Your musician brand is the foundation of your artistry. Yet, artists commit brand atrocities all the time. Here are the worst ones so you can be aware of them and avoid making these musician branding mistakes.
1. Not Having A Brand P-L-A-N!
A brand doesn’t happen by accident! You need to understand what a brand strategy is and create one. A brand is not only about your look and feel – that is part of it but an authentic brand starts with your WHY. What is your purpose? Why do you create music, to begin with? Is it to change the world? To inspire and touch people? To have a great party every time you are on stage and make people dance? You make music for a reason, and defining that is key. Your GOALS come next and must be built into the strategy.
2. No Understanding of Brand Pillars
A brand pillar is a brief paragraph that captures an essential aspect of your brand, reflecting your purpose, identity, and values. It answers “Who?” by identifying a critical characteristic of your musical essence and explaining its relevance to your artistry. Defining your brand pillars (3-5) helps you articulate who you are and whom you’re trying to reach. Once established, these pillars should be incorporated into your online presence, ensuring consistency and cohesion across platforms and helping you connect with your audience.
3. No Memorable Look and Feel to Your Musician Brand
A brand has at its foundation a clear sense of who you are, followed by a consistent name, color, and font on all online and offline presences. Don’t forget killer, professional photos. Your music is, of course, the backbone of all of it. When making a plan, ask: What would my music look like if visualized – logo, album, and single artwork? Also, tie into this. And don’t forget your onstage look and all of your photos (including behind the scenes). While the message in the text of your socials is essential, don’t forget to integrate eye-catching images, graphics, and videos.
4. No Recognizable Themes or Voice
You will be unrecognizable if you are all over the place on your socials. One way to remedy this is to select no more than five themes and stick to them. Here, we look at 7 Instagram Rockstars, break down the five themes of each, and show you exactly what they are doing right. Watch others who nail it and learn! One of your themes will be your music and everything that surrounds it. This gives you four more to play with. Review your posts and see what has been working well with your audience to get some inspiration. You have a voice – you (or someone in your band) sing! Why don’t you have a voice online? This ‘voice’ must be rooted in a strong artist bio, aka a signature story, and include your unique approach. Are you funny, stoned, dry, sarcastic, silly, crazy, intellectual, low-brow, etc. you must consider how you develop your voice and what feels right to you. Once you fully realize this voice, your focus, and ability to create consistent, compelling content all fall into place.
5. Your Brand Only Goes One Way (AKA You Overly Self-Promote)
The worst way to give zero Fs is to shout into the void and not respond on socials. This is a two-way street. You need to understand who they are to speak to them effectively! Once you know them, you must care more about engaging your fans than anyone else. Once you establish yourself with a trustworthy reputation that any ideas, comments, and responses will be heard, validated, and appreciated, your fans will match your commitment to engagement. Unfortunately, most artists are too busy with self-promotion to put the correct amount of time and effort into varying their content away from self-promotion. An excellent general rule is that only 1 in every ten posts should be self-promotional, with the rest focusing on mixed media content that aligns with your interests and passions.
Subscribe for more!
Back to The Blog