I think this is a great topic.
Well I have found word of mouth to be the best advertiseing. I have branched out and started to record high school rock bands, and that has been great. I was tring to just do only Jazz or acoustic music, but the rock thing has helped bring in new foot traffic.
I teach about 80 guitar students a week, so that is good for some work. I get work from other teachers students to.
I also gave out some cards to a Karaoke store and they have sent me a fair bit of work, too.
Any other helpful networking ideas any one?
Peace,

NoteFarm

(just corrected some typos for the fellow.), BR

[ February 28, 2003, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Bill Roberts ]

Has it occured to you to Advertise?

LOL, Good idea.... I thought that was a given, I was just trying to get a conversation going to may be "think out side the box".
How about it any one else got any neat ideas on geting work..
Peace good times
NoteFarm

I'm working mostly for americans over here in germany. there are so many soldiers over here who do rap or rock music.

i got in contact with some rappers in clubs and told them i can record them. then i told 'em if they got friends who wanna do something too i'll reduce their bills by 10% of what i earned from their friends. that's best advertisment u can get :-)

i'm thinking about ads in magazines. but i had no need for that in the last 2 years :-)

Thanx for the reply,

That 10% is a great idea.
I was thinking of doing something similar. I was thinking of giving 1 hour free to any one that recomends the studio, that leads to a paid 4 hour booking.
I thought this waould be a great way of geting my clients that are on a small buget, back in the studio, and generate new clients. Win Win kind of thing.

I've got an ad running every week. Word of mouth is best, but takes time to build up. I'm thinking now that I really need to start going out to clubs, at least once a week, and handing out my card to bands. Just need to try not to drink too much while I'm out...

I wasn't trying to be smart assed, it was an honest suggestion. I ran ads in a weekly publication in my area that worked wonders. A basic tennet of business taught in business schools is, spend money on advertising even if you can’t pay the lease! It gives your facility a high profile. It places you in the eye of the customer. When something is in the print media, it legitimizes it. I would at times get several calls a day from my ad and I found that if I could just get the client to drop by for a "free tour" of the facility, I could close a deal with about 80% of them. Once a person has invested the time to come out to your place, sub consciously they are committed to working there. All you have to do is give them a good deal. Don't stumble over dollars trying to pick up pennies. Give the customer a good discount. It makes them feel special. A "Ya know, just cause I like your stuff, here's what I am willing to do..." type of thing. 75% of something is better than 100% of nothing. .... Fats
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tannoy, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's :D , Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those are exalent points. Now you have me re thinking, the whole print ad thing.
I love the discount idea, and I do think we all like to get a good deal.
I wounder if any one has any good ideas of places to run print ads. I thought of the local "folk music" papper. With maybe a one hour free with ad.
Thats a great point about people investing time, to visit.
Thanks for the ideas and food for thought.

Note Farm,
Where in CA are you? If you are in the Bay Area try ZERO magazine, in San Jose. Good print display ads. Distributed to all the music stores and most Tower Records. Ask for Josh and tell him Kurt Foster sent you. I used to advertise in BAM but they went out of business. Fats :D , Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cedar,
Thank you for the ideas and help. I am in the San Diego area. But the idea of going to a record store and picking up some of the free pappers is a great idea.
Thank you for the contact information, that is very kind.
THanx again
NoteFarm :w:

Note Farm,
I have another thought, ... There are some military facilities in San Diego right? Why not use Alexander P. Barkey's idea and check them out? I bet they have post newspapers that would take your ads. Fats
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tannoy, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's :D , Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can run a free ad here! [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.recordin…"]RO Free List your services Portal[/]="http://www.recordin…"]RO Free List your services Portal[/]

Cedar,
Thats an exelent idea. I will look in to that tommrow. With camp pendalton so close, I know there is a papper just like that.

Thanx for taking the time to reply and alll the good ideas. I know your a busy guy
This is the best plece on the net.
Thanx again
NoteFarm

For a reasonably small fee you can run a text ad in the musician’s atlas. It comes out annually and tends to stay on people’s desks for a while. http://www.musiciansatlas.com/

How about providing free hooker services at NAB in Vegas? That's always worked for me.