By nature, we are all rather impatient people and we want to see the fruits of our labor instantly. We want to send an e-mail and get an instant reply. Play a great gig and have the phone ring off the hook. Release a CD and sell 10,000, 250,000 or a 1,000,000 copies overnight.
In business, this thinking dominates the practice of Marketing. Based on the mistaken belief that Marketing is an ad, poster or logo, everyone expects to see public response immediately. In a post entitled How Long Should it Take for my Marketing to Work?, John Jantsch cautions against such thinking and offers the perfect description of Marketing too.
“Marketing is not an event, it’s a business long practice.”
This definition encompasses two truths for musicians: you are never NOT marketing and everything you do is marketing. Every conversation, every note (musical, typed or handwritten), every outfit, every gig and what time you show up for every gig is taking away from or building momentum towards your career. Everything.
“If you are a business owner the message is think long term, build the system and work the system.”
For you, the system is yourself. Or, more specifically, the “yourself” that is going to be and do the everything I just spoke of. My recommendation? Make them one and the same. First, it gets very difficult to be two people – one private, and one public. Some people can pull it off, but there are many more who have tried and ended up quitting, coming apart, addicted or worse.
Second, and more importantly, is my belief that people can sense fakes. In thinking about the mega-stars of the music business or any field at all, the long term successes are tried and true. You know exactly what you’ll get at all times with Sting, Madonna, Bono, Jay Z. They are who they are, and they don’t change to satisfy people’s whims or tastes.
In pursuing a music career, understand that you are committing to living your life consistenly 24/7. Living that way communicates that you mean business and it buils a solid foundation that cannot be shaken.
