Our Best New Auckland Business and Marketing Services

September 2nd, 2010


Kurb is an Auckland, New Zealand based marketing and promotions company that offers cd dvd duplication, cheap printing and postering services as well as branching into affordable digital marketing - online marketing and cheap online video production

our services include graphic design, youtube marketing campaigns, marketing and brand development for artists and full creative development and execution of digital marketing campaigns.

email: kurbpromo@gmail.com

Just doing that little business plan questionnaire in the last post made me think about the true nature of the future of kurb, because I’m going into cruise mode now where I’m more focused on sustainability than growth.

But to say the business won’t change in 10 years is foolish. To say I don’t want to raise profits dramatically is not to say I don’t want to raise productivity to the point I do less.

My figures and projections suggest that in 10 years time, the demand for CD’s and DVD’s will be a fraction of the current market. Even so, my competition will be minimised. The tiny matket left, I can dominate, even if it is just $400 p/week. People will always want posters stuck up, and I believe by then, we’ll have been in business so long that we’ll have plenty of opportunities to make money from cheap printing deals, and possibly even graphic design.

How big do you think www.graphicdesigncheap.com could be in 10 years? If I actually cared for it, it could make $100 p/day by itself, or sell for $10,000 or more. How big will my adsense money be in 10 years? What if I’m making $25 a day just in adsense by then? Doing next to nothing, all these income streams that are passive.

The agency will be the main active income. One dude will manage all the cd dvd printing and poster stuff and perhaps mind the shop.  In the agency, 2 assistants will do all the work, I’ll just oversee and liase with clients.

In the entertainment industry I will have wanted to establish channels of income. Whether it’s my brand or my management, I will want to validate that with at least $500 p/week in earnings.

And finally the hospitality side which may be attached to the retail. Again if it survives that long, then it must be able to make money, and I’ll spend a few years making sure it at least can put a few hundred bucks in my pocket each week and be a place I can drink for free.

I’m hoping with those numbers, the CD/DVD print and copying, postering; the digital marketing agency; and the shop/cafe/bar/hospo business will all run themselves.

If I have some websites or some entertainment gigs or a list I actually make money from then great.

It would be nice to think I could put out 10 songs a year and make $1000 of each one, or some kind of entertainment thing. Butyou can’t really depend on that. As I said, it would be nice to bring some solid business to the art and creative things I’d like to do.

That could be:

DJ Gigs

Pirate shows
A popular list or blog

back catalog of content

managing musicians models and talent more actively

It probably won’t be all those thing because that would be too fragmented. Or perhaps it would just be really fragmented, with me just feeling out what I wanted to do. Ad revenue, content revenue, list and blog revenue could just trickle in while I do the odd paid music gig or pirate show. I might also manage a couple of  acts advantageous to my position.

I might be doing a whole lot of stuff, and bring a few acts under my wing, to ride or die - roll with me and get what they get, or don’t. thats the contract, or you can go through the agency and pay my fee.

So what will our life be like then? The shop bou should run all the CD DVD copying and cd printing, maybe I’ll do posters for exercise. Maybe I still have to sell and build campaigns but with 2 assistants, it would be up to them to get it done, and me to come in when there was a problem. Again hopefully the hospo would run itself, and the minimum of maintenance for my websites and entertainment brand would be enjoyable.

And yes sometimes I’d have to do DJ things, Pirate things

Could I travel the world and run my business? Could I cruise off to make movies?  Could I hang out in london for 3 months making an album? Could I hire out a spot for a weekend to make tunes and content with various individuals, go off and play some gigs? I don’t really see why not.

When will this lifestyle arrive? Well I have to build the clients and staff who can carry it through.

Maybe I’ll ride out the crest of CD / DVD burning thing till the end, another 5 years max, and then chill then for a year or two, establish myonline business, passive incomes, as well as my agency - then push forward with making the retail shop and hospitality service robust in it’s viability so 10 years from now I can relax and travel, do my art, just checking in every 48 hours to make sure shop + hospo are running smoothely, while conducting meetings with clients and stuff via conferencing most days for an hour or 2.

sounds good. An hour or 2 checking business issues, webconferencing with clients and staff, most days, and an hour or so maybe blogging, doing something creative online, from anywhere in the world.

I’ll be performing and making content and visiting far away places with beautiful companions, and playing gigs, hooking up with people to make far out content.

Sounds real good. As I say when the cd dvd copying starts to really flatten which might not be for another 5 years, I might take the lifestyle for a test drive especially if I have no other income pressures.

Mind you 2014 - 2017 is when I supposed to do my final stretch of banking $50k p/year before easing off. We’ll see.

Maybe we’ll fast forward now while the CD and DVD duplication keeps pumping, and ease off later. At some point in the next few years, these creeping income sources will gain a critical presence. Whether I work at it or not, income will come in from creeping passive sources.

AN OLD STORY OF NETWORKING, Autumn 2010:

Business has sort of settled down for me recently, which as it turns out is not such a bad thing, because when business was going really well I had no time to really think about where I was going.

Networking and such things seemed unnecessary because there was ongoing influx of paid projects that had to be completed. Nor did I have the opportunity to really analyse where I could deliver the most value, and also minimize faults.

I didn’t have to analyse what benefits could be gained towards goals through developing connections.

In the past I had no time for networking or entertaining the idea of trading skills, but now I am really looking at the bigger picture - not just how to provide the most significant outcome for my customers, but how to create appropriate attitude towards

Admittedly in business, my nature is to be a lone wolf. I have my own methods

Links

Design

My main skills, judged on value, you could add some keywords about local areas it seems to bring people in from grey lynn, ponsonby, sandringham, parnell, kingsland, mt. eden, mt. albert, eden terrace, newton, westmere, pt chevalier, mt. roskill, 3 kings, epsom, newmarket.

We offer really cheap printing and photocopying services - a3, a4, a5, dl, glossy, card, paper.

