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Endorsements, How to get them
Alex Feather
Dec 16 2011, 02:40 PM
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From: Los Angeles
Hello friends! I wanted to talk about one of the greatest subjects for all guitar players endorsements! How to get them and when is the right time to try to get one!
In my career as a musian it took me good 10 years before I got my first one!
I was working with a few big artists and got in to some good recording sessions so I have decided that it's time to take it up a notch and get some sponsors
I didn't know where to go and to start but I tried and afterbeing turned down a million times I got what I wanted!
Now I want to share my experience with you guys!
When to start trying to get indorsements?
The cool thing that you can do it even if you don't have a super famous band and just playing locally but having a hoot crowd every show what you have to understand that the main thing why you will get indorsements is because you can provide proper advertising to the sponsor! Just come up with a business proposal on how you can promote the product and how many people will be able to see it! That's all you have to do! After that you can approach as many companies as you want and after a few tries you might get YES!
Another important thing is to get stuff you really like because you don't want your name to associate with a bad company or stuff that you hate! You can start small and get strings or picks at first and after your first success it will be easier to get more and more!
Don't count on free stuff all the time! The economy is bad right now so a lot companies will offer you a big discount but I think it's still nice to get your favorite guitar at the cost!!!!
Another cool thing is called cross promotion make sure that your sponsor will put your name and on his website maybe figure out how you cn represent company at a trade show or exhibition it will boost your career a lot and will give you extra credibility!!!!
And the last thing! But not least! Make sure you keep your promise and use the gear you have been provided! Your sponsor trust you and want to get results so make sure you are appearing with a guitar or pedal at the studio sessions and shows and try to talk about the product as much as you can!!!!
That's from my experience! If you guys have a different one please let me know!
Good luck!!!!

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Ben Higgins
Dec 16 2011, 02:55 PM
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Hi Alex, this is a really interesting subject and something I will look into in the future myself. My guitar is custom built so I can't endorse any make of guitar as such so I hope that Marshall will one day let me do the honour of endorsing the JVM ! wink.gif

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Alex Feather
Dec 16 2011, 02:57 PM
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QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Dec 16 2011, 01:55 PM) *
Hi Alex, this is a really interesting subject and something I will look into in the future myself. My guitar is custom built so I can't endorse any make of guitar as such so I hope that Marshall will one day let me do the honour of endorsing the JVM ! wink.gif

Marshall's are great amps! They are very hard to get but if you have got the right tools you should give it a shot!!! Who build your guitar? And what kind is it?

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Ben Higgins
Dec 16 2011, 04:03 PM
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QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Dec 16 2011, 01:57 PM) *
Marshall's are great amps! They are very hard to get but if you have got the right tools you should give it a shot!!! Who build your guitar? And what kind is it?


Yeah, I'd love to be able to endorse them.. what an honour !

My Dad built it.. he's built quite a few guitars. He's a self taught luthier in his spare time. I did a thread with some other pics of my other guitars too https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...t=0&start=0

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Ivan Milenkovic
Dec 16 2011, 05:56 PM
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Not so hard as it may seem. Sending them portfolio, and some professionally made pictures of you with the gear goes a long way wink.gif

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Sinisa Cekic
Dec 16 2011, 10:44 PM
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Yes, indeed a great honor if you gonna be sponsored by a big company, but I never tried to contact any of them for endorsing, don't know why ...!

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Alex Feather
Dec 17 2011, 02:26 AM
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From: Los Angeles
QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Dec 16 2011, 03:03 PM) *
Yeah, I'd love to be able to endorse them.. what an honour !

My Dad built it.. he's built quite a few guitars. He's a self taught luthier in his spare time. I did a thread with some other pics of my other guitars too https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...t=0&start=0

Wow you have a beautiful guitar!!!! I like it a lot!!!

QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Dec 16 2011, 04:56 PM) *
Not so hard as it may seem. Sending them portfolio, and some professionally made pictures of you with the gear goes a long way wink.gif

Yeah true and you also will get a great support so for example if something breakers when you are on the road you will get a replacement in no time!

QUOTE (Sinisa Cekic @ Dec 16 2011, 09:44 PM) *
Yes, indeed a great honor if you gonna be sponsored by a big company, but I never tried to contact any of them for endorsing, don't know why ...!

You should try it! Just start with a small company at first and build your way up! I also discovered that its easier to get your foot in to some boutique amps and guitars because they have a limited amount of products they are making and usually do not invest too much in advertising

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SirJamsalot
Dec 17 2011, 02:36 AM
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I'm guessing that based on your comment that their main concern is that you appear with their product in front of a good number of people, that you don't necessarily have to be an original band? That is, I'm regularly in front of 30+ people every Tuesday night doing cover tunes. I don't know that that would be an attractive bid, but curiosity has this cat. What kind of numbers are we talking about in terms of audience exposure? Perhaps I could get sponsored by a cowboy hat company and start wearing cowboy hats smile.gif

Cheers.

