'Growth Farming': A D. Grant Smith Book Review
We’re currently living in a world where the need to be
reaffirmed is nearly mandatory. We’re basing our self-assurance off of Facebook
shares and Instagram likes and Twitter retweets. We follow people in hopes to
get them to follow back and never speak to them. In the entertainment industry,
some artists or musicians might send their new followers an automated message:
“Thanks for following! Be sure to like my Facebook page, check out my music on
Spotify and subscribe to me on YouTube!” Is the purpose of connecting with
others to get another like or to serve you as an individual? If only there was
some kind of handbook to help musicians learn to create beneficial
relationships to both parties involved.
The DIY Musician’s Radio Handbook: How to Growth Hack You Fan Base and Build Stronger Networks Using Indie Radio Airplay sounds incredibly specific to one area of the
music industry. D Grant Smith, host of The Appetizer Radio Show, may have
written this book with the intention of helping independent artists find their
way onto radio stations, but the concept of the book goes way beyond radio
play.
He initially started the concept of this book for two
reasons: 1. He believed that the connection between musicians and music
curators was in need of an upgrade. 2. He wanted music curators as well as the
musicians to give and receive better content. “It comes down to making
relationships and I didn’t have a playbook for how to do that when I was
getting started so I wanted to create a playbook – a road map, a manual, a
handbook – for musicians to be able to have answers on what this process
actually looks like and what steps you should actually take,” he said.
However, the theme of the book can relate to more than indie
radio. The formula and process behind indie radio play can be manipulated into a
variety of other things because it’s essentially a handbook for human
connection. Smith said that he wanted to create a modern day version of Dale
Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and
Influence People but keep it specific to creative entrepreneurs. “One of
the key things that Dale Carnegie says in his book that has changed my life is
this – you can gain more friends in two months by showing interest in other
people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in
you. That by itself as a mantra for how we can grow everything that we do and
building relationships with people [and] that’s a huge takeaway that I hope
people get from reading my book.”
Let’s move into the concept of ‘growth farming’.
Smith has a lot of people
in his life whose passion revolves around farming. Whether it’s his wife’s
garden in their backyard or his friend who is a farmer in their home state of
Texas, the concept of farming constantly shows up in his life. He spent two
years trying to figure out how to apply the concept of farming into his own
work environment. So he contacted Seth Godin.
Seth Godin is the author of 17 books, among other
accomplishments, and is someone that really shaped Smith's outlook on life. They
spoke about the idea that ‘the grass is always greener somewhere else is where
we get in trouble’. The reality of the situation is that grass is green right
in front of us. There are people in our lives and in our world and instead of
constantly searching for the next greener patch, there’s a green enough patch
within reach. “What you need is to farm it and not go hunting,” Godin said. The
phrase led to the concept of growth farming. Smith is helping artists grow their
audience and platform and helping them reach connections and that in its
entirety is a farming process.
“It’s a matter of maintaining a dialogue and a
correspondence and providing something that matters to them and providing
something that matters to you. It’s about learning how to communicate better
and… there’s a reciprocal connection there. That’s where growth farming comes
from, that’s where the idea was originated from. My whole platform is built
around this belief; it’s a philosophy and a principle. Inside every one of us
is a garden; our hearts are a garden. What we plant in here is what we produce.”
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