Published originally at Jolt Music Network

My social networking theories date back nearly 30 years although I never realized exactly what I was doing at the time. The marketing techniques I used my entire life building a successful career can be translated to building a business today in the music industry.
I built a business entirely by word of mouth with the goal of building a loyal customer base that would support my career choice for a lifetime. I was a horrible self promoter who still believes to this day that if you have to tell some one how good you are you probably aren’t worth a shit. If you are any good others will do that for you. I took care of producing a quality product and let my customers take care of spreading the word about my service.
The other technique I stumbled upon was niche’ marketing. I targeted a high end market that didn’t shop by price alone. They were willing to pay more for my services because of a trust and respect built through our personal relationship. I have had many of the same customers for my entire 30 year career. I do not service the entire metro area I concentrate on one community that is very exclusive but loyal. I did not seek to be rich I did want financial security and I wanted my customers to come to me.
The tools today make all these career goals possible to artists, venues, or businesses much easier to achieve than my 30 year quest for financial security. If you take care of producing a good product and start building that customer base those customers will then spread there words of recommendations not by talking at a local school function, cocktail party or the local pub. They will use the technological advances we have today.
The internet with social networking sites, and now to the wireless umbilical cord most all carry today your cell phone are the mouthpieces of the word of mouth marketing today. Twitter which combines the two technologies making good old fashioned word of mouth able to travel further and faster than ever before.
My business was aimed at a small exclusive segment of the over all market in order to be able to appeal to their specific needs and also because I was unable to keep a personal relationship with the individual customer if I grew too big. Over the years I have been able spend less actual time with customers but always maintain the personal relationship by frequent contact through out the job by either stopping in to attend to the customers need or by always being accessible by phone if concerns arise.
An artist needs to find his niche’. The days of reaching the mainstream audience are over. There are too many choices for people in the entertainment world. Ed Sullivan is no longer breaking acts. For that matter neither is terrestrial radio or even MTV. The good news is you don’t have to be discovered by the gatekeepers who once controlled access to the public. Record Labels. You can do it yourself and make a living doing what you love.
In order to be able to do that, there are a few necessary ingredients needed for that recipe for success. You have to connect with people. You do this not only through social marketing networks but by getting out and connecting with your audience by playing shows. You have to sell those fans you convince or someone else convinces to attend Once you establish that connection you must keep the dialogue open so your fans will continue their loyal support. Treat your fans special and keep them throughout your career. Build a solid base and grow it through that base. Each fan is your Street Team. Fans will share artists they love to their friends. With the social marketing tools today you can always keep in touch and your fans informed of upcoming releases and tour dates. Getting that email address is important but the most important thing I believe you can get is access to their phone. Email addresses change much more frequently than phone numbers. People may not check their email but that phone is always kept close. Twitter gives you that access.
Some of the most successful artists today understand these concepts. They may be better musicians than marketers but they know that an effort must be made to nurturing relationships. You don’t however need to toot your own horn when your fans are more than willing to do it for you. You just have to give them a reason to sing your praises and provide them the tools to do it with. That web presence with constant updates and interaction even special track released to those willing to provide email contact info or who are following you on Twitter.
With that connection you can draw on your fans to support shows in markets across the country. That is going to be the most important income stream a musician can have. With the decline of physical CD sales and the ability to cherry pick a few tracks to download you have to sell tickets to prosper. I feel that social marketing will replace radio, television and print advertising. You will be able to sell out shows with nothing more than an email blast or a Tweet.
So let’s get busy and start building those relationships together. I might not be able to self promote but I can sure promote others. I’ll tell you about that next time.