Ever had a feeling no one knows where you studio is and who you are - that’s perhaps because it’s true. Unless you are a studio like Abbey Road or Blackbird then beyond your current clients, mates and your Mum, then most will not know about you. Here are my top 5 ways to get people into your studio.
Create A Web Site
It might be stating the bleeding obvious, but one of the first places people are going to look to find out more about you is on a web site. You don’t need to be a coder any more and there’s a lot of services out there to help you build a great site, most of them free. Make sure you choose a site that allows you to plug-in audio, video, images and more. Make sure you have great pictures of your studio, don’t use library shots of an SSL 72 channel mixer if you use a computer based DAW. Alternatively don’t take some snaps with an iPhone of your computer monitors with no one sat in front of them. Use some imagination, think like a potential client, what would you want to see? Include a list of gear, plug-ins, instruments, services and special skills. Also make sure it has audio examples of your work, more on that in a moment. Lastly make sure the site can deal with social media buttons, which is next…
Get Social
Just a few years ago the best way to get found on the web was to invest in a web site, but who will visit your website if they don’t know it’s there in the first place? Do you realise that if you have Facebook Like buttons on your website then every time someone clicks one your site appears on their page and quite possibly the page of all their friends too? That means absolute strangers suddenly know about your website and may click to take a look. The same goes for Twitter and Google+ so make sure you use social media in a smart way - it may be the only way people find you. WARNING - make sure you create a separate Facebook, Twitter and Google+ page for your business don’t use your personal page, it’s a bad idea for two reasons. Firstly your clients and potential clients don’t want to read about what you had for dinner or your latest break-up, conversely your friends shouldn’t have to read your stream of ads from your social feeds.
Have Examples Of Your Work
Show reels are common in the video world, but less common in the audio world. They showcase your best work and give potential clients a snap shot of the kind of work you can produce. Make sure examples are interesting, I often create bespoke reels and presentations for different clients to make sure I tick the right boxes. If you haven’t got examples then make sure you get some soon.
Have A Good Reputation
Work hard to get people loving your work and your attitude, both count. You can have the best studio in the world capable of producing awesome work, but if your attitude stinks then you have more chance of becoming Pope than a top producer. It’s also the case that you can be the nicest person in the world, but if you haven’t a clue then you’ll be the nicest owner of a bad studio around.
Meet People
I spent several years of my life with an office in Soho, London. For this who don’t know Soho, it’s the centre of the film, TV and advertising world in London. It’s full of studios, post houses, production companies and every conceivable industry related to it. It’s also full of bars, pubs and restaurant - all filled to overflowing from people in the industry. It makes sense to get your name and your face out so that people know who you are and what you do.The amount of projects I can trace back to those places is amazing, also some of my most trusted go-to people I met there. The same can be said for trade shows, industry gatherings, coffee times, in fact anything that gets you meeting people. They may seem like a waste of your time and your money, but trust me it is time and money well spent. Check out the latest podcast interview with Fab Dupont, that’s his advice too.
So there we go, 5 ways to get people into your studio, there are more - what are your top tips?