Web Marketing for the Music Business - Tips

Web Marketing for the Music Business

Web Marketing for the Music Business -- Tips The first step in developing a marketing plan is identifying and learning about your target market. The more you learn about that market, the more effective the marketing plan can be. Don’t make the Internet your entire marketing strategy. Internet marketing should not be a substitute for traditional promotion. The two strategies should work together, creating synergy. Build a good web site, but don’t expect customers to automatically find it on their own.
A solid marketing plan incorporates the company web site into every aspect of marketing and promotion. Most search engines rank their results based on several factors: keywords, content and inbound links. By paying attention to these factors, you can improve the chances of getting a top listing. The quantity (popularity) and the quality (relevance) of inbound links to your site help to determine search engine ranking status. Electronic or online magazines offer a good way to introduce your target market to your act and can have a viral effect, spreading links to your site far and wide. The most valuable piece of information you can get from your fans is their email address with permission to add them to your mailing list. Create plenty of opportunities, both online and offline, for fans to sign up. Always provide an e-mail signup sheet at the bar or the front door for any live appearances. Know when to send and when not to send email newsletters. Format them correctly, use links effectively and target your recipients appropriately. There are three levels of webcasting stations on the Internet: (1) commercial stations that simulcast their programming, (2) professional entertainment entities that feature their own radio stations or podcasts, and (3) the plethora of small stations including those on services such as Live365 and SHOUTcast that allow music fans to operate their own stations. Online street team members should seek out blogs that discuss music and reach out to the bloggers to check out their artist and write about the music, much the same way a publicist seeks out album reviews in traditional media. Blogging, however, has the potential for street cred(ibility) that is sometimes absent in mainstream media. Turn your competition into partners. Economies of scale will prevail, and by sharing your fan base with other artists, you receive access to their fans. Your domain name is the most important piece of real estate you can own on the Internet. Make it memorable. It is your Internet phone number. For a musician or singer, the goals of a web site should include the following: Creating and reinforcing brand awareness Advertising and promoting products (recordings and concert tickets) Generating direct sales (mail order and e-commerce) Creating a sense of community among an artist’s fans Creating repeat traffic If you have little or no web design experience, or it is not a natural talent, use a template, but replace the elements with your own. Change the color scheme, font styles and graphics to personalize the template and make it your own. Design web sites, not web pages. The design should also be able to translate to offline promotional materials, maintaining consistency whenever possible. Increasing traffic to the web site includes not only search engine optimization (SEO), but also creating elements of the web site that will (1) bring in more visitors, (2) retain visitors longer, and (3) create more repeat traffic. Blogs are a good way to encourage repeat visits to your web site. Visitors know that with each visit to the artist’s web site, they have a chance to read this fresh new material. If you want people to buy your music on the Internet, you have to give them a sample of the goods. Music samples should be provided in easy-to-find and well-traveled places. Take the hassle out of online purchases. Don’t make your customer search for a way to purchase your products.
The book analyzes the state of the music industry—present and future—then shows you how to reach fans through viral marketing and social networking on MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and YouTube. Market your band on these social networking sites, where you will interact with your fans using blogs, message boards and fan generated content. If you have not yet purchased Web Marketing for the Music Business, the book is available at the following locations. Tom Hutchison, Ph.D. is Professor of Marketing in the Department of Recording Industry at MTSU. He has worked with a wide range of popular artists including Faith Hill, The Dixie Chicks, Sonic Youth and Beck. Hutchison has conducted market research projects for Sony, RCA, MCA/Universal, Geffen Records, DreamWorks and Warner Music Group. Author Bio
Online consumers have come to expect a multimedia experience, and every music and entertainment web site should offer them one. The wise music marketer will take advantage of all options, including adding audio and video to the primary web site and creating pages on social networking sites that include audio and video of the artist. With so many new social networking services cropping up, no one is certain what will be the “next big thing.” An astute marketing manager learns to stay abreast of the changing trends in social networking and respond quickly and comprehensively to changes in the marketplace for social interaction. The free-for-all aspect of the Internet brings with it the potential for abuse in many forms. Marketers should be aware of these pitfalls so that web sites can accommodate and address the concerns of its visitors. Just as with an Internet web site, design for a mobi site must be preceded with an understanding of goals for the site. What are you trying to accomplish and provide with a mobile web site? The goals may not be the same as for the computer-based site. Fans are more likely to make purchases from a web site they trust. Sometimes that means giving up a portion of each sale to a reputable online retailer, but it will increase sales and expand your fan base. Don’t cut bricks and mortar retailers out of the picture. Find ways to include them in your online promotions. Monitoring traffic to the site can be important for evaluating the effectiveness of each web page and for guiding the webmaster when making changes and upgrades.

