Promoting Yourself By Promoting Others

This post has also been published over at MicControl.

It’s difficult to come up with great blog posts all the time, much less when you’re touring. However, it’s even harder to keep those posts interesting and engaging without being overly pushy about promoting your music.

Yes…it is your website. And yes…it is your music. But, constantly promoting your next gig does not make for a good read, even for your hardcore fans.

Enter the 12 to 1 rule: Promoting others 12 times for every time you promote yourself.

I usually cite this rule when discussing how to properly use Twitter, but I think it’s a great guideline to keep in mind when writing your blog posts or website news as well.

In between tours or albums, when you find yourself grasping for new angles to write about, start discussing new artists you are currently listening to and link to them. Many will notice your inbound links and check you out, perhaps even returning the favour.

If not, at least you’re giving your fans something of value; A recommendation of music, from you to them. Since they are already fans of your music, there’s a good chance they may like similar artists as well.

You could even go one step further and start interviewing some of the acts that you find interesting. Whenever you find yourself playing a gig with an incredible artist, interview them afterwards. Ask a few insightful questions and film the whole dialogue to upload to your website later.

If you’re established enough to land an opening spot on a larger tour, try interviewing the band you’re opening for during any downtime. This is a great way to get to know the acts you’re touring with, as well as provide some added value for your fans.

By putting the spotlight on other artists you are accomplishing a few different things:

1. Constantly creating content

This keeps your website from looking stale, by having a constant stream of updated content for users to browse.

2. Making connections with other artists

Networking is still one of the most important ways to gain contacts in the industry, whether it’s online through social networks or in person. These artists will appreciate that you’re linking to them, and it helps open the door to connections and touring opportunities down the line.

3. Creating value for fans

You’re not only creating more content for your own fans, but you’re creating something of value (an intimate interview) for the other artist’s fans. This will put your music on their radar. At the very least, you will get some new ears listening to your music.

4. Driving extra traffic to your site

Fans searching for their favourite acts will click on links of your interviews with their favourite artists. This will help drive more traffic to your site, where you can work on converting these visitors into fans.

While I don’t expect (nor do I encourage) you to actually pull off a 12 to 1 ratio on your website and blog posts, just keep it in the back of your mind. The next time you’re writing your hundredth news post about your upcoming gig, consider linking out to another artist you admire.

It will end up benefiting you both.

How often do you promote other artists over yourself?

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Image by: lumaxart