Research & Planning: Marketing

Researching on the internet the marketing processes for an upcoming artist/band and how to do it successfully. After looking at the research, one of the most important is the fans as they main people who can help spread the news about the band and the music positively if the artist/band be more personal for example, Twitter is a great way to respond to fans as you can tweet them back follow them back, this is a great way to increase the number of followers. Artists themselves have said they like to use twitter to engage with the fans, for example Missy Elliott, the female rapper told me once "I try to show my fans I appreciate all their support and not just promote my music up here" this makes the fans feel more appreciated by them and makes them want to spread the good news about them to other people as well as their music.

The main aspects of how to market in the music industry:

• Publicity/Promotion
• Advertising
• Retail/Distribution
• Strategy & Process
• Merchandise
• Touring
• Fan Base
• Internet
• Supervision

8 Rules for marketing in the music industry:

1. Define your brand - consistency and professional. Define identity and who/where target audience are.
2. Collect 'currency' - email addresses, mobile numbers and zip codes. Collecting fan data online and offline.
3. Create a website - creating a professional brand. The centre to all the social network hubs, where fans can find the Twitter, Facebook, Youtube etc... as well as looking for updates of shows or news as well as a newsletter that fans can sign up to.
4. Prioritise quality of quantity - connecting fans one on one on social networks, making the fans see them as more humble and loyal.
5. Be media ready - physical and digital copies of music available.
6. Don't forget about offline marketing - live performances, meeting fans after shows and gigs.
7. Know your rights -  being clever in the sense of business, different ways of earning money online and offline.
8. Be creative, be personal - ask fans for feedback and input for the creative process, positive and negative criticism is always useful. Makes fans feel more appreciated and will likely to spread the news about the band and the music. As well as creating blogs to share photos, videos and stories to make the fans feel they are apart of their lives.

Here are some ideas we came up in class about marketing: