M.E. Advertising

[timbreman]

Hello Mastering Engineers. I thought it might be interesting and maybe somewhat helpful to other newer ME's to get an idea of what models of advertising has worked best for you.

Do you rely on word of mouth?
Magazine or website ads (if so which ones)?
Radio Advertisements?

Just wondering what works for bringing in the best business for you guys.

[lowland]

Generally word of mouth here. I'm fortunate in that I spent quite a few years as a track/mix/prod person and built up a nice range of contacts, standing me in good stead when I moved over to mastering.

I did a three month trial of fairly expensive national magazine adverts about 6 or 7 years ago, but had only three replies: two wanted CD duplication, which I don't offer - although I thought I'd carefully pitched the ad at specialist mastering - and one became a short-term mastering customer, not enough response to justify continuing. Nowadays most of my bookings are repeats or referrals, the rest usually coming via my website - suits me very well.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Word of mouth is the cheapest and the best.

We have the tried the internet, magazines, the Yellow pages, direct mail, newspapers, local internet bulletin boards, posters at local music stores, Craigs list and the Musicians Back Pages but the best so far has been word of mouth.

In my email in box everyday I get offers from people GUARANTEEING me sales leads and tons of people at my website. The offers range from $9.99 per month to over $1,000 per month with the guarantee that I will get tons of clients just wanting and needing my services or I don't owe them a thing. I contacted a couple of these providers and when I told them that I was a mastering engineer looking for new clients they politely said "I don't think we can help you as your field is so specialized that there would be very few clients that we can send you and if you chose to use us the guarantee would not be in effect."

[AUDIOBOMBER]

Originally Posted by lowland

Generally word of mouth here. I'm fortunate in that I spent quite a few years as a track/mix/prod person and built up a nice range of contacts, standing me in good stead when I moved over to mastering

same wih me - and i`ve been quite much around with live engineering...
my studio used to be a high end garbadge can for many years , cleaning up used not to be my mainterms , but in the recent month i did some work in it to reach the point for making a photosession possible
prepairing new homepage at the moment.... - so watch out
some guys also drifted to me per myspace and face book seems to be the new runto

[24-96 Mastering]

Word of mouth is what works best by far. Anything else (CD credits, google, internet forums, myspace, google adwords, newsletters, etc.) may provide a little dribble here and there, but the bulk with most mastering studios (hopefully) comes in via word of mouth, I'd guess.

[jayfrigo]

Word of mouth is king, but a little targeted print advertising or direct mail can help to increase name visibility if you are new to a market, or just if you haven't been heard from in a while. That way, when word of mouth happens, the person may say, "yeah, I've heard of them," and may be more likely to follow the word of mouth recommendation. So, while the ad itself may not directly bring in the business, it can help to make the word of mouth more productive.

[Kayo]

Hi timbreman,

Use KANTABiZ™ : Business Video Directory
Simple helpful Business Directory for individuals and businesses, also Video.

The site’s dedicated to purely businesses unlike youtube etc.
Simple, easy too.

Cheers,
FD

[DSD_Mastering]

We have never advertised in print. We have a website and myspace page... that's it. We've never had to advertise because we can't take on any more work now. We're booked solid!


Regards,

[NorseHorse]

Related thread in the Remote Forum: How do you get work / gigs?

[DSD_Mastering]

Well I took out my first advertisement. Not that we need any more work, but there is a new magazine in the Seattle area that I've been following since it's inseption. I know a couple of people that work there and wanted to support the local economy. We did very, very good the last year and wanted to support the local music scene.


Regards,

[Jerry Tubb]

Originally Posted by timbreman

Just wondering what works for bringing in the best business for you guys.

We could write an entire book on this subject (The Art and Science of Studio Promotion & Survival), here's my top ten list:

1. word of mouth - assuming they're good recommendations, the work sounds good, you treat your clients in a friendly manner, good telephone skills & communication, serve good food, and charge a fair rate : - )

2. CD, DVD and LP credits, especially the good sounding discs - we master hundreds of projects per year, each project yields a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of units, so over the years (and decades) that adds up to millions of copies of our work spread around the globe, and yes some people still like to read the credits : - ) (Isn't that one of the problems with iT*nes, iP*ds, iPh*nes, etc? any credits to read while listening?)

3. Internet presence, website, allmusic credits, msn music creds, mysp*ce, linked-in, forums, etc.

4. print advertising - industry guides, magazines, local music rags, newspapers, yellow pages, handbills,etc.

5. direct hardcopy mail - a few hundred postcards once a year can do wonders to remind people you exist.

6. studio tours and visits, comfortable furniture, calling on local studios, producers, labels.

7. seminars, symposiums, organizations - and especially charity work... giving something back !

8. location, location, location!

9. a good attitude, big smile, firm handshake, approachable friendly manner, control of bad habits, and of course personal hygiene : - )

10. knowing when to -not- talk business.

Our studio manager Diane is an absolute master at all this stuff.

I guess that's about it, this fall we begin our 20 year celebration, so apparently some of this actually works.

