How To Sell Your CDs Without Getting Ripped Off!
Even though digital downloads are increasing, the sale of CDs still outnumber downloads 3 to 1! This is great for the indie musician because you can can sell your newly recorded CDs at concerts and gigs. Plus, you can still express your personality in the artwork.
Now the question becomes, how do I sell more CDs? Especially, how do I sell more CDs without getting ripped off? You may think you have to get a “record deal”, but you don’t. There are many ways to market yourself, or your band, online and offline to get more loyal fans and make more sales.
Offline:
Always sell CDs at your gigs. In between, you can hand out flyers (put stacks in music stores). Print up smaller 3 X 5 handbills and give them out after concerts and outside clubs. You can sell stickers and T-shirts. Or put a custom message on guitar picks, drumsticks, or almost anything else imaginable.
Online:
The usual ways are of course to have a website, and apply things like keyword optimization and search engine optimization in order to get your site “ranked”. And obviously FaceBook, Twitter, and MySpace are huge promotional avenues.
These are all things you should do, but there’s a new approach that most musicians don’t have a clue about. It’s “old hat” among seasoned internet marketers, but it’s a totally new concept to most musicians. You’ll be able to get more and more fans and sell your CDs to them directly.
Do you know what a “squeeze page” is?
It’s a one page website that has one purpose – to get the visitor to give you their name and email address (and possibly their phone number). This is always done by offering an incentive that the visitor finds too compelling to turn down. In other words, an “offer they can’t refuse”. Usually this is a free report, ebook, newsletter, or software product that the visitor decides they have to have.
What do you think you could offer them?
Duh! That’s right – a free download of your newest song. Here’s the beauty of this approach. Now you can develop a relationship with them because you have their name and email address. You set up an autoresponder with a series of email messages that go out to them periodically so that they get to know you. This turns them into a loyal fan, which translates into CD sales.
You’ve probably got a whole bunch of questions like, “How do I attract people to my squeeze page?” And you may be confused about some of the terms I’ve thrown at you. Not to worry. If you’ll grab this free video and watch it, you’ll get a lot of your questions answered. Plus, you’ll see an example of a highly effective squeeze page. Get video here…
Yes, you can sell CDs without getting ripped off, but it does require some work on your part. However, if you think of yourself, or your band, as a business, you’ll realize that every business has to market themselves, and it’s no different for you. After all, your music is your business!
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