“How To Sell Merch & Music At Shows Without Being Sales-y” plus 1 more

How To Sell Merch & Music At Shows Without Being Sales-y

Posted: 12 Apr 2018 01:18 PM PDT

When it comes to selling merch and music at live shows, it’s not uncommon for musicians to feel uncomfortable and out-of-their-element. This unsettling feeling usually causes musicians to avoid sales altogether.

After all, we musicians are creatives. Deep down, we believe that the quality of our creative products should speak for themselves.

And yes, it should…

But only if people know about it.

That’s where marketing comes in.

Good marketing makes sales easy.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Myths About Selling That Are Holding You Back

Before we can get into the nitty-gritty strategies of how to sell merch and music without being “sales-y,” and the important role of marketing in setting up the sale, I first need to quash a few myths that might be keeping you from selling at shows.

Myth #1: Music fans only buy online nowadays

90% of the successful artists I interview on my Podcast, The Female Entrepreneur Musician, say that CD and merch sales at live shows are not dead. In fact, sales at shows make up a good chunk of their earnings.

When you focus on building a supportive, devoted fan base, you WILL sell CDs, download cards, merch and more. Your audience will want to take home a memento of the experience and be able to show their appreciation for you and your talent at the same time.

You can get some great tips on making your merch table a true “destination” for your fans from experts like Suzanne Paulinski (Rock/Star Advocate), Lisa Lynne and Shannon Curtis during their interviews on the Profitable Musician Summit. Grab your free ticket here.

Myth #2: When fans buy from you, they are doing you a favor

Your audience wants what you have. With this idea firmly implanted in your brain, it will be much easier for you to talk about what you have to offer. Buying something from your merch table gives fans a tangible way to thank you for the experience you just gave them. Don’t rob them of the positive experience of reciprocity.

Find out how this mindset shift (from thinking of sales as begging or asking for a favor to thinking of sales simply as an exchange of value) helped Greg Wilnau, of Musician Monster, suddenly start making hundreds of dollars from his merch table. Get free access to his interview for the Profitable Musician Summit here.

Myth #3: To sell more, you need to learn the “tricks of the trade”

To make sales, you don’t need to be a good salesperson.

I hear a collective sigh of relief from the musician community!

That’s right. You don’t need to take classes about selling or learn some fancy sales scripts.

But, you do need to learn to be a good marketer.

Now that you’ve cleared your mind of those pesky myths that were probably limiting your ability to sell, let’s talk about marketing.

Good Marketing Makes Sales Easy

The sales conversation starts WAY before your potential buyers visit your merch table. When it comes to selling, marketing actually does the lion’s share of the heavy lifting.

Marketing might sound like something you need to study in school or read a stack of books to master, but at its core, marketing is nothing more than educating people toward a buying decision through demonstration and stories.

Marketing Is Edu-tainment

Good marketing starts with a solidly entertaining and/or moving performance. That is a given. If you aren’t putting on a good show or don’t have stellar music, no amount of marketing can overcome that.

Good marketing connects the dots between your music, your performance and the sale. It involves consciously leaving clues, like breadcrumbs, that lead concert-goers from the great music and experience of your show right to the merch table.

These clues can be as simple as mentioning your song titles and what album they are on, holding your CD up on stage, wearing your merch on stage, pointing out fans wearing your merch, giving merch or music away during a set, and any other creative ways that fit naturally into your show.

The key is that it needs to be subtle. It’s a mention…not an advertisement. Make a concerted effort to build these little marketing moments into your show in a way that fits your personality or that of your band. You’ll find people will have already sold themselves on buying from you before the closing song.

Invite Your Fans Into The Story

You’ve probably heard about “the power of the story” to engage your audience. It is an essential element of successful stage performing. Telling stories and creating experiences is what will make your fans want to continue that relationship by buying something.

While performing, tell the audience how a certain song came about, what inspired it and give a story they can relate to. Be sure to mention what CD the song is on so the audience can make a mental note to get that CD at your merch table. If you’ve pulled them into the story, they will want to stay connected to the narrative by purchasing the song.

Often, the most compelling story of all is YOUR story. Your audience truly wants to know the artist behind the music, so be vulnerable and authentic about your life while on stage.

The most common reason someone will want to buy your merch is so that they can help sustain you and your music. Tell them what it means when they buy a CD or t-shirt - how it helps you continue to create great music, focus on writing and recording, and tour more often. If you’ve brought them into your personal and artist story, they’ll naturally want to invest in you.

It’s OK To Assume

Here’s a big mindset shift - start with the assumption that your audience wants to purchase something from you. This shifts you from the position of salesperson to that of a guide. If they’ve already decided that they want to buy from you, all you are doing is giving them the information they need to complete the transaction..

In the past, you may have been nervous about mentioning your albums and merch table several times during a show. It might have felt repetitive and sales-y, but, I promise, it didn’t feel that way to the audience. Their attention is often divided between you and everything going on around them. Chances are, they’ll only hear 50% of your stage banter, so numerous friendly reminders are appreciated.

Practice inserting reminders casually into your show: point out band members or fans wearing your merch, hold up your album when you play a popular song from the record, you can even point them in the general direction of your merch table so they know where to go after the performance.

Take The Friction Out Of Selling

There are so many small tweaks you can make to remove the friction at the point of sale:

Enlist a helper at the merch table to move the line faster so you can talk to fans.