Contact kurb promotions for cheap printing and disc duplication today!

kurbpromo@gmail.com

Posted in CD DVD Duplication, Just for SEO, auckland services, business journal, online video, printing, small business marketing | No Comments »

A Kurb Promotions Business Plan

September 2nd, 2010

Kurb is a marketing and promotions company that offers cd dvd duplication, printing and postering services as well as branching into affordable digital marketing - online marketing and cheap online video production

email: kurbpromo@gmail.com

What are you hoping to do?

provide marketing services as well as promotions services such as cd and dvd copying, as well as photocopying services that are both accessible and affordable for

Why is this an opportunity?  What is happening in the marketplace to make this work?

Many smaller operators, organisations and individuals are becoming aware of their personal ability to execute marketing, promotions and branding on a small scale. We give these small to medium size groups access to low cost promotions, marketing and branding materials and services.

Specifically who is feeling “the pain” that creates their need for this product or service?  What will you need to do to get their business?

Anyone who is trying to arrange small scale promotions and is aware that costs for projects that are smaller in budget are less cost efficient and therefore cost more, we offer cheaper solutions, and we have an effective online presence through our website and search based marketing and advertising.

Who will you have to fight to get these customers to buy from you?

Bigger organisations offering cd dvd duplication, video production all the way up to full agency services, whereas in printing and online marketing, cheaper and leaner operators exist without our online, brand and reputation resources.

Specifically what will you offer and for how much?  How will you let them know about you?  How will you deliver what you offer to them?

We offer physical promotions materials and associated services, as well as online services. You can check it all out on our promotions and promotions website. The power of my SEO - such as these endless posts on my blog, I think this is #608 - and PPC campaigns, also after being in business for 5 years we have finally established a significant amount of return customers and word of mouth. As we expand our services and perhaps some of the services we’ve done in the past cease to retain their appeal, we’ll look to use the same strategy of undercutting our competitors with a streamlined solution based on a great price and great service. Maybe now it’s doing 500 dvd duplications, in 3 years it will be doing a series of 5 viral web videos.

What resources and people will you need to make this work?

I estimate further developed web properties, a dual purpose office and retail/hospitality space to serve as shopfront as well as agency space. I figure I will only need 4 staff members - cd/dvd and printing person, assistant, shop person, video and graphics person finally. That should allow us to maintain our physical promotions services, expand our digital marketing agency to about the same turnover, finally leaving the retail and hospitality based business which may not be extremely profitable, and will probably need an extra full time staff member to handle.

If that ends up successful, then great but really its only designed to serve the social needs of the business.

What does this story look like in numbers?

Well it’s about maintaining the physical promotions that make up most our income and developing more creative package offerings with video and online marketing. A retail and public cafe or bar concept as well as my own entertainment brand would supplement the main 2 revenue sources.

40 hours from my staff for $700, 40 hours from overseas staff for $300, 80 billable hours at $us25 p/hour, $2000 revenue, $us1000 for me. In 2 years from now, that’s my agency.


      BEING COMPETITIVE IN BUSINESS SERVICES:


      Start by making a list of what your competitors are offering. Conduct a keyword search and make a note of the text in their ads. What is their offer, and how are they framing it?

      For example:

      • Are they competing on price? i.e. concepts such as cheap, discount, deal, sale etc
      • Are they competing on quality? i.e. concepts such as finest, luxury, exclusive
      • Are they competing on range? ie. concepts such as largest, widest, comprehensive
      • Are they competing on customer service?
      • Are they competing on free shipping?
      • Are they offering loss-leaders?
      • Are they competing on convenience?
      • Are they competing on security?

      What Are your Strengths?

      Now you know something about your competitors, make a list of your own advantages.

      Think in terms of features and benefits. A feature is an aspect of your product or service. For example, “3G connectivity”. A benefit is the positive result of using that feature. i.e. “faster mobile browsing”.

      Making such a list will help you craft your ads.

      Be succinct. Not only is this forced on you by the format of PPC, but also by the environment. People scan the screen. You’ve got very little time to hook them in, especially when your listing is one of many. So make sure your features and benefits are stated explicitly, and match the intent of the search term.

      Sometimes there’s too many choices, sometimes there’s no way of going forward.

      I like to blog away on my blog because you’re just chipping away on google adding to your cumulative authority

      Posted in CD DVD Duplication, Just for SEO, auckland services, business journal, online video, printing, small business marketing | No Comments »

      Cheap Auckland DVD / CD Printing, CD /DVD Duplication

      September 1st, 2010

      NEED A GREAT DEAL ON DVD AND CD PRINTING, DVD DUPLICATION?

      call Matt in Auckland: 027 684 8250

      email: kurbpromo@gmail.com

      This is an article my outsourced staff in pakistan wrote to help boost google rankings for my cd dvd duplication and printing. These articles can dramatically boost google search traffic for selected terms relevant to your site.

      The world is becoming more faster. The variety of works is spreading day by day. So, there is nothing to keep in single hand. As the user of the same parts or instrument is increasing with time goes, the necessity of cd printing and dvd duplication or copying has been being created in recent years. Without duplication the world cann’t run faster at the same time.

      In our everyday life we feel the different kinds of things to keep continue our daily activities. We need music for recreation, software for different application, images for identification & also many other things for various purposes. All the data mentioned above can be written in one cd/dvd. The cd/dvd can be duplicated in a huge number. So, one can easily understand the importance of duplication of cd/dvd.

      There are ways of duplication of cd/dvds. Duplication services, in house duplicators, manual duplicators all result in a same outcome. The option depends on individuals.

      CD and DVD Duplication is performed with the help of a duplication machine named ‘duplicator’. Duplicator is nothing, just like a photocopier machine. The only difference between duplicator & photocopier is that duplicator uses a laser to burn pits into the dye of the recordable area of disc. In the end of the duplication process, a carbon copy of the original disc is created. There is also another difference between these two machines is that in photocopies, if ink is low, it is hard to read. But in the case of duplicator the discs will be identical every time except if there is any problem in a disc, the duplicator will reject it.

      Occasionally dvd duplication of more discs can be done with own hand, because it is reasonable for individuals. But in the case of hundreds of discs the duplication service company can be very helpful. They can produce discs with a varying number of duplicates. Actually, duplication services is more convenient when there is no enough time to do the job personally. For this purpose only one master disc has to be provided to the duplication company. In this way, anybody can save his time & also can do other activities. Depending on the duplication service company the order can take a few business day. The selection of service company is an important thing in this respect. The selection of duplication company depends on the amount of money, length of time, period of duplication & many other things. The company should be chosen as it is ideal for the specific order.