Web Marketing for the Music Business

Web Marketing for the Music Business -- Tips

The first step in developing a marketing plan is identifying and learning about your target market. The more you learn about that market, the more effective the marketing plan can be.

Don’t make the Internet your entire marketing strategy. Internet marketing should not be a substitute for traditional promotion. The two strategies should work together, creating synergy.

Build a good web site, but don’t expect customers to automatically find it on their own.

A solid marketing plan incorporates the company web site into every aspect of marketing and promotion.

Most search engines rank their results based on several factors: keywords, content and inbound links. By paying attention to these factors, you can improve the chances of getting a top listing.

The quantity (popularity) and the quality (relevance) of inbound links to your site help to determine search engine ranking status.

Electronic or online magazines offer a good way to introduce your target market to your act and can have a viral effect, spreading links to your site far and wide.

The most valuable piece of information you can get from your fans is their email address with permission to add them to your mailing list. Create plenty of opportunities, both online and offline, for fans to sign up. Always provide an e-mail signup sheet at the bar or the front door for any live appearances.

Know when to send and when not to send email newsletters. Format them correctly, use links effectively and target your recipients appropriately.

There are three levels of webcasting stations on the Internet: (1) commercial stations that simulcast their programming, (2) professional entertainment entities that feature their own radio stations or podcasts, and (3) the plethora of small stations including those on services such as Live365 and SHOUTcast that allow music fans to operate their own stations.

Online street team members should seek out blogs that discuss music and reach out to the bloggers to check out their artist and write about the music, much the same way a publicist seeks out album reviews in traditional media. Blogging, however, has the potential for street cred(ibility) that is sometimes absent in mainstream media.

Turn your competition into partners. Economies of scale will prevail, and by sharing your fan base with other artists, you receive access to their fans.

Your domain name is the most important piece of real estate you can own on the Internet. Make it memorable. It is your Internet phone number.

For a musician or singer, the goals of a web site should include the following:

Creating and reinforcing brand awareness
Advertising and promoting products (recordings and concert tickets)
Generating direct sales (mail order and e-commerce)
Creating a sense of community among an artist’s fans
Creating repeat traffic

If you have little or no web design experience, or it is not a natural talent, use a template, but replace the elements with your own. Change the color scheme, font styles and graphics to personalize the template and make it your own.

Design web sites, not web pages. The design should also be able to translate to offline promotional materials, maintaining consistency whenever possible.

Increasing traffic to the web site includes not only search engine optimization (SEO), but also creating elements of the web site that will (1) bring in more visitors, (2) retain visitors longer, and (3) create more repeat traffic.

Blogs are a good way to encourage repeat visits to your web site. Visitors know that with each visit to the artist’s web site, they have a chance to read this fresh new material.

If you want people to buy your music on the Internet, you have to give them a sample of the goods. Music samples should be provided in easy-to-find and well-traveled places.

Take the hassle out of online purchases. Don’t make your customer search for a way to purchase your products.

The book analyzes the state of the music industry—present and future—then shows you how to reach fans through viral marketing and social networking on MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and YouTube. Market your band on these social networking sites, where you will interact with your fans using blogs, message boards and fan generated content.

If you have not yet purchased Web Marketing for the Music Business, the book is available at the following locations.

Tom Hutchison, Ph.D. is Professor of Marketing in the Department of Recording Industry at MTSU. He has worked with a wide range of popular artists including Faith Hill, The Dixie Chicks, Sonic Youth and Beck. Hutchison has conducted market research projects for Sony, RCA, MCA/Universal, Geffen Records, DreamWorks and Warner Music Group. Author Bio

Online consumers have come to expect a multimedia experience, and every music and entertainment web site should offer them one. The wise music marketer will take advantage of all options, including adding audio and video to the primary web site and creating pages on social networking sites that include audio and video of the artist.

With so many new social networking services cropping up, no one is certain what will be the “next big thing.” An astute marketing manager learns to stay abreast of the changing trends in social networking and respond quickly and comprehensively to changes in the marketplace for social interaction.

The free-for-all aspect of the Internet brings with it the potential for abuse in many forms. Marketers should be aware of these pitfalls so that web sites can accommodate and address the concerns of its visitors.

Just as with an Internet web site, design for a mobi site must be preceded with an understanding of goals for the site. What are you trying to accomplish and provide with a mobile web site? The goals may not be the same as for the computer-based site.

Fans are more likely to make purchases from a web site they trust. Sometimes that means giving up a portion of each sale to a reputable online retailer, but it will increase sales and expand your fan base.

Don’t cut bricks and mortar retailers out of the picture. Find ways to include them in your online promotions.

Monitoring traffic to the site can be important for evaluating the effectiveness of each web page and for guiding the webmaster when making changes and upgrades.