Karen Grace said
Hi John,

Thanks so much for living into this with me. 

I'm finding this one tricky, I think perhaps because my music is pretty eclectic under the broadest possible umbrella of folk. If only I could simply say 'balkan gypsy music meets Joni Mitchell' or something!

The breadth of my style is something I do sometimes have concerns about in terms of marketing ... But then I think about some of the artists I love and how eclectic they are, and hope that means it's ok for me !?

Here is a secret link to my whole album. . For a taster of the different styles, maybe listen to 'Raised our Glasses', 'This Fear' and 'The Mugger', but the breadth goes beyond those actually.

I so appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks,

Karen  

No worries. I find that artists often feel the way that you do, in that they see their music is so eclectic that it cant be pinpointed as one particular sound. But to my mind it never seems to take more than about 15 seconds of listening to have a description pop into my head. I thin it's just because it's so meaningful that the artist that they struggle to see beyond the individual components. An artist may ultimately be a dash of Folk, a smidge of Balkan, a peppering of Irish melodies, and a little bit of rock and roll, in the same way that a curry is a few potatoes, some carrots, a bit of cumin, coriander, and some ghee. But to everyone but the chef, it just tastes like curry. Or at the very least, that is the first impression everyone would have. Later on they might break it down into it's components as they reflect.

When I listened to your stuff it immediately struck me as "euro folk",  a word I'm making up right now. And if I was going to describe it to someone I would say, "Karen Grace sounds like a sonic mash-up of the soundtrack's to Amalie and Juno". Now, you may very well disagree with that, but that's how it struck me within about 15 seconds. Which I personally think is pretty cool. (I genuinely thought your stuff sounded great.) And while, I can hear lots of different sounds in their, it did not strike me as too eclectic on disconnected at all. It all sounds like the same artist, pulling from the same toolbox, at least to me (and which is a good thing).

The choice of mentioning the soundtracks rather than the specific artists was intentional by the way, because it's half about the music on those soundtracks and half about the way those movies make me feel. I hadn't actually listened to the music from either film in years, until I checked it out before posting this.

In terms of your boat story...

Umm, yeah that's interesting. If you stole my USP (which you are more than welcome to) it would be the perfect foundation for a story to drive home the quirky and extremely artistic qualities of your music and life... it would all tie together. And if you were doing the talk show runs, the first question everyone would ask you is, "so I hear you live on a boat?".

It's not that the boat is the story, but it's the "shortcut to the mind" that paints this picture of a quirky European folk singer who oozes art, and it ties into (and explains) your nautical theme. I don't think it needs to be part of your usp, but it could. Remember, it's just an internal document so it doesn't matter. 

I can think of a dozen ways to start off your "blog post of a lifetime" based on that nugget of information...

"It was 4 am on a cold October night when I suddenly realized that my bed was nearly underwater. My first thought was of my guitar".

"Your going to live on a canoe?" my mother asked when I told her what I had done. "Not a canoe, mum", a boat? Although I had to admit, she had a point...

and so on... Now obviously I am eluding to fictitious situations, meant to pull people into a dramatic story (more on that in next week's lessons by the way), but you get my point. Living on one of those boats is a very cool story, that people would tell, and which completely establishes the art/quirk tone that I think your going for. 

That help at all?

Glad to hear you're enjoying the workshop. Thanks.

I think you can modify a USP like that in any way that you want. It's totally an internal document meant to shortcut and "audience-proof" your copywriting.

I can totally appreciate that Juno may not be the right comparison for you and I sort of thought you'd feel that way. But Juno says "quirky story telling" to me, and it sounds like it does to you, and that was really the point.

And yes, your USP is a great basis for ad copy.

My only hesitation with using the Amalie meets Laura Marling thing in an ad is that I don't think there is as much juxtaposition there, and part of what would make the Amalie/Juno thing a nice ad is the juxtaposition. 

That said, it doesn't really matter. Try your idea. It will probably work.

I think we are firmly into "way over thinking this" territory. I can hear you thinking "but it's important and I want to get it right". That's true, and valid. But it's time to pick a path and start swinging the machete. If you can't get through that way, go back and start swinging in another direction.

I think you know who you are and what you're doing. I think becoming to precious might be your biggest risk at this point. Your music is good. Your image is good. Your smart. Start telling your stories and drive a small amount of traffic each day towards those stories. Even just $3/day. Whatever it takes. Start getting feedback and see where it goes.