      Burning discs one at a time is a lengthy task when large numbers are needed. There is no way but to look for a duplicator. There are many facility available in a duplicator for which it is easy to use & handle. The most distinctive feature of most of the duplicators is that they require no software, they can be standalone units, which makes them very easy to set up.

      Manual duplicators are look like a rack of dvd burner stacked on each other. It is composed with a simple menu system & one drive acts as the reading drive. This duplicators are cost-effective in burning multiple discs. This is ideal for little jobs, but also can be used in bigger jobs if the trays are reloaded.

      Thus the duplication services are helpful in many ways.

      Posted in CD DVD Duplication, auckland services | 1 Comment »

      Auckland CD DVD Copying, Blogging, Marketing, Secondary Income

      August 22nd, 2010

      Hi it’s Matt @ Kurb

      Email us about marketing and promotions in Auckland New Zealand and around the world!

      kurbpromo@gmail.com

      Design! Video! CD and DVD copying ! Printing! Online Marketing!

      Things keep going well. Incremental, sustained growth is now the tempo as the business becomes sustainably profitable and there’s no need to take risks to ensure the company grows quick enough to survive.

      Fortifying our position so that we continue to receive the orders in cd and dvd duplication and copying, cheap printing auckland, and our music marketing services branching into small business marketing and more agency based creative services that deliver to more sophisticated briefs.

      With CD and DVD copying we only want to mitigate the effects of a possible downturn in demand for CD and DVD production by those who perceive that this content is no longer efficiently distributed outside of internet channels.

      But it’s just as likely the small projects we do for weddings, hobby musicians will be around for another 5 years. It’s just that our main clients, businesses and school distributing this information, may have a more efficient way to do so in 5 years time.

      Or maybe more like 8. In 8 years how will people be distributing wedding stuff, funeral stuff, catalogue stuff, conference stuff?

      USB’s? I’m thinking that there may be more than 5 years in it, but thats not what I’m discussing here.

      I don’t expect or project my main income in cd and dvd duplication services to grow.

      Printing is such an intensive and competitive business, it may not grow either, because the works too hard to generate the margin, when each sale is a battle too.

      The music marketing and general video marketing will grow slowly if it doesn’t explode at a point where I can establish my credibility.

      But the real point of this post was pointing out that if I’m maintaining my print and cd dvd copying side of the business, and printing, and general online and music marketing keeps bubbling away like it has, then I don’t really need to make risky thrusts into retail andthe agency. They can be more long term because I can possibly develop more secondary income sources that though perhaps only adding a few hundred per week, that would be enough to keep increasing my comfort.

      If I keep doing pirates, great bonus.

      But if I gathered all my possibly secondary income sources and considered that most of them relate to being more enjoyable than a lot of my options lets take a look at what they are:

      advertising - adwords and affiliate sales

      artist related income

      list building with my entertainment brand

      income from my talent agency concept

      the famous top secret high risk strategy

      Just by developing these sources into earning me more than $10,000 per year, that would make all the difference on top of where my other enterprises are and I’d be under no pressure to open the shop or land significantly large clients under the aegis of a full fledged digital marketing agency.

      It’s just the challenge of earning that money in that way - in entertainment, basically, whether its clicks on a blog, talent I’m managing, or my own content and brand.

      If I could bring it back to the high risk strategy then that would cover the money surely.

      I’ve just got say ok - my entertainment brand is over here . . . and the strategy for guiding clients to the high risk project is over here, I just have to delicately bring them together.

      Many small prospects could be turned into much more lucrative income steams, even graphic design clients. It may not work, but it may really pay off so rather than scrimping and scratching a hundred dollars here and there I may as well get out there, put it on the line and make it happen.

      Because if it comes off I may have a whole new significant income stream.

      Where was I a year ago?

      Okay totally drumming it into my head now - no more blogging unless it’s related to our main go forward!

      Don’t get me wrong blogging is still a great way to increase your marketing reach by preparing relevant content for the search engines and building up to the critical mass of relevant content you need to get the right visitors flowing through your site

      oh god, I’m still tempted to run over to my music marketing blog and make a posts about making a quick post and how these are the little chips you have to keep making in order to build your blog into a platform that will actually attract visitors so you can start working out how to sell to those visitors.

      And that’s where I’m at. The visitors I’m getting are quite good and continuing to build but I need to work more on the process by which visitors and leads get converted to sales and streamlining the delivery process so even with personalised marketing services such as what I provide, clients are getting a high level of value for money in the service they receive.

      Number 1 priority is . . . maintaining where I am, blogs or not. If I’m going to blog I had better get some ideas that have the power to really grab potential clients.

      Tags: ,
      Posted in CD DVD Duplication, auckland services, business journal, internet marketing | No Comments »

      Auckland CD DVD Duplication, Copying, Burning Services

      August 17th, 2010


      Looking for the cheapest, most affordable discount deals on bargain cd and dvd replication in Auckland and New Zealand?

      Great prices, free set up, free delivery!!! Contact kurbpromo@gmail.com for cheap cd and dvd duplication services!

      027 684 8250

      Okay so may be I should write a whole bunch of junk words on our CD and DVD duplication, copying, burning - we even to cd and dvd replication now. It helps our google rankings and helps let customers know that we’re the cheapest!

