(Music) Marketing 201
The starting point of a solid promotional strategy is knowing yourself and knowing your audience. In the business world, three common questions that investors and banks ask of entrepreneurs seeking capital are: What do you do? For whom? and How will you do it? (the answers to these questions are commonly what makes up a good corporate mission statement) This is directly applicable to what we, as musicians and promoters, must do in developing our strategy.
The first two questions are deceivingly simple. We may be tempted to answer, "I play music for my audience", but I encourage you to take it several steps further. According to an IBISWorld study, there are over 26,000 bands, orchestras, jazz ensembles, choirs, independent musicians, and the like. Let me repeat this. There are more than 26,000 organizations, just over half of which employ about 61,000 people, that play music for an audience. I bring this up because it is a call to be unique. It is a call to bring a unique perspective on your particular genre, or at the very least, not to copy those around you. In my experience promoting events, I remember many times making financial and promotional decisions, that in retrospect make very little sense, just because it's what everybody did. Let's look at a few common examples:
1) Fliers. I don't know when and how fliers started in the music scene. My hunch is that it began with cheap paper, a creative promoter, and either a copy machine or a DIY printing press of some type. It worked and it worked well. So well, in fact, that it caught on like wild fire. Today's reality is that for as many venues, promoters, and music groups as there are, there are 500-50,000 as many fliers littering every independent coffee shop, record store, bulletin board, mail box, university, and sewer system in the nation with each new event. When is the last time you went to an event SOLELY because of the flier? (probably never). At the same time, fliers, when used correctly, are a very useful tool in the entire arsenal of marketing your group or event. They are not the the source and summit of advertising genius. I don't know how many times I would flier my events all over town and see a dismal return on my efforts. At the same time, it was the first thing I went for, time and time again, with each new event. Everyone does this. It's YOUR turn to get get creative.
2) The Black T-Shirt. The black T-shirt is cool to so many bands out there because it is not a white T-shirt. Everybody had a white T-shirt. Now everybody does black shirts. Which color is next? (wasn't pink going to be the new black?) ...But I digress. Black shirts can still be really nice, as can white shirts. Both, not unlike a pink shirt too, can also be really bland.
3) Selling CDs. This is a tough one and depends highly on your particular group, but the example holds true. Musicians sell CDs to make money. The album is a tool for profit. This is one of my least favorite paradigms. Want to know how most bands, djs, hip-hop MC's, vocalists, and composers get out there? It's by giving away CDs. Yes, they can be a promotional tool as well. This is less likely if you have to pay Union musicians and royalties, but for the indie artist, this is a powerful tool. The Grateful Dead were one of the highest grossing bands of all times, but seldom made it to the Top 20's. This is because the Top 20's are based on record sales. The Dead encouraged bootlegs and gave out free records all the time, and over time, they developed a massive following. This group of fans bought merchandise all the live-long day. By giving away their music, The Dead creatively used what assumed by most to be a profit center, as a marketing tool. The fans generated from the marketing bought merchandise (which often has a higher profit margin than record sales anyway). SMART!
I'm not saying that fliers are bad, nor do I think the color of t-shirt matters, nor do I think that artists should just give away all their hard work and not live off it. I am, however, saying that in the context of marketing, if you have 26,000 groups doing the same thing the same way, why would you want to hide in the group? Why not do something to stand out? In marketing terms, this is called differentiation. Still not convinced? Did I mention that on a weekly basis, the 26,000 are also competing against movie theaters, sports events, TV, theater, video games, art shows, and more?
This comes full-circle back to the 3 basic questions mentioned above. What do I do? (am I an entertainer, am I an artist, am I adding to the academic body of artistic dialog, am I in it for the money, etc.) For whom do I do this? (Big Ballers? Baby Boomers? Punk Kids? Little Kids? Hippies? Hipsters? Squares? Senior Citizens? Women? Men?) How do I get it done? well... that's marketing. You know your talents and goals, you know what your audience likes and how they behave, and now your task is to put it all together and come out with a unique solution that fits your personality and your audience.
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article written by Alex Sobieski, Principal and CEO of Cult Status. 8-15-2007
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