Month: November 2024

CLEAN UP YOUR LINK IN BIO, RETHINK YOUR PITCH, AND MIND YOUR KEYWORDS

// FOUR THINGS TO DO

1. CLEAN UP YOUR LINK IN BIO LINKS

If you’re still using one of those Link In bio services, take this weekend to clean it up. My god, I’ve seen some artists with 50+ links in those things. Do you expect fans to dig through all those? More choices just means your fans aren’t even going to click anything.

Consider putting all the things you’re linking to (YouTube videos, music, upcoming appearances, store) on your own website, then just simply linking to your website. One link to rule them all.

2. CONNECT DIRECTLY

Hardly anyone knows about your latest project, let alone something you did three weeks ago (or three years).

Send a link to three people and let them know about it. Doing this takes minutes and is probably more effective than posting on socials for 95% of your audience to miss. Send via email, text, or DM. Just be cool about it.

3. RETHINK YOUR PITCH

Are you asking people to “subscribe for updates” to get people on your email list? Maybe promising a 10% discount?

Remember, you’re competing with Netflix, social media, family, new albums, holiday plans, and a million other things – rework your pitch.

“Say, “follow our adventures as we leave for tour in a month. Sign up so you don’t miss a single photo of our adventures. Sign up so you don’t miss out on all our crazy tour stories.”

There’s a reason media outlets ask, “got any crazy tour stories?”

It’s because stories sell.”

4. MIND YOUR KEYWORDS

Got this bit from ‘Discoverability for illustrators’ by Tasha Goddard via Robyn Hepburn:

“While emailing is more about outreach than discoverability, I have heard that art directors and art commissioners will actually use the search facility in their email app (e.g. Outlook or Gmail) as a first point of call after any in-house databases – so they might type ‘room illustration, colourful’ or ‘collage illustrator, newspaper’ etc. into the search bar to see if they have been sent any work by a relevant illustrator.”

Keep this in mind when reaching out to art directors and venues and other people you’re pitching for potential opportunities.

Want some direct help and guidance? Check out my 1:1 GET STUFF DONE WORKSHOP, and let’s do some work.

AVOID THE ALGORITHIMS

Instead of posting something on social media tonight, email an old acquaintance. Text someone a photo or link. Tell them about a book you’re reading. Send an email to someone you admire. Ask someone how they’re doing. Write a letter. Call your bestie.

In getting away from the algorithms and the walled garden of social media DMs, we return to a wide open world of possibilities.

THE RIGHT PEOPLE

A client who has worked with some big names wanted to build their email list, and I gave them this idea:

Think of the amazing people you worked with throughout the years, and think of all those stories you shared, and the memories you’ve made. They’ve got to have dozens of those stories to write, right?

So write that post, with that one person in mind. Then email that person a link to the piece.

This gets you around sending a boring email to “all your contacts” saying, “hey, I have a newsletter now, you should subscribe.”

Write a post that will resonate with the person you’re emailing. Yes, even if it’s just that one person. Email the person the link. Maybe they subscribe, or at least reply and you two catch up, and who knows where that leads?

It’s not always about striking it rich and getting 100 new sign ups. Sometimes the right message to the right person at the right time is all you need.

THE INNER GAME

Love this bit from Derek Sivers:

Making money depends on other people, so it’s harder. It’s not entirely under your control. It’s an outer game.

Reducing what you “need” to be happy is easier. It’s entirely under your control. It’s an inner game.

Would I like to replace my car from 2015 with over 100,000 miles? Sure. But that means a car payment and higher insurance premiums.

I don’t need that new car, which helps me be a little more rich.

GOOD LUCK

“More music is being released today (in a single day) than was released in the calendar year of 1989.”

Lowering the bar to entry into the music world has been a wonderful thing. Along with the internet, it’s made it possible for anyone in the world to hear your music.

The problem is that every musician is doing the same thing. Everyone competing for the same listens and streams and downloads.

(source)

REALLY DO THAT THING

This is so good, from ‘No one benefits from you scrolling and feeling sad.’

“I think the root of the problem is the globalization of all problems.

Now, it feels like anything bad that happens anywhere in the world is somehow relevant to me and my responsibility. It’s like, I’m not allowed to be happy as long as someone, somewhere, is having a bad time.

Especially with global problems, it’s like, how are you allowed to smile when there’s climate change? These problems are really bad, but you can’t change everything yourself.

No one benefits from you scrolling on your phone and feeling sad and then going to Starbucks.

The antidote is figuring out what you care about, what you’re good at, and what you like doing that can make the world a little bit better.

Then, really do that thing.“

RETURN TO THE BLOGS

The only people who said blogs were dead were the corporate overlords who bought them all up, tried to lower costs by cutting staff, and realized 18 ads on every page turned readers away.

Trust me, I know. I worked at AOL from 2006-2011 or so. I was around the whole “let’s just make a bunch of sites, throw ads on them, and link to them from the AOL homepage” and holy shit, it worked until it didn’t, I guess.