      CD and DVD disc media has been at the forefront of major media formats for the last
      two decades, yet just as CD and DVD technology displaced vinyl and the video and tape cassette formats, new technology will displace and re-purpose the role of CD and DVD discs in our lives and as a consumer product.
      The important thing to know when you choose to use CD or DVD duplication
      as a strategy for your content media product is: The role of CD and DVD is changing. In the past CDs and DVDs were a product that could only be manufactured on a
      large scale at pressing plants. But as CD-r and DVD-r writer or burning technology bought CD and DVD copying into the home, storage and transfer of content was made easier,
      but it also introduced a more significant spread of home piracy through CD-r and DVD-r
      copies or “burned” discs.
      In the past, CDs and DVDs could only be manufactured by pressing from a
      glass master in a large disc replication factory operation. It was too expensive for
      small businessses, musicians and other creative content producers to create a short run of DVD or CD copies which were packaged professionally for sale and distribution of their content.
      But with the rise of the internet as a rapidly improving method for delivery of content , technological advance is changing the way disc media is perceived in
      value. As a result, not only are CD’s and DVD’s seen to have lessening
      valuable as a commodity, but technology is allowing for the cost of producing a small amount of CD’s through a CD and DVD duplication service to also drop, giving feasibility for this medium to be used in new ways by businesses, organisations and musical and audio performers.
      The nature of the value of CD and DVD copies has changed.So as CDs and DVDs continue to decline in popularity as the internet becomes a more convenient method of delivery for content, content producers in particular will find it increasingly hard to sell their CD and DVD content as a commercial product in itself.

      Now, the value of CD and DVD copying is no longer primarily in retailing them as a consumer commodity. But, content providers can still expect to create revenue from sales into the next decade. It’s just important to observe when considering how to best utilise CD and DVD duplication services, that disc media is now assuming another role. Rather than a primary consumer product it becomes purely a communication and marketing tool of convenience. CD and DVD copying is still the most effective way to distribute large amounts of content or data physically, as well as presenting it attractively in a way that interests and engages the recipient and builds positive brand associations before they get the content.
      .
      CD and DVD media may not always be a valuable retail commodity but it has a
      long life yet before it becomes obsolete, because smart content creators, communicators
      and marketers will leverage their ability to duplicate information onto CD and
      DVD media and distribute it physically as a product at very low costs in order
      to gain greater connections and engagement from recipients and contacts with
      their content.
      So it’s common business sense that with a product that is both declining in sales volume and profit margins, but still has essential value in marketing and communicating the value of your content, it’s most important to ensure you are getting the cheapest price on CD / DVD duplication jobs.

      Instead or replication with thermal printing, you can save a significant amount of money and time by getting your CD / DVD duplicated and getting the discs printedby simple inkjet directly to a printable surface.
      Where more established content providers in the entertainment businesses still require runs numbering 10,000+, projects such as this are most appropriate for traditional CD and
      DVD manufacturing businesses that have always provided disc replication
      services. But if you require less than 2,000 units you’re better off finding
      CD duplication or DVD copying service that is able to provide you
      with disc duplication services with more competitive options.
      So to conclusde, the use of a CD and dvd duplication service means whether as a musician duplicating your music audio CD’s or a company promoting a new product service on DVD or distributing
      multimedia as part of a general report - there are many ways disc duplication
      enables simple physical transfer and presentation of content or data packages.It’s
      just important to recognise whether you’re selling CD or DVD products as a commodity
      or looking for a fast efficient way to control the distribution of your content
      or data, CD and DVD duplication services, as opposed to big factory reproduction
      through CD / DVD pressing or CD / DVD manufacturing plants, are so much more
      affordable when you find a CD DVD duplication company that charges competitive
      rates – giving you the ability to distribute and leverage CD and DVD disc
      media more than perhaps ever before.


      Oh and what have we here? more ideas on encouraging special, exclusive deals for fans . . .

      1. Deleted scenes. Remember that guitar solo you cut because it seemed too “self-indulgent”? That redundant 3rd verse? That 45 second fade-out? Your fans might enjoy hearing them in an extended arrangement, if only to compare and contrast with the album version.
      2. Live show for one. How about a personalized one-off live recording of the album? Make sure to mention the guest of honor by name and leave in the mistakes! If playing through the whole album is too much work, how about dedicating a single song of their choice from your discography?
      3. Unique vocal. You could use alternate vocal takes, or even change a line of the lyrics to include a fan’s name. How about inserting a clever line about how you’ve “done this 12 times already” and increment the number with each take? Even if you’ve already finished tracking the band, overdubbing a vocal is relatively quick and painless.
      4. Fan sing-a-long. Anyone with an iPhone can record themselves singing along to the chorus of your song. It wouldn’t be too hard to tune it and layer it with the lead vocal. Who wouldn’t want to share the results with everybody on their friends list? Alternately, you could layer takes from any fan who wants to contribute and sell the same “fan sing-a-long” version to everyone. It could even work in a live setting by recording the audience singing along, then handing out download cards telling them where to get the recording.

      Posted in CD DVD Duplication, auckland services | 1 Comment »

      Top 10 Music Marketing Strategies: Kurb Promotions

      August 17th, 2010

      Looking for music marketing strategies and online artist management?

      Our packages start from $250 per month!

      Contact kurbpromo@gmail.com, send us a website or myspace we can look at and make suggestions on and we can chat on skype!

      This is Kurb Promotion’s list of the top 10 Music Marketing, Promotions and Online Artist Management Strategies.

      Online marketing is a fundamental part of all complete music artist promotions, in a new music industry era of shifting music busienss models. At our online music marketing company these are the leading strategies we use to develop artists fanbase and revenue online.

      1: WEB DESIGN + DEVELOPMENT: Most musicians websites don’t provide a compelling experience for fans or prospects who visit their site. Don’t see your site as a static platform. Your site is a channel - here, you interact and present yourself to all those who are not fans yet. It must develop at least every month. Continued commitment to developing website design and content that more effectively express your brand as well as deepen your fans experience, so that they are confident and invested enough to make purchases . . . then sales happen. Industry people who provide opportunities are a whole separate group from your fanbase and also have to be addressed directly through your website as the primary point of formal introduction to your brand, and a platform from which to broker propositions.

      2: EMAIL MANAGEMENT: Maintaining fan engagement and interaction with email marketing management is still one the most dependable ways to create recurring revenue online, managing fans in such a way to optimise engagement that leads to sales over time through ongoing offers. Successful music marketing requires professional email management for musicians. Those who are interested in email marketing should know you will have to build your contacts with other online marketing efforts, most often a blog, or appc campaign to get sign ups. Then you must maintain your mail out, which is going to need regular content with which to present new propositions but once you can graduate to greater levels of automated email marketing, you can implement powerful systems to create wealth with minimum maintenance.

