5 Creative Marketing Ideas for the Aspiring Musician

            With about 7 years of music industry experience, I’ve seen some bad ideas and some good ideas. Marketing in a failing industry such as the music industry is an everyday grind. Personally, I was grinded out so I got out. It’s a dog eat dog industry, it is not kind and it is not easy. There are a lot of ups and a lot of downs but, every once in a while you see something so simple, so absolutely brilliant that you think “Why didn’t I think of that?” This is what kept me around for so long, it was the bright ideas in the marketing of the industry. Here are some tips I hope will help ease the everyday grind.

1.       The Band Stamp

         This is easily one of the most brilliant ideas I’ve never thought of. Go to Staples or any other business depots and get a stamp made of your band name, email or website. Ask the door person to use it on everyone that comes in. At the very least, everyone in the bar or venue will remember your band name or, know how to contact you. At the very most, the stamp will make the show seem like YOU are the focus. It’s a win/win, low cost, high reward advantage over everyone else at the show. It free advertising and mass branding that you only paid $15 to $20 for.

2.       Gift Giving

         This is also a very simple, low cost and effective way to make friends and fans. The hardest part is simply talking to people. Create a signup sheet asking for a full name, date of birth and an address. You don’t necessarily need the year just the day and month of their birthday. Keep the list on hand and whenever one of the birthdays comes up, mail that person a gift! It can be as simple as a shot glass (if they’re turning 18, 19 or 21 depending where you are), a cd or a card simply wishing the fan a happy birthday. This goes a long way in building a relationship with someone. The key is to hit the fans one by one. It is much easier and much more accurate to hit each target one at a time than to knock off a whole bunch at once. 

3.       Getting Creative

         Getting creative is about your band/artist name, a song title or the title of a CD where you can get a creative hook. Consider the Leaderdogs that had an album called Lemonade. While distributing the CD and the singles, they inserted a small packet of lemonade. Fans, radio program directors and producers actually fought over who would get the tasty beverage that cost a whopping five cents. That album charted. Do you have a song title or name that you can get a creative hook out of? Make the most out of it.

4.       Band Expo

         Although every other artist is your competition, the music industry is funny in that your biggest competition could be your biggest help. How about getting together with 5 to 10 artists at a local shop or nightclub that supports local talent and promoting each other. Set up boards, create a power points, hand out business cards and have unplugged single songs scheduled every once in a while. If businesses can have trade shows to show off their products and services, why can’t bands have the same to show who they are and what they do. This is the perfect opportunity to engage with fans, start a conversation and build relationships without the loud music in the background. Keep one thing in mind here, this WONT be about making the sale. This will be about STARTING the CONVERSATION. It is simply letting the customer get to know who you are and what you’re about. It is your opportunity and your responsibility to yourself to leave a lasting impression.

5.       Lastly, Engagement

         This is the least expensive yet, the most powerful tool you have. It’s about NOT marketing to people at all, it’s about NOT trying to sell your music. Engagement is all about having a conversation. It’s about listening to your fans, people with similar interests and fans of similar bands and talking to them. Not about your new single, not about your new t-shirt but, talking to them about what you have in common, what you love about that genre of music or even as simple as how the weather is. Stop trying to make a sale, start trying to make fans want to buy from you.
        Social media has made this a lot easier to do. Things like Twitter, Facebook among many other websites have created one giant conversation for you to be a part of. So many time I see bands misusing these tools. “Yo come out to our show! It’s going to be the best time ever!”. One, this is not managing expectations of the fans because its most likely not going to be the best time ever. 2, you’re trying to make a SALE, this is not cool. Something better would be,  “What crazy thing would you like to see us do at our upcoming show? A. Star Wars Costumes B. Strippers C. Fireworks”. People will talk, they will answer you and if you can pull off all three of those, you’re going to be famous. Stop marketing, start ENGAGING!!!

                I hope this helped out you Musicians out there! As a music lover, musician and formerly in a band, I really want to see you succeed! The music industry needs a boost and if this article can help you be that boost in any way, I’ll feel like a hero. Not the hero you need, but the hero you deserve. Because I’m not a hero really, I’m more like a silent guardian, a watchful protector… a marketing student that really likes to help people out and is really into batman, or a dark knight. If you have any other ideas you might want to pass along, please feel free to comment below, you’ll only be helping out the fellow musician.

