EMILY HURD: BLOG

Here it is, March 1st.  The month "Daytime Fireflies" is dropping.  On my list for today, I have "Place Yourself an Ad."  Crazy.

One of the most common ways for musicians to "get out there" these days is to go buy an ad through Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, etc to reach new fans.  These ads work by coming up on the side of the computer screen when somebody's information matches the words I choose to trigger the ad.  Logically, I should use words like, "musician, piano, female, vocals, etc."  But from a marketing standpoint, I could do whatever I wanted.  

Let's say I wanted to reach a fan base of mostly young girls, age 14 to 18.  Maybe I use "Miley Cyrus" in my list of words that triggered the ad.  Or if I want a more international audience, maybe one of the words I choose is "Winter Olympics."  I've read that this is technically "cheating," but that it's done all the time.  I've come up with many lists of words today, but I've put my most creative one below:

"Tom Waits Diet Hangover Piano Record Women Dancing Rock Horoscope Free Vacation Ask a Nurse"

It's fun, actually.  For lunch I'm eating some rice crackers with horseradish havarti cheese (it was in the bin marked, "Try Something New for Under $3" at the grocery store).  I'm listening to "Shirt" by Peter Mulvey.  What a great way to pass the afternoon with this lunch and this song.  Enjoyably sparse, but still complex enough in its composition to be not only unique, but also memorable.  Two components, man and his guitar, cracker and its cheese.  Feeling good about the afternoon.