      3: PPC MANAGEMENT / ADWORDS: Adwords Pay per click advertising through Google and other content networks is the quickest and most powerfully qualified option for advertising spending in 2009. With only as little as $20 p/week you can begin highly measured and finely targeted campaigns through Adwords. Google PPC is great for any entertainers or content providers who have put in the preparation of building an online platform that retains fan engagement and is also effective targeting specific genders, age groups and cities/regions for products or events and gigs. Even beginners can do well on Google through Adwords, but there are many typical mistakes made by those who fail to comprehend the complexity of how the system is balanced. Experience in using the PPC can lead to radically improved outcomes, minimizing adwords costs.

      4: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: Anyone who tells you they are a social media guru had better be ready to back that up . Social Media Marketing is not a strategy for direct profit for musicians, it’s an extension of fan management. The aim of social media is to build authentic interactions with engaged social media users who can then promote you through powerful, authoritative viral word of mouth. Just like blogs, creating a robust social media presence has many advantages for musicians, and ousually it’s the feasiest way for musicians to start negotiating fan relationships and building branded platforms online. It’s just it’s best to remain clear about social media promotions strategies and address it’s marketing value practically.

      5: BLOG PROMOTION: Creating a Blog is still a valuable strategy for music promotion online as long as it doesn’t interrupt normal core operations or become your only marketing tactic. A well maintained blog developed over months can have many benefits and promotes your online music marketing presence in multiple ways - it reinforces your online marketing campaign through SEO, developing fan interaction, website development, and good content publishing practices - building a lively and dynamic blog will always pay off the commitment put into it over time. Make sure when you choose a music promotion service that they include blog set up including hosting, domain name, custom blog design, blog promotion and are able to create content and run your blog for you when you start breaking through.

      6: ONLINE VIDEO: Online video is the quickly becoming the new star of online music marketing. Because fans seek engagement, trust and authority with musicians products, services and brands. So as the range of what’s available begins to diversify dramatically, music fans will seek stories that give commodities and their brands value and credibility. Online video is the most powerful way to engage people and quickly create trust, authority as well as impact online. The Musicians who usw video in new, more and different ways to communicate with fans will be more compelling, more real and have more opportunities to connect, and online video is only going to get bigger and continue to steal more influence from traditional broadcast mediums such as radio and tv.

      7: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION AND MARKETING: Search engine optimization is still the strongest internet marketing tactic available to enterprising performers on small budgets, but for this reason SEO finds itself at #7 on this list. SEO is very competitive. SEO is a challenge for new websites and new promotions. Ranking highly in Google for your favoured keyword search terms is better than any advertising and would give you unmatched access to your market. But the outcome of SEO work can vary. A good SEO campaign takes some research, and requires a lot of tedious tasks, and that of course costs. SEO can be powerfully effective but you must have the patience for it if you are in a competitive niche or you’re not hyper-targeting a specific niche..

      8: Article Marketing and Syndication: Syndication of content by way of online press releases or Article Marketing uses written content for exposure through making it available on content networks for permissable circulation far and wide by web publishers who agree to retain your author footer, therefore generating brand mentions, click through traffic and most importantly considerable SEO benefits. Article syndication writing and services are need ed as part of an musicians general online marketing strategies. If you don’t have time to build your internet exposure, it’s better to have someone else create monthly content for you then having no new content at all. Online marketing is all about the snowball effect of more content going out and more backlinks leading back to your site and creating more traffic through search authority.

      9:Viral Marketing: More powerful than spreading ideas is building an idea that spreads itself. Whether a clever video or other online content, or propositio - a competition or a mash up - or even a piece of software or app, the possibilities are limitless. The essential concept is an idea or meme that proliferates through online sharing - without any secondary involvement from the musician or their marketing team. The success of Viral Marketing is never promised and taking risks to put forward powerful branding messages or leverage powerful value propositions that engage so deeply that it spreads online or through word of mouth is a longshot but always has the potential to be outrageously successful with a bit of character and flair.

      10: Community building: Again building a forum or community for your fans to amass around your brand takes long term commitment and a large personal contribution to keep the buzz of the community alive - this can be a successful strategy if executed well, but must be timed well in an musicians career. But you can’t just create a strong forum based loyalty to an artist overnight. Certainly, strategies to nurture your community and provide functionality by way of a forum or other platforms that encourage different kinds of interaction and user driven content creation around your brand can be provided easily and inexpensively and provide great leverage, but early on there will need to be a dedicated effort to inject activity into the community space. This can be more time consuming and long range than many small businesses are prepared for.

      Tags: ,
      Posted in Just for SEO, internet marketing, music business, old music marketing article | No Comments »

      Musicians using Social Media to Get More Fans

      August 17th, 2010

      

      The introduction of social media was such a success because it gave people the platform that they needed to connect with ANYONE. No longer are people held back by the constraints of geography or even the fact that they don’t know someone. With the proper introduction anyone can connect with anyone. Most importantly it gave people the ability to connect with people that normally seemed off limits.

      Kutcher used Twitter to make himself seem reachable and fans felt like they were actually interacting and communicating with someone who used to seem so far out of their reach.

      Ashton had a sense of transparency with his tweets. Now, if celebrities aren’t interacting with their fan base all they’re really doing is hurting themselves. You don’t have to be some superstar celebrity to use social media to enhance your career though. By being transparent and engaging your fans using social media, you can create a dedicated fan base to help make your music career thrive.

      1. Interact with them
      Let me start off by saying I know I’m going to catch some flak for this next example, but come on, the girls got over 3 million fans on Facebook… the numbers don’t lie.

      Ms. Cyrus (or her record label) realizes that Facebook has the largest active community on the internet right now, so what better place to get fans spreading the word, interacting, and well, feeling the love. Miley’s fan page is used to consistently update fans via the page’s wall but she takes it to the next level by actually using her fan page to stream concerts and uses Ustream to host live chats with her fans. Miley knows her fans are on Facebook. Knowing this, she’s integrating multiple ways to keep her fans informed as well as keeping them involved, on a more personal level.
      While I think it’s safe to assume that Miley most likely doesn’t update her fan page herself, she also already has built a strong following. For musicians that haven’t quite hit the 3,000,000 fan mark, this is a great way to make your fans feel important and connected to you. The more connected your fans feel, the more likely they are to share your links on Facebook and go out of their way to promote you.

      2. Listen to their feedback, even if you don’t ask for it

      Eminem was (and still is) one of the most popular names in hip hop. Known for his “say anything” lyrics and his “I just don’t give a ****” attitude Eminem created a strong following of fans that went as far as to dress and act just like him while religiously buying his albums and attending his concerts. After 3 successful mainstream albums, Marshall Mathers began to lose his touch.

      Encore was released to subpar reviews and rumors began to circulate about a potential drug addiction. After taking a 5 year hiatus, Eminem came back with Relapse - an album that was intended to get him back on his fans’ good side, explaining his drug problems and getting back to the playful, less quirky Eminem we all knew and loved. But fans still didn’t buy it. Fans hit up their social media outlets and started discussing how they wanted the old Eminem back without the accent that he used on a majority of his songs off Relapse.

      Eminem listened.

      After having most of what was going to be called Relapse 2 already recorded, Eminem scrapped what he had and hit the studios to begin creating what would become his 6th major label release. Recovery was both subtly and blatantly an apology to his fans.

      Eminem addressed his fans displeasure with his past two albums and brought back his old style of creative, meaningful lyricism and intricate wordplay… without the accent.

      See the power of fan feedback? If Eminem had never listened to his fans and used their criticism to reshape his music, he very well could have released Relapse 2 and encouraged his fans to write him off altogether. Instead, Recovery debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and destroyed the record for best first-week sales of 2010, selling over 741,000 copies - 200,000 more than the previous record holder.

      3. Be real

      “It can’t just be about commerce. People want to connect with you and get to know you. They don’t want to connect with you if you’re just telling them to go buy your record. They don’t want you to be perfect, either. They want you to be real.” — Evan Greene, chief marketing officer, the Recording Academy

      Mike Skinner consistently communicated with fans using @replies, gave away 3 songs to his fans via Twitter, and kept fans up to date with what he was doing even if it was simple.

      Skinner may not have openly apologized for being a jackass but he also didn’t hide what fans were saying about the incident. He embraced the negative feedback and in the process made himself seem more human by being open to the criticism.

      But, despite Skinner’s success on Twitter he broke the number one rule of social media: be consistent. After months of numerous updates every day, Skinner literally fell off the map and has only tweeted once, with what appears to be an automated tweet, since October 18th (that’s 8 months with just one tweet at the time this was written).

      So how can you enhance your presence on the social networks you belong to? Whether you’ve already created a solid fan base or you’re just starting out your best bet is to be transparent. People have so many options of who they can connect with these days, why would they waste their time on someone who doesn’t seem real?

      4. Let Your Fans Stalk You

      How do you get fans to become so obsessed with you and your music that they stalk you? Let them stalk you. And that’s exactly what Mike Posner did. Posner was a busy man, working on his debut album, flying around the country to do shows and…. oh yeah… did I mention finishing up his senior year at Duke? Posner embraced his hectic schedule and created a video series called “One Foot Out The Door.” The series followed Posner around as he flew to different locations on the weekends, met up with friends in the music industry, put on high-energy shows, all while making it back in time for his exams on Monday.

      Mike Posner used his interesting story to grab the attention of his fans and allowed them to be a part of his journey, even if they couldn’t physically be there with him. By providing a window into his life, fans were able to relate to him on a more personal level, creating a greater sense of appreciation for his music.

      You can do exactly what Mike Posner did. Let your fans follow your journey and feel like they’re a part of it. It really doesn’t take much. Posner didn’t alter his life to create compelling video footage and he ended up coming off as a sincere, down to earth musician that was doing what he loved and wanted his fans to come along for the ride. Bring a video camera with you where ever you go. Whether you’re rehearsing, recording, or performing your music, get some footage. If you’re on tour or just playing a few gigs in your spare time, let your fans be there - even if they’re a thousand miles away.

      5. Let your fans interact with each other

      Dave Matthews Band is known for the strong following they’ve built around their heavy touring schedule. A DMB concert is seen as more than a concert to their fans, it’s an experience. DMB decided to create a way for fans to come together and share their experience without having to congregate at a venue. They created an iPhone app that prompted fans to sign up, giving them an identity amongst the app users, and start interacting with the band and each other. With the app fans can access the band members’ Twitter feeds, interact with each other on Twitter or in a group chat, and upload fan photos. And the fans love it.

      Plenty of musicians have apps where fans can access their music, check out tour dates, read their Twitter feed, etc. but DMB took the next step and let fans access each other. As an up and coming musician you may not have the budget to create a customized app such as this but that doesn’t mean you can’t execute the same strategy with your fan base. Give your fans a place to connect, interact, and share. Whether it’s on your website, your Facebook, or encouraging fans to carpool with other fans to your shows, get your fans to come together for the sake of your music.

      So now that you see the importance of engaging your fans it’s important to keep one final thought in mind: the examples above are not a “one size fits all” solution. It is important to determine how your fan base is following you and where they are most likely to interact with you and other fans. If you create an iPhone app and none of your most active fans have iPhones then what’s the point? Determine which social networks your fans are most active on and create a community that caters to their needs. Keep the conversation open, listen to their feedback and use that feedback to give them exactly what they need. Be open and transparent and your fan engagement will follow.

      What are some other examples of how musicians are engaging their fans? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

      Posted in Just for SEO, music business, old music marketing article, online video, small business marketing, social media | No Comments »

      Build Up Fans and Customers Through Email List Building

      August 16th, 2010

      THIS FROM ENTREPRENEURS JOURNEY - LOTS OF GREAT TIPS!

      My blog had over 1,000 RSS subscribers when I launched my list, and roughly 500 to 1,000 unique visitors dropping by each day as well. This translated into 10 to 20 newsletter opt-ins a day, which I considered pretty good, though at the time I hadn’t optimized the opt-in area of my blog with good copy or video like I have today.

      I continued to write my blog posts and started to write one email newsletter a week as well.

