Download Sound Marketing for Bluegrass

SOUND MARKETING
FOR BLUEGRASS
A COLLECTION OF E-LETTERS
BY MARKETING EXPERT
BARRY SILVERSTEIN
PUBLISHED EXCLUSIVELY BY
BLUEGRASS TODAY®
WWW.BLUEGRASSTODAY.COM
Copyright 2014, Bluegrass Today. All rights reserved.
Bluegrass Today is a registered trademark of Bluegrass Today LLC
SOUND MARKETING
FOR BLUEGRASS
#1
As an advertiser, you have more media choices than ever before, so it’s important to invest
your marketing money wisely. Today I want to talk about why online advertising could be a
wise investment, and what to look for in selecting the right website for your ad.
There are a lot of great things about advertising to the bluegrass music community, not the
least of which is the size. There are about 18.7 million bluegrass fans in the U.S. But did you
know that 60 percent of them are connected to the Internet – 9 percent higher than the
national average? And did you know Bluegrass fans are also 39 percent more likely to spend
5-plus hours per week online than the average consumer? With the explosive growth of
smartphones, iPads, and the like, those numbers will go up fast!
As a result, a majority of the bluegrass community is reachable via online advertising. But the
question is, where do you reach them? An audience with a defined interest – in this case
bluegrass music – is likely to search online and find sources that offer them up-to-theminute news and information about what they love. Once they find a site that is engaging,
they’ll keep going back for more – and they will not just look for information, they’ll
welcome promotions about artists, events, and products that interest them.
One of those sources bluegrass fans have found is Bluegrass Today. Even though the site is
less than a year old, Bluegrass Today is getting 65,000 unique visitors per month and 725,000
pageviews per month.
Whether you are evaluating Bluegrass Today or any other website or traditional publication, ask
these three basic questions before you decide where to place your ad:
1. How can I target my advertising to a particular geographic area?
Many advertisers who reach the bluegrass community are promoting festivals, artist
appearances in select areas, clubs, or other local events. With geo-targeting, IP
addresses are used to identify and target regions, states, and even cities with your
advertising, so you get maximum efficiency and reach the audience in the location
you want. Make sure you can geo-target your ads if that’s important to you.
2. How can I get a variety of ad placements to suit my needs?
The advertising you buy should be based on getting the most efficient ad space for
your budget. If you want to get maximum impact for a new product introduction or
a major festival, for example, consider a leaderboard, a large horizontal ad which
appears at the top of a page, or a skyscraper, a large vertical ad which runs along the
side of a page. To advertise a new recording efficiently, you might consider a smaller
square, rectangle, or horizontal ad that sits within a page. You can gain exclusivity by
becoming one of just a few advertisers in an email newsletter that goes out to a
website’s subscribers. Maybe you want to start out small and just buy a premium
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listing in a directory of events. Determine if the websites you are considering offer
many advertising options to meet varying promotional needs.
3. How do I know my ads are working?
Online advertising offers reach and frequency, but it also offers measurability. Any
website you select for your advertising should be able to provide you with detailed
analytic reports. Ideally, a website should be able to give you access to your own live
banner activity control panel so you can get real-time results and even make changes
to your program on the fly.
Remember, you call the shots when it comes to online advertising. Be sure to ask these three
basic questions and you’ll be more likely to find the best websites for your advertising.
Next time, I’ll talk about some things you can do to make your online advertising more
effective.
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#2
When you place an online ad, you’re making an investment in marketing and you want it to
pay off. Finding the right website for your ad is just part of the story. You need to make that
ad work hard for you. Here are three ways you can do just that:
1. Make a compelling offer.
The most enticing online ads make an offer that elicits a response. This tried-andtrue technique originated in the early days of direct mail marketing and works just as
well in online marketing. An offer consists of something you are willing to give to a
prospect to get him or her to respond. It could be free information, a free song
download, or entry into a contest to generate a lead. It could be a discount on a
musical instrument, a reduced-fee admission to a festival, or free shipping on a
product to generate a sale.
Free offers can result in a lot of responses. The people who respond aren’t
necessarily qualified buyers, but that’s not a bad thing. Someone who responds to a
free offer is a lead. If you capture that person’s name and email address, you can
begin to communicate, first by fulfilling the free offer, and then by keeping in touch
periodically so you can cultivate the person’s interest in your product or service.
An offer related to a purchase, such as a discount, may generate fewer responses, but
these responders tend to be higher quality leads. Again, it is important to get contact
information and fulfill the offer. Treat these responders as “qualified prospects” and
be sure to send information and additional offers that keep them engaged.
2. Break through the clutter.
In addition to employing a strong offer, you should create an ad that stands out from
the crowd. Take a look at other online ads, especially those of your competitors, and
strive to be different.
Choose an ad format that is both cost-effective and provides you with the “real
estate” you need to market your product or service. These days, online ads can
include more than static images. Depending on where you advertise, you may be able
to use rotating graphic images, embedded video, ads that expand, and other creative
formats. Think about what is most appropriate and most affordable for your
situation.
Your objective is to get a website visitor to click on your ad. Use graphics that pull
the prospect in. Say just enough with the copy – but not so much that the prospect
won’t want to find out more. Look at an online ad as a kind of miniature electronic
billboard.
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3. Measure results.
With online ads, it’s easy to measure results, but be sure the results you measure are
meaningful. It’s fine to measure clickthroughs from an ad to your website, but it’s
even better to know how many of those clickthroughs turn into prospects, and how
many prospects become customers.
How do you know? One way is to develop a “landing page” for your ad. Someone
who clicks on your ad is directed to this special page instead of to your website home
page. A landing page gives you the ability to know exactly how many responses were
generated from your ad at any given time. Include a simple form for the prospect to
fill out on the landing page. Now you have captured a lead that you can add to an
email contact list. If you keep track of that lead, you can determine if the prospect
eventually becomes a customer. Then you’ll be able to trace that customer back to
the online ad.
These three ideas – make a compelling offer, break through the clutter, and measure results
– will help make your online ads far more effective.
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#3
The rise of social media is one of the key developments in the online world, but it is only
fairly recently that Facebook, Twitter, and other social media tools have been used as
business tools. So how, exactly, can a bluegrass marketer put social media to use on behalf of
their business?
Facebook
Let’s start with Facebook. Wherever you may advertise, it makes a lot of sense to include a
link to a business Facebook page in your ad.
Facebook is the largest social media network (over 835 million users worldwide; over 173
million in North America). It’s a safe assumption that a majority of your customers and
prospects are on Facebook. It is certainly still a place for friends to connect with friends, but
it is increasingly acceptable for businesses to connect with consumers on Facebook.
An advertiser’s Facebook presence can be sophisticated these days, with a Facebook page
looking much more like a website. That’s because Facebook just updated its look and now
offers users a lot more flexibility. This means you can showcase graphics and important
information about your company in Facebook’s “timeline” format.
More and more online advertisers use Facebook as a destination for an ad campaign. For
example, advertisers may encourage consumers to “Like” their Facebook page and, in return,
receive a free product sample or be entered in a contest. This is a proven way to engage a
Facebook user.
By the way, if you market directly to businesses or professionals, you should also consider
joining LinkedIn, the leading business social network.
Twitter
What started largely as a way for people to tell their friends what they were up to (in a
Twitter message, or “tweet,” of no more than 140 characters) has now become a legitimate
business tool as well. As an advertiser, you can use Twitter to “tweet” about anything that
might be of interest to customers or prospects. Twitter is especially useful to disseminate
bursts of information about time-sensitive events, such as new products, an upcoming
festival, an article that just appeared, and so on. You can make effective use of “hashtags”
(#) to categorize your tweets; for example, #bluegrass.
The basic premise of Twitter is to make customers and prospects aware that you tweet
periodically and encourage them to sign up and follow you.
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Blogging
Blogging is considered social media. Even though blogging by companies has dropped as
Facebook and Twitter have gained in popularity, writing a stand-alone blog, or a blog that’s
connected to your website, is an excellent way to generate awareness, because blogs with
frequent posts are favorites of search engines. A blog makes a great informational offer from
an advertiser to customers and prospects, who will often sign up to receive blog posts. It’s
also a good way to encourage interaction, since blogs are designed to accept reader
comments. (Be sure you moderate the comments, though, so you can screen out any that
may be inappropriate.)
You can increase exposure for your blog by getting it listed in multiple blog directories and
by using blogging tools like Tumblr to extend your reach to more people.
Google+
Google+ (Google Plus) is the social network sponsored by Google, launched in June 2011.
It is generally believed that having a business page on Google+ will be beneficial in terms of
getting additional exposure in Google search results. Google+ has a long way to go to reach
the popularity of Facebook (and it likely never will), so it should be considered only after you
establish a Facebook presence.
The Upside (and Downside) of Social Media
The upside of social media is that it gives a bluegrass advertiser a personal, interactive way to
start and maintain a dialogue with customers and prospects. Social media is by design a
conversation, a back-and-forth relationship between one person and another (or an
organization). That can be a very powerful way to engage and influence a customer or
prospect.
There is also a downside: You need to make an on-going commitment to it. That means you,
or someone in your company, has to take the time to post to a Facebook page, or to tweet,
or to blog. Just as important, someone has to monitor all of your social media activities and
make sure to respond to inquiries and comments that come from the public. Businesses that
make the most successful use of social media invest the time necessary to stay active and
involved.
There is a whole other side to social media: the sharing of multimedia content, like videos
and photos. That’s what we’ll talk about next time.
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#4
Last time I discussed how social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ could be
used to help you more effectively market your business. This time, I’d like to share with you
some social media tools that concentrate on multimedia.
We’ve seen a rapid migration to multimedia content in the online world as consumers gain
access to faster Internet connections. Consumers expect to be able to see photos and view
videos anywhere they go via mobile devices. This presents new opportunities for businesses
catering to bluegrass fans to create multimedia marketing promotions. Here are some of the
leading multimedia social networking tools you should be considering.
YouTube
Owned by Google, YouTube is the leading social video network. Over 800 million unique
users visit YouTube each month, and 4 billion videos are viewed a day.
Big and small businesses actively use YouTube to create awareness, generate leads, and sell
products and services. You could make a video that introduces a consumer to your product
or promotes a new recording, concert or festival. You could also use YouTube to launch a
series of instructional or informational videos tied to your product promotion.
Videos need not be elaborate and can run just a few minutes in length. Once you post the
video on YouTube, you can embed it in blogs, on websites and on Facebook and promote it
via Twitter.
Pinterest
A recent online research study showed that the third leading social network behind
Facebook and Twitter is Pinterest. Interest in Pinterest is skyrocketing! This new network
currently has a predominantly female audience who “pins” photos and videos of things they
find interesting to an online pinboard and shares them. Users can “repin” someone else’s
pin. Pinterest also seamlessly connects with Facebook.
Businesses have started to recognize that Pinterest could be a powerful visual way to engage
consumers. They are using it to drive traffic to websites, generate leads through pins, and
create links via the “Pin it” button, which can be included on any online page. Most
businesses, however, are using Pinterest in a subtle way, sharing interesting visual images that
link to other information rather than making direct sales pitches. For a bluegrass concert or
festival advertiser, Pinterest is an ideal place to showcase photos or videos. Artists might
feature video of public appearances or behind-the-scenes studio footage.
Instagram
Instragram became instantly known in April when it was acquired by Facebook for $1
billion. With around 27 million users, Instagram is basically a mobile photo sharing platform
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that allows users to change the look and feel of a photo through special filters, post the
photo on Instagram, and share it via Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.
Some companies have already figured out how to capitalize on Instagram. Examples include
offering users prizes for taking photos of products or encouraging users to take photos at
live events and share them.
SlideShare
If you already have or intend to create a slide show about your product or event, you’ll want
to consider posting it on SlideShare, the world’s largest community for sharing presentations.
In addition to slide shows, the network also supports documents, PDFs, videos, and
webinars.
While it has a business orientation, SlideShare attracts 60 million monthly visitors and is
among the world’s top tools for education and e-learning. It allows you to upload public or
private presentations, share them on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and embed them on
blogs and websites. You can also embed YouTube videos inside SlideShare presentations.