Cheers - JT

[bob katz]

Originally Posted by Jerry Tubb

We could write an entire book on this subject

I guess that's about it, this fall we begin our 20 year celebration, so apparently some of this actually works.

Cheers - JT

Congratulations, Jerry! We're heading into 16 years here as an independent mastering house, but I started independently without a fixed roof long before that :-).

BK

[Jerry Tubb]

Originally Posted by bob katz

Congratulations, Jerry! We're heading into 16 years here as an independent mastering house, but I started independently without a fixed roof long before that :-).

BK

Thanks Bob !

Congrats to you as well ...anyone that can keep a dedicated brick and mortar mastering facility running for many years, and actually make a living at it deserves high kudos.

I remember some of those lean months back in the early '90s ...eating Top Ramen and Baloney Sandwiches (instead of Filet Mignon and Dom Perignon) to pay the studio bills, keep the doors open, and live for another year!

I remember reading your articles back in the late '80s and thinking man, this guy is the digital guru !

All the best my friend - JT

[Rednose]

Originally Posted by jayfrigo

Word of mouth is king, but a little targeted print advertising or direct mail can help to increase name visibility if you are new to a market, or just if you haven't been heard from in a while. That way, when word of mouth happens, the person may say, "yeah, I've heard of them," and may be more likely to follow the word of mouth recommendation. So, while the ad itself may not directly bring in the business, it can help to make the word of mouth more productive.

Yes great advice! Do what you can to get the name out and people will talk about your studio and remember the name!
You don't have to spend a zillion $$$, just some money and a lot of time on the internet!

[Alécio Costa]

"personal hygiene "

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by Jerry Tubb

We could write an entire book on this subject (The Art and Science of Studio Promotion & Survival), here's my top ten list:

1. word of mouth - assuming they're good recommendations, the work sounds good, you treat your clients in a friendly manner, good telephone skills & communication, serve good food, and charge a fair rate : - )

2. CD, DVD and LP credits, especially the good sounding discs - we master hundreds of projects per year, each project yields a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of units, so over the years (and decades) that adds up to millions of copies of our work spread around the globe, and yes some people still like to read the credits : - ) (Isn't that one of the problems with iT*nes, iP*ds, iPh*nes, etc? any credits to read while listening?)

3. Internet presence, website, allmusic credits, msn music creds, mysp*ce, linked-in, forums, etc.

4. print advertising - industry guides, magazines, local music rags, newspapers, yellow pages, handbills,etc.

5. direct hardcopy mail - a few hundred postcards once a year can do wonders to remind people you exist.

6. studio tours and visits, comfortable furniture, calling on local studios, producers, labels.

7. seminars, symposiums, organizations - and especially charity work... giving something back !

8. location, location, location!

9. a good attitude, big smile, firm handshake, approachable friendly manner, control of bad habits, and of course personal hygiene : - )

10. knowing when to -not- talk business.

Our studio manager Diane is an absolute master at all this stuff.

I guess that's about it, this fall we begin our 20 year celebration, so apparently some of this actually works.

Cheers - JT

This should be a sticky. GREAT advice as always.

In July of 2009 we will start our 15th year. We try and do all of what you are recommending and the only one we are having problems with is #8 and there is not a lot I can do about that unless I want to sell my studio/house at at loss and move somewhere that has greener pastures (if such a place exists in this economy) Thanks for talking time from your busy schedule to write this down.

Have a GREAT year! thumbsup

[Jerry Tubb]

Originally Posted by Thomas W. Bethe

This should be a sticky. GREAT advice as always.

In July of 2009 we will start our 15th year. <snip>

Have a GREAT year! thumbsup

Thanks Thomas!

And Congrats to you on the upcoming 15th annie.

...anyone that can keep a mastering facility running for many years, and actually make a living at it deserves high kudos.

It was a different time when we started, there weren't that many MEs, and it was...

Before Pro Tools
Before Plug-ins
Before CD-R
Before ADAT
Before Masterlink
Before 24-bit audio (and even 20-bit)
Before 96k sampling rates
and most importantly... before the Loudness Wars!
aaand before the democratization of digital technology.

R-DAT was the newest thing. Sony PCM reigned supreme. Analog tape still ruled.
There were only 3 Stereo DAWs, all Mac: Sonic Solutions, Digi's Sound Tools, & Dyaxis.
4-track DAWs just barely worked, sometimes, if you were lucky.
Vinyl LPs were being phased out.
Most of the projects we saw were prepping for cassette duplication,
A CD release was a really big deal.

Cheers - JT

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Jerry,

We were all Mac running Sound Designer ll with all SCSI Drives

RDAT or PCM-F1 for remote recordings

Sonic Solutions system with a 1.6 gig drive - SCSI

No USB

No Firewire

CD Blanks cost $20.00 each

Roarke Hard Drive and CD Burner

44.1 16 bit was the "standard" 48 and 16 was the defacto for TV

No loudness wars

and

I was using a Neotek Series 1 audio console for monitoring with a DAC made by Mark Levinson. Sounded GREAT on everything no matter what.....<GRIN>