In this post I want to give you a quick outline of a good workflow in creating your brand. If you are managing your project yourself, this should give you a good guideline to stay sane while putting it all together. How we do our project management is just a starting point, so use it as a guideline and not hard rules.
Here’s the flow…

Conception

In the conception phase you should think about what the ultimate goal is. If it is an album or something creative based, it may be appropriate to get the bulk of the recording done so you get an idea of what the theme of the album is going to be. Basically, don’t paint the baby room pink before you know if your having a girl. If you are launching a tour, is it in support of an already released album? If it’s a general promotion or for an event like SXSW, what are we hoping for as the end result? It’s a good idea to sit down with your band, group or yourself and outline all of your concepts and goals. Write everything down, no ideas are wrong and by the end of the meeting funnel everything down into your overall concept.

Building Blocks To An Action Plan

At this point, it is time to get your action plan together. What outlets are you wanting to target like social networks and web, physical promo at events, etc). Work through all the items you will need to fulfill the concept section by section. Are you doing web promotion? If so, on what websites and what creative work will be needed (web banners, bios and press releases, etc)? What design work needs to be done on for physical promotion, and how are you going to do the promotion (street team or yourself)? For tour branding, will you need backdrops, banners, costumes? What is your layout for the merch table? For your products, what are you manufacturing (USB, CD, DVD, Merch) and what design and development needs to be done to complete them? Break down all of these into blocks and create a road map for completion in your action plan. This will help you to determine who you need to bring in to complete all the tasks and help you to stay on schedule throughout the process.

Find The Team

Once you have your action plan ready, then you can find the team to bring it to completion. You may need graphic designers, web monkeys, manufacturers, PR/marketing reps, street teams, and so on. A lot of times a band will do these these functions themselves. That is cool, but remember the importance of staying focused on what your good at and let the pros handle the rest. Picking your team is potentially the most important part of the whole process. If you are going to have anything manufactured it is really important that the people heading up your design work know how to follow the manufacturers specs for production (that sounds really basic, but 9 times out of 10 we kick back artwork because a designer did not follow directions). It would be a good idea to make sure that everyone meets before the project starts so they can discuss any needs and can spare the introductions when its time to get work done.

Set The Timeline

You have assembled the team so now you can put out the action plan to all parties and look at what the reality of production is going to be to accomplish the goal. Obviously you may have a deadline at the very beginning (a tour date, an event, etc) but if at all possible it will be much better to allow your team to give you their opinions on turnaround times for each item, look at what can be done simultaneously, add a little padding and set your date. Remember that for projects that require marketing like a CD release or tour,  it is best to have at least 60-90 days just to promote the finished product. That is not to say that you have to finish everything and then have an additional 60-90 days. You can prioritize the creative that will need to be finished to start marketing first and then task your team to finish up the creative work needed to manufacture and finish up the project.

Creative Production

Now it’s time to hit the ground running. Your team is on board, you have your deadline and now you need to begin the creative aspects of your project. Creative production involves designing of the digital and physical promotional material, writing of content, bios and press releases, and development of your social networks, blogs, website. This is also the time that you will be creating any mock-ups and designs for your album release and/or merchandise. Remember to prioritize your creative to fit the timeline you set so you are ready for marketing and manufacturing. This is also a good time for your recording mixing and mastering to be wrapping up.

Marketing/PR

Depending on your goals, you may have decided to offer a pre-sale on an album or need to start promoting your tour. With that in mind, you will want to start marketing as early as possible, and it never hurts to create your own hype during conception. Once your creative team has put together the elements you need to get started, your marketing team (or you) can take over in promoting your project. If you are doing a CD release, your PR person may need pre-release CD’s in which case you would need that physical production done at this point. You can use this time to handle your physical production, which we will talk about next. If you are doing pre-sales, you can use the marketing phase to gauge how much quantity you need to produce.

Physical production

While you are plugging away at the marketing, your design team should be finishing up everything the manufacturers will need to begin production. This also means that all your audio or video needs to be ready to go to manufacturing as well. This phase is pretty self explanatory, CD’s will start pressing, shirts start printing, and USB drives start loading. Once they are all ready you will need to stage all of your pre-sales to ship on launch day or be ready to walk out the door on tour day.

Launch/Release

The final stage is your launch day! You have worked your butt off up to this point and if all went as planned you are on time, under budget and you have a killer product.
Branding is an important part any band. Hopefully this post gives you a good starting point on how to tackle it on your next release or tour. In future posts we will explore the details of branding, including tools to help you run your brand, examples of good and bad branding, and taking your brand to the next level with fan interactive branding like iPhone apps and private social networks.

FREE 1,000 Business Cards With Any Order!

We would like to hook you up with some sweet premium business cards when you do business with us this weekend. No matter how much you spend, we will print 1000 full color offset printed business cards on thick 16pt recycled stock and sexy matte AQ2 coating just for you.

