Advertising -what brings in the work?

[Ascension]

Hi,

I've just spent a considerable amount of money for next to no response and I was wondering what percentage of your Business is divided up into work from advertising, word of mouth, and work from album credits etc?

Thanks

Charlie

[Anthem Mastering]

I'd say credits and repeat business fluctuate around equal proportion. Advertising accounts for none of my work.

[Ascension]

So would you say that magazine back pages, and internet ads are mostly a waste of time?

[Bob Weston]

100% word of mouth.

bob weston
chicago mastering service

[Jerry Tubb]

Any young guy with a DAW, can do software "mastering" ...passe' these days.

A word of mouth reputation is earned over time.

JT

[Tarekith]

Never had any luck with advertising, my clients are my best advertisement. When they're super happy with the results just a quick reminder to pass my services on to their friends has had a MUCH larger impact. Almost all of my clients now are from referrals, doesn't cost me a dime and I can focus my energies on making sure the new people are just as satisfied.

[arf]

Ads only netted calls from people trying to sell me something. 14 years of referrals and repeat business are where my gigs come from.

[Trakworx]

Originally Posted by Ascension

Hi,

I've just spent a considerable amount of money for next to no response and I was wondering what percentage of your Business is divided up into work from advertising, word of mouth, and work from album credits etc?

Thanks

Charlie

Advertising: 1%

Word of mouth: 40%

Album credits: 9%

Repeat business: 50%

.

[jdg]

ever since i've stopped having google ads last year, i've gotten more business

[Virtalahde]

Originally Posted by jdg

ever since i've stopped having google ads last year, i've gotten more business

Good for you! I never click on the Google Ads links when I'm searching something, they just seem lowest of low to me.

Word of mouth and repeat clients, here. An occasional customer who happens to come across my website, too.

[streetbeats]

Yep, word of mouth / referrals and repeat business

[jdg]

Originally Posted by Virtalahde

Good for you! I never click on the Google Ads links when I'm searching something, they just seem lowest of low to me.

yeah, the couple hundred/mo i put towards hiring a book keeper.

i'd rather give my money to a local business then to google for sure.

ontopic:

become active in your local (or even online) music scene.
be helpful and interested in the music, and not just showing up and saying "HEY COOL MUSIC I CAN MASTER IT TOO FOR CHEEP"

[bgrotto]

Originally Posted by jdg

ever since i've stopped having google ads last year, i've gotten more business

+1

Online presence in general -- and the Google ad in particular -- walks a fine line between finding my attention and completely repulsing me. Google ads do seem very amateurish to me, and overblown websites come off (IMO) as somewhat hobbyist and even masturbatory (in particular, the almost blog-style sites with "tip and tricks" sections, editorials, and that sort of thing). Particularly when the information presented is full of half-truths and even downright misinformation.

I would never, ever hire an ME unless I had heard his or her work and/or had received a very strong recommendation from a colleague whose ears I trust. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising, hands-down.

[Stereophonic]

Originally Posted by Ascension

Hi,

I've just spent a considerable amount of money for next to no response and I was wondering what percentage of your Business is divided up into work from advertising, word of mouth, and work from album credits etc?

Thanks

Charlie

90% word of mouth and repeats, 10% album credits. Over the years I have run random ads and cannot think of a single job that was a generated from them. It's ironic. If you take any business class they'll teach you never to cut advertisements when times are tough. Why is mastering immune to this?

[Vum]

Word of mouth and adverts raise my awareness, but how easily the engineer or booking staff are reached is #1 in my book.

[wado1942]

I'd say 40% repeat business, 35% P.R. (talking to people and helping them), 20% word of mouth, 5% from my web site.

Luckily, my site only costs me $5 a month and doubles as FTP service for my clients. I really need to update it though, just haven't had time.

P.S. I WILL state that absolutely 100% of my no-call, no-shows come from the web site. P. R. is what gives me most of my repeat business.

[MASSIVE Master]

Originally Posted by jdg

ever since i've stopped having google ads last year, i've gotten more business

Ever since I stopped, the number of "mastering" places ripping off & "cloning" my site has dropped considerably - I mean down to a fraction.

And I don't think I ever had a client say "Oh yeah, I found you through Ad Words" or something like that. Several locals through Google itself, but never through Ad Words, hardly ever through ads (Tape Op, EQ, etc., etc., etc.). Stopped 'em all.

[Ben F]

Adverting is really only good for branding.

I find sponsorships are better- say for a CD label night or something, or the local community radio station. It's really only for brand recognition as most (if not all) work comes from word of mouth and repeat business.

[William Bowden]

Advertising = 0%
Word of Mouth = 40%
Repeat Biz = 60%
Credits = don't know...

The King

ps is there a category for sending work to other mastering guys?

[MattGray]

I agree with Ben, advertising raises awareness & for those who haven't been doing the gig as long, this can be beneficial. Those that have been doing it for years probably don't need to do it as they have enough repeat business & word of mouth for creating new clients without it.

It's often hard to know if advertising is generating new business for you unless you were to include some form of offer in the advertisement. This way you can gauge the response from it. A good way of doing this is to have the offer as a redeemable website link which can be tracked through Google analytics.

A good website is also essential I've found...

[inlinenl]

Well printed advertisment died a long time ago ...

Well all I can say is that without my web_presence and advertisment I think I would be without clients these days .. as I was starting up about 7 to 8 years ago as online mastering_only_studio with an upload/download facility I would have been stuck if I would only have focussed on "local" Bizz.

if you don't have done much work you'll need some kind of way to get yourself noticed, good pictures and good vibe and your web could trigger clients to get to you .. traffic to your site is important .. make sure you get hits .. these days that's much harder then 6 or 8 years ago ..

giving a good deal/price can trigger dis-satisfied clients from other mastering-studio's to hop over ...

as a startup Bizz it's so important to focus on new clients to come in .. don't get laid back to fast .. new clients are like fresh blood to my studio ... and old clients are always treated with respect and full 200% effort ..

advertisment is important IMO ... all along the road, the way you do "advertisement" is changing ....
and remember response never comes quick .. it's hard to spot a trend but .. more hits will result in more work in 2 to three months ...
I had this visual banner on ad-words last year, target myspace .. it really worked good ...
forget about the haters on web_adverts .. be honest about your product/service, have a good story out there ... man there are so many musicmakers out there .. and china is still to come ..

okay just a different opinion on the mouth to mouth bla, bla .... which is working well for me now, but you've got to start somewhere ...

[Thomas W. Bethe]

I have tried direct mail, ads in Scene Magazine, ads in Northern Ohio Live, ads on cable TV, newspaper ads and the best and least expensive way is still referrals and word of mouth.

Album credits and our website also help to bring in clients.

There is no easy way to reach your intended client base through conventional advertising since it is mainly a shotgun approach and you need a targeted approach to reach musicians/labels/producers who need your services.

Going to clubs and bars around here doesn't work. The musicians before and after they play are not interested in knowing you or what you can do for them. They want to get on play, get off the stage, have a drink and go home or go somewhere and party. Most bands around here are having to pay to play and have to have 50 of their "closest friends" in attendance or they don't get paid by the club or bar. They are more interested in doing a good job on stage, spending time with their friends before and after the show and don't really want to talk business. Just hanging out doesn't really do anything except run up your bar tab.

Do the best job you can on every mastering session, let your mastering clients know that you would appreciate their recommendations to others and slowly your pool of clients will increase.

If you are looking for a quick bump in business by doing "something" in advertising you may be in for a rude surprise.



Good topic!!!

[adamgonsa]

Originally Posted by jdg

become active in your local (or even online) music scene.
be helpful and interested in the music, and not just showing up and saying "HEY COOL MUSIC I CAN MASTER IT TOO FOR CHEEP"

Truth! I go to 3-4 shows a week and talk to the bands I liked after they perform. Not in an "elevator pitch" kind of way, just talking about music. Getting connected with bands & being friendly/helpful leads to work.

[Tha Govna]

Doing your best on every project.

You satisfy someone not only will they come back, but they'll tell everyone they know to come see you.

Get out and into your local scene.

Get to know folks and get 'em to give you a shot. Once you have that, then it goes back to doing your best on every project.

Multiply.