So in coming up with the bio, the tag line, the one liner or any aspect of a description of your band, your sound or your live show, what do you say and even better yet, do you say that regardless of who you are in front of?
A great deal of the consulting I do for artists on the promotional content level often starts with the bio. The bio is a pain, creating a strong professional and solid one is even more of a challenge.
There are a few basic rules about using the right keywords, the right comparisons and the right bullet points to attract people and the press to you, but the ground work and foundation comes from the continuity and finding that right phrase, tag line, bio or whatever to stand by across the board. You want to be confident, assertive and strong but an excess of arrogance and and ego can hurt you in the end.
I often advise bands to come up with a series of keywords about themselves, their music and then add some influences and comparisons to have a drop list of words to work with and shape in to their bio. Reading the tag line, the bio, the one liner or the description out loud as well as recording it and listening back are some other techniques to help refine, define and align the words you want out there. And those are the three elements you want when it comes to your promotional and marketing content.
1. Refine it.
2. Define it.
3. Align it.
4. And Repeat it…..over and over.
The biggest question I always bring up to artists is the question, “What would you say?” This is not referencing The Dave Matthews Band song from their album Under the table and dreaming. This is asking what would you say if you were in front of the following people:
1. A new young fan who doesn’t play an instrument.
2. An older fan that might have a good musical ear.
3. Another musician of the same caliber as you.
4. One of your favorite musicians of all time who you most look up to, respect and admire.
A lot of people tailor what they say depending on who they are talking to and individualization can be a good thing for certain things. Still, when it comes to defining you or your band as a brand and really locking down the promotional groundwork to let it have the best effect across as many different fans as possible, it is best to say the same thing when it comes to your core marketing and overall description of yourself. You can go in to additional details afterwards, but give them that fast, secure and confident delivery that is strong, assertive and confident with out being too over the top.
1. Stay strong.
2. Stay Assertive.
3. Stay Confident.
4. (Stay away from being a cocky jerk)
One of the biggest ways to make sue to keep your self in check (this, barring you are not an arrogant prick) is to ask your self, what would you say in front of your favorite musician, biggest inspiration or major influence? Would you really go off on one of those rants telling how you put everyone else to shame? How you are the hottest thing in years? How you are breaking the mold, changing the face of music, redefining your genre or some other ego driven BS over the top hype line?
I am going to guess not.
Now, if you take that in to consideration and craft the lines, phrases and descriptions to best draw in some one that you hold in the highest regard and apply those that might not know you at all, you will find the wording that is respectful, assertive and confident with out being too over the top. That uniformity will help to optimize you as much online in different places as it will be able to optimize you with different fans. Also, the more you maintain a solid basic tag line, one liner and bio, you can of course then go in to much more deep, personalized and individualized descriptions depending on who you are talking to. Keep the uniformity at first, show the respect to a new fan as you would to the person or band you are the biggest fan of and though, it may take a little longer to pull together the exact words and be a little harder, the results will be much better. In the end, you are trying to draw them to the music, unfortunately in today’s music business with the social media explosion and the millions of artists out there, you have to stand out while at the same time having certain information and content right in line.