      Slowly but surely my list grew. At the start of 2007, about a year later after adding the newsletter to my blog, I had 3,000 email subscribers. It was a good start, and I had a platform to grow my business from.

      Ramp Up Lead Generation

      I don’t like the term “lead generation” because it dehumanizes the relationship between you and your subscriber.

      People who join your list can be considered leads, and when you talk business talk with business folk, this is the language people understand. However I believe it’s much better if you look at each of your subscribers as a real person who has stuck up their hand as interested in forming a relationship of mutual benefit with you. These people are “members” of your community, not leads.

      Regardless of the terminology, you’re going to need to figure out ways to increase the number of people who join your list. This was the challenge I faced, though at the time I was happy that I could simply keep blogging and people will continue to find me and join my list.

      Enter Social Media

      In 2007 Twitter didn’t exist and Facebook wasn’t on my radar. Social media as a marketing force didn’t come into play for another year or two. From my perspective I was content simply writing blog posts and leveraging my free report to bring in new subscribers.

      Over the next few years the online marketing landscape, and the blogosphere, became a whole lot more crowded. Facebook and Twitter became significant new sources of email subscribers, not to mention LinkedIn and other niche specific social community sites. Social recommendation tools like Digg, Stumbleupon and Delicious, which have the power to send hundreds of thousands of eyeballs at websites in a matter of hours, surfaced as powerful exposure tools.

      And let’s not forget the mother of all social media sites – YouTube. Video wasn’t common when I started building my newsletter, but today it’s almost a mandatory requirement for every blogger and internet marketer to make use of. In fact it’s so powerful, you can leverage just exposure on YouTube, by publishing a consistent stream of videos and driving the viewers back to your blog to opt-in to your email list, as your main lead generation method.

      Did You Read Between The Lines?

      It’s now four years since I started my first email newsletter. Today I have almost 70,000 email subscribers and I continue to attract an average of 100 new subscribers every day.

      These people come to me by conducting a google search, coming across one of my blog articles and then opting-in for my report and newsletter. Or maybe they get referred by one of my affiliates. Perhaps a friend recommends my blog or report in real life in the traditional word of mouth fashion. Maybe they watch one of my videos on YouTube at my Yaro.TV channel and then come to my blog. Perhaps they read one of my tweets spread by my followers, or stumbleupon my content, or follow a facebook share, or read about my work in a forum.

      Online lead generation – or list relationship building – is a very holistic process today. This is a good thing, as there are countless channels of traffic you can get in front of if you’re willing to do the legwork. There are fundamentals you have to lay in place in order for the machine to work, but there’s never a shortage of audience if you’re in a niche people care about.

      You truly can diversify your exposure points and construct a very stable source of new subscribers that requires very little effort to maintain. I’m living proof of this concept, as our countless other bloggers who have followed similar content and marketing strategies.

      If you read between the lines in this article (actually I made it blatantly obvious), I’ve talked about 14 methods to attract new subscribers to your email newsletter. In case you can’t figure it out, I’ve listed the methods for you below.

      14 Methods To Grow Your Email List

      1. Register an AWeber account and start your first email list
      2. Add an opt-in box to your blog
      3. Create a dedicated landing page for your newsletter
      4. Giveaway a free report
      5. Create a product and promote it using a launch process
      6. Recruit affiliates to promote your resources
      7. Create a Facebook fan page with an opt-in landing page
      8. Build a Twitter following and release great content to encouraging retweets
      9. Create a LinkedIn profile and interact in the community to build your network
      10. Become a quality user of Digg, Stumpleupon or Delicious to build your reputation power
      11. Start a YouTube video marketing campaign to drive traffic back to your blog and newsletter
      12. Buy a specific domain name just for branding your videos (like Yaro.TV)
      13. Encourage word of mouth and viral distribution by creating content that changes your industry
      14. Participate in on-topic conversations in leading forums in your industry

      Tags: , , ,
      Posted in Just for SEO, business journal, online marketing news, small business marketing, social media | No Comments »

      Moving Closer to Auckland Digital Marketing Agency Services

      August 16th, 2010

      At kurb promotions, our  next big project is extending our video packages to offer complete digital marketing packages where we offer to integrate cheap video production, with youtube promotion, social media, online advertising for great value online video marketing campaign!

      Now a professional video commercial and viral video marketing campaign is possible from only $997!

      CONTACT: kurbpromo@gmail.com

      Yay, hopefully, now, my video work - in terms of the serious shirt and tie stuff is done for 2010. Still editing and titles and what not to do, but the hard part is over!

      The responsibility I felt to continue to build towards small business marketing and video marketing campaigns - for the reason that there could be more opportunities available and that should keep pushing toward the goal of establishing a serious digital marketing agency, is now sort of dealt with.

      Well into next year continues the challenge of maintaining my cd dvd copying, maintaining modest growth in music marketing, protecting my fledgling new income stream, hoping for more results with kids pirate entertainment, and hopefully more posters and postering jobs too.

      The main points are - develop secondary sites, protect income sources from risk and finally . . .

      opening a physical space early next year.

      I just realised diversity has kept me alive. I could never have survived doing discs or music marketing alone, doing both has allowed me to earn while both markets have found their feet.

      First the cd/dvd duplication which I believe is probably peaking, and now my ability to grow the music marketing which might come into its own now.

      So even though I’m under no pressure to develop towards an agency, what is the general future direction from here?

      creative obviously.

      We need create video marketing campaigns that state clearly.

      This video: $597

      + video marketing campaign $997

      And just make the videos so good that it opens the door. We want to do 6 of these next year at least.

      We need to jack up the pirating and the postering! Perhaps through video is possible. It’s all got to be video led behaviour.

      NOw the boring videos are done, which explain everything and present it in a professional manner, I can do whatever videos I like to promote what I feel needs promoting.

      Postering, pirates, and my art stuff. Possibly the space will need promotion too.

      Or, whatever I feel like promoting. I’m not really under too much pressure to build income except in the pirate area, and simply to maintain cd and dvd duplication and the music marketing where they are. If they grow, that’s a bonus.

      I may have to be choosier about when we go to the shop. Because I have risk so low now, why disrupt that with higher overheads for the outlet?

