Reach Out
The biggest mistake any musician can make in marketing themselves is just not connecting people that can help them. It takes a lot of work to develop a relationship with someone, however.
It’s All About Trust
Online relationships (Facebook friends, etc.) vary in their depth. But generally, they’re much more shallow than relationships with people you see every day. Some social media networks support really in depth relationships (Facebook being one), but others feel more like mass media one-to-many communication that has no real in depth connection (Youtube*).
In any case, relationships are about trust. We get married because we trust and love someone enough to be sure they’ll be there for us (and they agree to marry us for the same reason!). We count on our friends because we trust them.
Back in the Day…
Early hominids and humans probably didn’t have language in the sense that we think of it today. Their communication was probably what Steven Mithen calls “Hmmmmm”: Holistic, manipulative, multi-modal, musical, and mimetic. In other words, their communicative vocalizations were mostly likely musical (think bird song) in nature and probably included gestures; the goal of such communication would have been to elicit a certain response from the other persons (manipulative).
Because they lacked the in depth communication system we do, early hominids probably relied on touch and grooming to develop relationships, much like great apes do today.
As language developed, the conversation replaced touch and grooming (though touch is still important) to develop bonds. It’s no different today. We trust because because we maintain relationships with them by talking or communicating.
Reach Out, but Don’t Ask
If you want to make friends with a blogger, you start commenting on their posts and emailing with them. I freaking love emailing with blog readers, and the theory course I just launched in generating a ton of really cool interaction.
Start relationships with people by reaching out. If you want to get a CD review on a blog, reach out to the author. If you want to be referred for gigs, reach out to prominent musicians who can’t possibly handle all the gig offers they get. This is key: don’t ask for anything. Just be a friend. Support those people in their activities. Two things will happen: (1) you’ll most likely get to experience some great stuff and (2) when it comes time that the person can help you out, they will.
Be a friend first, and a business person second. Do the things humans do and help other people out, and those people will help you.
Bottom line: don’t be afraid to reach out. The most important marketing any person can do is maintaining relationships with others.
*Though there are people on Youtube who I message with regularly.
