An E-Marketing Strategy for Managers/Bands

How Do You Possibly Manage Your E-Marketing Strategy When You Have 1,000 Things To Do?

It’s E-Z. Differentiate between the following:

1) Music Distribution Services
2) Band-to-Fan Interaction/Promotion Services
3) Industry / B-2-B Services

Once you coordinate what online services (MySpace, iTunes, Facebook, Imeem, ILike, Last.fm, etc.) are going to distribute your music, then define quantifiable goals that will help gauge that metrics are being met each week / quarter based on your promotional efforts (Touring, Marketing, etc.)

CLEARLY DIFFERENTIATE Sites that deal with Fans, and those like WorldMusicLink.com that ONLY deal with B-2-B Operations.

Again choose your sites carefully for Band-to-Fan and develop a reasonable investment budget to win and differentiate your Music Act on those Sites. I think $50 – $100 / month in total online marketing activities is reasonable considering the purchase of a few premium services, additional marketing / featured placements, and so forth. Again, define metrics and stick to them.

DIY Tools – Why You Need to Know About Them

Whether you’re a touring musician or an established Marketing maven at a Record Label, traditional marketing has gone done the tubes.

First off, traditional advertising is both cost-prohibitive (think Billboard ads on Wilshire Blvc., L.A.), and most are overlooked because the passerby’s are too busy flipping through their iPhones and Blackberrys to even notice.

So what can you do to promote your brand in today’s markets that give you the best bang for your buck?

DIY Tools stand for Do-It-Yourself. Free / Low-cost tools are great tools that keep you connected in real-time to your end-consumers / customers. Plus, most DIY tools can be accessed, updated, and promoted anywhere in the world.

For your next album or marketing campaign, think grass-roots and don’t do the traditional marketing just yet – do it yourself!