New year – new me! That’s something we all probably plan. However, I won’t tell you about good New Year’s resolutions. Getting the good old to-do list out and getting down to business is much more effective. Here are 5 top tips to kick off the New Year without further ado!
Make a plan on your to-do list to kick off the New Year
First things first, organise yourself. No matter if you’re a bit old-school and love to work with a real pen and paper or if you enjoy using the like of Miro. It’s time to plan your next moves. Go through all the things that are planned already, like work engagements, family holidays or work in a studio for example.
That way you can identify how much time and resources you have. A good way to start your to-do list right. Now you can go on and identify jobs and projects you would like to accomplish this year.
The most important notion about to-do lists is to draw them up in a way that they are achievable.
SEO Audit your website and YouTube channel
Ok, I’m coming straight out with the hard one. However, the start of the year is often a quiet time when you can do some more severe housekeeping jobs.
Running an SEO audit can help boost your online performance for 2024. Not only can you do SEO on your website but also on your YouTube channel (YouTube is owned by Google).
Here’s the thing, a good SEO audit can also be the best inspiration for new content. The times are gone when SEO was simply a technical job that didn’t touch your content strategy much. Now, I would argue that SEO should come first and second the content. Why? Having a strong SEO strategy in place means you have to deal with topics like Keyword and target audience research.
Both are topics that you’ll inevitably need in any content strategy. What is more, if you run any meaningful content strategy, you’ll probably sync that with an advertisement strategy. Any time you run ads, it’s vital to run them on optimised platforms.
Google and YouTube are two of the biggest advertisement placements for musicians. Not having your website and YouTube channel checked would be a bad start for any ads running on there.
Lastly, SEO can be fun! Seeing your SEO score on Google Lighthouse or any other testing tool go up can become your favourite online game in 2024!
Make time for playlist marketing
One of the things that people always complain about is that they don’t have time to do playlist marketing in honesty.
Here’s the thing, the beginning of the year can be the ideal moment to free up the time necessary. Go through your calendar and identify any free time pockets throughout your week. When are you most productive? Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Make sure to plan your playlist marketing in a time slot that works for you long term. Simply because playlist marketing is most effective if applied in a long-term manner.
Analyse your fan communities
Most people will have heard of the target audience analysis. However, have you ever done a proper analysis of your fan communities?
Knowing how many percentages of your fans are super fans who are happy to invest money into your project can be vital information to run a successful music release strategy. What is more, knowing how many fans will need to be warmed up to go from an engaged fan to a super fan is equally important.
What is more, knowing about the problems and pain points of your fans can help you communicate with them in a meaningful way. Especially if your fans live in other countries and socio-economical contexts than you do.
Thinking outside of the box is key when analyzing your fan communities.
Ask yourself, what do my fans need from me to engage with my music? What can I give them that is doable and in line with my values? Where can my fans meet and get to know me better?
Evaluate last year’s projects and music releases
That’s the kicker, to get the new year going professionally, it’s good to look back to the old one. Evaluation of past projects is massively underrated.
However, I always advise all my clients to do this. Not only when a project or release was a success, but mostly when something was going wrong.
It might be painful at first, but you will reap the benefits very soon. Knowing exactly what went wrong can help you master future problems so much better. Learning from your mistakes is one way to start 2024 on the right foot.
What is more, knowing what resources were lacking in the past or where you should have planned differently can inform any strategies you are planning for 2024.
Make a plan for the new year
With having a nice to-do list going now it’s a good idea to make a plan for the year – and to break it down into weekly plans.
This is wild, most people don’t plan that long in advance. However, creating predictability is a key factor in getting projects and jobs done. If you already know what you’ll need to work on within the second week of September you can relax your mind and simply get to work.
What is more, procrastination is best combated with a doable and simple plan. The longer you can plan in advance the better you can break down bigger projects into achievable steps. The best way to help with procrastination.
What is more, if you are working with industry experts for example for an advertisement strategy it’s a good idea to let them know in advance when you have time. Likewise, any touring agent will need to know your availability long in advance to be able to book you into concert slots.
However you get your to-do list going, having a solid plan in place is one of the best ways to start the year with success on the horizon!