No, this isn’t some kind of internet scam. This happens every day and it’s called co-op advertising.

Cooperative Advertising is exactly what it sounds like. Two parties cooperating with one another to achieve the mutual goal of advertising.

As musicians, you no doubt have shopped at Guitar Center (or similar “Big Box music store) and now get their catalog. Have you ever noticed how some products or brands get featured all over the catalog? It may be because a certain brand is legitimately cooler than the others; But in reality, it’s because Mackie or Zildjian happened to either pay for some of the production costs of the catalog, or otherwise reduced Guitar Center’s price on certain items. This scenario is of course hypothetical, but you get the idea.

Okay, so that’s all good for big companies, but what does that have to do with people trying to get their name out there? Simple.

You have what big business often doesn’t: Street Cred

One of the things I have learned over and over in my business studies is that companies who sell anything specialty, luxury, big-ticket, or who target people in their twenties or younger, have all sorts of problems including:

1. They have a hard time getting their name in front of their market
2. They throw lots of money into being seen as cool
3. They usually end up looking like a big greedy company that knocks off the little guy’s idea
4. They find it difficult/expensive to rally people to care enough about them or their products enough to start a buzz
5. It often feels like they are trying to exploit their audience
6. And sometimes, it just looks like they are trying too hard

In other words, a lot of companies end up looking like the parent who crashes the party and tries to look cool to a bunch of teenagers; at least they do on TV, Web, Radio, and in print. The big shining example for me is Red Bull. When Red Bull first hit my area, I was about 18 or so, and it was a very elite drink. Elite may be pushing it, but I very much remember feeling special that I knew what it was, that most people didn’t, and that it gave me all sorts of sugar and caffeine. As soon as it really started to become popular, Coke and Pepsi started going absolutely nuts trying to come up with a substitute. I was paying $2 for something Coke and Pepsi were selling for $0.89 (for a 2-Liter). Sometimes more if you were one of the lucky few to score some Thai Red Bull that came in funny cans or glass bottles, was way sweeter and had less carbonation. So, BIG COLA tried and failed and tried and failed. They still do not have the market share in the Energy Drink category. I’m starting to veer off topic, but the point is that they NEED cool people to endorse their products.

Sell your Soul and Sell out? Not in the least. Don’t go become part of the Pepsi street team or anything. Just realize that there are lots of businesses that need your help.

The most common way musicians will encounter co-op advertising is with liquor companies and bars. Oftentimes, the big beer and liquor companies will shell out a good portion of advertising dollars to bars to plaster the place (inside and out) with their logo. Any time you see a big $200 vinyl banner that says “Happy Hour $1 Beers” with a big Miller Lite bottle displayed prominently, you had better believe that the bar didn’t drop that. No bar owner would EVER spend $200 on anything. Especially not on a banner that will be out-dated in a month. Small business owners are notoriously cheap with stuff like that (mostly because that’s $200 we wouldn’t take home). Miller Brewing Co. (or their local product rep), would LOVE to drop that kind of money because it’s a $200 billboard in a probably high-traffic area, likely filled with their target customers. A highway billboard probably costs $1500/month or more. This is way more targeted and saves them money, and it also saves the bar owner money. Win-Win.

Examine all the examples below. There are a lot of companies out there that are willing to help fund your tour, pay for your flyers, help host your show, or even buy up space in a program if you’re of the more classical or formal end of the spectrum. If you can draw a crowd, sometimes reps will come and hand out free drinks or products at your show too. This helps people remember the night they went to your show. It benefits them and it benefits you!

But how do I get my fair share of the money?!?! Well… this is the slightly harder part. The most simple thing to do is ask. Ask everybody all the time.

Businesses are not made of endless dollars (despite the picture I have been painting so far). Small business owners have to answer to a spouse and big companies have to answer to shareholders, which means that they cannot be wasting their money. This means that YOU have to sell them on the idea that you can bring a really specific target audience to the show, and bring them in spades. The better you can track your turn-out, the bigger of an email list you have, the more friends on myspace you have, the more specific of a demographic you have, etc. are all good arguments for proving why they should give you money. You will look more professional if you can have all your statistics on a piece of paper for them to look at, as well as a good guess/argument as to why the future event will be worth funding.

Remember to target businesses that are relevant to your audience. If you are a string quartet or perhaps a folk guitarist, a local coffee shop or grocery co-op might want to get behind your show (or at least advertise in your programs). Hip hop groups, hard rock bands, or house djs might look into getting liquor companies to sponsor the event.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ask if the venue will sponsor some of the advertising or if THEY have any co-op advertising that they are willing to share.

Good luck, there’s money out there. Go get it!