The Fundamentals of a Killer Internet Marketing Strategy, Part 1

Today's guest post is Part 1 of a 3-part series on online promotion by Certified Internet marketer and music business blogger Ronald Grant of Muzik Issues Today and The Music Business Revisionist. Prepare to take some notes.

These days, online marketing and promotion are a must if you want your company to go anywhere of value, especially in music and entertainment business.

So let's take your inventory.

What’s Your Purpose?

Whether you’re running a major record label, a promoter booking local shows, or an artist with the eventual goal of getting your music on popular digital streaming services like Rdio, Spotify, Pandora, and iTunes, there’s no question that you’ll need a solid and strategic set of deliverables for online promotion to meet and exceed these goals.

The truth is it’s getting easier to produce a message to transmit to the masses, but harder to get noticed in a sea of independent artists, companies, organizations and consultants that are all trying to do the same thing.

The main question these days isn’t if you can create an effective online marketing and promotion strategy, but whether you can use it to get people to care enough about what you’re doing to start and continue supporting you.

Got Value?

Therefore, you’ve got to be more strategic than ever before if you want your artist, label, company, song, message or live performance to get out to the most people in the shortest amount of time, and for the most value.

No matter how many technological advances take place, no matter how many social media networks pop up on a daily basis, no matter how many tools are at your disposal, it all comes down to value – for you and your customers; for any and everyone you want to impress and turn into supporters.

In today’s world, there is an abundance of tools for any business to use to get their message out into the world. But the main idea is to be able to get your message to the right people in the right amount of time, while doing it both strategically and interestingly enough to make people want to receive that message, and then come back for more.

Tools of the Trade

The biggies: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

If you’re in entertainment in any capacity, you’re definitely using these tools as we speak.

However, look beyond just the social media surface and you’ll find a plethora of others tools and outlets that you can use to create a solid message that will make you look like a pro:

·      Vimeo

·      Ning

·      Tumblr

·      Skype

·      Bebo

·      Meetup.com

·      Google+

·      Foursquare

·      Wordpress

·      Blogger

·      Justin.tv

·      Viddler

·      Hootsuite

·      Tweetdeck

·      Picasa

·      Flickr

There are also tons of tools for content management systems, social media, file sharing, information backup, mobile marketing and applications, and event planning.

Get on Google’s Tools (if You Haven’t Already)

Two of the most standard tools anyone will have to use at their disposal are Google AdWords and Google Analytics, which will help to give you a better, fresher idea of where you stand on the Internet:

·      How functional is your website design?

·      What keywords are you using and are they effective in generating traffic for you?

·      How interactive is your material?

·      Are you using effective backlinks?

·      Who are your biggest online competitors and what are they doing to become industry leaders?

·      Is it time to invest in a mobile site?

  

TMI?

You might be thinking, “All of this information might be helpful, but it’s a helluva lot to digest all at once.” And you’d be right. 

But, to put it bluntly, if you’re not familiar with at least half of the names or concepts that I’ve just mentioned above, you’re way behind the game. And if you play some kind of role in the career of an artist, music label, promotional company or the like, then you’re even further behind.

We’re currently in a sharing economy – these consumers, especially music fans, are no longer content with just receiving and consuming information in one instance. Many times, they want to be part of the conversation and process.

This makes the strategy that you put together for online marketing and promotion even more important, because if you’re beginning online promotion strategy doesn’t include these folks, you could very well find yourself without any fans or supporters in the blink of an eye.

Conclusion? Stay Focused.

So, with all of this information in tow, where do you get started in creating an effective online promotion strategy?

Well, if you’re dealing with music and entertainment of any sort, it starts by realizing that this is a business. Sounds easy enough, but it’s something that can easily get lost along the way.

It’s important to keep that idea in mind in everything you’re doing to make yourself successful. 





About the Author: Certified Internet marketer,  freelance writer, and blogger Ronald Grant lives and breathes the music industry, practicing the Internet marketing principles he preaches with his three blogs: Muzik Issues Today (Blogger), The Music Business Revisionist (WordPress), and Greezy the Great! (Tumblr). You can also find his contributed articles in online Hip Hop magazine HipHopDX.com. Follow him for the latest music industry news on Twitter at @RonGreezy.  


Come back next week - Ronald gets down to the nitty gritty of online promotion in Part 2. You don't want to miss it!


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Public domain image by Petr Kratochvil.

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