As you develop your marketing programs, keep multimedia in mind – and consider tools like
the ones discussed above to engage customers and prospects and spread your multimedia
marketing messages far and wide.
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#5
This month I want to talk about the all-important shift that bluegrass fans are making to the
online world – and what it means for advertisers.
Bluegrass music is the heart and soul of bluegrass fans. But there has been a big shift in the
way these fans consume bluegrass music.
While CDs continue to be popular, there is growing evidence that music lovers are doing
more of their listening online. In the most recent Annual Music Study, conducted by leading
market research firm NPD Group, the number of paid music downloads increased to 45
million, up 14 percent in 2011 from the prior year. Digital music buyers spent 6 percent
more in 2011 at such stores as Amazon and iTunes, with an average annual purchase per
buyer of $49.
The study also found that online radio is the fastest growing music listening option
among U.S. consumers. In 2011, 43 percent of Web users chose to listen to music via online
radio, a 9 percent increase over the prior year. There were 18 million more online radio
listeners in 2011, according to the Annual Music Study. NPD Group noted that while free
online radio is most popular among 18- to 25-year olds, strong listener growth is occurring
in 36- to 50-year olds.
But the “digital shift” isn’t just about music – it represents a larger change in the way people
want to receive all kinds of content. Mobile devices have become a window to the online
world for a growing number of consumers. In November 2011, for example, over 89 million
Americans used their mobile phone to access personal or work email, an increase of 28
percent over the prior year, according to online research firm comScore. About six in ten
adults (63 percent) go online wirelessly with a cell phone, laptop, eBook reader, or tablet
computer, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
That’s just phones. The incredible popularity of Apple’s iPad has created a new way of
connecting. Since the product’s launch, almost 60 million iPads have been sold. As a result,
the iPad has spawned a whole new movement to the “tablet.”
Another factor fueling the connected consumer is the broad acceptance of e-commerce.
Online buying is no longer a novelty; the Internet is simply another retail channel.
Also, the rise of social media, in particular such networks as Facebook, Twitter, and
Pinterest, is a new force advertisers need to understand. Now, the consumer has the ability
to influence others or be influenced by sharing ideas, opinions, and commentary concerning
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just about anything. While advertisers can put the power of social media to good use, it also
means that every company, product, and service is fair game for criticism or praise that can
spread across the Internet like wildfire.
These are some of the key factors that are making this a different world for advertisers.
Advertisers looking for the best ways to reach bluegrass fans need to be aware of the rapid
growth of digital music downloads and online radio. Next time, we’ll look at another big
shift – the move from traditional media to online media.
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#6
In the last Sound Marketing for Bluegrass, I talked about the all-important shift that bluegrass
fans are making to digital music and the impact of mobile devices. Now let’s take a look at
the bigger movement: the consumer’s desire for online content.
Today, the information consumers need and want must be delivered in a form they can
consume through their connected devices. This accounts for newspapers and magazines
feverishly making the transition to digital versions, including mobile applications.
Online media consumption statistics are staggering. Nielsen Online, the online division of a
leading audience research firm, reports that the top 25 news websites in the United States
recorded over 340 million average unique monthly visitors in 2011, an increase of 17% over
the prior year. In fact, by the end of 2010, the Internet overtook print newspapers as the
source of international and national news. Only television remains more popular.
The same is true of other online media. Last time, I mentioned the increase in digital
downloads and the rising popularity of online radio. Online video has also seen explosive
growth. In 2011, there were 158 million online video viewers. That number will grow to 169
million in 2012, according to eMarketer, an online research firm. Over 45 million U.S.
consumers view videos on mobile devices.
At Bluegrass Today, we have witnessed this remarkable shift in the preference for digital
content first-hand. For example, in Q1 of 2012:
•
•
•
•
Bluegrass Today was visited by 155,200 absolute unique visitors
During that same period, they visited Bluegrass Today 311,228 times
These unique individuals generated 616,377 pageviews
Bluegrass Today had more than 10,000 visits from each of eight states. In descending
order, they were: North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, California, Texas,
Kentucky, and Georgia.
Implications for Bluegrass Advertisers
Research from leading research firm Experian Simmons indicates that bluegrass consumers
are actually ahead of other consumers in terms of their online usage:
•
60% of bluegrass consumers – some 11.5 million people – have an Internet connection
in their homes. That’s 9% higher than the average consumer.
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•
•
In a typical 30-day period, 3.2 million bluegrass consumers with a home Internet
connection visit an online newspaper or magazine website. That’s 33% higher than
the average consumer with a home Internet connection.
Bluegrass consumers are 39% more likely to spend 5 or more hours online than the
average consumer. This just relates to U.S. bluegrass consumers at home – the time
spent is higher when work time is taken into consideration.
What does this mean to you? Very simply, if you advertise any product or service to
bluegrass consumers, you cannot afford to miss out on the online marketplace!
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#7
In this edition of Sound Marketing for Bluegrass, I’d like to talk about increasing the marketing
value of your website.
Look at your website as the core or hub of your online activities. Everything else you do
online – email, social media, videos, and so on – should point to or integrate with your
website. And of course, your website address should be a standard part of all of your
communications and marketing materials.
Here are some specific things you can do to make sure your website is really working hard
for you:
Keep your content fresh.
Fresh content not only keeps website visitors engaged and coming back for more – it also
lifts your website in search engine rankings. Search engines look for new content and
content that appears frequently. One practical way to keep content fresh is to add a blog to
your website. A blog gives you the ability to post short articles often and lets visitors know
that your site is fresh and constantly updated.
Optimize your website for search engines (SEO).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a big buzzword these days, and with good reason.
Many marketers find that optimizing their websites for search engines leads to a significant
increase in web traffic. Some of the more common SEO techniques include publishing a
sitemap, using a blog (see above), adding relevant keywords to all web content and in
metatags, and getting other relevant sites to link to you. Participating in social media and
integrating social media with your website is also increasingly important. Do your own
search on “SEO” to learn more of the basics. It may be worthwhile to consult someone who
specializes in SEO to audit your website and make recommendations for improvement.
Create a “sticky” site.
Very effective websites are often called “sticky” because they attract visitors and make them
“stick” around the site for awhile. The longer a visitor stays, the more engaged they become
in your site – and that means they could become a fan, a buyer, or someone who
recommends your site to others. As mentioned earlier, fresh content, especially if it has high
informational value to the visitor, is one of the best ways to make your site sticky. Other
ways include using engagement techniques (polls, surveys, contests and the like),
encouraging visitor to sign up for site updates, offering a free subscription e-newsletter,
making promotional offers, and implementing an easy-to-use shopping cart.
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Use multimedia.
Digital music, images and video have revolutionized the online world, and today’s website
visitors want and expect websites to use multimedia. Since your website lives in the bluegrass
world, you should be using sound and images that appeal to the bluegrass fan. Tools exist to
make it easy to embed sound and video into websites, so don’t miss out on this trafficbuilding opportunity.
Remember, your website is a valuable marketing asset, so make sure it is relevant, frequently
updated, and takes advantage of the latest online technologies.
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#8
Last time, I talked about increasing the marketing value of your website. Now I’d like to
discuss using your website and other online media to create lasting value for your product or
service.
One thing we all know about bluegrass fans: They are enthusiastic about bluegrass music!
How can you channel that enthusiasm so fans feel the same way about your product or
service? You already have online tools available that you can use to do just that, including
your website, email, and social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. The
key is to employ each and every one of these tools to do essentially the same thing: Build a
lasting relationship.
Building a lasting relationship through online media is not much different than developing a
personal relationship with someone. You get to know their needs, wants, likes, and interests.
You share the things you have in common. You become a trusted source for that person,
and they think of you when they need support.
Here are three ways to do this, regardless of the product or service you offer to bluegrass
fans:
1, Practice the very best customer service. Always respond promptly to any inquiry, request
or comment. Make it obvious that your response is personal and not a “canned” message
broadcast to everyone. Follow up until the individual is satisfied. Delight the consumer by
giving him or her a little something extra that isn’t expected.
2. Cater to the informational needs of your audience. Ask an individual how they prefer to
receive information from you – via email, through social media, by direct mail, or via text
message – and follow through on that request. Also ask how often the person would like to
receive information and stick to that schedule. Offer information that helps the individual –
make it valuable, educational, and entertaining, not merely a sales pitch.
3. Promote loyalty. Consider offering customers rewards for doing business with you. This
might include credits or points for making purchases, special customer-only offers, or even a
loyalty membership club of some kind, like a fan club.
Lots of bluegrass performers have fan clubs, but here’s an example of using online media to
create something extra special. One of the leading bluegrass bands, Balsam Range, recently
launched a paid loyalty membership club ($47 per year) called “Balsam Nation.”
[http://balsamnation.com/] Balsam Range introduced the new club on its website via a
YouTube video, [http://youtu.be/HuTyfstm1RE] in which each of the five members of the
band personally invited fans to become part of their “family.”
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The band loaded the club with goodies all geared to building a lasting relationship with their
fans. The benefits include:
- a pre-release copy of Papertown, their new CD
- one new digital song per month, exclusively for members
- exclusive music videos, including a live concert recording
- “member hangouts,” permitting members to visit with the band backstage before
select live shows
- a mobile app so members can chat with each other and band members at shows
- a novel “Pick with the Band” feature that allows members to download Papertown
with one instrument of their choice missing so they can play along.
Notice how the benefits of Balsam Nation combine online and in-person items that turn
fans into real insiders, offering them access to online exclusives and to the band members
themselves. It’s obvious Balsam Range cares about its fans and wants them to feel like
they’re part of a family. Balsam Nation is a great example of a way to create lasting value in
the bluegrass world.
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#9
The social media revolution has brought with it a new emphasis on something that
marketing experts call “consumer empowerment.” Nowadays, it isn’t enough to offer
consumers passive online information – they want to be engaged and involved.
That’s one of the reasons Bluegrass Today introduced two new features last month, Forums
and Groups.
Forums are areas for members to discuss anything related to their interests in bluegrass
music. Any registered user can start a new topic, or add their thoughts to ones already
underway. As of the end of August, we had seven forums with active discussions.
Groups allow users to congregate based on specific interests. Any Group member can post
a comment, much like the “Wall” environment familiar to Facebook users. There is also a
discussion forum unique to each Group to facilitate conversation. The following groups
have been created: Broadcasters, Festivarians, IBMA, Luthiers, Pickers and Singers, and
Songwriters. Local/regional bluegrass groups will be created by request, such as the new
Alabama Bluegrass Music Association. Valid suggestions for new groups are welcome.
Forums and Groups are two ways registered users of Bluegrass Today can actively participate
and interact with other users who have similar interests. In fact, registered users can create
their own profiles and have their own set of Friends, if they so choose.
While everyone who visits and uses Bluegrass Today has a love of bluegrass music in common,
not everyone wants to set a spell and chat. That’s fine. Users can do whatever makes them
feel comfortable. Bluegrass Today is designed to fulfill a dual need: provide news and an events
listing for bluegrass enthusiasts, and provide a platform for interacting with others in the
bluegrass community.
If you’re an advertiser or plan to advertise on Bluegrass Today, you are encouraged to become
a registered user and take advantage of Forums and Groups. While it probably isn’t a good
idea to post overtly promotional messages, you certainly can join in the conversation and
identify yourself as part of a business. There’s nothing wrong with participating in
discussions, answering questions, or starting Forum topics that are related to your business
interests, as long as you know members are looking for honest, impartial feedback.
More features will be added in the future to keep Bluegrass Today a vibrant and valuable
resource for users and advertisers alike.
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#10
IBMA’s 2012 World of Bluegrass event is right around the corner (Sept. 24 through 27 in
Nashville). So I thought I’d use it as an opportunity to talk about event marketing.
If you signed up online to attend World of Bluegrass, you may have noticed that, in addition
to promoting the event on its website, IBMA set up a unique URL for the event itself
[http://worldofbluegrass.org/]. In fact, the look and feel of the World of Bluegrass website
is very similar to the IBMA website [http://ibma.org/]. Even the logo for World of
Bluegrass is a variation of the IBMA logo. This makes a lot of sense, because it provides a
consistent brand identity that transfers from the parent organization to the event.