That said, I say this completely aware that you are already doing exactly that it it sounds like it's beginning to work 🙂

No problem at all. I'm a proud overthinker myself 🙂

Keeping in mind that all I know of Laura Marling is about three songs that I have briefly listened to on Youtube as part of this discussion, but my impression of her work is that it's more emotional, cinematic, European, and... hmmm... maybe breathtaking?

Even though Amalie is quirkie, I think it's also all of the above. 

Whereas I see the Juno soundtrack as steeping in quirk. The sound of that soundrack is smaller, a bit low-fi, more "sub pop" than European. By comparing Juno and Amalie, you conjure up the more sophisticated, European, and magical feeling of Amalie as well as the more singular, narrative driven alt-folk of the Juno soundtrack. That's my impression anyway. But yes, I also think using the more universally known reference will net you a bigger audience. But I'm sure either could work. 

Long story short, I personally feel there are more opposite qualities with Amalie and Juno, than I do with Laura Marling and Amalie. But it's just one guys opinion and doesn't really matter that much because both will probably either work or won't.

Morphingaz said
Hi John,

Thanks so much for guiding us all through the Copy Writing course. Super helpful. I'm new in here and haven't yet done MMM. I'll get there, but I knew that learning about writing with these strategies was the best starting point. I also don't use forums much, so not sure if replying to this was the right protocol. Anyway, it's USP related so here I am !

Hi M, thanks for the kind words about the workshop and welcome to the IC. As a general rule, please start a new top whenever you ask a new or unique question. No worries though, as you mentioned, your new here 🙂

I'm part of a band called The Asthmatix. Ive written several USPs, discussed it with the guys, combined different USPs into one etc. and ultimately all of them are true to our essence and sound, so I'm really here to ask for some feedback to help us nail the branding to create the ads etc..

USP1: A soundtrack to transport you on a dusty and cobble-stoned journey through Eastern Europe, The Balkans and Jerusalem to reignite a beautiful old culture.

USP2: Traditional Jewish melodies brought into the 21st century by 3 soulful beat makers from Australia

USP 3: An instrumental, cultural fusion of multiple influences from klezmer to hip hop, jazz to electronica.

Keep in mind that all I ca really offer is my impression about whether or not your USP is clear. Not being familiar with you or your music I have no idea if it's accurate or not.

I don't care for #1 because it is too subjective and reads like a review rather than a clear description. 

I like #2 because the Jewish melodies part is clear but I get a bit fuzzy in the second half because I don't know what the impact of 3 soulful beatmakers from Australia sounds like. Soulful is also very subjective.

I like #3 the best because it tells me you make instrumentals (which is extremely important to know) and it clearly explains the sounds I can expect.

AD TITLES:

1: VIOLIN, VINYL, BEATS & BAGELS.

2: Dr Dre meets Schindler's List. (woah - just thought of that one - heavy)

3: The Avalanches at a Bar Mitzvah. (the Avalanches aren't super famous, but they are cool, sample driven instrumental beats like us, so im trying to find someone or something slightly more popular AND COOL to include in the title and to then mix it with that European, Middle Eastern cultural angle. it's close.!!

My impression is that none of these are necessarily slam dunks because they are more quick summary descriptions than lines that pull me in to the experience. That said, I could totally be wrong. The split testing exercise in the course will be helpful here. You can just test each of those and see what happens.

NARRATIVE (HERO): Being in the band has taken us as performers to different parts of the globe ... e.g Lithuania to retrace our individual roots, or to residing and recording in post-holocaust Berlin ... and finally we are bringing back our cultural mix (our brand) of music.

This could work. I think it just depends how it plays out in the stories you tell. The question from the fans point of view is always "why should I care?". If you can sufficiently address that with your narrative then it will work. If their is a post holocaust message to the band/music then that might be more powerful than retracing your roots. Just a thought.

PRIVATE LINK TO ALBUM SNIPPET :

>>>>

As I havent been through MMM, I'm not sure how much copy or how many blog posts I should be thinking about writing, (we've got stories), however the most meaningful I think is about our cultural roots and visiting these places of our ancestory during the process of making an album.  Looking forward to hearing some thoughts from anyone who's reading. Thanks. m  

The super short version of what I recommend is a funnel that contains about 6 emails.

1. Deliver the free track.

2. Establish the narrative with a blog post.

3. Get fans more acquainted with the music with a blog post and video.

4. Make limited time offer.

5. Remind subs about offer.

6 Final offer for offer.

The above will make much more sense in the context of the course but that's a basic breakdown.

Hopefully all of the above helps.