Summary

Cindy Hsu is from a slightly different category of entrepreneur than my usual guests, but she has such a great sense of hustle and so many insights to share on building an audience. I know I picked up some gems to apply to my business endeavors!

Takeaways

• Cindy tries to attract attendees that are outside of the normal group you might expect to see at a classical music concert.
• Because she’s often promoting artists in new territories, Cindy looks closely at demographic data to make sure her artists have the best shot at filling a concert hall in a new city.
• Cindy emphasized the personal, one-to-one marketing that goes on behind the scenes, especially when promoting a brand new artist. She expects every single person who attends the concert to have been personally invited by her, until the artist has more name recognition and a stronger reputation.
• Rather than just trying to sell the concert, Cindy takes opportunities to educate the community on the performer or the pieces/composers that will be performed, and tries to connect with individuals to get them excited to come.
• Cindy has found that most school music educators are often open to having a guest come into the classroom to teach the students about a composer or piece of music. She also reaches out to existing groups of classical music enthusiasts (like meetup groups that discuss music) who may be interested in discovering a new performer.
• Cindy talks about the amount of “noise” that is present in the marketing world today. Many emails go unread or do not receive a response and this can’t be taken personally. It is not unreasonable to send 1,000 emails as a minimum to fill a 100 person concert hall.
• Although she doesn’t expect a significant number of attendees from social media advertising, Cindy does still think it’s an important part of the concert promotion process. Having those posts pop up year after year lends credibility to performers.
• Any form of advertising has to be seen repeatedly before a person takes interest or it leaves a lasting impression.
• Cindy’s marketing advice is to be engaged in the community you’re trying to reach. Be friendly, understand the needs of that area, discover where the music enthusiasts are, and create conversations about music interests before trying to market your services.

Resources

Previous Podcast: Episode 007 – Tara O’Brien on Manufacturing and Marketing a New Teaching Tool

Connect with Cindy

Email: Ci***@cn********.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cndstudios/