The World of Bluegrass is actually an umbrella name for three events: the 2012 Business
Conference, the IBMA Awards, and the Bluegrass Fan Fest. Tickets can be purchased for all
three events at a combination rate or for each event individually. While all of the events are
inter-related, they appeal to different audiences.
The Business Conference is focused on individuals who are involved in the business side of
bluegrass in some way, so there are keynote speakers, professional development sessions,
interactive sessions, opportunities for networking, an exhibit hall, and so on. FanFest clearly
targets bluegrass music fans, offering up a full schedule of top name performers, as well as
discussions and showcases. The IBMA Awards cut across all bluegrass audiences, with
obvious appeal to the nominated performing artists and their fans.
IBMA’s World of Bluegrass demonstrates a lot of the sound fundamentals of event
marketing. You may be participating in the World of Bluegrass as an exhibitor or speaker,
attending Business Conference sessions, or just going to enjoy some great music. Whatever
the reason, it was good event marketing that helped get you there.
As a marketer of products or services to bluegrass fans, you have undoubtedly attended
concerts, festivals, and gatherings, or perhaps even organized such events. Typically, the
most successful events are promoted across multiple media, with a strong emphasis on
electronic marketing. Promotions on websites (both the event website and other relevant
sites), the use of email, and active engagement on social media all contribute to the event’s
success. (Hopefully, event organizers remember to list their events on Bluegrass Today!)
When you attend an event for business purposes, take a lesson from the event promoters
and use the “before, during and after” marketing approach. Promote your appearance at the
event beforehand to bluegrass fans, have a presence at the event that leaves a lasting
impression, and then share photos and videos from the event afterwards to extend the
marketing impact of the event. You can use this same marketing strategy with online events,
such as the introduction of new albums or webinars.
In the bluegrass world, events are part and parcel of the bluegrass experience, so be sure you
are taking maximum marketing advantage of them.
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#11
This month, we’re going to focus on something you might take for granted but you
shouldn’t: your brand.
You could be marketing products or services to bluegrass fans, promoting your band’s
newest recording, or making fans aware of a bluegrass event. No matter what you market,
you should be thinking about your product, your service, or yourself as a brand, and doing
the best you can to foster a positive image for your brand.
Consumers recognize brands that have memorable, meaningful, and unique brand names.
Often, these names are accompanied by logos, or graphic representations of the brand name.
If logos are well-designed, appropriate, and distinctive, they can go a long way to setting your
brand apart.
In addition to a memorable name and an effective logo, a great brand has a consistency
about it. Leading brands consistently apply their logo, wherever it’s used, but more than that,
they are consistent in their use of marketing copy, graphics, and color. In fact, everything
that leading brands produce has a consistent look, feel, and sound. And that consistency
applies across all forms of marketing – from business cards, to brochures, to packaging, to
signs, to online media.
There’s something else leading brands do and you can do it too: They make sure their brand
appeals to the head and the heart. They do this by combining rational and emotional
marketing arguments.
The rational argument for a brand involves conveying sensible, practical facts in the brand’s
marketing messages. These appeal to a consumer’s rational or logical mind – the brain, the
thought process, whatever you want to call it. The emotional side is quite different. To evoke
emotion, a brand has to paint a picture that creates a certain feeling. It has to make a
consumer feel good. The emotional argument appeals to a consumer’s heart and soul and
represents how a person “feels” about a brand.
Often, top brand marketers will lead with the emotional aspect because it has a higher
impact. It might even create an impulsive or irrational desire to purchase the brand. The
rational argument is then used in an underlying role, to support the purchase decision.
Typically, the emotional aspect centers around benefits while the rational aspect centers
around facts.
Keep these elements of branding in mind when you promote your product, your service, or
yourself. Building a strong brand image, and creating a brand with dual appeal, will help you
stand out to the bluegrass audience.
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#12
Last time, I wrote about how to foster a positive image for your brand. I talked about why
consistency in design and copy is essential, and how the combination of rational and
emotional aspects makes your brand appealing.
Now I’d like to discuss another important element in building a successful brand: how to
position your brand. Successful brands develop a preferential position in the mind of a
likely buyer. They do this by highlighting benefits about the brand that appeal directly to the
target audience. For example, if you market a bluegrass festival, you would of course
promote the artists who will be performing, but you might also talk about some of the
festival’s other benefits to attendees – the convenient location, the reasonable price of
admission, free parking, the food that is available, and so on.
One way to be sure you are developing a strong position for your brand is to create a brand
positioning statement. This statement defines as specifically but as simply as possible your
brand’s position in the marketplace. An effective brand positioning statement can establish a
winning strategy for any brand.
Here’s what to include when you write a brand positioning statement:
Likely Brand Buyer – This is the person who is most likely to be interested in buying your
brand. Develop a profile of your likely buyer by getting to know the person’s attributes:
gender, race, age, income, geographic area, employment, interests, etc. This person then
becomes representative of your target audience. If there is more than one target audience
for your brand, consider including multiple descriptions of the brand buyer.
Competition – It’s important to understand how is your brand is positioned in relation to
your competitors. Your brand positioning statement should demonstrate to the target
audience why your brand is superior to the competition.
Brand Benefit – Identify the most compelling benefits of your brand. Think of a benefit as
the way in which your brand improves the life of the likely brand buyer. A benefit – what the
brand does for the buyer – is different from a feature – a characteristic of the brand.
Unique Brand Promise – Define the unique selling proposition of your brand. This
probably includes a product benefit, but it often goes beyond one benefit alone. Your unique
brand promise is what truly sets your brand apart – something your brand offers that is
different from everyone else’s brand.
Here’s an example of a possible brand positioning statement for a music store that sells
bluegrass instruments:
21
If you’re a serious bluegrass artist or just play as a hobby, you can rely on Barry’s Music Shop.
You’ll find the largest selection of banjos and mandolins in North Carolina, plus much more. Get
friendly, personalized service not just from salespeople but from bluegrass musicians. Plus, every
instrument you buy is covered by our unique guarantee: We promise you’ll love it, or we’ll buy it
back from you!
Notice how this statement incorporates all four of the above-mentioned elements:
- Likely Brand Buyer (“If you’re a serious bluegrass artist or just play as a hobby”)
- Positioning against the Competition (“the largest selection of banjos and mandolins
in North Carolina”),
- Brand Benefit (“friendly, personalized service not just from salespeople but from
bluegrass musicians”)
- Unique Brand Promise (“every instrument you buy is covered by our unique
guarantee”).
A brand positioning statement gives you the platform necessary to create the most effective
marketing messages that promote your brand’s unique qualities to the right audience.
22
#13
As you look ahead to next year, it’s a good idea to keep in mind some of the key trends that
could have a lasting impact on your marketing. One of the biggest trends is the continued
strong adoption of the Internet as a means of consuming information and entertainment.
In past editions of Sound Marketing for Bluegrass, I’ve written about how bluegrass fans are
increasingly moving to digital platforms to listen to and buy music. One fact I mentioned is
that online radio has been shown to be the fastest growing music listening option among
U.S. consumers, according to the 2011 Annual Music Study published by research firm NPD
Group. The study noted that while free online radio is most popular among 18- to 25-year
olds, strong listener growth is occurring in 36- to 50-year olds.
This is a trend that generally holds true across all forms of Internet usage, including social
media. Basically, the broad population has made an overwhelming shift to digital media.
While they continue to watch television, U.S. consumers are becoming less dependent on
print media and more dependent on digital media.
This media evolution includes a key shift that you might call the “Digital Everywhere” effect.
Today, more and more consumers expect to be able to send and receive emails, view videos,
search the web, and access social media sites from wherever they are. This is getting easier to
do thanks to smartphones and tablet devices. About six in ten adults (63 percent) go online
wirelessly with a cell phone, laptop, eBook reader, or tablet computer, according to the Pew
Internet & American Life Project. Cell phone providers are now offering cross-platform data
plans with unlimited minutes, and even new cars are being built with Internet connections.
Another important aspect of Digital Everywhere is how widely available Internet access
affects what people can do with their devices. With smartphones and tablets, consumers can
now get directions to wherever they want to go, compare prices online while looking at
merchandise in a store, download music and video any time, scan a “QR” code to get more
information, and act immediately on promotional offers sent directly to their devices. Some
consumers can even use their devices as electronic credit cards to make fast, secure
payments.
Portable Internet-enabled devices are revolutionizing retailing as well. Major retail chains are
now using smartphones and tablets to answer customers’ questions in their stores and even
as payment terminals. Smaller retailers can accept credit card payments anywhere. I recently
noticed a food truck operator swiping a customer’s credit card through a smartphone, thanks
to a little white payment device known as “Square.”
As a bluegrass marketer, you should think about the impact this big trend will have on your
business. What are you doing to make sure you reach your audience across all the connected
devices they use? How can you take advantage of the new way your customers are
consuming information? Digital Everywhere is will be the new reality in 2013. Make sure you
are ready for it!
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#14
Last time, I wrote about a trend I call “Digital Everywhere” – the reality that consumers now
have the ability to access the Internet from just about anywhere, via devices such as
smartphones and tablets. This is one of the trends bluegrass marketers need to understand
and capitalize on in 2013.
Along with the Digital Everywhere trend comes another closely associated trend that should
be of special interest to anyone who uses the Internet for marketing: the trend towards
information and entertainment in video form.
Video has become something of a "secret weapon" for marketers who want to make a
lasting impression. Over 180 million Internet users viewed online video in September,
according to a recent report. [http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/29/comscore-u-s-internetusers-watched-39-billion-online-videos-in-september-number-of-viewers-down-slightlyfrom-august/] There is strong evidence [http://www.tenlegs.com/blog/2012/05/growthin-video-marketing/] that videos grab more attention than traditional text and photos.
Unlike elaborate television commercials, Internet videos of good quality can be produced
inexpensively and without professional training.
Bluegrass marketers are in an ideal position to leverage the power of video. If you are
promoting a bluegrass festival, for example, video footage from a previous festival can be
one of your strongest marketing assets. Bluegrass artists can make use of video to entice
consumers to listen to and purchase music or attend concerts. A bluegrass music store can
share video of some of the instruments they have for sale.
But there are other great marketing uses for video, as indicated by small business marketing
expert Gail Goodman in her article for Entrepreneur magazine.
[http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219524] These include product demonstrations,
customer testimonials, staff introductions, and video tours of businesses. "Video engages
people in a way that photos and text alone can't," writes Goodman. "For small-business
owners, using video in your marketing can bring faces, voices, personality and heart to your
operation, while also demonstrating your authenticity." Goodman also shares some valuable
video production tips in her article.
Once a video is produced, it can be posted for free on platforms such as YouTube and
embedded in web pages, blogs, and emails. Some of the most successful videos reach
thousands of viewers when they "go viral," particularly across social networks.
Here’s something else to consider in the video/multimedia arena: You can conduct an online
seminar, or “webinar.” Think of a webinar as a presentation you make online instead of to a
room full of people. One of the great advantages of a webinar is prospects and customers
don’t have to travel to experience it.
24
Usually, an informational webinar rather than a sales pitch is the most effective way to attract
an audience. With the help of any one of a number of technology providers, you can present
a webinar live or record one that can be viewed at any time. Webinars are popular as a way
for marketers to engage customers and prospects in an extended discussion about a
particular topic.
Take a close look at the use of online video as a means of improving your marketing in 2013.
Given its popularity with consumers, and its low cost for marketers, video is the kind of
medium that could have a meaningful and measurable impact on your marketing program.
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#15
If you want to make the best use of online marketing in 2013, it’s time to get serious about
Search.
According to Search Engine Journal, [http://www.searchenginejournal.com/24-eye-poppingseo-statistics/42665/] 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine. As much
as 70 percent of your prospects are probably using Google to search for something that’s
relevant to them. Suppose someone searches for bluegrass festivals in Tennessee. If you run
a bluegrass festival in Tennessee, will they find you?
It may seem obvious that you’ll show up in the search results, but it had better be on the first
page – because 75 percent of users never scroll past the first page of search results,
according to Search Engine Journal. So how can you be sure your website is highly ranked by
search engines?