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Alex Feather
Dec 17 2011, 02:52 AM
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QUOTE (SirJamsalot @ Dec 17 2011, 01:36 AM) *
I'm guessing that based on your comment that their main concern is that you appear with their product in front of a good number of people, that you don't necessarily have to be an original band? That is, I'm regularly in front of 30+ people every Tuesday night doing cover tunes. I don't know that that would be an attractive bid, but curiosity has this cat. What kind of numbers are we talking about in terms of audience exposure? Perhaps I could get sponsored by a cowboy hat company and start wearing cowboy hats smile.gif

Cheers.

I have never played in cover bands so I can't really answer you. I know there are some really famous cover and tribute bands that get sponsored as well. I think in your case is more important what amount of shows do you play and if you guys are touring a lot also when you are playing every Tuesday do you have the same crowd? And what age group are those people?

Think about it this way if you were a company who would you sponsor? And why?
And even if they will say no at first it doesn't mean anything you still can build long lasting relations and have a a very good contact!!!!

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PosterBoy
Dec 17 2011, 10:56 AM
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I'd be happy enough to be endorsed by V-picks, I may try and work something out with Vinni when I get my act together.

I can't think of another company that I like the products of enough that I would want to put my name to (maybe d'addarrio strings),and well maybe Tyler guitars, but I don't think I'll ever get to that level!

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Cosmin Lupu
Dec 17 2011, 12:04 PM
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I've am involved in discussions regarding an endorsement deal with PRS guitars and I'm currently working with the official dealer in Romania for a presentation movie of the PRS SE Mike Mushok baritone guitar. I filmed it and now I am making up a nice video which shall be posted on the official youtube channel of the dealer.

If everything goes right, I'll make some more and slowly build up this whole idea towards the contract. It's a lot more difficult than with Ibanez for instance.

The PRS dealer is also working with Ibanez and with them, it's a lot easier to get an endorsement deal. They ask the dealer for artists who are interested in such a thing and they have contracts for 2-3 people in each country where they have dealers.

With PRS, things are a bit different - I have to prove myself worthy of such a thing, as Alex said smile.gif hope it's gonna be ok!

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Todd Simpson
Dec 17 2011, 12:56 PM
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Endorsements are a GREAT way to get yourself out there and a great way to get some nice gear. But it's a two way street. The purpose of the endorsement is so that a given vendor (Marshall etc.) can leverage your recognition/fan base/etc. to help sell their gear. So getting endorsements without having any kind of personal audience is tough. However, building an audience has never been easier.

I'm always talking about the importance of social media and here I go again smile.gif I never had any endorsment deals until I started my youtube channel and cracked about a million views and a few thousand subscribers. At that point, when I would approach smaller companies, they would actually listen and I was able to set up some great relationships and get some great gear.

So remember. EYEBALLS ARE MONEY/LEVERAGE. The more viewers/likes/subscribers/etc. you can generate, the more leverage you have when approaching companies for endorsements. They don't always care so much about how good you are so much as do you have an appreciable audience that makes it worth their time to mess with you and send you some stuff. In short, is it worth it for them to start a relationship with you as an Artist/Musician?

So go forth and build your audience! Then take proof of your audience (data/numbers/screen grabs/etc.) and start finding vendors/companies you'd like to work with. I'm currently endorsed by

EMG Pickups
Fretlight Guitar
Lotus Guitars
Clayton Picks
and I think I'm forgetting a few.

So I can tell you it's possible to get endorsment deals even when starting from scratch with zip. wink.gif

Todd

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Ben Higgins
Dec 17 2011, 05:51 PM
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Posts: 13.792
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From: England
QUOTE (Cosmin Lupu @ Dec 17 2011, 11:04 AM) *
I've am involved in discussions regarding an endorsement deal with PRS guitars and I'm currently working with the official dealer in Romania for a presentation movie of the PRS SE Mike Mushok baritone guitar. I filmed it and now I am making up a nice video which shall be posted on the official youtube channel of the dealer.

If everything goes right, I'll make some more and slowly build up this whole idea towards the contract. It's a lot more difficult than with Ibanez for instance.

The PRS dealer is also working with Ibanez and with them, it's a lot easier to get an endorsement deal. They ask the dealer for artists who are interested in such a thing and they have contracts for 2-3 people in each country where they have dealers.

