Marketing With Music - Tips for Small Budgets

These days, marketing is all about engaging the consumer - meeting them in their space and becoming a part of their world. Traditional methods of advertising have lost effectiveness in favor of multi-dimensional methods in which a brand will find the customer not just on the radio, TV, and in magazines, but also online, on YouTube, in chat rooms, even on their cell phones.  The explosive popularity of social websites like MySpace and Facebook have made those sites as much a marketing tool as a place to hang out online with friends.

This trend plays perfectly into using music to market to consumers.  It's more prevalent than ever, because it's extremely effective when done well. Companies want to be a part of their consumers’ music experience because it conveys a shared lifestyle, attitude, camaraderie. Many companies are now making music as much a part of the customer’s experience as their product. Verizon Wireless has done this very well with their V Cast product and aggressive sponsorship of many music-related properties (commonly referred to as Lifestyle or Event Marketing). Cadillac, iPod, and Target are just a few examples of how effective a TV spot-cum-music-video can be. Free branded download cards from myriad big companies are ubiquitously used to attract and engage customers.

Here are a few ways that businesses with limited budgets can use music to find and engage new customers, and to enhance the relationship with current customers.

(1) Host a performance showcase at your place of business. This can be done low-key (think "unplugged"). No full-on concert necessary.

(2) Sell cd’s, merchandise and concert tickets for a local band.

(3) Share advertising and e- or snail-mail lists with bands, record labels, and/or music retailers. Exchange discount or other privileges for each others' customers.

(4) Ask your music partner(s) to promote your business from their website and social networking pages, offering discounted tickets, merch or cd’s to your customers.

(5)  Sell A Band lets you search for acts that you think you - or in this case your customers - like and when you find some, you can sign up for free as a Believer and invest in increments of $10. Right now the audience is heavily European, so this idea will work best for small businesses with a strong e-commerce aspect, and those who want to build their web presence.

(6) For businesses with a little more to invest in marketing, sponsoring a local festival can be a great option. Pick a music-focused event, or any event that features music and needs a stage sponsor. Offer to donate your products or services as an "in-kind" sponsorship. Combining cash and in-kind sponsorship is common, too.

(7) Not sure if music is the right tool for your business? Take these ideas and modify them to the right type of partnership. For example: a massage therapist would make a great marketing partner for a maker of spa products.

(Click here for a dubious way to use music to market a product, and I hope you get a good laugh out of it!)