The basic answer involves three little letters: S-E-O, which stands for Search Engine
Optimization. This is an area that is often clouded in technical mumbo-jumbo because it
involves some behind-the-website kinds of things. As a result many marketers miss out on
the benefits of SEO. What SEO really means is looking for specific ways to ensure that your
website and your online presence are “search-engine friendly.” Here are a few examples that
are known to generally improve your search engine ranking:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Be sure to submit your site to every major search engine (Google, Yahoo! and Bing),
and make sure you are listed in the appropriate section(s) of Bluegrass Today’s
Community listings.
Use a “meta description tag” with relevant keywords for your website, because this is
the text used by search engines to summarize your site.
Create title tags, which are shown as the headline for webpages in search results. Use
relevant keywords in these tags as well.
Consider adding a site map to your website, if you don’t already have one, since site
maps help search engines index your content.
Add fresh content to a blog on a regular basis, because search engines use blogs as a
ranking indicator.
Encourage other legitimate websites to link to your site. External links to your sites
are favored by search engines.
Become active in various forms of social media, and cross-link between your website
and the social media you use. Search engines now take social media activity into
account.
26
These are some basic tactics you can use, but there’s a lot more to know about Search
Engine Optimization. Visit Search Engine Journal [http://www.searchenginejournal.com/] and
Search Engine Land, [http://searchengineland.com/], two of the leading online search
publications, to learn additional tips. Check out the free webmaster tools from Google. Do
your own search on the term “Search Engine Optimization” and see what you discover.
Capitalizing on SEO can help you stay on top when it comes to search.
27
#16
Last time, I wrote about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a way to improve the ranking
of your website on search engines.
Now I want to talk about a related topic – search engine advertising. If you use Google as a
search engine, you have undoubtedly noticed that when you search for something, the
results page often has items which stand apart from the rest. Typically, these search results
run across the top of the search page, or in a narrow column on the right side of the page.
These “special” results appear in those positions because they are paid search ads.
The reason advertisers buy these ads is to increase their chances of being noticed in the
search results. As I mentioned last time, over 90 percent of online experiences begin with a
search engine, and 75 percent of users never scroll past the first page of search results. That’s
why getting a position that’s high up on the first search page is important.
Paid search advertising on Google is called “Google AdWords.” You can learn all about it by
clicking on “Advertising Programs” at the bottom of the Google home page. Google has a
very comprehensive program that guides you through the entire process. Bing, Yahoo! and
other search engines have similar programs.
The positives of paid search advertising are include the following: You are buying a position
in the search results on a “pay per click” basis, so you only pay when someone actually clicks
on the link in the text of your ad. You can set a ceiling on how much you are willing to pay
per click (the more you pay, the better your position). The higher your ad appears in the
search results, the more likely it is the ad will be seen by a large number of prospects. “Pay
per click” ads, by the way, are also available on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media
networks.
On the negative side, even though you are paying for a prospect to click on your ad (called a
“clickthrough”), that doesn’t mean the person is taking the additional action you probably
want. A “clickthrough” is essentially an unqualified lead. It is your job to turn that lead into a
prospect. That’s why it is best to direct the clickthrough to a special landing page (instead of
your home page) where the prospect can take advantage of an offer of some kind that
encourages further engagement.
Evaluate paid search carefully and compare it to other forms of advertising. It makes sense
to test it and determine if it is generating the kind of traffic and the quality of prospects you
want before making it a regular advertising investment.
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#17
Want to know one of the “secrets” to successfully marketing your product or service to
bluegrass fans this year? It’s content.
The quality and frequency of the content you publish can often set you apart from your
competition – and generate more leads for your business.
The 12th annual industry study by the Custom Content Council found
[http://www.customcontentcouncil.com/news/new-survey-shows-continued-growthcontent-spending] that the total spent on branded content per company last year rose
significantly compared to the last two year average. Thirty-eight percent of respondents
projected their content budgets would increase this year. The primary reasons given for
using branded content were educating customers, brand loyalty, up-selling, and customer
retention.
Hubspot, a marketing software firm, found
[http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33911/the-business-blog-editorialcalendar-every-marketer-needs-freetemplate?source=Blog_Email_[The%20Business%20Blog%20Ed] ] that 70 percent of
companies who publish articles 2 to 3 times per week via a blog have acquired a customer
through that blog. They also found that companies who increase their blogging frequency
from 3 to 5 times per month to 6 to 8 times per month almost double their leads.
Blogging is one relatively easy online way you can deliver fresh content to customers and
prospects. A blog connected to your website gives you the ability to post short articles often
and lets visitors know that your site is fresh and constantly updated. Fresh content not only
keeps website visitors engaged and coming back for more – it also lifts your website in
search engine rankings. Search engines look for new content and content that appears
frequently.
Content comes in all shapes and sizes, not just in blogs. A new study by the Content
Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs indicates [http://www.slideshare.net/CMI/b2-cresearch2013cmi] that 86 percent of Business-to-Consumer marketers employ content
marketing, using an average of 12 individual tactics. Some of the more popular tactics
include content distribution via social media, e-newsletters, videos, blogs, and in-person
events.
Regardless of how you deliver your content, though, the most important thing is to make the
content highly relevant to your target audience. Bluegrass fans, just like any consumers, are
looking for content that is interesting, informative, educational, and entertaining. For
example, if you sell musical instruments, bluegrass fans might be interested to know about
the history of instruments, how the instruments are made, or stories about great musicians
who play the instruments. This type of content positions your company as a knowledgeable
expert, not just a place to buy instruments.
29
If the content you provide tells them something they didn’t know or couldn’t find out
elsewhere, so much the better. While it’s acceptable to make a subtle sales pitch, the content
should, for the most part, be information your audience can use whether or not they make a
purchase from you.
Quality content can be used to distinguish your company and result in more business. Keep
this in mind as you build a marketing program this year.
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#18
Last time, I wrote about the importance of producing quality content as part of an effective
marketing program. In keeping with that theme, I’d like to focus on a specific type of
content related to web marketing.
You no doubt have a website. You may be using social media, email and online advertising
to drive prospects to your website. The problem is, by directing someone to your website
home page, you have lost the ability to track your prospect’s interest back to that marketing
promotion.
That’s why experienced online marketers make use of two forms of specialized content: the
landing page and the microsite.
Landing Page
Let’s say you place an ad on Bluegrass Today. To entice a prospect to respond, you decide to
make a special offer, such as free information or a discount for new customers. (Offers that
have a high perceived value are proven to generate more qualified leads than promotions
with no offer.)
Someone who clicks on your ad is directed to a special web page, a “landing page,” that you
create to handle responses from this particular promotion. A landing page gives you the
ability to know exactly how many responses were generated from the specific ad at any given
time. If you directed respondents to your website home page, you would lose the ability to
track the responses back to the ad.
The landing page also offers you the opportunity to highlight a special offer. If you were
offering some free information, for example, you could describe it in detail on the landing
page, making it more desirable to the prospect. Then, you could include a simple form for
the prospect to fill out. Now you have captured a lead. You can follow up by sending the
free information (or providing a link to receive it online) and also add the individual to an
email contact list for future promotions. If you keep track of the responses from that
individual, you will be able to determine if this lead eventually becomes a customer, so you
can trace that customer back to the original online promotion.
To make sure you are creating the most effective landing page, read the excellent article,
[http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33927/11-simple-but-critical-tips-forcreating-better-landing-pages?source=Blog_Email_[11%20Simple%20%28But%20Criti] ]
“11 Simple (But Critical) Tips for Creating Better Landing Pages,” published by Hubspot, a
maker of marketing software.
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Microsite
The microsite is essentially a miniature website designed to provide content concerning a
very specific area. While it is often attached to a company’s website, the microsite has its
own URL. That means it is can be found by search engines so it can be located separate and
apart from the larger website.
Much like a landing page, a microsite is used to augment a specific promotion or offer. In
fact, the microsite itself could be an informational offer, as long as the content is interesting,
informative, educational, and entertaining. For example, if you sell musical instruments, you
might create a microsite that includes information you don’t want to put on your main
website, such as the history of instruments, how the instruments are made, or stories about
great musicians who play the instruments. This type of content positions your company as a
knowledgeable expert.
Microsites are also versatile; for example, you could use a microsite to:
• test a new brand, new products or new services
• reach a specific target audience that may be different from your core audience
• create a regional or international version of your website
• create a “customer-only” website.
These two kinds of specialized content, the landing page and the microsite, will be useful to
you for engaging customers and qualifying prospects.
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#19
This month’s featured topic is how to control your brand image so it is consistent and
uniform.
As a marketer of products or services to bluegrass fans, you have a brand image made up of
the things a prospect or customer sees, including your company and product logos and the
way you use type and color in your marketing materials.
In today’s marketing environment, each of these things can appear differently based on the
communication medium you use. When you use digital media, controlling your creative
assets becomes an even bigger challenge.
Here are a few things to look out for:
1. Logo
A logo is a graphic image that encapsulates a brand. Think about the various ways
you might use your logo: in a newspaper ad, on a brochure, on a webpage, in an
email, on a billboard, maybe even on a shirt, a hat or a coffee mug. Every time your
logo appears, it represents your brand image, so if it doesn’t look the same wherever
you use it, your brand image suffers.
It’s important to design a logo that works well for every application. The graphic
approach should be simple yet have a high visual impact to intrigue and engage the
prospect or customer. If the logo uses graphics that are too complex or intricate, the
quality will degrade, especially in smaller sizes. If the logo relies on too many colors,
it will be more expensive to reproduce in print and difficult to color-match online.
(See “Color” below.) A good graphic designer will consider all of these factors in
creating a logo.
2. Type and color
Type
Prospects and customers might not know specific typefaces, but they know
something isn’t right when they see different typefaces mixed together. While you
can apply bold, italic, and underlining for emphasis, the same typeface should be
used consistently in connection with your brand.
In general, type is easier to read in print when it has serifs and it is a dark color on a
light background. The opposite, light type on a dark background, is often called
“reverse type.” In digital media, sans serif type is usually easier to read, but just as in
print, the same rule applies to reverse type: Too much light type on a dark
background is much harder to read, even on a computer screen.
33
Color
Color must be carefully controlled, especially if you want to use the same color in a
brochure as on a webpage. That’s because traditional printing uses “CMYK,” or cyan
(blue), magenta, yellow, and black, while digital media is based on “RGB,” or red,
green and blue. Basically, that means reproducing a color in printed form must be
translated into a comparable (but usually not exact) color online. Flesh-tones are
particularly difficult to reproduce online. Always be aware that a printed image will
be difficult to match, so it will appear somewhat differently in digital form.
Hopefully these tips will help you keep your graphics more uniform and consistent. Next
time, we’ll talk about maintaining consistency of message.
34
#20
Last time, I talked about the importance of controlling graphics, including the use of your
logo, type and color. Now I’d like to discuss consistency and uniformity of message.
The way you need to market products or services to bluegrass fans today is very different
than it was just a few years ago. Now, many more media channels are available to you. The
biggest change in marketing is the increasing preference by consumers for digital media. As a
greater percentage of consumers use mobile devices for communication, information and
entertainment, marketers must follow their lead.
As a result, all of your marketing messages must be transferable to various forms of digital
media.
To maintain consistency and uniformity of your brand message, it would be well worth your
effort to create a messaging platform. A messaging platform is a single document that
details your basic brand messages in simple language. It typically includes your brand’s
attributes, why your brand is better than your competition, and the most important benefits
of buying your brand.
Once you have a messaging platform in place, you can use it to guide the way you talk about
your brand across multiple media.
Suppose you have a brochure or a print ad that you think does a good of representing your
product or service. The copy used in the brochure or ad is based on your messaging
platform and reflects your brand image. So how do you modify that copy for digital media?
Your messaging platform will help. Always refer to your messaging platform to be sure you
are including your key messages even if copy length and style change dramatically from one
medium to another. For example, a Facebook post is usually more conversational than a
brochure. A “tweet” on Twitter is restricted to 140 characters. An online ad may need to use
a minimum number of words. Emails tend to work best when they are written in letter form.