With PRS, things are a bit different - I have to prove myself worthy of such a thing, as Alex said smile.gif hope it's gonna be ok!


This is brilliant news Cosmin, I hope it all works out !! smile.gif

QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Dec 17 2011, 11:56 AM) *
Endorsements are a GREAT way to get yourself out there and a great way to get some nice gear. But it's a two way street. The purpose of the endorsement is so that a given vendor (Marshall etc.) can leverage your recognition/fan base/etc. to help sell their gear. So getting endorsements without having any kind of personal audience is tough. However, building an audience has never been easier.

I'm always talking about the importance of social media and here I go again smile.gif I never had any endorsment deals until I started my youtube channel and cracked about a million views and a few thousand subscribers. At that point, when I would approach smaller companies, they would actually listen and I was able to set up some great relationships and get some great gear.

So remember. EYEBALLS ARE MONEY/LEVERAGE. The more viewers/likes/subscribers/etc. you can generate, the more leverage you have when approaching companies for endorsements. They don't always care so much about how good you are so much as do you have an appreciable audience that makes it worth their time to mess with you and send you some stuff. In short, is it worth it for them to start a relationship with you as an Artist/Musician?

So go forth and build your audience! Then take proof of your audience (data/numbers/screen grabs/etc.) and start finding vendors/companies you'd like to work with. I'm currently endorsed by

EMG Pickups
Fretlight Guitar
Lotus Guitars
Clayton Picks
and I think I'm forgetting a few.

So I can tell you it's possible to get endorsment deals even when starting from scratch with zip. wink.gif

Todd


It all makes sense what you said, Todd. I'm gonna have to pick your brains for some Yotube advice one of these days ! smile.gif

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Alex Feather
Dec 17 2011, 07:13 PM
Instructor
Posts: 4.332
Joined: 21-November 11
From: Los Angeles
QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Dec 17 2011, 11:56 AM) *
Endorsements are a GREAT way to get yourself out there and a great way to get some nice gear. But it's a two way street. The purpose of the endorsement is so that a given vendor (Marshall etc.) can leverage your recognition/fan base/etc. to help sell their gear. So getting endorsements without having any kind of personal audience is tough. However, building an audience has never been easier.

I'm always talking about the importance of social media and here I go again smile.gif I never had any endorsment deals until I started my youtube channel and cracked about a million views and a few thousand subscribers. At that point, when I would approach smaller companies, they would actually listen and I was able to set up some great relationships and get some great gear.

So remember. EYEBALLS ARE MONEY/LEVERAGE. The more viewers/likes/subscribers/etc. you can generate, the more leverage you have when approaching companies for endorsements. They don't always care so much about how good you are so much as do you have an appreciable audience that makes it worth their time to mess with you and send you some stuff. In short, is it worth it for them to start a relationship with you as an Artist/Musician?

So go forth and build your audience! Then take proof of your audience (data/numbers/screen grabs/etc.) and start finding vendors/companies you'd like to work with. I'm currently endorsed by

EMG Pickups
Fretlight Guitar
Lotus Guitars
Clayton Picks
and I think I'm forgetting a few.

So I can tell you it's possible to get endorsment deals even when starting from scratch with zip. wink.gif

Todd

Exactk! Social network can bea very big part and YouTube is huge right now and it's only getting bigger!!!

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Sinisa Cekic
Dec 17 2011, 09:52 PM
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From: Belgrade,Serbia
QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Dec 17 2011, 02:26 AM) *
You should try it! Just start with a small company at first and build your way up! I also discovered that its easier to get your foot in to some boutique amps and guitars because they have a limited amount of products they are making and usually do not invest too much in advertising


Nope ! in that case I'm going straight to the top rolleyes.gif !!!

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Alex Feather
Dec 18 2011, 07:19 AM
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QUOTE (Sinisa Cekic @ Dec 17 2011, 08:52 PM) *
Nope ! in that case I'm going straight to the top rolleyes.gif !!!

Good idea as well!!! Who is looking is always finding!!!!

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thefireball
Dec 18 2011, 03:57 PM
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I just bookmarked this page. smile.gif

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Alex Feather
Dec 18 2011, 05:43 PM
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QUOTE (thefireball @ Dec 18 2011, 02:57 PM) *
I just bookmarked this page. smile.gif

Cool!!!

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Cosmin Lupu
Dec 19 2011, 10:54 AM
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QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Dec 18 2011, 06:19 AM) *
Good idea as well!!! Who is looking is always finding!!!!


+1 wink.gif

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Ivan Milenkovic
Dec 19 2011, 12:12 PM
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Hey, if I would get at least strings, it would be awesome smile.gif

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