● Have a clean, organized merch display - i.e shirt sizes in order, CDs in rows, etc.
● Display large, clear signage with pricing for all items and bundles.
● Use round numbers for your pricing, preferably in increments of $5.
● Offer bundles i.e. CD plus T-shirt or a bundle of your full CD catalog for a discount, ready made gift baskets or boxes filled with music and merch, etc. Don’t forget upcoming holidays and have gifts wrapped appropriately - i.e. Mother’s day, Christmas, etc.
● Use a graduated discount strategy - i.e. 1 for $15, 2 for $25, 3 for $35, etc

Learn some tips from Allison Sharpe of Bandzoogle on how to use online tools to make selling at shows easier in her interview for the Profitable Musician Summit. Get your free ticket here.

Learn How To Sell Merch & Music At Shows + 31 More Income Streams During The Profitable Musician Online Summit Event

For more great tips on how to sell merch and music at shows, plus 31 other streams of income for musicians including performing at corporate events, private events, house concerts, festivals, touring, online concerts, etc. Also, how to get non-performing income like online session work & voiceovers, licensing, teaching both online and offline, sponsorships, crowdfunding and so many more. Grab your free ticket at www.ProfitableMusicianSummit.com

Bree Noble quit her corporate job as a Director of Finance to pursue music. After a successful run as a touring singer/songwriter, she founded Women of Substance Radio to promote quality female artists in all genres. She hosts the Female Entrepreneur Musician Podcast where she teaches music marketing strategies and interviews successful Indie female artists and industry pros. Drawing on her extensive experience, Bree has created online courses to help musicians learn to make a living from their music. For more, visit www.femusician.com

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Financial Lifehacks For Musicians

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 09:17 PM PDT

To dedicate a good amount of your time, energy, and resources on music is to accept that the financial reward rarely even doubles the sacrifice you put in. If you want to take your music seriously — even as a serious hobby — this makes some of your personal expenses a little bit harder to come by.

Whether it’s food, travel, or healthcare and insurance, the musician life is not always an easy one. However, hard is not the same thing as impossible. Here are some basic life hacks for saving money as a musician.

Healthcare

I remember quite a while ago reading about Rock for Health, a now-defunct organization that worked hard to get professional musicians healthcare. When music does pay bills, it doesn’t leave much left over. Healthcare as we’re defining it here it is more than doctor’s visits and emergency surgeries, but things such as over-the-counter medication, glasses, prescription medication and birth control — in the United States it’s all incredibly expensive. All of this can be upwards of $1,000.

Companies like TuneCore and the Music Health Alliance are doing their best to offer advice and healthcare assistance to touring musicians, because so many insurance companies don’t want to take a big risk on someone whose income is so sketchy. If you feel like saving, there are preventative measures you can take now to reduce healthcare costs in the future. One example that’s spendy but potentially could benefit your bank in the long run is LASIK surgery. Another would be disease preventative shots. Insurance is vital in the case of emergencies however, so take a good look into these resources and take advantage of them if you can.

Food

You don’t necessarily need to get on food stamps, but learning to eat as a busy musician is sort of just resigning yourself to eating under the poverty line. In other words, even with an OK-paying job, you have to learn to eat like you’re making minimum wage. Now, many musicians are vegetarian, and I learned that in these cases, dollar stores are your best friends. Eggs, bean and cheese burrito ingredients, microwavable foods — all of these are available at your local dollar store.

When it comes to more regular vegetables and health foods, take advantage of every coupon you can. Staying well nourished is still important on a shoestring budget. In addition, a lot of musicians I know live pretty debaucherous lifestyles and find themselves in the red pretty often. If that’s you, try not eating out too much, and cut back on the booze — even if you think you play better under the influence.

Auto Insurance

You may be laughing to yourself, because everybody knows the kinds of vehicles DIY artists tour in, as well as the kind of mileage put on them. I actually own a record dedicated to a band’s first van, and the liner notes include all of the unusual maintenance actions they had to perform in order to keep it going (for instance, putting two quarts of oil in the van each time they fill up, having to extinguish several fires, etc.) — until it went kerplunk three years into them owning it . This, unfortunately, is not necessarily uncommon with smaller, touring artists.

Last Minute Musicians actually details a list of things that help reduce car insurance for musicians. A lot of them are pretty common sense: a clean drivers license, for instance. But it also mentions things like building up your no-claims discount and increasing your excess. Another recommendation is using specialist insurers, which is something I personally wouldn’t have thought of. It’s worth a read through, which you can do here.

Basic Furniture and Household Items

When it comes to furniture, a lot of your options really come down to where you live. I would strongly caution that you avoid picking up furniture off the street if you live in a big city such as New York — if it’s out for free, it probably has bed bugs. If you live in a smaller place like Boise, ID (my beloved hometown), thrift stores are your best bet, and they will be priced cheaper than in a thrift store in a big city. However, if you can’t find anything you like or worth your time, Amazon is not a bad way to go!

Necessity is the key here. While beggars can’t always be choosers, they can certainly be smart. That means you can put together a good set of household utilities by taking a little time to consider where you’re getting them. Sites like Mattress Advisor help you research furniture before you buy it. Walmart has good deals on plates and kitchen utensils, as much as I hate supporting them. Craigslist may be a good option, but keep in mind that you may also risk bugs and other malfunctions with furniture specifically.

How do you cut corners with the costs you’re paying on your music life? Let me know on Twitter @Robolitious.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now