A Passion for Marketing

           

             If you’re like I was, creative, full of ideas, energetic but confused, this article is for you. If you’re into Marketing, Advertising and Business, this article is for you. After exploring the perceptions of marketing, the shifts that are changing these perceptions and what marketing means to me, I hope I can convince a couple of you to use your creativity, your ideas and your energy to explore a new interest. There’s is nothing better than using your creativity and making money off it! “Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life” – Harvey MacKay

In my first Professional Selling class, we had to stand up and talk about our perception on sales and marketing. I was the first to stand, the first to speak and the very last because I had said enough in 3 words; “Used Car Salesman”. I had compared my perception to selling and marketing to Danny DeVito in Matilda. This character to me is the epitome of sleaze. The tacky clothes, the forked tongue, the slick backed hair and the shiny watch was marketing to me. This was the opinion of the majority of the class. 

Right now, there a very interesting shift happening. With things like smart phones, email and social media (ESPECIALLY social media) we are always plugged in to the universe around us. This has forced sales people to answer some very important questions. In answering these questions, sales people and marketers are being part of a conversation. This has been the best thing to ever happen to marketing and business; it has essentially changed perceptions about them. From forked tongues and brainwashing to relationships and conversations, people are adopting brands and services as a lifestyle. If we look at Coca Cola, Starbucks, McDonalds, Nike, people are wearing their symbols and buying their products because they want to be part of the conversation. 

For me, marketing has become a way to release my creativity. I was in a band for 5 or so years and I absolutely loved it. The crowds, the performances, the music and centre stage were home to me. So, I thought I would take a course called Music Industry Arts. During my time taking MIA, I learned two things. Number one was to get the hell out of the music industry. It has collapsed in on itself and its desperately looking for new foundation. The second and the most important was, I had found a new calling in my marketing class. Yes, out of all the music history lessons, out of the audio recording techniques, what stuck with me the most was the marketing. In marketing there is strategy, there is technique and best of all there is room for creativity and innovation. Good marketing is an art form.

I just recently finished my first year of Business-Marketing and hope that I’ll be doing this for years to come. What once was a negative has become a great positive. Marketing is an always changing industry and has so much room for creativity and innovation. Again, if you’re creative, energetic and full of ideas, give marketing a try, it might surprise you.

5 Very Interesting Products and How I Would Market Them Issue #2

The Suit Case/Picnic Table

If you’ve got any ideas on how to creatively market this product, please comment below I would love to hear your ideas!

It’s as if James Bond himself were in on this design. This here is a Picnic Table that folds into a Case for easy transportation. I know that personally there are many times when my family and I would go on picnics and there would be no tables available. As cool as it is to sit in the grass or on a blanket, sometimes having a table is just much more comfortable.

Brand Name/Slogan: I’d like to say that something like this wouldn’t really need a brand name because I could see it being sold at Wal-Mart or Canadian Tire but, what’s the fun in that? Let’s get creative here and go with something awesome. A brief case that turns into a picnic table this is obviously The Flipnic Table! The slogan could be something like, “Some things are just better when you flip it!”

Target Market: The target market I could see getting the most out of this product is 28 to 38 year old parents with young kids or, an active social life who like picnics, camping, and outdoor activities with their family. Nailed it. On another note, volunteer groups or camps for kids could also get a great use out of buying many of these.

Features: Well the features that make up this delightful product are nice wooden pieces attached to metal bars, plastic pieces that help protect the vulnerable parts and the fact this it can be a table AND a suitcase.

Benefits: The benefits that will sell this product is the table on the go concept. It’s a great size for packing, a handle to carry it around and this intangible feeling of providing for friends and family when your bring a table, to the table. See what I did there.

Additional Accessories: I can’t see from this picture if you can put an umbrella in the middle of the table but, an easy to carry, flippable umbrella (OR is it called SUNbrella?) would be ca-ray-zay neato.

 

Communications: NOW to everyone’s favorite part. How are we going to get the word out there about this product? My first thoughts was a whole IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) campaign on flipping things. “Some things are just better when you flip it. So flip it good.” Like when you flip a pancake, or a ninja flip. When you sit in a Lay-Z-Boy chair and you flip up the leg rest or, how a Transformer yells “TRANSFORM!” and he flips his lid. Then there could be a comedic root on how something’s were never meant to be flipped. Like a can of pop (Spill all over yourself), or a car (HULK SMASH).

                Although this would be funny it doesn’t really touch on the main benefit that’s going to sell the product. I was just running with an idea and I doubt that The Flipnic Table is easy to transform anyways. So instead, have an advertisement that shows people transporting ridiculously heavy things. They would be struggling to get through doors, throwing their back out and not getting these big things to fit in the car.

                Then have a man carrying a big bulky picnic table with his family, to a spot and set it down, tired, huffing and puffing. Finally he looks over as a different man and his family walk over to a spot nearby. They simply put down their basket of goodies, unfold the Flipnic Table and they’re good to go. BOOM. Bro is mad jealous and is going to go out and buy two of them right away.

Again, If you’ve got any ideas on how to creatively market this product, please comment below I would love to hear your ideas!

Thanks for reading!  Cheers.