Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

New Nashville Studio - Standing Out From The Rest

Posted by stephmckphoto on 1/19/2016 at 6:52 PM ET 125 Points
Hello all! Just joined here; hoping it will be a great resource for both my personal photography business, as well as this joint recording studio business we've got going on here in good ole' Music City - Nashville, TN. Which is what brings me here today!

The new recording studio is brand spanking new - we just finished our build out about a month ago. It's a home recording studio, and before everyone starts snickering and shaking their heads, please give us the benefit of the doubt and check out our website: https://www.frontporchstudiostn.com

Website design done by yours truly, as well as all the photos of the studio itself. A few things on the site are being revamped as we speak (bios are being rewritten, portraits of our team will be retaken after we all get spiffy new haircuts, blog posts will be written, a few more mixed songs will be added to Soundcloud, etc.) but for the most part, the website is good to go.

We do have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and plan on using those very often, but only as we get some new clients into the studio. And that's the tricky part! Which is why I'm here. I understand a huge chunk of marketing a business such as a recording studio is most certainly word of mouth, but the majority of our team have all just recently moved to Nashville, therefore we do not have many connections. In order the market through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, we need a bit of a following for that market to even succeed in the slightest.

Where should we start? We're very hesitant to advertise on Craigslist for one of our first options, as Craigslist tends to lure in the "bargain hunters", which usually aren't the best musicians in the world, and won't provide our studio with a quality product (without beating their mixes within an inch of their lives). We want something worthy of sharing with our new fans and potential clients.

Open to any and all suggestions here! There IS a lot of competition here in Nashville, and we understood that going in, but we'd love to make our studio stand out from the rest, being that it is a home studio capable of making 'big studio' things happen, at a fraction of the price those studios downtown are asking. We plan on holding events, battle of the bands, bonfire nights, garage shows, acoustic/songwriter nights, etc down the line, but we just need a bit of a following for those events to be a success.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions and critiques!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 1/19/2016 at 8:47 PM Moderator
    Just to build interest and traffic, you might consider Google Adwords and Facebook paid advertising. Both can be local, flexible, relatively inexpensive. And targeted to your primary target audience.

    If you have the time/interest, you can manage both yourself, though for a quick start you might want to hire someone to manage the campaign(s) for you. You can't be an expert at everything, and you don't want to wait too long to climb the learning curve. (You'll save at least 6 months, plus a bunch of money, if you have an experienced professional get you started.) And if you wait for SEO to do anything for you, it could be many months or years.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/19/2016 at 9:40 PM Member
    (Aside: You might want to add analytics to your website)

    Since your goal is to book recording sessions, you don't need to appeal to all of Nashville - just musicians, agents, and technicians. Are there professional and/or amateur clubs (Meetup?) that gather in your area? If so, be there. When bands are performing, hand out cards to their manager and the club owners. What about musical instrument sellers? Can you work with local radio stations to offer the "best band" (i.e., an on-air contest) a free recording session at your studio?
  • Posted by Mike Steffes on 1/20/2016 at 8:49 AM Member
    "Where should we start?" Usually by building a reputation in the regional industry and then breaking off into your own shop. In this case, you've got to build that reputation (your Brand) from scratch... you are what is known as a start-up.
    It will probably be best to focus your efforts on a niche. Knock that niche out and use it as a bridge to another one. A good tactic for this is rapid iteration- try something, if it doesn't work well, move on (that's not failure, it's learning). Start with a manageable niche. You may have to make some of those low end bands sound fantastic. People will notice your expertise. Be available wherever the next level people are...they'll talk to you if they think you can help them. Try to have a distinct personality or exhibit some kind of showmanship. Make a name, a brand, for yourself.
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 1/22/2016 at 6:52 AM Accepted
    To follow Mike's niches idea - What about some teach-in sessions or seminars? Free classes for people involved in set up and sound mixing - you can go around live music clubs/venues and see if they have any staff who might be interested. They'd want the skills and they'd take your bonhomie back to the musicians they know.

    Radio ads would fit as a promotion method. But may be this idea could be extended to selling to local ad agencies for recording jingles etc. Certain churches and church connections would be music focused and help reach a community. Can you tie in with local session musicians - eg via a retainer or co-marketing deal? Some feature events like a 24hour play-in (or a 24hour continual song) could generate some PR. Or if you have music connections, then a celebrity opening and jam?
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