Websites are more like electronic brochures.
Marketing copy may change to fit the medium, but what shouldn’t change is the way you
write about your brand and the tone of the copy. The copy should always sound like it came
from the same company, and it should embody the same basic messages across all media.
That’s the value of a messaging platform.
Remember, regardless of the media you use, a prospect or customer should always be able to
recognize your brand and what it stands for.
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#21
This month’s topic is marketing measurement and analysis.
Let’s begin with a basic question: Are you measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) of
everything you do in marketing? Quite honestly, many bluegrass marketers cannot answer
“Yes” to that question.
Most of us are guilty at one time or another of executing a marketing program, usually in a
reactionary way, that we don’t measure ROI effectively. Even if you are measuring inquires
from an ad, views associated with an online video, or “Likes” from a Facebook page, are you
taking the next step and measuring what it cost you to generate each response – and whether
that investment really paid off for you?
Not everyone defines ROI the same way. For example, suppose an ad you run gets 50
inquiries, or an online video you post gets thousands of views, or an offer you make on
Facebook generates hundreds of "Likes." You could measure the response to each of these
marketing initiatives against the cost to execute them and then come up with an ROI based
on how much it cost you to generate each response. It might look like a pretty good ROI –
until you consider the real value of ad inquiries, video views and Facebook “Likes.”
The fact is, these inquiries are what professional marketers call “suspects,” or unqualified
responses. Yes, the individuals who responded may have expressed some interest in your
product or service, but with a minimal level of commitment. To demonstrate qualified
interest, a suspect must first become a lead, or a “prospect” Then you must determine if that
prospect is “cold,” (casual interest with no defined time frame for purchase), “warm”
(definite interest with a defined time frame for purchase), or “hot” (definite need with a
more immediate time frame for purchase). Only when a suspect becomes a prospect can you
identify it as having the potential to generate business for you.
The true ROI of a marketing effort is hidden beneath the surface of an ad inquiry, a view, or
a “Like.” It is based on whether or not this suspect converts into a prospect and, eventually,
a buyer.
That's why you need to force yourself to look for the hard ROI numbers, not the easy ones.
You need to know if a suspect becomes a prospect. Then you need to nurture that prospect
until he or she becomes a customer. What’s more, you need to set up mechanisms so you
can accurately measure the response from suspects, prospects, and customers. This is the
only meaningful way you can track marketing ROI.
Next time, we’ll explore the analytical side of the ROI equation.
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#22
Last time I wrote about the importance of measuring the ROI of everything you do in
marketing. I suggested that true ROI had to be measured not based on suspects (for
example, unqualified inquiries generated by ads, video views, or Facebook pages), but based
on prospects and, ultimately, customers. The ROI that should be most important to you is
whether or not a suspect becomes a prospect and, eventually, converts into a buyer.
Marketing ROI becomes even more meaningful when you analyze it to understand the
overall effectiveness of your customer acquisition. Mike Volpe, the Chief Marketing Officer
of Hubspot, a marketing systems vendor, wrote an excellent blog post
[http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34054/The-6-Marketing-Metrics-YourCEO-Actually-Cares-About-Cheat-Sheet.aspx#ixzz2IuUkD6RR] detailing some of the
metrics that evolve from marketing ROI. Here are a few examples:
•
Customer Acquisition Cost: This is what it costs to acquire a customer. It consists
of the total sales and marketing spent in a particular period, divided by the number
of customers acquired in that period
•
Customer Lifetime Value: This represents the current value of a customer. To
compute it, writes Volpe, "take the revenue the customer pays you in a period,
subtract out the gross margin, and then divide by the estimated churn %
(cancellation rate) for that customer."
•
Ratio of Customer Lifetime Value to Customer Acquisition Cost: This ratio
tells you the ROI of your acquisition efforts. According to Volpe, "a higher ratio
means your Sales and Marketing have a higher ROI. Higher is not always better
though; when the ratio is too high, you might want to spend more on Sales and
Marketing to grow faster, because you are restraining your growth by underspending, and making life easy for your competition."
•
Marketing Originated Customer: Wouldn’t it be nice to know what percentage of
customers have actually come from marketing? Just take all of the customers you
acquire in a particular time period and analyze what percentage began as a prospect
that came directly from a marketing effort. “What I like about this metric,” writes
Volpe, “is that it directly shows what portion of the overall customer acquisition
originated in Marketing, and it is often higher than Sales would lead you to believe.”
Measuring and analyzing your marketing ROI can reveal key metrics like the ones listed
above. Think about other metrics that are relevant to you. What do you need to know to
prove that you are getting a solid return on your marketing investment? Whether a marketing
initiative is large or small, you should always be thinking about its objective, its outcome –
and its real ROI.
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#23
Most bluegrass marketers are aware that their customers are moving from print magazines to
online sources of information about bluegrass music. What you may not realize, though, is
how pervasive this shift really is. Magazine print sales and advertising revenue continue to
decline year after year, according to the Pew Research Center’s Annual Report on American
Journalism, [http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/magazines-are-hopes-for-tabletsoverdone/#industry-over-all] which states: “So far, most magazines are not capturing
enough of the growth in digital to make up for what is disappearing from print. … Readers,
meanwhile, are migrating fast to digital and mobile, a move that accelerated in 2011 with the
explosion of tablets and smartphone ownership.”
The importance of this shift cannot be underestimated, because it is driven directly by the
connected consumer. Today, the information consumers need and want must be delivered
online, in a form they can consume through their connected devices. Combine this with the
manner in which music itself has gravitated toward digital distribution and bluegrass
marketers face a whole different challenge today than they did just a few years ago.
Thankfully, Bluegrass Today has been the beneficiary of bluegrass fans’ preferences for
digital information. Bluegrass fans and artists alike love Bluegrass Today. Here’s what
Rhonda Vincent has to say about it: “Being the bluegrass fan and Internet junkie I am,
Bluegrass Today is the place I visit for breaking news in the bluegrass world. Stories, news,
and photos – and the perfect place to go when you want to find a show! It’s the only site I
need to stay in-the-know!”
The site witnessed incredible growth last year:
•
•
•
•
Bluegrass Today was visited by 628,997 absolute unique visitors
During that same period, they visited Bluegrass Today 1,303,919 times
These unique individuals generated 2,508,714 pageviews
Bluegrass Today had more than 25,000 visits from each of 15 states. The top 6
states and their number of visits are:
North Carolina
121,401
Tennessee
100,236
Virginia
98,572
California
60,612
Ohio
53,997
Kentucky
48,483
Compare these statistics to the leading bluegrass print magazine, which reports a paid
circulation of under 23,000 in total.
The broad comparison between print and online media is also very significant. Print
magazines are declining in circulation and advertising revenue while online publications are
increasing in popularity. Print reaches a small audience while the reach of online is global.
Print is delivered in a single format while online is delivered on multiple devices anywhere.
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Print ads have long lead times while online ads can be accommodated rapidly and changed
on the fly.
What does this mean to you? Very simply, being online is a must – because that’s where
your customers and prospects are!
Be sure to request our special report on bluegrass and the Internet to learn more about what
you need to do to take advantage of the changing marketing landscape.
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#24
Last time I wrote about the fact that bluegrass fans, along with consumers in general,
increasingly prefer to receive information online rather than through print media. As a result,
Bluegrass Today has become the single leading source of bluegrass news, with over
600,000 unique visitors in 2012 alone. David Dufresne, CEO of Bandzoogle, a firm that
helps bluegrass bands build websites, says “The bluegrass community is lucky to have a
destination site like Bluegrass Today that collects and organizes all information and news
related to bluegrass. With Bandzoogle, we’re involved in many music genres and
communities, and few have that kind of resource at their disposal.”
Last year, Bluegrass Today had more than 25,000 visits to its website from each of 15
states. The site had more than 98,000 visits from each of three states alone, North Carolina,
Tennessee, and Virginia. Compare this to the leading bluegrass print magazine, which
reports a paid circulation of under 23,000 in total.
As you can see, advertising on Bluegrass Today makes a lot of sense. You can already
target your advertising by city, DMA (Designated Market Area), zip code, area code and/or
state. Now you can take advantage of optional geo-targeting by radius when you advertise
on Bluegrass Today. With geo-targeting by radius, you can actually set a radius for your
advertising – a feature that is particularly valuable for festival, show, and concert promoters.
For example, suppose you are holding a bluegrass festival in Lexington, Kentucky. Prior
experience shows that your festival draws from as far as 350 miles away. By advertising with
Bluegrass Today, you can set a geo-target radius of 350 miles and reach fans you might
miss with conventional advertising in a magazine. With this radius, you could reach parts of
Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia, states that have a very high
number of visitors to Bluegrass Today, so your ad will very likely reach brand new
prospects for your festival.
With a festival, show or concert, you need to generate as many attendees as possible – and
geo-targeting by radius can help you do that! You can prove it to yourself by directly testing
a print ad against an online ad. A special report on bluegrass and the Internet now available
from Bluegrass Today will show you how. In fact, this report includes a detailed plan for
how advertisers can best reach bluegrass fans.
Be sure to request the special report on bluegrass and the Internet.
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#25
I recently wrote about the growing preference bluegrass fans and other consumers have for
getting their information online. In keeping with this theme, I wanted to share some recent
statistics with you.
You may very well remember the days when the most popular way to get news was through
a printed daily newspaper. This has changed dramatically in the digital era. According
[http://www.naa.org/Trends-and-Numbers/Newspaper-Revenue/Newspaper-MediaIndustry-Revenue-Profile-2012.aspx] to the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper
advertising revenue has plummeted from around $65 billion in 2000 to around $23 billion in
2012. Print advertising has continued to decline year after year; in 2012, it amounted to $18.9
billion. Digital advertising for newspapers did show gains, but in 2012, digital ad revenue was
only 17 percent of overall newspaper advertising revenue.
So where are all those lost newspaper ad dollars going? Here’s a stunning statistic that may
help answer that question. In 2001, Google’s advertising sales were less than $1 billion. In
2012, Google’s ad sales reached a staggering $46 billion, almost 250% higher than newspaper
print advertising sales.
Veteran media executive Alan D. Nutter makes an astute comparison of newspapers and
Google in his blog, [http://newsosaur.blogspot.ca/2013/04/newspaper-sales-skid-forseventh.html] “Reflections of a Newsosaur”:
Newspapers (along with magazines, billboards and broadcasters) represent the
traditional but inefficient “reach” model of advertising, which depends on spreading
a commercial message to as large an audience as possible in hopes of connecting
with qualified customers who happen at the moment to be receptive to it. Google,
on the other hand, represents the highly efficient “each” model of advertising, which
lets marketers put customized commercial messages next to only the results of
searches containing specific keywords they have selected to target their ads. The
Google system not only enables marketers to target exactly the right prospect at the
right moment but also makes it remarkably easy to monitor response rates and, thus,
measure an ad’s return on investment in real time.
You can apply this same line of thinking to print vs. online in the bluegrass world. For
example, suppose you place an ad in a bluegrass print magazine. What are the chances a
reader will even notice that ad, as he or she flips through the magazine’s pages? Whether the
reader sees the ad or not, you are paying for the ad’s placement in each printed copy of the
magazine.
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Place a Bluegrass Today ad, though, and it is served up as an “ad impression.” You don’t pay
for that ad impression unless someone opens the webpage. You are not buying
impressions that no one is seeing. Plus, you can geo-target your ad so it appears in exactly
the area you want to reach.
Print magazines, like newspapers, are a dying breed. Bluegrass Today exists to provide fans
with what they want – current news about bluegrass online, when and where they want it. Be
sure to consider the above statistics when you are thinking about advertising your product,
service or event to bluegrass fans.
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#26
Last time I reported on some remarkable statistics about the decline of traditional print
newspaper advertising and the rise of digital advertising. I mentioned that Google’s
advertising sales alone reached $46 billion last year – almost 250% higher than newspaper
print advertising sales.
Here are some new statistics about online radio and online usage that are equally significant.
