The path to success in any career must be set with clear directions, or else it will be difficult to navigate through. And the same applies to your career in the music industry. If you want to grow your listeners’ base, sell records, and expect people in the industry to take you seriously, you will have to start by taking your business seriously.
How exactly can you do that?
It is as simple; you have to set goals, make a plan, work according to it, and see it through.
This blog is designed to help you out with creating a roadmap to achieve what might seem impossible to you.
Step 1: Define your goals
In this step, you have to visualize your ideal outcome. It should include the main goals you wish to accomplish across various focus areas such as marketing, branding, networking, bookings, PR-ing, budget, team, timings, instrument, etc.
For Example:
- Release a new album by the end of this year
- Book studio time for the next 6 months
- Get interviews on podcasts, tv shows, and radio
- Setting a yearly budget
Step 2: Break your goals in smaller achievable and trackable goals
Now that you have thought about your wildest ideas and goals, it might seem overwhelming to achieve. And that is why you should break them into smaller goals or tasks that can be easy to accomplish and track.
For Example:
Goal: Marketing
Deadline: 3 months before release
To-dos:
- Find a musician marketing agency/ or a platform
- Get quotes
- Create a plan including both online and offline marketing
- Create a timeline for plan implementation
Step 3: Identify your network
Identifying the group of people of the network that you will be working with, before starting your road map journey is important, as it will make your work easier, faster, and get you closer to the end goal.
For Example:
You can start by creating a database on an excel sheet with Business Name, Contact Name, Contact Number, whether you have any mutual connection or not, and when to contact them.
Step 4: Create a timeline
Creating a timeline schedule will help you make your tasks actionable. You will have clear major milestones and deadlines that need to be accomplished, no matter how big or small must have a deadline. Your deadlines can either be a range (First week of September) or a fixed date (20th of September)
Step 5: Communicate your goals and keep track of your progress
After setting everything, communicate your goals, timeline, and ways to achieve them, to your team or anyone involved in the music production process. To keep track of your progress, make sure you use any project management software that will alert you on regularly and make you check-in on your progress on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
Try not to lose your excitement while sticking to a particular strategy in the long run. It is not a sprint game, so take your time while executing it. If you feel that your mental and physical health is detrimental, then scale back and take a break. And if the strategy you started with is not as effective as it used to be at the beginning, then change it. Just get started with the process and you will feel it paying off later.