can we can “minus” the product, service or business? In the information business, we do it all the time when … Getting Clients Online – “Show and Tell” Tuesday, June 26th, 2007 One of the biggest fears for most people who are thinking about doing business with you online is that they don’t know you personally, and want to make sure you aren’t trying to scam them. The best way to remove this fear from site visitors is to literally take it back to elementary basics “show & tell.” By this I mean you should both show and tell visitors who you are. Tell them about your company: Show them pictures of: Is Your Business Extraordinary? Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 It drives me nuts when I go into a business and I have a chance to look around for more than 5 minutes without someone noticing me or asking how they can help. I usually laugh, leave and chalk it up to stupidity. But you know what drives me REALLY nuts?! When a business serves me, but they do it just like everyone else. When you go to the store and buy something, what happens next? I’ll tell you. 99% of the time the answer is NOTHING. You can buy a television, groceries, a car, or anything else you so desire and 99% of the time they let you walk out without thinking twice and if you’re lucky you may get a half hearted “thank you please come again.” So, you can imagine how I felt when I got a thank you note in the mail at my house from a high end shoe store about 3 days after I bought a pair of shoes. I’ll tell … Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 While we are all inclined to say that “our business can help anyone” is that really the smartest path for your business? Lets look at a simple commonplace example. If you are having knee problems, do you go to a family practice doctor, or do you go to an orthopedic specialist? Well, I go to the orthopedic specialist and I would guess most of the rest of America does too. And you (or your insurance company) usually pays more for a visit to the specialist. This is just one example of many that I could discuss, but you get the point. You see, we’ve been taught in today’s society to go see experts. And we’ve also been preconditioned to pay these experts more for their services. This is a perfect example of Niche-ing. While you may be tempted to be a generalist so you don’t turn clients away, I challenge you to look at your business to see if there are any segments of your business that … |
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(Although on January 27th 2007 I can 
When Lance was the only one in his office who was single, his “friends” got together and decided to help him out. So they put up this billboard.
