A CD Release and Tour require three important planning steps. This is Step One of a three part series.
Determine the scope of your capabilities based on where you are right now in your career and what you would like to achieve within this next year. Let the following factors guide your plans.
Budget- did you include money in your budget for marketing and touring? How much did you set aside for sending CDs to print, broadcast and internet media. The larger this budget, the more extensive your campaign can be in a shorter period of time, perhaps even using outside promotions companies. If you don’t have a huge budget set, don’t worry, you just need to be more strategic and refined in your scope of outreach over an extended period of time. This approach can help you reach your target audience more effectively in the long run.
Expanding your market to open new ones may require some investment to find new audiences. So rather than spending money you haven’t budgeted to conquer the whole country try the following:
Focus on 1 or 2 areas where you currently have a strong following. Build tours using those places as a central starting point and work your way out from that center. Study the articles on building a home base of support and use that template to begin building in any other new markets. Concentrate your media marketing in those areas supporting specific dates to develop a strong statewide, then regional following.
Let your first steps to any release planning focus on the successes you already have and grow from there. You will use your finances more efficiently as you build a solid foundation in a central region that you can return to often.
