Marketing is a bit of a buzzword, isn’t it? It’s one of those terms we throw around freely that conjures images of slick advertising, fancy sales techniques, and lots and lots of money behind it.

But it doesn’t have to be such a heavy word. In fact, you can create and execute a solid music marketing plan even without a hefty budget with a strong vision for where you’re going, and who you want to impact along the way.

What if I told you that you can make money, see the country, and engage your fans in a truly meaningful way all at the same time? With all the right ingredients lined up, your tours can be an incredible way to pull all of that off.

While we’ve talked about touring in the past, today we wanted to focus on your fans. It might seem obvious that you want to make sure your fans are getting the best part of you when you visit their city, but somehow, in the planning of making sure your routing is perfect, that the venues you’ve chosen are the right fit, and that you have enough merch, gas, and snacks to survive, creating a truly authentic, memorable experience for the fans fall by the wayside.

Today we look at a few creative ways to make your fans’ experience truly personable, memorable, and leave them looking forward to the next time you’re in town.

For the first time in history, if an artist wants to keep their fans updated about each and every aspect of their musical and personal life, the technology now exists to let them do it. What you had for breakfast, lyrics to a new song you’re writing, a picture of the green room at the venue you’re about to play––these are all things you could potentially share with your fans through social media if you’re interested in forging deeper connections with your fans.

But just because you now have the power to share everything with your fans doesn’t mean you should.

Think about the last time you felt really connected to an artist. The last time you felt like somehow, they really understood you. The last time you had that overwhelming feeling of peace and comfort and maybe even a little excitement because in that moment you just felt connected in a way that can oftentimes be so hard to truly find.

No matter what that moment was—a vulnerable social media post, a captivating live performance, a piece of merch or even a funny photo that just resonated with you—the one thing that each instance has in common is that connection.

While we rely on so many avenues to foster this connection for our own fans, including our social media, our live shows, the merch we create, the partnerships we forge, and so much more, there’s one piece that very often gets left out and truthfully, forgotten about.

Blogging.

An unestablished band’s ability to sell merch often means the difference of whether a show or entire tour ends up being profitable or not. But like lots of other non-musical aspects of making and performing music seriously, merch is something that’s often neglected, even by the musicians who could benefit from selling it the most.

Today, we’re talking about three ways to help musicians sell more merch, but let’s first talk about why offering band-related stuff to your fans is important. The biggest and most obvious reason is that merch sales bring in extra revenue for your project. This can translate to more money earned on tours or additional funding from sales made through your website. In addition to extra cash, merchandising is also a chance to give fans opportunities to experience your project in non-musical ways. Merch solidifies your identity and fills a fan’s need for clothing, artwork, and other things at the same time.

Think of the coolest marketing campaign you’ve ever seen. It can be something your favorite band did, a campaign your favorite clothing company ran, or a contest put on by the local diner for their 25^th anniversary. Whatever it is, think about what made it stand out, why it captured your imagination, and why you still hold onto it.

Odds are, it’s not because they ran some mediocre ad campaign or shoved the same generic t-shirt design in your face. It’s because they did something that spoke directly to you and what you believe in. They used their brand and their message to tap into what it is that matters most to you—their fan/follower/customer—and because of that, you were able to really grasp onto it, and it left an impression.

Anyone can create an ad, put out a new piece of merch, or play a show. The real power is in creating an experience that’s so valuable to your fans that they not only remember it, but they want to share it with all their friends.

So how do you make sure your next promo strategy is worth remembering?

While simply uploading music and hoping for the best works out for some, most musicians need to promote their work if they want to make their mark with audiences. Music promotion is a broad term that covers everything from urging fans to listen to new music over social media to launching a costly professional PR campaign. Professional music promotion efforts aren’t cheap, and it’s common for the world’s biggest music stars spend millions of dollars to get the word out every time they put out new music. But if you constitute the vast majority of very broke musicians, you’ll need to find inexpensive ways to promote your music. Here’s a few tips to help get you started: