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Within the Southern Gospel Music community, we have such great talent from the full time groups all the way down the list to the weekend regional groups. With all this talent in the industry, I wonder why a lot of groups continue to make the same mistakes when it comes to releasing a new project. I constantly get phone calls and emails from groups saying, “We just finished recording our album and we need to know the best way to let people know it’s out and available.” My first response is always the same, “You’re already behind!”

It seems many times that groups and artists become so excited and anxious about recording their album that they seem to get tunnel vision. By tunnel vision, I mean that the album is all they can see. They seem to forget that “recording” the album is just one step in making that album successful. But now the album is recorded and they already have to be reactive. They have to react to the album being done and now they don’t know what to do with it. How do we market it? How do we advertise it? What do we do next?

It should have all been thought out and started well before the album was ever recorded. This is where being proactive in your album production is so important. If you stop and look at other genres of music, you’ll see that marketing and advertising of an album start well before the album is ever released or even finished. I know a lot of people don’t want to look at other genres as a guide line or reference for what we in Southern Gospel should do, however, their marketing plans work and there is a reason they sell 3 or 4 times the amount of cd’s Southern gospel does. They never “React”. They are proactive.

All major companies and record labels know one thing. If they want to sell a product, they have to advertise it. This is why major companies spend millions of dollars a year in advertising and marketing! They know if they want to sell their product, it has to become a household name! People have to see that product! It’s the same with an album! How is anyone going to buy your album if they don’t know it’s available? This is where being proactive in your marketing and advertising is so crucial! You must create a buzz. You must make people want to buy that album before it is ever released! I’m not talking about spending millions of dollars to promote your album. However, you must be willing to spend some money if you want people to buy your product!

This brings me to another very common mistake. People call me all the time asking for advertising prices and the next thing I hear is, “We just put everything we have into this album so we don’t have much if anything to spend”. Big mistake! If you can’t afford to market and advertise your album, you aren’t ready to record it! Marketing and advertising budgets are just as important if not more important than the actual recording budget! If you go out and spend all that money on an album and no one buys it, what good is it? I know, you are saying it is a ministry! Let me ask you one question. What good is your ministry if you have boxes of CD’s sitting in a closet because no one is buying them? What good is you ministry if you are sitting at home on the weekends because you can’t afford to travel and do dates because you spent everything you have on your album? This is not smart! Here comes the next line I get, “It is a ministry and God will provide.” You’re right and God as provided! He provided you with common sense! He provided us with enough brainpower to know that if we don’t recoup the money we spent on our album through record sales, we are going to be broke! Where is the ministry in that?

When sitting down to record an album, you should be deciding on advertising and marketing budgets right along with studio budgets, producer budgets, design budgets etc. This seems to be a common ongoing mistake in our industry! How do groups recoup the money they spend on an album? The answer is very simple! Be proactive!! Set up your marketing and advertising before the album is ever finished! If you wait till the album is done, you are now reacting and behind! So, you need to ask yourself, am I being proactive or reactive?

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