Monthly Articles

Let’s Keep the Camera Rolling

Can you believe it…it's 2005!!! Stop for just a moment and reflect on your career. Are you on target with your goals or are you still wondering aimlessly in the sea of Southern Gospel dreams. This article is not to be a doom and gloom outline, but rather an eye opener to a stronger Gospel Music career.

Let's look at some statistics that will help you make better choices when it comes to your career. First, it is your career, your livelihood, your finances, your future, that is at stake. Ask yourself what impact would just 25 extra attendees have on your live concerts. (However, if you follow these video marketing basics, I'm quite certain the number would be much greater.) Would they increase your offerings? Would they increase your merchandise sales? Would they contribute long-term to your career via a mailing list? Would they become life-long fans? I know I'm posing a lot of questions and still haven't laid out the first video tip…be patient, I'm getting there.

What if you could reach 1 million homes each week in relatively the same market in which you are touring, and do so for pennies of what a print ad would cost you? Let's look at a couple of scenarios. Example, your first tour stop is in Lancaster , OH on a Friday night, you travel to Barboursville , WV for your Saturday night venue and end up in West Liberty , KY on Sunday. The question is, how do you help the promoters and yourself by increasing the attendance at each stop on your tour? You could spend approximately $2500.00 to tell other groups, record companies, booking agents, record promoters, product manufactures, product display companies and bus leasing companies about your tour. Most of those people most likely would not attend. Not a very good use of your marketing monies. Or you could spend approximately $975.00, and reach some ½ million potential new fans, product buyers, and concert attendees . (By the way, that's more than double the entire Southern Gospel print outlets combined.) What makes better sense? Don't answer that, I know you want to be politically correct; after all, if you run enough print ads you are bound to be discovered and become the next biggest thing in Southern Gospel since the invention of the product rack. Or who knows, you just may get your shot on the NQC stage. Sorry, I just couldn't resist, guess I've heard that story one too many times.

So, time to start laying out this career-changing plan, simple. Using the power of video you create a 30-minute or 1-hour television special, no, not you singing song after song, be creative in your production and include a mix of personality driven talk and music (of course my creativity has always been outside the box). Always have spot-breaks that feature your merchandise and website information, and of course, leave one spot break for current tour dates. A warning…this production must shine and not look as if you and a couple of friends grabbed the home cameras and went to work. A quality produced and directed “special” can be done for nearly the cost of a full-page color ad in the Singing News magazine (no this is not a slam on the Printed Voice of Southern Gospel Music, just a comparison). Now comes a little work on your part. Sorry, I know you're the star, your record company or booking agent should be doing all the work, you just sing. There I go again that's my last shot at sarcasm. You should begin to contact cable companies in your touring areas and contract for your “special” to air prior to your personal appearances. Bam! (Thanks Emeril) You've just hit a multitude of potential new fans. Someone in your group should be in charge of doing this each month and should work with an advertising budget.

Back to our tour example, your Television Special could have aired in the Columbus, OH market--that would have covered your Lancaster, OH date and ran in the Huntington, WV market, that would have supported both Barboursville, WV and West Liberty, Ky venues, all this for just pennies per household.

Check out more facts:

• Cable viewing is up in Primetime too. In 2003, Primetime viewing per week was at 5:54 , a growth of 26 minutes over 2002!

• Primetime viewing in Broadcast TV is down to 5:22 in 2002 from 5:48 in 2002. A loss of close to 30 minutes!

• When looking at print i.e. newpaper/magazine readership, it is important to realize that circulation does not equate to readership. For example, for every 100 people who read a daily newspaper or weekly magazine publication*:

• 37% read the Classifieds
> 39% read the Business/Finance section
> 43% read the Sports section
> 70% read the General News

• Nationally, cable penetration has grown from 50% in 1986/87 to 88.7% in 2002/03.

• In the U.S. Daily Newspaper circulation has dropped from 62 million homes in 1989 to 55 million homes in 2002.

• Radio cumes have declined in morning drive and evening, with midday and afternoon drive remaining flat.

• Broadcast television shares have dropped more than half in the last 16 years. Total day household shares for broadcast were at 62.9 in 1985/86 and have dropped to 28.4 in 2002/03.

• Below is advertising support by age group.

MEN	WOMEN	TEENS	CHILDREN
25-34 Up 2.5%	25-34 Up 11.3%	12-17 Up 11.0%	6-11 Up 7.8%
35-49 Up 11.4%	35-49 Up 11.4%
50-54 Up 15.4%	50-54 Up 21.6%
Cable TV Facts 2003, Long Term Total TV Household Share Trends for ABC/CBS/NBC

Marketing of this type gives you another item for revenue on the product table, stimulates web-visits, plays on your website and brings people to see you perform live. If you're tired of climbing on a bus and dropping bags of money out the window playing games, don't you think 2005 should be the year you make a change? If the response from this article is anything like my past writings, my mailbox will soon be filling up; I look forward hearing from you and I'm anxious to see your career make a positive turn.

One final warning!!! Do Not attempt this type of “true marketing” unless you are willing to accept the career change affects that it will have. No games here, just positive results!

Until next month, I'll keep the lights on and the camera rolling.