Music Promo Getting You Nothing? Here's Why You Have Zero Fans.

OK, so you're currently promoting your music, and you're not getting the results you've wanted. Well, there are millions of artists out there who feel your pain, but the truth is there are only four MAIN issues that are a result of your promotions not working, so let's get into it.

Chances are you did some playlist promotions and ads and created organic content — all of the tactical things that us online mentors said you should do — but it just wasn't your time to shine this go around. True, those things do work, but you're frustrated, and I feel you. In fact, I know you did some things wrong under the hood of all of that, and now the potential fans that you should be getting are just breezing by you like, "Ehh, it's cool." Now you're thinking it can't be this or it can't be that — what is it?

After doing over 1,000 consultations with many artists, I've found these seven core reasons why your song isn't getting the traction it needs during your promotions run. What more proof do you need? The results will speak for themselves. So, let's go!

1 The Song Itself Is Not Good!

As an artist or new music exec, you probably listened to the song and said, "that's the one" instead of testing it with a small group of people to get feedback on a group of songs that you knew would be viable candidates for promotions. The song you chose just wasn't the one, or it just flat out wasn't good. You've got to start testing your record first if you want to get better at promotions. If you can find a small group consisting of teenagers, tastemakers, industry professionals, and friends and family — and watch for their reaction before you ask their opinions — that's the quickest way you can get a pulse on which songs will work.

2 Your Goal Is Unidentified

A lot of times when you set out on a promotions strategy, you don't have a target goal in mind to validate that the strategy worked. So what ends up happening is you see one thing worked, but you'll start noticing a lot of other things that didn't work, and that skews your understanding about what you set out to accomplish with this campaign in the first place. Set an actionable and measurable goal with specific key performance indicators that you will focus on to lock in your goal and strategy. This way, if other things fall short, you won't have the feeling of falling short of your goal.

3 Your Promotional Materials Aren't Good

If your promotional materials like visuals, influencer collaborations, logos (if you have one), images, etc., aren't good, they won't hook people in, and they will just keep walking past your promotional efforts simply because your materials weren't good at capturing attention. The trick is to set your mind to always think about hooking people in because the average person sees anywhere between 3,000–10,000 advertisements a day. How do you stand out in that world, that sea of attention-grabbing noise? Strive for the ability to hook at all times.

4 You Are Confusing Ads With Music Promotion

You're confusing ads with promotions. They are siblings, but they are not the same — an advertisement is a static announcement about a product that can or may be tied to an event or timeline of events. However, a promotion is that same announcement about a product but moving throughout the marketplace it was intended to reside in relative to the timeline or around the event happening. One has motion, and one does not. Many artists use ads as a lazy way to promote, but in actuality, your ads are reaching cold audiences and lack personality. Promotions have the ability to warm people up from being cold on you way faster than an ad. Stop being lazy — get out there and promote.

5 Your Customer Service Is Bad!

Your customer service is bad to two customer types: industry professionals and fans. You have to service your industry professionals differently than you service your fans. Think of promotional items you can send or offer that warm them up to who you are as an artist, and if they need your record, make sure industry professionals have versions of your song they can use and make sure fans have the song on social media so they can dance to and create videos with. Lastly, if you have hot audiences already, make sure they have early limited access offers to the song in a special way so they get it now. This is what customer service is all about — servicing the customer with value.

6 Your Timing Was Off!

Sometimes you just plan to promote at the wrong time when too much attention would be taken off of your material, like during Oscar, Grammy, Super Bowl, NBA All-Star season in the first two months of the year, or during the last two months of the year (November and December) when all the major acts plus Christmas and Thanksgiving have taken all of the attention. November, December, and New Year's, to Valentine's Day are off-limits to new artists for heavy promotion runs and campaigns. March through September is the time to promote like your life depends on it — then, by the time the "no-fly zone" months come around, you will be relevant enough to be paid attention to.

7 You're Unprepared

Many artists jump the gun because they've completed their part of creating the song, album, artwork, visuals, and everything else that is a part of the project or release. After that, you all want to press go on promotions and drop the song. Are you prepared to serve the customer once they come to the door? What about the industry professionals — are you ready to service them? Is one month's time really enough to get prepared for all of the attention you plan to bring in and have them flow through your sales funnel systems flawlessly? Have your D2C offers been created? Do those systems work, and is the checkout process smooth? You see what I'm saying? Even though this is number 7, this is the number one reason why your promotion campaigns don't work — because you're unprepared. You took your army to Afghanistan with knives. You tried to sell dope in the '80s with a mail opener. You are unprepared. So get prepared and make sure your troops understand the game plan.

The Biggest Mistake to Make

The biggest mistake to make in this position is to get your expectations mixed up with your vision — that will kill your vibe instantly. Get off of those industry vapors and "look at me, I told you so" vibes. Fans don't care about that; they have money for you if you want it, and needs that need to be satisfied. That's why we set a goal so you have a strategy to meet the goal instead of trying to meet your grand vision in 3 months. That probably won't happen, but if you gain 20,000 followers from 0 in 3 months, you're a monster! I used to be just like you, stuck high on the industry vapors, but at the end of the day, the money matters the most — more than the fame or recognition.

Your Bright Future Payoff

The industry will always be changing. The rules of the game incrementally move every day and make big shifts every 3, 5, and 9 years. So how long are you going to wait to get going once you have your goal defined and strategy laid? Before you know it, things will shift, and that same goal won't be relevant. Whatever you do, don't rush, but don't go and sit back on the couch. If you need help, the Music Money Makers crew and I are glad to help you out together because we are all creators who are helping each other win! Join us at the link beneath this video!

Get Off the Fence

If your strategy doesn't work the first time, keep what did work and tweak your approach to the rest.

If you think you can't do it or it's impossible, break it down into steps you can do.

If you don't have a big budget, be resourceful with the resources you do have because many successful promotional campaigns have been built on creativity and smart planning rather than big spending. What matters most is having a clear strategy and being willing to put in the work — you can start small and scale up as you see results.

What's It Going to Cost to Quit

If you quit now, you'll miss out on the incredible potential that lies ahead in the music industry. Not only will you lose financial opportunities and the chance to build a lasting career, but you'll also have to live with the regret of giving up on your dreams. The cost of quitting extends far beyond just monetary losses — it impacts your legacy, your artistic expression, and your ability to inspire others who could have been touched by your music.

At the End of the Day

If you were struggling with your music promotions, go back and fix these issues, and I guarantee you will begin to see the results you want to see in your life and career.