A Gig Is Not A Gig

Hey, what's up musicians? It's Jared. And today, I wanted to share with you a mistake, I see tons of musicians making. And hopefully I can save you a lot of time by preventing you from making this mistake. Because I made this mistake too when I first started on, but before we get started, this episode is brought to you by BookLive the software tool that helps band leaders everywhere, book and play more performances, while spending less time on the admin work, get your two week free trial at BookLive.com. Alright, so here is the mistake that I see so many band leaders making. And so when I was first getting started, at this whole gigging thing, you know, I went to music school twice got two degrees in music. And the problem for me was that I was defining a gig as a gig. And so a gig is not again, for musicians, that gig is a gig because for us, basically, we get to play music, and we're performing and we see that as a gig because you know, we play it, we get paid. To us, that's one thing. The problem is that to the person or people who you are performing for the people who have hired you, a gig is not a gig, a gig to them, could be this is my wedding, this is one of the most special days of my life, to other people who have booked you a gig to them is this is a corporate event where I'm trying to impress all of these guests, and give them some inspiration that they need to get to the next level in our business. Or to other people, a gig to them is this is a birthday party, you know, my dad is turning 50 or whatever, and I need music to help him celebrate and show him how much I love him. And so to musicians, though, if we're making the mistake of seeing all of those gigs as the same thing, then we are going to burn basically spin our wheels and not get anywhere fast. Because the way that we market those gigs is so different, like marketing towards funerals is way different than marketing towards weddings. And so the mistake I see most musicians making is treating all of those gigs, the same, and then producing one set of marketing materials that tries to attract all of those different types of people who booked the gigs. And that might get you some small results. But ultimately, you're gonna hit a ceiling really fast, because your marketing messaging is just so generic and bland. And it doesn't really showcase how you are the perfect fit for that specific type of event. And so I made that mistake, too, when I first started, you know, I was in grad school 2015 2016 when I was starting my group Dream City Strings, and we literally tried to be the group that plays everything. And so all of the text on our website and all of the the thing, the messages that we put out, were super generic, it was like, you know, top quality music for your next event. And, you know, we didn't book a couple gigs. But the problem there was I was watching these other groups in my city who had much more specific marketing. And I was really noticing the wedding industry, because you know, that's kind of where I started was as a wedding bands. And so I'd go on these other groups, websites and their listings and directories like wedding wire and the knot. And I would see how they would talk about their services. From the context of we are performing for your wedding, not just we're playing gigs, we're playing events. So they would speak very specifically about weddings, talking about how we'll make the walk down the aisle special and your father daughter dance is just gonna be amazing with live music. And then notice, like on their gig calendar, they would have a ton more weddings listed on their website, a ton more private events listed. And that's when I guess the wheels started turning for me was like a gig is not a gig. A gig is a wedding. A gig is a birthday party. A gig is a corporate event. And I need to create marketing materials specifically for each of those avatars. And so I do suggest if you're starting out or even if you've been doing this for many years, stop thinking of gigs as gigs start thinking about the avatar, the person that you are selling your gig to, what are their unique wants, desires and fears and hopes, and how can you shift your marketing materials to address those more specifically, how can you connect with that person on a deeper level before they even have a chance to book with you? Because I promise you I guarantee if you do this, then you are going to engage in much deeper conversations with these people and they are going to be more Likely to book you simply because they believe that you are the right band or you're the right musician to fulfill their specific needs. So that's my words of advice today. hope you got something out of it. Feel free to leave me a comment and and reach out to me. friend me on Facebook Follow me on Instagram at Jared Judge. And yeah, if you got any value out of this like and subscribe to the podcast and I will see you on the next gigging musician podcast.