I had the pleasure of talking to Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity while at CMJ in New York.  She had just finished serving on a panel entitled “Your Brand is Your Future” and she gave me a few pointers that all bands can use to effectively promote themselves.  Check out the video below.

She told me that in her experience, the bands that succeed have learned how to promote themselves effectively.  She suggested, although there is much focus on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking tools and there should be, a newsletter, which is sent out regularly and consistently, is one of the most valuable tools you can use.  Why, because subscribers and readers of your newsletter are qualifying themselves as “true fans” and are committing more time to you than just following you on Twitter, friending you on MySpace, or liking you on Facebook.  They are the ones you can build a career on.

Ariel explained the theory of having 1000 true fans that each spend $100 on you every year.  I’ll do the math for you: that’s $100,000 in gross revenue every year.  That’s a great start to a successful career.  Read more about the power of 1000 true fans here.

You can find your first subscribers to your newsletter in your own inbox. Start with your friends and family then extend out from there.  Collect fan names at the merch table. Put widgets on your website, MySPace, Bandcamp and other sites you are to collect more.  You can find widgets at PledgeMusic and at ReverbNation.

Use the widgets to give away a track in exchange for an email sign-up from your fan.  Ariel promises that the address will prove to be much more valuable than the 99 cents you might have otherwise gotten for the track. Better yet, make it an exclusive track, one that isn’t on the EP.  Maybe a live recording.

In order to connect with fans deeply, you have to establish a realtionship with them.  Let them know who you are: tell them what you like, who you sound like and more.  If they are like you they will follow you.  Of course not everyone will like you but you only need 1000 people to like you – be yourself.

You have to think of ways to bring a fan into the fold and establish a realationship with them.  Ariel tells about a way of leveraging the photos you take of you with your fans at the merch table.  This is a great idea and should get you thinking of other creative ways to engage with fans.  “Shine the light on them rather than yourself.” Says Ariel and you will grow from it.

Check out the video interview of Ariel.