      I think I may have to consider blogging it up more on the video side. I can’t generate more sales in cd dvd duplication through video, and I don’t want more music clients, I need to blog more often on the youtube promotions site, and the cheap video production site because there is opportunities there to deliver nice little packages like the one above, if I can blog a lot there and bring in visitors interested in ideas.

      After cd dvd and music marketing, it’s the most likely and most profitable. Also, cd duplication and pirates just have too smaller a potential audience than video production and video marketing, which the market for worldwide must be huge.

      I think developing the youtube promotions site may well be a big part of pursuing the digital marketing agency strategy in small steps.

      New photos will be the start of new designs for all my most important blogs, but there are many secondary sites to improve also.

      Youtube promotions is a  start, but of course the pirates and the talent sites are important, the music marketing blog also needs attention, just to look more professional. It won’t hurt my marketing either.

      Could I make extra money from my art? Don’t count on it. But hey, buy ads, redesign the site, do it, why not.


      Tags: , ,
      Posted in auckland services, business journal, internet marketing, music business, online video, small business marketing, social media | No Comments »

      Developing Music Marketing Campaign Agency Services

      August 14th, 2010

      Kurb Promotions in Auckland, New Zealand provides affordable, personal and comprehensive promotion and marketing services.

      Music Marketing campaign

      Our prices are competitive, our service is honest and fair, and our knowledge of marketing service and strategies both online and here in Auckland and New Zealand is well established.

      Contact: kurbpromo@gmail.com

      We what we offer online marketing services and marketing packages for small business, entrepreneurs, talent, artists, entertainers, creative people and more

      Auckland Printing

      Youtube Marketing

      Cheap Video Production

      Graphic Design


      Yay, hopefully, now, my video work - in terms of the serious shirt and tie stuff is done for 2010. Still editing and titles and what not to do, but the hard part is over!

      The responsibility I felt to continue to build towards small business marketing and video marketing campaigns - for the reason that there could be more opportunities available and that should keep pushing toward the goal of establishing a serious digital marketing agency, is now sort of dealt with.

      Well into next year continues the challenge of maintaining my cd dvd copying, maintaining modest growth in music marketing, protecting my fledgling new income stream, hoping for more results with kids pirate entertainment, and hopefully more posters and postering jobs too.

      The main points are - develop secondary sites, protect income sources from risk and finally . . .

      opening a physical space early next year.

      So even though I’m under no pressure to develop towards an agency, what is the general future direction from here?

      I’ve just been writing about where I see the music marketing services we offer heading.

      Basically I had a few clients going so I didn’t get overcommitted, then I got a new assistant and realised it would be best to get some more clients just to keep things flowing. That happened pretty quickly - I’ve only got 2 spots left and there’s 4 possible people to fill them!

      I’ve had 3 clients who worked with me in the past come back, which is another positive sign that there’s plenty of demand.

      Would I get another assistant and continue to expand until I’ve got 20 or more clients?

      I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s the best direction.

      I realised I do offer more now, and I offer more experience. Through Skype, I’m able to offer clients more advice and personal consultation than I did 6 months ago so the quality of the service is improving, though I’m not providing more quantity or hours, so my prices have continued to rise to meet demand.

      And there’s no reason to believe that won’t continue. But at some stage, the clients I am dealing with will start to grow to a point where they will need more support from me as their music business becomes established. Then as I get more experienced in managing and administrating successful music campaigns and earnings, I will further establish my reputation for delivering in this area, and I guess that’s how it works out.

      Some of my clients will succeed, and more successful clients will want to sign on, so I will have a higher calibre of artists, making more from what I do, and therefore, they’ll be able to pay me more.

      They may need more work done, so that’s where more assistants may become appropriate lets look at some differnet models and outcomes:

      1: continuing on a plateau, charging more clients - say 14 - $250 p/month, paying an assistant $600 and making $2900.

      2: keeping the same amount of clients but charging more - $350 a month, paying an assistant $600 still, and making $2900

      3: actually aiming for less clients but doing more for them -$500 a month, paying an assistant $800, and making $3200

      4: become a manager with a few clients paying $1000 p/month, paying an assistant $800

      I could have 8 clients paying $500, but they would need to be making $1000 from what I do to be open to that investment. But if that had 1000 true fans on their newsletter, don’t I have the skills to extract a $1 each from them each month? Surely.

      Then if I have 4 clients each with 3000 fans, surely I can extract a $1 out of each of them a month, and claim $1000 justifiably as my fee, thus making it to the 4th and final level.

      Only having 4 clients to deal with, all obviously quite succesful, with strong mailing lists, and the opportunity to put out deals which would get me hefty bonuses.

      If 200 fans grabbed a deal that put $20 in the artists pocket and they made out with $4000, I’m sure a bonus would be in order.

      So really I just need to bring my clients up to that stage where they have 1000+ fans and then I can charge more and do more.

      I think this is actually indicative of a graduation process.

      So once an artist goes to 500-1000 fans they will be urged to jump up to a $300-$350 plan. Once they get to 1000-2000 I should be able to do some serious work, and charge $400-500 per month.

      At 5000, they are costing me an extra $50 p/month just in admin fees, so there’s no doubt at 5000, they should be paying $500 p/month. If I can successfully generate $2500 from that list, then $800-$1000 is warranted.

      But then by the time somebody has 5000 fans on newsletter, well, you’d expect to be able to make serious money from that - affiliate offers, all kinds of offers, merch, touring, all of that.

      They’d have a lot of income streams, so $1000 per month wouldn’t be a big deal.

      You’re charging $12,000 per year, you’re making them $50,000+ just off their website, newsletters and downloads etc. - I think you would be warranted.

      Obviously some clients will slip away and onward from that point once seduced by success but if you can repeat it again with another artist, then your own success - my success is assured.

      But then what would I rather do?

      Probably have 1 or 2 key artists and up to 6 protege acts to take those places

      1 act paying $1000 p/month, 1 paying $600, and 6 paying $350, $1000 for 3 months take it or leave it.

      Tags: , ,
      Posted in CD DVD Duplication, auckland services, music business | No Comments »

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