One-third of Americans age 12 and older now listen to all forms of online radio every week,
according to a new survey,[http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2013/04/theinfinite-dial-2013-navigating-digital-platforms.php] “The Infinite Dial 2013: Navigating
Digital Platforms” by Arbitron and Edison Research
Online radio listeners listen for an average of 11 hours 56 minutes on a weekly basis. “We
are now seeing the highest levels of weekly online radio listening with the increasing strength
of AM/FM streams and other online radio brands and the near ubiquity of devices in which
consumers can listen,” said Bill Rose, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Arbitron. The
study is the 21st in a series of studies dating back to 1998.
This survey also revealed some important new facts about mobile phone and online usage:
•
•
•
139 million people – 53 percent of all Americans age 12 and over – now own a
smartphone.
More than 1 in 4 people – about 71 million Americans, or 27 percent of the
population – check their social network several times per day.
29 percent of Americans now own a tablet, compared to 17 percent ownership in
2012. This is an increase of more than 70 percent in the last year.
Online radio listening is just one more piece of evidence that bluegrass fans, like other
consumers who love music, increasingly live in a digital world. If you look at all of these
trends together – the decline of print media, the rise in the number of smartphones and
tablets, the popularity of social networks, and the increase in online radio listening – you can
understand why people want information and music to be available anytime, anywhere, even
on the go.
Bluegrass Today exists to provide fans with what they want – current news about bluegrass
online, when and where they want it. Be sure to consider the above statistics when you are
thinking about advertising your product, service or event to bluegrass fans.
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#27
When I go to an outdoor bluegrass concert or festival, I notice the number of people who
have their mobile phones out. Sometimes they’re talking to or texting friends, of course, but
a significant portion of them are taking photographs or even making videos of the concert.
These are the same consumers who download songs from their favorite bluegrass artists to
their phones and use their phones to “check in” at events, restaurants, and stores.
As I mentioned last month, 53 percent of all Americans age 12 and over (139 million people)
now own a smartphone. Consumer research firm Experian Marketing Services has released
some new data [http://www.experian.com/blogs/marketingforward/2013/05/28/americans-spend-58-minutes-a-day-on-theirsmartphones/?WT.srch=PR_EMS_smartphones_052813_press] about smartphone users
suggesting that the average adult spends nearly one hour (58 minutes, to be exact) each day
on their smartphone. About 16 percent of smartphone time is devoted to social media while
14 percent consists of being on the web. iPhone users spend about 75 minutes daily on their
phones versus about 49 minutes for Android users. While Android users tend to browse the
web more than iPhone users, iPhone users do more social networking and use their cameras
more often than Android users.
Tablet usage is also on the rise. Shipments of tablets this year will be nearly 60 percent
higher than last year, according to
[http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/05/28/idc-tablets-pcs/2365667/]
research firm IDC. By 2015, tablets will surpass PCs, predicts IDC.
In May 2013, 25 percent of the traffic on Bluegrass Today came from mobile devices – more
than double the mobile traffic when the website first launched in September 2011. This
percentage is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years.
Marketers recognize that mobile must be an important part of their overall marketing
strategy. Of twenty top U.S. brands surveyed recently,
[http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Social-See-Biggest-Digital-Ad-SpendBumps/1009926] 65 percent indicated they were increasing their marketing investment in
mobile. This was the highest percentage of increase in marketing investment of any channel
studied by the Association of National Advertisers.
What does this mean to you?
If you want to reach bluegrass fans through the most effective channels, you have to be
online – and you need to consider the growth of the mobile segment. Increasingly, bluegrass
fans will be using their mobile devices to conduct the business of their lives. Today most
mobile consumers are talking and texting, but soon, the majority will be emailing and surfing
the web. This is an opportunity marketers can’t afford to miss.
Next time, I’ll talk about how you can get ready for mobile marketing.
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#28
Last time, I discussed the fact that consumers are increasingly conducting the business of
their lives on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. As this migration to mobile
progresses, bluegrass marketers will have to be ready to go mobile.
You can start by making sure your website and blog are optimized for mobile platforms. As
you can see from the accompanying screen shot, Bluegrass Today looks just as good on an
iPhone as it does on a computer screen.
Depending on your technical capabilities and how much effort you want to invest, there are
a variety of things you can do to get ahead of the mobile marketing curve, including the
following:
1. Do an assessment of areas of your business that could be “mobile-ized,”
particularly those that are customer-driven. Research available applications that
you might be able to integrate into your business. For example, if you run a bluegrass
festival, you might consider offering online ticketing that allows mobile users to pay
for tickets and check in via phone. If you own a bluegrass music store, you might
consider using a location service such as Foursquare to promote your business by
offering mobile coupons.
2.
Keep an eye out for how other businesses offer mobile services and see if it
might be appropriate to adapt these services to your business. Some retailers
now ask if customers want their purchase receipts emailed, while others make special
offers on Facebook or Twitter that can be redeemed via phone. Doctors and other
small service businesses are using text messages to remind consumers of
appointments. Nonprofits accept automatic donations via mobile phones. Larger
retailers are starting to use tablets to check inventory for customers and in some
cases even as wireless check-out terminals. Can your business make use of any of
these services?
3. Create opportunities for prospects and customers to communicate with you
electronically. When you advertise on Bluegrass Today, consider offering some free
information that can be obtained by a prospect who provides an email address. Then
get the respondent’s permission to send periodic emails. As for your customers, offer
them the option to receive text messages as a form of communication from you.
4. Consider creating your own applications or games for mobile devices. There
are a growing number of platforms and tools that make it possible to develop
customized applications and games. It doesn’t have to be involved and expensive if
you take advantage of available technology. Having your own mobile application or
game would demonstrate your commitment to serving the needs of a mobile
audience.
These are just a few ideas for you to consider as you get your business ready for the next
marketing wave: mobile marketing.
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#29
Despite all of the buzz surrounding social media, email is alive and well. In fact, email is still
a preferred means of communication by marketers and it is widely accepted by consumers.
Overall email volume increased 11.6 percent in Q1 2013 vs. Q1 2012, reports
[http://press.experian.com/United-States/Press-Release/experian-marketing-servicesreports-multichannel-retailers-had-highest-volume.aspx?&p=1] Experian Marketing Services.
Unique open rates increased 9.7 percent year-over-year in Q1.
Consumers rank email as the top choice for an “initial introduction to a product,” according
to a recent study [http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/10951/marketersundervalue-email-overvalue-personalization] of U.S. and UK consumers conducted by the
Economist Intelligence Unit. Thirty-seven percent of consumers “most prefer” email vs. 21
percent who most prefer company social media or blogs. Even in consumers who are 20 to
30 years of age, email ranks second (19 percent) only to company websites (48 percent) as
the “preferred way to engage with a brand.” Only 5 percent of this age group prefers social
media sites for brand engagement.
These are important statistics to keep in mind when you are developing a digital marketing
strategy to reach bluegrass fans. Using email to target the bluegrass audience is a smart, costeffective marketing investment.
One easy, affordable way to use email marketing is to advertise in the daily email newsletter
published by Bluegrass Today. This newsletter reaches a targeted list of bluegrass fans and it is
“opt-in” only – that means the people who receive it have asked for it, so they want to read
it. As a result, your ad is seen by very qualified prospects.
Opt-in, sometimes called permission-based, is probably the most important concept related
to email. Any time you use email for marketing, you want to be sure recipients have opted in
to receive email from you. You can legitimately send an introductory email without
permission, but that email should ask the recipient to specify a desire to continue to receive
email from you. If someone says they don’t wish to receive additional emails, stop sending it!
If you don’t, you will soon gain the unenviable reputation of being a “spammer.”
Ongoing email marketing is most effective when you build and maintain your own email list.
There are a number of ways to do this:
1. Collect email addresses at your retail or online store, or at festivals, concerts, and
events.
2. Any time a customer makes a purchase, make sure you ask them to verify their email
address (email addresses change much more frequently than residential addresses).
Also ask for permission to keep them informed via email.
3. Collect email lists from online advertising. For example, if you run an ad in the
Bluegrass Today daily newsletter, or on the Bluegrass Today website, make an offer of
some kind, such as free information, in return for an email address. When you email
the offer to the respondent, be sure to ask for permission to continue to send email.
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4. Offer to send periodic email updates or an email newsletter to individuals who visit
your website. Capturing email addresses via your website is a proven way to build an
email list.
5. Ask customers and prospects who respond to an offer to refer others to you. This
“friend get a friend” technique can help grow your email list rapidly.
Once you have built an email list, keep it current. Make changes and deletions requested by
anyone on the list, and remove bad address bounce-backs. Used correctly, an email list can
become one of your most valuable marketing assets.
Next time, we’ll look at some of the things you can do with email – and how best to analyze
your email marketing efforts.
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#30
Last time, I talked about the value of email for marketing and I discussed ways to build your
email list. Now I’d like to cover some of the things you can do with email, and how to best
analyze your email efforts.
From a marketing perspective, you can look at email as both a means of customer
communications and a prospecting tool. Daniel Burstein, writing for the MarketingSherpa Blog,
[http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/email-marketing/top-three-steps-email-summit2013/] identifies the following specific uses of email:
Transactional emails and notifications
Burstein writes that transactional emails are often “looked at as more of a requirement than
an opportunity, and largely forgotten.” He asks some important questions:
“What does your customer want to hear from you after they buy? Perhaps several emails
updating them on every step of fulfillment? Or is that too much? Do they want follow ups
with use cases of the product? Warranty information? What additional promotional
information can you include in these emails?”
Promotional/selling emails
With promotional or selling emails, your intention is very clear: to offer something that
causes a prospect to respond or a customer to inquire further or even purchase. Burstein
says this is the most important question to ask about these types of emails: “Will the people
I’m sending this email to see value in this offer?”
Educational/nurturing/news emails
The purpose of this type of email is different. “Sometimes,” writes Burstein, “you need to
inform and educate your customers – before they buy (especially for a considered purchase)
to help them understand all of the complex decisions they need to make, after they buy to
retain them as a customer, and even if they never buy to simply deliver value in the form of
content they expect when they give you permission to email them by signing up for your
list.”
Now, what about measuring and analyzing your email marketing? It’s relatively easy to count
responses, of course. But there are other important criteria for analysis. Karen Talavera,
writing for MarketingProfs, [http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2013/10684/threepowerful-ways-to-measure-the-impact-of-your-email-marketing] identifies these three forms
of analysis:
1. Responder Segment Analysis
Talavera suggests analyzing email responders “by unique attributes such as gender,
age, geography, past buying behavior, time on list, source of name, and social media
connections.” Obviously you would have to collect a fair amount of information to
do this, but it will pay off in the long run – because you will then be able to make
your email that much more targeted and effective. Talavera says you can simplify this
type of analysis if you “define what your desired call to action is (the thing you most
48
want people to do) and profile only those who completed that call to action (your
“converters”).”
2. Email Subscriber Engagement Analysis
“This type pf analysis relies on measuring cumulative actions by responder
(opens, clicks, conversions),” writes Talavera, “during defined time periods (usually
quarterly or annually) both to uncover the best, most active responders and to
uncover inactive list segments for reactivation or culling.”
3. Channel Contribution Analysis
This third type tells you the economic impact of email as a marketing channel. You
could measure this not just in sales revenue, but in “increased site traffic, leads
generated, new subscriptions attained, social media connections made, or gross
brand impressions,” writes Talavera. “Or, it could be measured in the cost savings
and efficiency gains of email vs. more expensive marketing channels such as
traditional direct mail.”
Remember, your email list can become one of your most valuable marketing assets, and
email campaigns are extremely cost-effective. Don’t overlook email marketing – it may prove
to be a great lead and order generation tool for you.
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#31
Is your marketing working for you or against you?
This may sound like a strange question but it’s an important one. Marketing has become
more complex, especially with so many media channels available today. As a result,
sometimes the things you do in marketing can actually conflict with one another.
Here are a few examples:
-
Suppose you sell products through a retail store, your own online store, and other
online stores, such as Amazon or eBay. Maybe you also use distributors or sell your
products through other retailers. Are your company and your products described in
the same way across all of these sales channels? Are the products offered the most
current versions? Are the prices the same across all channels? If not, your sales
channels are in conflict – and that could work against you.