(offer ends May 31)

June: 25% Off Design Services

Smoking deals on custom graphic design from mild to wild! We are offering 25% off anything from a quick logo or iTunes cover to a full blown branding package. Contact us for ideas on how we can make your product look fly.

July: 10% Off all USB Flash Drive Orders

Get flashy in July and save 10% on your total order of USB Flash Drives including pre-loads and custom molds! The summer should be heating up and your merch table will be smoking when your new custom molded, content exploding, drives sell like hot cakes. 10% saved means 10% more profit and thats hot!

It’s 2010 and time to start thinking about the annual festivals that will benefit YOU. All around us we hear that this is the year to make a big push and get heard- we want to help with that. As a Musician, Label or Entertainment/Media business, it’s pretty important to attend at least one music festival a year. SXSW and WMC are two of the big starters that are coming up fast. We’re hoping to enlighten you on how important it is to prepare, not just show up. There are so many ways to conquer a festival- high rollin’ networker, party animal, on the cheap or go with the flow. Whatever reason you’re going, there’s a way to be prepared and Eternite Media would like to be your go-to source for exploring your options and fulfilling the promotional decisions you make.

It is important to get your marketing and promotional plan started early.  When you work with us, you will be covered in every area that you need, and even more than you thought. Eternite Media offers design and printing solutions for simple business cards, intricate flyers, logos or branding for your entire realm of products. We are able to replicate or duplicate your CD and DVD with basic black print or full color thermal. Paper printing options like digi-paks, one page inserts or full booklets can work in a package with a jewel case or even a clear poly sleeve. Merchandise is also a classic advertisement for your brand’s success, including T-shirts, buttons or stickers- all of which are a constant reminder of you to all your fans. We can put together whatever you need- any propaganda materials big or small and can even ship it directly to your accommodations.

CD Duplication Promo Packages

Opener
(basic package)

- Silver Duplicated CDR

- Black Thermal Text Print On Disc

- White Paper Sleeve

100: $81.00 (Normally $108.00)

250: $202.50 (Normally $270.00)

500: $345.00 (Normally $460.00)

Resident
(mid package)

- White Duplicated CDR

- Full Color Thermal Print On Disc

- 1 Panel 4/4 (Full Color) Paper Insert

- Clear Poly Sleeve

100: $156.60 (Normally $174.00)

250: $380.25 (Normally $422.50)

500: $621.00 (Normally $690.00)

Headliner
(premium package)

- Replicated (manufactured) CD

- Full Color Offset Print On Disc

- Full Color 5″ Jacket

- Wafer Seal

500: $589.00 (Normally $660.00)

1000: $746.00 (Normally $840.00)

2500: $1617.50 (Normally $1825.00)

(DVD packages available upon request)

BONUS WMC/SXSW Specials:

25% off select Printing services
Promote your shows, get the word out about your new release, or just build your fan base! Take advantage of high quality printing services for business cards, flyers, stickers, 2″ buttons and banners.

40% off all Merchandise
Make a statement and toss out t-shirts during your shows or help pay for your trip by selling screen printed merch. Either way your fans will do the advertising for you to build your name recognition and it’s a great way to increase your profit margin. Screen printed shirts, hoodies, hats and more. We offer apparel from American Apparel, Hanes, Gildan, and other top brands.

We are super excited about all the cool stuff you will be ready to hit your fans with this year! Don’t waste any time and drop us a line at info@eternitemedia.com or 323-284-4733 to order.

Stay connected on our Twitter, Facebook and MySpace for resources, blogs, and suggestions on making the most out of your festival experience at SXSW or WMC.

]]> http://www.eternitemedia.com/blog/announcements/be-prepared-for-south-by-southwest-and-winter-music-conference/feed/ 0 http://www.eternitemedia.com/blog/announcements/website-status-new-services-and-how-to-connect/ http://www.eternitemedia.com/blog/announcements/website-status-new-services-and-how-to-connect/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:10:20 +0000 admin http://www.eternitemedia.com/blog/?p=74 Website

We really owe you an explanation.  The hold up is merely due to all the bells and whistles.  Granted there is always a need for a few slight changes in the beginning as a website develops, however, we are working with JV Media to make sure our ordering system is perfect and the content is without flaws.  Some things are just worth the wait.  We really appreciate your patience (what else are you gonna do, start a riot?) and will get everything flowing soon enough!  Expect an unconventional media site that will hopefully delight your visual senses and take you through any process with ease.

Design & Engineering

We are expanding our network of designers and engineers. If you know of someone or think you can offer talent in these fields, contact us at info@eternitemedia.com ! We are looking for professionals who can offer flexibility and personal attention in all styles of Graphic Design, Web Design, Logo Design, Mixing, Mastering, Tracking and Editing. We are confident this will be mutually beneficial and will spark a growth in recognition.

Hook Up With Us!

If you haven’t already, head on over to your favorite social networking site where you’ll find pricing, weekly specials and fun stuff.  Let’s get social! Surprises await to our friends, fans and clients!