Marketing Yourself | Luke Toms
In about 3-5 years time I want to be a successful Live music recording engineer working with big acts who are touring world wide. I am a starting with small venues for some unsigned artist and up and coming signed artist who want to include a few live tracks at the end of an album or make a whole live album. There are several ways in which I can get myself and my services out to the world and make sure people who are in need of what I am doing can find me without difficulty. When running a service like this you just never know where you are going to be when a potential customer may just pop up and for this reason I have designed some business card that are going to give small amount of information about myself but more importantly direct them to somewhere that they can find exquisite detail about myself and find examples of my work etc. Later on I want to be producing large bands such as Muse, Biffy Clyro and record shows in stadium sized venues. I plan to collaborate with film production companies if not have my own who can film and document a live concert in extreme high quality.
Knowing the local venues and there set ups will help me massively as I am certain that the same venue will pop up more than once and if I know the equipment they use it will enable me to plan ahead to ensure a fantastic recording. Here is some of the research I have done for a venue in Brighton.
The other websites that I have looked at that do the same thing don't show a clear image and description of what they do. One website did something very similar where they record your show at there own mocked up stage this is an idea that I never thought of but its something that I can think about to make my own and work into something that is better than what they do.
I am going sign myself and my band up to PRS and PPL. There are many unions and collection agencies that are purposely set up the help people starting up in the music industry. Musicians union is a great example of this as they can help you get lawyers and insurance in any area of the industry. Their purpose is to help people in the industry and get them any money that they deserve and help you get the support you need.
As well as having a website I also use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo and YouTube that are all great way to communicate and allow clients stumble upon you. The more of these you have the greater chance someone will find you and more importantly contact you about your work. It's important that your website has links to these sites and all your sites have a nice clear link to your website.
Once people have found your site it needs to be clear and to the point having your contact details at the bottom the 'videos' page is useless. People are going to leave you site if they don't find what they are looking for immediately because something else will attract them. if you have a link on your home page saying **NEW BEATS** people may click on that and it will take them away from your website. The way to prevent this is to have all your media embedded into your site so people can video it without leaving your site. Also make your contact page visible, clients are going to want an email address very clear so they can contact you. Contact pages are usually located at the end of the page tab bar and this is where people are going to look immediately to find a way of contacting you.
This is my home page. I have chosen to use this page to help myself as well as the user. I have used some marketing techniques to make the users experience on the Hedley Marks website as fantastic as it can be. The first thing is that I have place my name right in the centre. This is purposely done to show the user that this is the correct site that they are on whether I have just met them and given them a business card or if they have never met me at all it welcomes them and tells them they are in the right place. Something else I have used on this page is four links placed under my name. These are there to immediately give the user to look at the derive that they are interested in using. These links are clever because they don't redirect the user to another site where they go away from my site and may end up not getting the service they need or more importantly not using mine. So these links keep them on my page but also can give the user the choice of my services right from the start and they only redirect them to parts of the same website.
The final thing I have used on the page is the simple 'Contact Me' button which takes the user to my contact page. This bypasses everything on my website and takes the user directly to a place where they can contact me directly. This would be useful if the customer was already aware of my services and just needed a way of contacting me this will make there lives very simple rather than spending time searching for my very conveniently places contact tab.
This page is my musician page for my band which I am in currently. It doesn't include writing for the simple reason that I didn't think it should have any because I think people are going to want to read information about a band and rather hear them and watch them. For this reason I added a picture of our latest EP which is what comes up when you land on the page. Underneath this is the music from the EP as an embedded page so the user doesn't go away from the website and all the music is playable in the same way. I think this what people are going to want to see when they are looking at a bands page.
Underneath this is two music videos that we have released this year. Two very different ones with different styles that we have written. This shows a more varied overlook of our music in only two video. This can al;ways be added to as we create more putting more reason ones at the top. This videos being embedded is great because although if they were to go to the Youtube link they would still be on my bands Youtube account they can still get attracted to other videos and completely forget about my site and never use my services.
This page is very brief as I haven't got too much to say and put on it yet but I can add to it all the time and keep fresh. This simply has one embedded video on it that I have produced, my first but I think it it is still watchable. This band is my brothers band and I made this just for this reason , so I could add it to a webpage in the future and show off my services as well as making the band a video. I was to do more of these which is my plan I would continually add these to my page for people to see and keep upping the quality.
This page ties in with the one before that I haven't got lots to put on it at the moment but I will. At the moment I just have 2 audio files of recordings that are not fantastic but it is still good to have examples. This particular example of of a 70 piece cast and 40 piece orchestra for my secondary schools show 'Sweet Charity' in february 2013. I want to create live albums of music acts and be able to publish the work on here by the album for people to buy and share and comment on. i think its really good to have examples of your work because even if its not great it gives the user and idea and picture in your direction of thought so they can understand better on what you want to do.
Probably the most important page of my website and it would all be pointless if I didn't have this one. The contact page. This page include and very easy and simple page to contact be laid out with Name, email address and message and the message will be sent directly to me. Underneath this is a contact email address they can use as an alternative to the one that is one form above. I wanted to keep this page very simple to take away any confusion that the user may have and they can simply contact me knowing that I will safely receive their email and get back to them ASAP and they will always get a confirmation email when they send a message.
Finally this is my banner or tab bar. I have specifically placed each tab in particular places to make my website more affective. I have placed the contact page at the end of the list because this is where people are going to look first for a contact page and I want them to find this page really easily. It's important to think logically and straight forward when designing a website and not what makes sense for you as this could confuse the user.
I have placed the Musician, Film Maker and Engineer first after the about page as these are the most important bits about me that I want people to see making them clear and visible is important.
The pages that I am not so fussed about are the store and pictures page. The pictures I will just add from time to time of backstage pictures of work I am doing etc. me with a client or the gear set for a large show. This attracts people and gives them pictures of you doing what you do. It's another way of giving information. I don't think it's extremely important on the main page compared to other pages.
Finally adding items and pictures to my and tagging it all over the different social networks and this will increase my ratings of Google. This is very important for a website to be high up on Google because the likelihood is that people will just search 'Hedley Marks' in Google and if my name doesn't come up on top people are less likely to find me and use my services.
Site: http://hedleymarks.weebly.com
Concorde 2, Brighton use a Digi-design Profile Console which runs AVID software who also make Pro-Tools. My original plan would be to take a direct feed from the venues desk into and a interface and record into Logic. In this situation I would need to sharpen my Pro-Tools knowledge so I could use this desk to my advantage and record straight out of the desk in a way that the desk was designed.
I need to visit venues find out what desk they are using a accumulate a wide rage on knowledge on lots of different desks in different venues.
Eventually I could have a company that uses our own desk to put on the live sound and I can set up a really sustainable system for getting quality concert recordings every time ready to be mixed and mastered the same week.
Having a very rounded knowledge when it comes to your field is very important as this shows professionalism and people are more likely to hire someone who knows what they are talking about.
Having a very rounded knowledge when it comes to your field is very important as this shows professionalism and people are more likely to hire someone who knows what they are talking about.
  This is my design for my business card. This is a very important medium to have as is gives all the relevant information that anyone could need if I was to meet someone in the street and they asked me for details so they could contact me again. It looks very professional to have a card and it looks very unprofessional if you don't. I could also mean you lose out on work which you do not want to do even if you can't do it yourself I am sure you know someone who can. Small and simple cards that allow people to find you online where much more information can be found about you. I have created this very simple card because it gives all the right information about myself, what I do, contact information and my name. Even if it has your name and website that is all someone is going to need to find you again. If you have nothing they will just move on and find someone who is organised. Having something like this is very simple and it also give first impression to a potential client about how reliable you are when it comes to working. this could easily lead to more and more work. |
My audience is going to be bands and artists who are looking to get a live CD and/or DVD done. This is something that I can offer in the highest qualities.
The purpose of my site is firstly give customers a way of contact but also a whole place to brows my repertoire of skills and past work that I have done.
I want to give an image that shows professional and top quality. If the user finds you more professional than another site they will immediately choose yours. A friendly service is also very important.
The purpose of my site is firstly give customers a way of contact but also a whole place to brows my repertoire of skills and past work that I have done.
I want to give an image that shows professional and top quality. If the user finds you more professional than another site they will immediately choose yours. A friendly service is also very important.
The other websites that I have looked at that do the same thing don't show a clear image and description of what they do. One website did something very similar where they record your show at there own mocked up stage this is an idea that I never thought of but its something that I can think about to make my own and work into something that is better than what they do.
I am going sign myself and my band up to PRS and PPL. There are many unions and collection agencies that are purposely set up the help people starting up in the music industry. Musicians union is a great example of this as they can help you get lawyers and insurance in any area of the industry. Their purpose is to help people in the industry and get them any money that they deserve and help you get the support you need.
As well as having a website I also use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo and YouTube that are all great way to communicate and allow clients stumble upon you. The more of these you have the greater chance someone will find you and more importantly contact you about your work. It's important that your website has links to these sites and all your sites have a nice clear link to your website.
Once people have found your site it needs to be clear and to the point having your contact details at the bottom the 'videos' page is useless. People are going to leave you site if they don't find what they are looking for immediately because something else will attract them. if you have a link on your home page saying **NEW BEATS** people may click on that and it will take them away from your website. The way to prevent this is to have all your media embedded into your site so people can video it without leaving your site. Also make your contact page visible, clients are going to want an email address very clear so they can contact you. Contact pages are usually located at the end of the page tab bar and this is where people are going to look immediately to find a way of contacting you.
The final thing I have used on the page is the simple 'Contact Me' button which takes the user to my contact page. This bypasses everything on my website and takes the user directly to a place where they can contact me directly. This would be useful if the customer was already aware of my services and just needed a way of contacting me this will make there lives very simple rather than spending time searching for my very conveniently places contact tab.
The next page along on banner or tab bar is my about page. This is a good page and the only one that contains writing.
This page includes a picture on my face inclusive with a full mop of hair. More importantly a brief summery of everything I'm doing, have done and want to do. It includes inspirations and people who I have worked with. This is important because inspiration can give the user an idea on what you are like and people you have worked with especially big names attract peoples attention and it's a good way of making yourself look good.
An important feature is my qualifications that I have that are relevant to what I want to pursue in the future. Such as GCSEs and the course I am currently studying. This tells the user that I have some kind of academic experience in these fields. Also I have described what I want to do in my academic future. This again is important to show the user your plans for the future and it also shows confidence.
This page include work that I am doing and am embedded video that shows the kind of thing I do. This shows the user what I am capable of doing at the moment, very important.
This is a page that not everyone will read but some clients are just want to know a bit more about me if they don't know me already.
Underneath this is two music videos that we have released this year. Two very different ones with different styles that we have written. This shows a more varied overlook of our music in only two video. This can al;ways be added to as we create more putting more reason ones at the top. This videos being embedded is great because although if they were to go to the Youtube link they would still be on my bands Youtube account they can still get attracted to other videos and completely forget about my site and never use my services.
This page ties in with the one before that I haven't got lots to put on it at the moment but I will. At the moment I just have 2 audio files of recordings that are not fantastic but it is still good to have examples. This particular example of of a 70 piece cast and 40 piece orchestra for my secondary schools show 'Sweet Charity' in february 2013. I want to create live albums of music acts and be able to publish the work on here by the album for people to buy and share and comment on. i think its really good to have examples of your work because even if its not great it gives the user and idea and picture in your direction of thought so they can understand better on what you want to do.
Probably the most important page of my website and it would all be pointless if I didn't have this one. The contact page. This page include and very easy and simple page to contact be laid out with Name, email address and message and the message will be sent directly to me. Underneath this is a contact email address they can use as an alternative to the one that is one form above. I wanted to keep this page very simple to take away any confusion that the user may have and they can simply contact me knowing that I will safely receive their email and get back to them ASAP and they will always get a confirmation email when they send a message.
I have placed the Musician, Film Maker and Engineer first after the about page as these are the most important bits about me that I want people to see making them clear and visible is important.
The pages that I am not so fussed about are the store and pictures page. The pictures I will just add from time to time of backstage pictures of work I am doing etc. me with a client or the gear set for a large show. This attracts people and gives them pictures of you doing what you do. It's another way of giving information. I don't think it's extremely important on the main page compared to other pages.
My type of service will be mainly based on the road as an engineer and for this reason having a aesthetically pleasing and user friendly website available on your mobile. For this reason I am making my website viewable on the smart phone as 60/70% of the people looking all me up online will be using a phone because the majority of my work will be on the road. Firstly I will probably hand the potential client a business card eventually will match the website and have similar colours and look very professional. Keeping the mobile use easy to use is very important as people looking of their phone wont particularly want to spend a long time on the site. It needs to be to the point and user friendly.
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| Mobile View |
Finally adding items and pictures to my and tagging it all over the different social networks and this will increase my ratings of Google. This is very important for a website to be high up on Google because the likelihood is that people will just search 'Hedley Marks' in Google and if my name doesn't come up on top people are less likely to find me and use my services.
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