Check out my recent Jingle for Smoothie King Crofton:
1. What is the Hardest Job in the World?
Being a Small Business Owner is one of the hardest jobs in the world (really!). Earning customers business, cold calling clients, closing deals can be challenging. Earning peoples business can be rewarding, however it doesn't just happen without peaking their interest & earning their trust. Jingles are part of marketing methods to create public awareness of your product/services and generate new sales for your business.
2. Getting people to take notice of your Product/Service.
Okay yes we play SteelDrums (aka SteelPans), so when we perform in public we know we are introducing a lot people to the instrument we love. But what if you don't play SteelPan and have a great product or service to sell to your targeted market? Jingles can be a great way to attract new customers to your business. Most jingle composers incorporate upbeat grooves in major keys to give people happy feelings versus minor keys which can invoke anger or sad emotions. It's a method to jingle writing which incorporates company marketing objectives with lyrics and music arrangements.
3. Social Media can help me, right?
Yes it can. It's a free, fast way to send advertising messages to people in your target market. It can be a great way to promote what you're selling as long as you don't bore people or bombard them with the same message over and over. You've got to leave an impression that gets people excited about your product/service. Social media can be time consuming, but their are ways to make it efficient, thereby increasing its effectiveness. All businesses should incorporate social media into their marketing strategy and there are ways to automate posts, tweets, and updates like putting it on cruise control (Ask Mike for more details and free initial consultations).
4. Do I need a Jingle for my business?
You plan on advertising on radio or TV? Want to put music on your website? Then you may want to pay a pro to compose the jingle for you. Consider this, if you can name the product to the jingle then imagine what that jingle did for the companies bottom line. Think about the message you want to get across and relay it to the jingle composer so they mix the music & words together to make a hit and get your cash register ringing.
5. Jingle Guidelines.
Clients give jingle composers guidelines during jingle creation mode. Somethings to keep in mind are the following:
- How long should the jingle be (i.e. 15, 30, or 60 second spot)
- the lyrics to use during the jingle
- The style of music- depends on the product or service
A good jingle writer will incorporate the tips mentioned above and personal qualities from the next musing to make a good jingle.
6. Qualities of a good Jingle writer.
A good jingle writer is:
- Creative
- Works well under pressure
- Collaborates well with others
- Takes direction from others
- Understand advertising
- Good musicianship and songwriting ability
- Awareness of music theory
- Access to quality recording equipment, studio, and sound engineer
7. What else should I know about Jingles?
Cost- this could range from a couple hundred dollars to thousands of dollars depending on how big the client is and their budget. Some jingle writers are freelancers, some are musicians in a group or solo act. As with most business interactions, do your due diligence regarding the quality of work before you hire anyone to do a job. Start with a small project in order to get an idea of the jingle writers work ethic and jingle quality.
Get a FREE 30 second Jingle by subscribing to our Youtube channel:
CAISO SteelDrum Band Youtube channel
Hear samples of the Jingles we've done!
For more great information about the Steelpan instrument you can visit my SteelBand Music and Current Event Blog at http://www.CaisoSteelBand.com
From Michael "The SteelPan Guy" King Jr.- Caiso SteelBand Booking Manager
