Mobile marketing is a hot topic right now, but it’s also an industry in its infancy. Most people don’t know how to apply it properly and to make it worse, don’t understand that different industries require different approaches. One industry in particular that really benefits from mobile marketing is the music industry. Leaders see huge potential in engaging their audience via their mobile devices, but they also need to be aware of the unique mobile marketing needs that their industry demands.
Who is your target audience?
The first question to ask is “Who is my target audience?” In the music sector, you typically have a brand that has already built a solid fan base. These fans are anxious to connect with their favorite musicians and are willing to give you incredibly valuable information in exchange: their email address, mobile phone number and location.
Monetize your audience
The next step is monetizing this information. SMS campaigns are still incredibly powerful with an open rate of 98% (Frost & Sullivan)! It’s important to be responsible and not inundate your fans with non-targeted ads. Instead, focus on giving them value with your call-to-action: Provide discounts on tickets and merchandise, and let them know of upcoming local events. However, don’t stop at just text messaging. There isn’t much room within 160 characters to fully engage your audience, so make sure to include a link to a mobile-optimized page with targeted information. Once the fan is on your mobile site, the opportunities are endless. Games, contests, events and merchandise are only a few examples of how to engage with fans once you’ve got them right where you want them.
Event Marketing
Event marketing is also a key component of a successful, cohesive mobile marketing campaign. Fans waiting in line with nothing to do but play on their phones present both a great opportunity and a captive audience. Most musicians get a cut of the alcohol sales at a club in exchange for their appearance, so giving fans in line a discount on drinks in exchange for their information is a great way of growing your contacts while simultaneously increasing sales.
In one such campaign managed by CornerBlue, cards were handed out to fans directing them to a mobile website where they could download an unreleased single in exchange for their email address. The goal was to collect as many email addresses as possible while encouraging the download and sharing of the new single. In two days, more than 15,000 emails were collected. The single was also downloaded by over 100% of participants, due to integration with social media.
Unified Strategy
Every aspect of a campaign should be integrated into a unified strategy, including following up with fans and keeping them constantly engaged. You want to build an opt-in database that grows with each campaign, allowing you to reach a progressively larger audience.
Analyze and Optimize
Finally, it’s critical to do a post-campaign analysis for each and every campaign. If you don’t know what worked and didn’t work for one campaign, you won’t be able to optimize the next one. The greatest thing about mobile marketing is that there are so many metrics you can utilize to gauge the effectiveness of each campaign, such as how long users stayed on your mobile page or how well they responded to follow-up text messages and emails. The more information you collect and analyze, the more efficient your next campaign will be.
Mobile marketing is poised to revolutionize how musicians and advertisers connect with their fans and consumers, but just having a simple mobile campaign isn’t enough. As the industry matures and becomes more innovative, it’s the musicians and advertisers with the most creative and engaging campaigns who will be the chart toppers.