-
Let’s say you’re making use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. Are your
messages coordinated across social media networks so you aren’t saying things or
making offers that cause conflict or confusion? Do you link your Facebook fans and
Twitter followers to your website – and does your website promote the fact that you
are on Facebook and Twitter? If you are not maintaining consistency of message and
integrating social media efforts with your website, you are missing a marketing
opportunity.
-
Maybe you use print ads to promote your events. Do you support your print ads
with a webpage and include a web address where prospective attendees can get more
details? Do you use a QR code so someone can gain fast access to web-based
information with a smartphone? Do you make an offer and ask for an ad code on a
webpage? Do you tell the attendee to bring the ad to the event? If you can’t identify
response from a specific ad, you aren’t getting the most out of your print advertising
investment.
-
Suppose you launch a promotional campaign for a festival using several different
media, such as radio, print, and online advertising. Are all the response paths
operational before the campaign is launched; in other words, if you use an email
address, webpage address, and telephone number, have they been tested so you
know they work? Do your customer service support personnel know the campaign is
active, and are they ready to respond? If your back-end isn’t ready to handle a
promotional campaign, you’ll alienate prospects and lose business.
50
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? Each of them demonstrates how even the best
marketing effort can be undermined.
All your marketing should be integrated, maintain consistency across all media and sales
channels, make it as easy as possible to respond, and be measurable. And of course, you
should be ready to handle responses before any campaign is launched.
Make sure your marketing is working for you… not against you!
51
#32
Last time, I wrote about those occasions when your marketing may actually be working
against you. I included some examples, such as sales channel conflict, lack of integration
between social media and websites, and being unprepared to handle the response from a
promotional campaign.
In keeping with that theme, I want to talk about mistakes marketers sometimes make – and
how to avoid them – when it comes to online media.
Email
-
Never send unsolicited promotional email, aka “spam.” Send promotional email only
to customers and prospects who have agreed to receive it. Make sure individuals who
don’t want to receive promotional email are suppressed from future emailings.
HTML email can appear differently across different email systems. If you are using
sophisticated graphics or video, it is best to link to these elements rather than include
them in the body of an email.
Use personalization in email only when you are sure (a) the information you have
about an email recipient is absolutely correct and (b) the personalization feels
genuine. Personalizing an email with incorrect data or using personalization
inappropriately will depress response.
Social Media
-
-
Be active only on social networks that reach your target audience. Don’t waste your
time using social media that doesn’t support your marketing objectives.
Be prepared to spend at least a few hours per week on social media support. For
social media to be most effective, you need to know what people are saying at the
current moment and respond to them promptly. Social media is a time-sensitive
dialogue, not a monologue.
If you appoint someone else to handle social media, be sure they respond
appropriately to comments, especially negative ones. Social media may be informal,
but being too informal can damage your brand image.
Online Advertising
-
-
Unlike a print ad, an online ad can entice, intrigue and attract attention on a
webpage. Use the medium to the fullest instead of seeing it as just a static ad. For
example, you could incorporate motion by using a “gif” image (but don’t use
“Flash,” since it won’t work on most mobile devices).
Design an online ad not just to be viewed, but to be clicked on. Give viewers an
irresistible reason to take action.
52
-
Create a special landing page that is specific to the ad so you can track response.
Make a compelling offer and have a web form that’s easy to complete and submit. Be
sure to include a check box for the respondent that asks for their permission to send
promotional email.
Online media is extremely powerful and can be very effective in marketing to bluegrass fans
– as long as you use it correctly!
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#33
We’re counting down to World of Bluegrass Week, September 24 – 28 in Raleigh, North
Carolina. Bluegrass Today will be reporting throughout the week, doing interviews and
production in a high visibility special glass room, and exhibiting at the IBMA Business
Conference. Please come by and say hi!
Since many of you will likely be attending World of Bluegrass Week, we thought it would be
helpful to offer some ideas for making the most of the event. This email covers marketing
tips for exhibitors, and the next email will cover tips for attendees.
If you’ll be exhibiting at the IBMA Business Conference, think about your participation in
three stages:
1. Pre-conference
Of course, you know you’ll need to finalize all travel, delivery and booth logistics,
make sure all materials and presentations are available, and know when and where to
arrive to set up. But you should also prepare yourself for the experience:
•
Practice your “elevator pitch.”
An “elevator pitch” is a concise statement about what makes your business
special. (The term is derived from the notion that someone should be able to
effectively describe their business in a minute or two – the time it takes to go
from the top to the bottom of an office building in an elevator.) Prepare an
elevator pitch that doesn’t just describe your business but makes it so interesting
that anyone you’re talking to would want to hear more. Practice and keep
refining it until it’s second nature. And don’t be afraid to “customize” your pitch
on the fly to make it even more relevant to the person you’re addressing.
•
Consider making a relevant offer at your booth.
Promotional giveaways are fine for generating awareness and goodwill, but they
don’t necessarily result in qualified leads. Think about something tangible you
can offer that will be a compelling reason for a prospect to buy your product or
service at the conference or soon afterwards. It could be a special conference
discount, a free item with purchase, or a buy one-get one free offer. Whatever
the offer, relate it to the conference and use a deadline to encourage prompt
action.
•
Establish a follow up process before you leave.
One of the biggest blunders exhibitors tend to make is not being prepared to
follow up appropriately after the conference is over. Establish a simple follow up
process that allows you to qualify leads so that you can prioritize top prospects
who receive special attention. Have a communications strategy in mind for how
and when you will respond to conference inquiries.
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2. At the conference
Be sure your brand is well represented at the conference. Prep any booth personnel
on how to be cordial and professional. Use your elevator pitch, but make sure you
listen to prospects and respond to their needs. Collect contact information from
booth visitors. If you can qualify prospects and make notes on a contact information
form, so much the better.
3. Post-conference
Implement the follow up process you established prior to the conference. Follow up
promptly with all booth visitors, but prioritize top prospects who should get special
treatment. Assign these top prospects to an on-going cultivation program:
Communicate with them periodically in an attempt to further qualify them and turn
them into customers. Also do an assessment soon after the event is over. Evaluate
your booth, your materials, and your overall approach so you know what you could
do better in the future.
Next time: Tips for attendees.
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#34
Last time, we covered marketing tips for those who will be exhibiting at the IBMA Business
Conference during World of Bluegrass Week, September 24 – 28 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
This email covers tips for attendees.
1. Use your time wisely.
There’s nothing wrong with going to World of Bluegrass Week to hear some great
music and have fun. But as someone who markets to bluegrass fans, you should also
be thinking of how to maximize your investment as an attendee. Determine which
sessions at the IBMA Business Conference you want to attend. Arrange meetings
with business associates and prospects. Think about what you would like to
accomplish from a business perspective: What do you want to learn? Who do you
want to meet? Which exhibitors are important to see? How can you use your time at
the event to make contacts and generate business?
2. Practice your “elevator pitch.”
An “elevator pitch” is a concise statement about what makes your business special.
(The term is derived from the notion that someone should be able to effectively
describe their business in a minute or two – the time it takes to go from the top to
the bottom of an office building in an elevator.) We talked about this in the last email
from the perspective of a conference exhibitor, but it’s just as important to have an
elevator pitch as an attendee. Your interactions with people are often limited, so you
want to be as relevant as possible in telling them about what you do. Prepare an
elevator pitch that doesn’t just describe your business but makes it so interesting that
anyone you’re talking to would want to hear more. Practice and keep refining it until
it’s second nature. And don’t be afraid to “customize” your pitch on the fly to make
it even more relevant to the person you’re addressing.
3. Get your business cards ready.
Despite today’s emphasis on digital marketing, business cards are still essential tools
at face-to-face events, so make sure you have plenty on hand. A business card can be
a kind of mini-brochure if used properly. Your business card should carry all the
basic contact information, of course, but why not make it work harder? For example,
you could use the back to include a version of your elevator pitch. Or consider using
a business card with an extra flap where you include bulleted information or even a
photo or two. Maybe you could try orienting your business card vertically instead of
horizontally so it stands out. And don’t forget to include URLs for your website and
social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.
4. Take notes.
There are so many things that occur at a major event like World of Bluegrass Week
that you wish you could remember – so make it a point to take notes. Bring along a
slim notepad or take notes on your smartphone or tablet. Make note of statistics or
interesting points you hear at conference sessions, companies you might want to
research later, people’s names and numbers, information about prospects, action
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items for when you return, and so on. Some note-takers find it helpful to organize
their thoughts by the day of the event. Taking notes will help you do a more effective
marketing job following up after the event and recalling key things about it.
Bluegrass Today will be reporting throughout World of Bluegrass Week, doing interviews
and production in a high visibility special glass room, and exhibiting at the IBMA Business
Conference. Please come by and say hi!
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#35
This month I want to talk about something that has become so ubiquitous in our digital
world that we don’t even think of it as a separate application anymore: online video.
Just to put online video in perspective, here are some pretty remarkable statistics, as reported
by Digiday: [http://digiday.com/brands/celtra-15-must-know-stats-for-online-video/]
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89 million U.S. consumers watch 1.2 billion online videos each day
There will be 1.5 billion online video users by 2016
Globally, online video traffic will be 55 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by
2016
Online video now accounts for 50 percent of all mobile traffic
92 percent of mobile video viewers share videos with others.
As a marketer to bluegrass enthusiasts, you are in an ideal position to use video. Suppose you
are a bluegrass artist. One of the best ways to connect with your fans is through a video clip
of a performance. If you operate a bluegrass festival, video footage featuring highlights from
a recent festival could be one of your most powerful promotional tools. If you own a
bluegrass music store, you can demo products via video. If you’re a bluegrass music
instructor, you can show the basics of playing a banjo and tell students how you’ll help them
learn to play.
Video is also a great engagement tool. You can use video to capture the enthusiasm of
festival attendees, to introduce band members, and to highlight venues. One online video
method that is often overlooked is the online seminar, or “webinar.” This is an educational,
entertaining session which people can “attend” online instead of traveling to experience it.
You can hold a live webinar at a scheduled time, or you can record the webinar so it can be
viewed on demand. A webinar is a great way to engage fans in an extended, interactive
discussion about a particular topic.
Online video can often be produced inexpensively with Webcams or today, even with
smartphones. Videos don’t have to be fancy – they just have to be effective. The most
effective videos are those that are educational, informative, and entertaining. These are the
types of videos that “go viral,” particularly across social networks, reaching thousands or
even millions of viewers. Get a valuable PDF,
[http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/53/archive/docs/hubspot_how_to_use_online_video_ebo
ok.pdf ] “How to Use Online Video for Marketing,” published by HubSpot. It has lots of
tips on video production and distribution.
From an entertainment and marketing perspective, video is simply a must today. Next time,
I’ll talk about how to get your video seen.
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#36
Last time I talked about the widespread use of online video and some of the ways you can
use video to market to bluegrass fans. So once you create a video, how does it get seen?
Look at a video as a self-contained marketing message that can be used virtually anywhere. It
makes perfect sense, for example, to post educational, informational, or sales videos on your
website and a blog, if you have one. Videos can be sent as email attachments, or better yet,
they can be embedded into mass emailings. Videos can be freely shared by passing them
along to others digitally, or simply by providing a link to the video.
Typically, videos need to be hosted somewhere – and the place of choice for the majority of
videos is YouTube. Owned by Google, YouTube is by far the largest video site on the
Internet. It attracts over 1 billion unique users each month, and over 6 billion hours of video
are watched on YouTube each month! Posting a video on YouTube is easy and free. Once it
is there, your video is available for linking, embedding, and sharing. Heavy users of YouTube
create their own “channels” so viewers can find all of their videos in one place.
YouTube is such a significant video distribution platform that you could effectively rely on it
alone, but there are other ways to make sure your video gets seen by the right people. Other
platforms are available, including Yahoo! Video and Metacafe, a site that might be especially
suitable for bluegrass entertainers since its focus is short entertainment videos.
