In this solo instructional video, Wendy Day shares four practical, low‑cost promotion tactics that independent musicians can use to grow their fanbase. She first emphasizes the importance of regular live‑streaming on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube, recommending a consistent schedule so fans know when to tune in and suggesting content themes (industry advice, relationships, production tips, food, etc.). Second, she advocates building an email list and sending weekly or monthly newsletters/e‑blasts via services such as MailChimp or Constant Contact, using exclusive content (unreleased songs, videos) as incentives and keeping fans informed about shows, releases, and personal updates. Third, she outlines a “promo tour” strategy: physically visiting high schools, college campuses, clubs, block parties, and nearby towns within a 3‑hour driving radius, handing out download cards, engaging in conversation, and repeatedly returning to maintain visibility. Finally, she reveals a “secret” fourth tactic—using Google Voice (or similar) as a free, forwardable phone line that can be printed on business cards, allowing fans to leave voicemails that are transcribed and emailed, creating a direct line of communication. Throughout, Wendy frames each idea as a way to stand out, stay connected, and build a loyal audience.
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Hi guys, Wendy Day here. So I went out to dinner last night with a bunch of industry friends and we did something really cool. We went around the table and we all talked about 3 different ways that we promote that nobody else is doing. Not that nobody else is doing, because obviously there's nothing new, but 3 different ways that we promote artists, um, or ourselves, because there were some artists there that a large amount of people are not doing. So, um, I want to share mine with you because I think it will help you So the 3 things that I think are great to do for promotion, um, number 1 is Facebook Live. And you can do this on Facebook, you can do this on Instagram, you can do this on YouTube, whichever you prefer. You just have to do it with some regularity, and you have to have, um, you have to have enough of a schedule that people know when to tune in. So for example, I go live every Wednesday night at 7 PM on YouTube, and I share industry inside information, like secrets in the music business, to— well, you know what it is, you're watching this. So, um, Tony goes live on Facebook and he does it every couple of days. He does it whenever he feels like it, um, but if I were him, I would do it with some regularity, even if Even if I had to carve my schedule around it, I would go live. Like, he likes to go live while he's sitting in traffic because it helps pass the time. So whenever he goes live, he should do it at 5 o'clock, you know, the, the Tony Guidry drive time. Um, you should have a certain time that you carve out of your schedule to go live once a week, once every other week, every day, you know. Pick something that has value to you to discuss and talk about. Um, Ray Daniels goes live and talks about relationships. He gives great relationship advice. Tony talks about the music industry and gives different music industry advice. I found a bunch of guys on YouTube that do stuff for producers. They give advice for producers, whether it's business advice, but some give technical advice., you know, Pro Tools advice, advice about, you know, different kits and drum snares and different stuff that I know nothing about because I'm not a creative person. But, um, you should pick a topic and cover it, whatever has value to you, you know. Even if, um, Nick Love does a great series with ATL Bite Life— now it's just called Bite Life— and he talks about different food because he loves food. He's a foodie. So find something that has value to you, that you're passionate about, that you can share with your fans that they may be passionate about, and it just gives you another way to connect with your potential fans and people that might enjoy hearing what you have to say. Okay, that was number one. So number two, newsletters. So few of you are taking advantage of collecting email addresses and sending out either weekly or monthly newsletters to your fan base. You collect the email addresses when you perform live. You give away access to an unreleased song that nobody else can, can hear. Um, you offer a video exclusively to people that give you their email address, and you set up an account with either MailChimp or, you know, there's a million different companies— Constant Contact, a Okay, maybe not a million, but there's a bunch of different companies out there that will allow you to collect your email addresses for free until you get to a certain amount that's large enough that warrants paying for it. But a lot of you guys aren't taking advantage of sharing what's going on. And you know, the, the, the world is so cluttered with information, people don't see all of your social media posts. They don't talk to you on a regular basis, so they don't know what you're up to or when you're performing or where you're performing. So imagine if you had a monthly newsletter that informed people of what's coming up in the next month or two for you. What have you done in this past month? Where are you performing? Maybe there's a calendar attached. It talks about when you're dropping music or who you're in the studio with, or, you know, what your family is doing. Um, it's just a great way to keep in touch, and people who are your fans will really want to receive that. And what a great way to keep your fans up to date with your movement, keep them in the loop, let them know what's going on. That's number 2. So e-blasts, newsletters. Um, number 3, a promo tour. I'm a huge fan of promo tours. The music industry and, and building a fan base is like running for political office. You want to get out there, you want to shake hands, you want to kiss babies, you want to take pictures with fat girls. You want to make sure that you're seen and that you're in all of the cities and towns that surround where you are. You want to make sure you're out and about in your area. A promo tour consists of going to high schools, going to college campuses, giving out music, giving out cards that have download information for your music, that have all of your social media links, that have your website link, your, your YouTube page. Get out there and interact with people. Don't just hand the music or hand them a download card. Interact with them, start a conversation, let them know what you do for a living, find out what they do for a living. Get to know your fan base, get to know who they are. Perform as much as possible, whether it's on a college campus or whether it's at a club at night or whatever you can do. If there's a block party— we're coming into warm weather, guys— you can perform at block parties, you can perform at different concerts that are going on around your town. And not just your town, remember, you want to hit a 3-mile, 3-hour driving radius around where you're based. So there are a good 17 to 20 different cities and towns in that area where you can go and promote. You should be in a different place every day, and you should keep going back to those same places every couple of months to let people know that you're still here, you're still at this. Here's the new music, here's what I'm working on, here are the new videos. Keep people informed. That's number 3. And because you made it this long, I'm going to give you a secret 4th one. And I do this with all of my clients. It's such a great thing. If you've got Gmail, and most of you do have Gmail, you have access to something called Google Voice. And Google Voice is a free telephone line that you get from Google, and you can forward it to your cell phone, you can forward it to your home phone, you can forward it to your manager, you can forward it to your office. You can forward it wherever you want. You could print up business cards with your name, all of your social media links, and that voicemail number on that card, and you can let your fans think that you're— they're actually able to access you through that voicemail line. It's a great way to keep in touch with your fans. It's a great way to give fans access to you. They can leave voicemail messages you. Um, some services even transcribe the messages. I use Vonage because Vonage will email me the message. It's not always transcribed perfectly, but it's close enough. And then I can go in and listen to the MP3 on my email. I don't need to be near anywhere near my office phone to get messages. So that was number 4. So I've given you 4 different ways that you can promote yourself that other people aren't utilizing. How are you gonna stand out? Hmm.
