How to Identify Your Ideal Music Fan [Free Worksheet]

published on November 10, 2017by Anitra Jay 0 Comments

There will be people who like your music and those who don’t. You simply can not afford to cast a wide net and hope for the best as the record labels do. Every one of your marketing dollars is hard-earned and they count. So let’s get started.

Are you wasting time and precious money promoting your music to the wrong crowd?

Are you reaching your ideal fan? Narrowly defining your target fan is a very important part of promoting your music successfully. This worksheet will help you define your ideal fan, which will allow you to be more efficient (with your time as well as your finances) in marketing your music to gain new fans.

In this worksheet, you will:

Discover unique and affordable ways to market your music
Create promotions that will appeal to your target fans
Pinpoint your ideal fans, their hobbies, interests, and struggles
Build your target fan profile

Why You Need to Know Who Your Target Market (Ideal Fan) Is

Doing music DIY style as an independent artist means you’re not just an artist, you are a business person, your brand is a business, and your music is the product.

Once you start treating your music like a business, you will start to see more results – more e-mail sign-ups, more CD sales, more gig opportunities, and better relationships.

A successful business knows its customers really well. Likewise, as a business owner, the first thing you need to know is who is your ideal customer. You need to know who will be more receptive to what you have to offer. Once you figure out who is more receptive to your message and how to reach them you will cut down your marketing expenses tremendously and it will take you a lot less time to sell to potential customers. In your case, it will cost you a lot less to promote because you will be able to create your own affordable advertising and promotion opportunities with a little creativity.

You need to know who your target market is because it will give you some idea of which opportunities to pursue and which to pass on. It will also help direct your promotional efforts so that you can hit your target every time.

Stop and go here to download the free Identify Your Target Fan Worksheet now.

Watch The Video for a Step-By-Step Guide

Part 1: Discover your Ideal Fan by first Discovering Yourself

Before getting deep into who your ideal fan is, let’s first talk about you and your music, shall we? Understanding who you are and how you position yourself will help you better identify who relates to what you’re selling. So what is it that you are selling? It’s not just music. Take a minute to really think about what you’re selling. It could be an escape from reality, nostalgia, something people can dance to, romance, class and a feeling of richness, a release from pent up anger, rebellion, etc. Think long and hard about this. Think about what the benefits are when someone listens to your music or experiences your live show. What feelings will they walk away with? How will listening to your music solve some of their woes?

Now that you have come up with what you’re selling, it should be a lot easier for your to describe who wants it.

Part 2: Discover Your Ideal Fan

Based on the features and benefits listed above, what kind of person wants to hear your music? How old are they? What is their gender? What are their hobbies? Do you have a fan base currently? Take a look at your current fans to find some of these answers.

There may be different subsets of people who typically relate to your music. For example, you might find that college students like you because your music and brand really speak to them, but you also might find that young adult business professionals enjoy your music as well for different reasons. These are two different groups of people and you should take the time to identify each of their pain points, desires, and hobbies. I’ve created multiple columns for you to fill out information for these individual groups in the worksheet.

Use this section to describe your fans as best as you can. Follow along in the worksheet answering as many of these questions as possible.

Get additional Insight from Current Fans

If you do have current fans, why not survey them to gain additional insight? Use their answers to confirm or disprove what you are already thinking from your questions and answers above. Also use their answers to add additional insights you hadn’t already thought about before. Here are some questions you can ask them:

How did they first learn about you?
What attracted them to you?
What is it about you that keeps them coming back for more?
What benefits do they get by listening to your music?
How do you find new music?
Who are your favorite artists?

Download the How to Identify Your
Ideal Fans Worksheet

Part 3: Discover Effective Ways to Promote Your Music to Your Ideal Fans

Now that you know who your ideal fans are and where to find them, you can easily create a targeted strategy to market and promote your music. You will find ways to promote to your ideal fans by working through the questions on the worksheet. For example, if your music typically gets a good response from people who are into video gaming, then you would probably find success sponsoring a local gaming meetup. Identifying your ideal fan in this way will show you how to put your music right where your target fans are and be able to promote your music to the right audience.

The more you know about your ideal fan, the better prepared you are to promote your music to them and attract them to you. Be proactive. Instead of putting your music out there into no man’s land and hoping for a bite, you will be in the forefront bringing your music to your potential fans. With a well thought out Target Fan Profile, you can be where your ideal fans are and make lasting connections.

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Anitra Jay

Anitra Jay is an acoustic soul singer-songwriter based in Eureka Springs, AR. She tours regularly up and down the US from Vermont to Texas and everywhere in between. Her music is a sultry down to earth blend of soul, pop, and gospel. After being laid off from her job in 2007, Anitra decided to pursue a career in music. She took her educational experiences in Public Relations and her professional background in marketing and applied it full force to her music. She's found significant success in establishing a lasting fanbase using her special brand of marketing techniques which she shares freely with other artists. In addition to being a full-time performer, Anitra runs TheCraftyMusician.com, a blog for indie artists sharing actionable tips and advice on how to promote, develop, establish a fanbase, and more. Her passion is to inspire other musicians and build a community of like-minded independent artists to encourage and promote successful careers in the arts. She appeared on HGTV's Tiny House Hunters in May of 2017 to share her music story and her Tiny House Journey with the world. Join Anitra on YouTube where she shares weekly DIY tips and secrets to move your music career forward.