Branding Continued: Creating A Plan

Once you have an idea of your audience, your brand, and your goals, put it all together in one document – something that gives you a sense of where you have come from, where you are now, and where you are headed. It also lays out your next steps for getting there (even if they are all theoretical at this point). You have done the dreaming, and this document is going to define the logistics. This is your business plan. My business/marketing plan is 18 pages long, and it is constantly changing, but it keeps me on track. You might not need 18 pages; you may only need one. Or maybe you need a hundred. Everyone is different. One thing is indisputable, however: Having a plan will give you a professional leg up. I talked to one booking agent who said that she has signed artists upon seeing a business plan alone. 

First, include in your plan information about where you are and what you have accomplished so far. How big and how active is your fan base? How big is your email list? How many concerts did you play last year and how much money did you gross on concerts and merchandise sales?

Next, include all of your touring goals for at least the next year (or whatever time period you decide on). What cities do you want to be hitting? How big do you want your audience to be? How big is it now in each of these cities (if you have never played there before, your audience is zero until your first concert there). How many concert dates do you want to play every year? How often are you planning to return to the same city or do the same route? Are you going to stay in one place for a month to do several residencies in the area when the time is right? At the end of this period, what numbers do you want to be hitting (audience and sales-wise)? 

The last part of your business plan (and perhaps the hardest) is working out a budget. It’s going to be nearly impossible to know how much things will actually cost until you get out there, but you can come up with a general idea, and you should. We will talk specifically about tour budgeting when we discuss tour preparation later on, but for now you should have a solid idea of what you plan on doing, and a rough estimate of what it will cost you.