You should also consider using videos in all forms of social media. You can upload videos to
Facebook, share them via Pinterest, and link to them via Twitter. If you’re not familiar with
Pinterest, it is a place where people and companies share photos and videos they think
others would like, and it happens to be very popular with women. Google Plus offers an
interesting capability – not only can you share videos, you can also participate in live video
broadcasts called “Hangouts” and even create your own Hangout. A fast growing social
application that can be used to share videos on mobile devices is Instagram. Another
application, Vine, allows you to share looping videos of 6 seconds or less.
As you can see, there are many opportunities to use online video for marketing purposes.
Given the fact that you are marketing to a group of people who love both the visual and
audio experience of bluegrass music, you should definitely consider adding video as one of
your primary marketing tools.
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#37
If I were to tell you there is a simple technique you can use that virtually guarantees you can
improve your marketing results, would you like to hear about it?
I thought you might! That technique is testing. Direct marketers have long relied on testing
variables to see if changing something improves results. In direct marketing, “testing against
the control” is a common, scientifically proven strategy. As long as the medium you are
using is measurable, you can test against the control. Here’s what it means and how it works:
1. Let’s say you use a specific direct mail piece or an email to generate leads for your
business. In each of these media, you do the same basic thing: You select and target
an audience, you create the copy and graphics, and you send out the direct mail or
email. If you consistently use the same direct mail piece or email each time, that is
considered the control.
2. The basic premise of testing is to make a change that has an impact on the results.
The best way to do this is to make a change to the control – one change that you can
identify and measure – and then test that new variation against the control. Generally
speaking, the order of importance in making a change is Audience, Offer, and
Creative. That means a change to the audience tends to have a higher impact on
results than a change to the offer, and a change to the offer tends to have a higher
impact on results than a change to the creative. (This is just a generalization, however
– you have to test to determine if this is true!)
3. Here’s an example of how you might make a change in each of the three areas I just
mentioned:
a. Audience: Suppose you send an email to customers. Let’s consider that
email the control. How would you do an audience test? If you have enough
information about your customers, you could consider testing the control
against splitting the customer audience into current vs. lapsed customers
(lapsed customers are those who did business with you in the past but do not
do so now). In this case, you would be testing to see whether splitting your
customer list into current vs. lapsed customers increases the results over
sending the email to customers with no split.
b. Offer: Let’s say you send an email to customers offering them a 10 percent
discount if they purchase an item by a certain date. That is an example of a
promotional offer. How would you do an offer test? Consider the 10 percent
discount the control offer. Then test another offer against it. You might
decide to test a 15 percent discount, or “buy one get one free,” or maybe
even no promotional offer at all. Pick an appropriate test offer and then see
which offer gives you the best results.
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c. Creative: Testing creative in an email typically involves changing the copy
and/or the graphics in the email. One very useful creative test is the subject
line of the email, since the subject line helps determine whether or not the
recipient opens the email. To test the subject line, you would send two emails
which are exactly the same – except for the subject line. You would then
determine which subject line resulted in a higher open rate.
A key concept of testing is to test just one thing each time you test. This is the best way to
understand which variable is affecting results. In other words, test audience, offer, or creative
– not all three at once.
I hope I’ve given you a basic understanding of how and why you would do a test. Next time,
I’ll share with you a specific, simple testing method.
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#38
Last time, I wrote about how testing can help significantly improve your marketing results. I
discussed how to test Audience, Offer, and Creative elements against a control, using direct
mail or email.
Now I want to share with you a simple testing method. It’s often referred to as the “A/B
test,” or sometimes a “split test.” It means testing one thing (“A”) against another thing
(“B”). Often, “A” is the control. As I mentioned last time, a control is what you currently
use, so “B” would be something you change to test against the control. For a direct
marketer, it is very exciting if you can come up with something to “beat the control” in
terms of generating results.
The A/B test offers you maximum flexibility. For example, you can test direct mail against
email, two different versions of an online ad, two different media, such as the use of online
advertising vs. print advertising, two different direct mail or email lists, two different
promotional offers, two different product prices, two different email subject lines, two
different copy approaches, two different photographs, and so on.
There are some ground rules to follow when you execute an A/B test:
1. As I mentioned last time, the important thing is to test just one variable so you
know which one affected the results.
2. Randomly split a test into two groups of equal size.
3. Use a sample test size that is large enough to produce results that are statistically
valid. In general, direct marketers like to have a minimum confidence level of 90
percent in their results. There are online calculators available to help you determine
the minimum sample test size. R.R. Donnelley provides such a calculator here,
[http://www.rrdonnelley.com/RMS/ServicesResources/MinSample.asp] as well as
other helpful tools.
4. Use a “test and rollout” strategy for large lists. For example, do an A/B test with two
small segments (“test”) and then use the test winner for the whole list (“rollout”).
5. Make sure you have an accurate method for reading the results. Usually, this means
you need a tracking mechanism of some kind. With direct mail, it might be necessary
to include a code that the respondent has to indicate on a response form. With email,
it might mean using two different email addresses for respondents so you can track
the response from “A” and “B” separately.
Bottom line: There is one excellent reason why you would want to take the time to do an
A/B test. You could very well find that “A” gets better results than “B,” or vice versa. That
means with a simple A/B test, you could have a real measurable impact on your marketing
program – and potentially improve your results.
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#39
The end of the year is a good time to take stock of your marketing and think about ways to
be a more effective marketer in 2014. In that spirit, I have a little gift for you…
14 Marketing Ideas for 2014
1. Make Your Brand Stand Out
The key to getting your brand noticed is differentiation. If you’re part of a bluegrass
band, that might mean putting a twist on bluegrass music that is distinctly yours. If
you run a festival, maybe it’s coming up with a clever name. If you sell bluegrass
instruments, it could be the personal service you provide or the product guarantee
you offer. Whatever product or service you market, know what you’re competition is
doing – and then do something differently that you can own and become known for.
2. Love Your Customer
Your customer is precious – he or she is the lifeblood of your business. That’s why
you should love your customer in many ways: Make a customer feel like part of your
family. Give a customer a better deal than a prospect. Reward a customer with a gift
for continuing to purchase from you. Thank a customer for buying a product. Make
it easy for a customer to do business with you. Encourage a customer to write a
review and to refer others. Keep a customer informed about your products and
services.
3. Understand Your Data
These days, marketing and information technology are closely linked, so you need to
take maximum advantage of marketing data about your business, your customers,
and your prospects. Many marketing analysis tools are inexpensive or free. For
example, if you connect your website to Google Analytics for free, you can get
valuable tracking information about audience characteristics, new and returning site
visitors, page views, mobile traffic and more. Understanding your data can give you
insight into ways to improve your marketing.
4. Build an Email List
If you aren’t already collecting email addresses, start to do so in 2014. Collect them at
events and festivals, via websites and social media sites, and from prospect inquiries
and customer orders. Use an email service to build your list and create a periodic
email program, such as an email newsletter, to communicate with and engage the
people on your list. Make informational and promotional offers that encourage a
response. Always give recipients of your email an opt-out option. Email remains one
of the most cost-effective methods of marketing communication available.
5. Test, Measure, Refine
Set a goal for continuous marketing improvement next year by using the “test,
measure, refine” strategy. Test media, offers, and creative approaches in small, easy
to manage test cells. Pick tests that are relevant to you. For example, you might test a
print ad against an online ad to see which works better, or two different subject lines
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for an email campaign to see if one beats the other. Measure the results and see
what tests well. Then refine your existing marketing efforts to incorporate those
things that worked best. This will help increase the efficiency of your marketing.
6. Start a Blog
Consider starting a blog, which is nothing more than short entries to a web page
published periodically. There are several free and inexpensive blogging platforms
available. You can do blog posts about bluegrass music, artists, festivals, your
products, or whatever you think would be of interest to customers. Pick a length
(say, 300 to 500 words) and a frequency (maybe a few times per month) that you can
handle. Connect your blog to your website. A blog is a great way to stay in front of
customers, build an email list, and get higher rankings in search engines.
7. Adopt a Social Media Strategy
Today the challenge for a bluegrass business is how to make the best business use of
social media. Evaluate social media as you would any marketing initiative: Look at
the social media networks and tools are available and determine as best you can
which seem to be most appropriate for you in effectively engaging your target
market. Then think about how social media fits into your overall marketing program.
Use it selectively, always recognizing that it takes an ongoing commitment to
communicate and interact with people via social media. The marketing payback
should be more than “likes” or “followers” – you need to determine if social media
is having a measurable impact on your business.
Ideas 8 through 14 will appear in the next edition of “Sound Marketing for Bluegrass.”
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#40
This is the second installment of “14 Marketing Ideas for 2014.”
14 Marketing Ideas for 2014, Ideas 8 through 14
8. Create Great Content
“Content marketing” is a buzzword that will become all the more significant in 2014.
Basically, it means using informative, entertaining content to promote your product
or service. Great content could be on your website, in a blog, in an email or printed
newsletter, in an e-book, or in a brochure. Content is becoming a kind of currency –
the higher the perceived value of content, the more aligned customers and prospects
become with the content provider. High quality content sets your brand apart,
engages buyers, and makes them come back for more.
9. Use Video Marketing
A recent report from eMarketer indicates that the number of digital video viewers in
the U.S. will increase over 4 percent in 2014, up to almost 191 million people. Now
is the time to take advantage of this growth. Bluegrass is tailor-made for video:
Bands can use it to promote songs and albums, event organizers can capture the
excitement of a concert or festival, and instructors or stores can demonstrate
instruments. Making a video doesn’t require sophisticated production, and a video
can be easily posted and disseminated.
10. Go Mobile
The mass adoption of smartphones and tablets suggests that consumers are literally
taking their digital lives with them, wherever they go. In fact, over 98 percent of
smartphone users access the Internet, according to eMarketer. In 2014, find ways to
accommodate the mobile customer. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile
platforms. Make it easy for customers to communicate with you via voice, text,
email, and online forms. Be ready to go mobile – because that’s where the public is
going.
11. Create an App
If mobile is so popular, why not consider creating your own app? There are tools
available, some of them free, to help you create apps for iPhones, iPads, and
Android devices. An app is a legitimate way to offer high value utility to mobile
users, as well as market products or services in a creative, engaging way.
12. Plan Early for World of Bluegrass Week
World of Bluegrass Week and the IBMA Business Conference, held in September
this year, was the biggest single bluegrass event. Make plans now to take advantage
of this event next year. Think about how to build marketing promotions around the
event. Use it as a way to gain visibility, introduce new products or services, and make
connections. Give yourself plenty of time to place media and create materials to
support the event.
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13. Integrate Offline and Online
There is no question that digital media has become essential, but even online
companies recognize that customers watch TV and like to see and touch products.
That’s why online leaders like Amazon and Google also reach out to consumers
through traditional media and retail channels. Amazon uses TV advertising to
promote its Kindle e-reader. During this holiday season, Google has opened “Winter
Wonderland” pop-up stores in six cities to demo such products as Nexus 7 and
Chromebook. Always look for ways to seamlessly integrate your offline and online
marketing. Integrating efforts fosters consistency of message and ensures you reach
customers across various channels.
14. Rely on Bluegrass Today
Bluegrass Today is the leader in online bluegrass media, so it only makes sense to
include it in your marketing plans next year. Make use of Bluegrass Today’s free
listing service for events, and add your business to the free directory. Also look into
the advertising opportunities available. You’d be surprised how effectively you can
reach bluegrass fans with targeted online advertising that you can control and
measure – and that’s what you get with Bluegrass Today.
I hope you can use some of these ideas to make your marketing even more successful next
year. Best wishes from Bluegrass Today for 2014!
About Bluegrass Today
Bluegrass Today [www.bluegrasstoday.com] is the first online destination within the
bluegrass music world to combine extensive news coverage with the most useful aspects of
the social media revolution.
About The Author of “Sound Marketing for Bluegrass”
Barry Silverstein is a nationally known branding and Internet marketing
expert. Barry teaches an online branding course
[www.bigbrandstrategiesforsmallbrands.com] and is the author of numerous branding and
marketing books and eGuides. [www.123eguides.com] He is a regular blogger for
Brandchannel.com, [www.brandchannel.com] the world’s leading online branding forum.
You can learn more about him at www.linkedin/in/barrysilversteinasheville.com/
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