The idea for this article would nag at me each time I realized that an artist or label  didn’t have any kind of long term digital plan, relegating online matters to the realm of “let’s set up a myspace page” but were banking on  their next album to create a big splash. I find that many still aren’t collecting email addresses or doing anything to proactively find and communicate with their fans. There’s also some large corporations I know of whose online activities are less strategic and mostly just chaotic. Artists, (and indeed other businesses and brands) would do better to think of themselves in larger terms and see album releases, not as the be-all and end-all, but as another promotional event within an overall business strategy.

What’s the difference between a strategy and a promotional/marketing campaign?
What I mean by strategy is a long-term vision, plan or direction that you have for your career as an artist, business or brand. It is not only the vision, but the roadmap that helps you plan your course. Your strategy may change over time or adapt to circumstances, but the point is that you are not just blindly plodding along hoping for the best.
In contrast, a marketing campaign is a short/mid term promotional plan, usually around a specific product or event, such as an album release, or a tour. Such a campaign would be one element of your overall strategy.

What I usually find is that a lot of independent artists think that their album marketing campaign IS their strategy. They hire publicists and promoters etc when they have an album coming out and know they need a promotional push, but what’s going on the other 9 or 10 months out of the year that are not part of that new release window? Many times, the answer seems to be, not much.
Why treat yourself as a seasonal business that must hope to make as much as possible from one release? Wouldn’t it be better to develop ways to create residual income with the bonus of spikes around album releases, tours and so forth?

This is where strategy comes into play.

Market consistently, not episodically
Just because you don’t have an album coming out every month of the year, doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can and should be doing on an ongoing basis.
Your online strategy should include branding yourself, developing a database of fans and marketing to them, developing relationships with bloggers and people that can help you, and generally being active enough to keep your name in front of people on a regular basis.

Particularly in the online world there is now a lot of potential power in your hands so you need a clear direction for what you are doing and how to make the most of the opportunities available to you. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the wealth of information, social networking sites and tools available to you – if you have a strategy it will help you maximize your time and energy. The more you feel you are drowning online, the less effective you will be, and most likely will run out of steam soon enough.

Repetition is key
Chances are you will not make the splash you think you can with just one album release particularly if it is your first one, or if you are not particularly well-known.  It’s becoming harder and harder to get the attention of bloggers and other editors to even listen to your music, never mind write about it, so you need to be engaging them on a long term basis. Essentially your strategy is what lays the foundation for a successful marketing campaign when you do have an album that comes out – people will pay more attention to your album if they already have an inkling of what you are about – that goes for folks on the editorial side as well as fans/consumers. Both sets of people need multiple impressions before they will pay attention to you and take any action or seek out further info. You will get more bang for your buck if you’ve already laid some groundwork before you invest in publicists etc since they will be able to make more headway.

Take charge of your relationship with your fans
One of your most important assets should be an opt-in email database of fans. These are people that have visited one of your sites, downloaded music, or engaged with you in some way and have decided you are interesting enough to warrant them being kept up to date via emails. Not MySpace bulletins but actual emails right to their inbox. So you need to proactively find your fans and develop a relationship with them. This is something that can be done year-round.

Additionally, the prevalence of social networks means that all your fans’ info is spread across various places and you don’t have direct access to them except through the tools that particular site provides. For maximum efficiency you should be channeling those people to your site, or at least collecting their email addresses so that you own those relationships – get their info and communicate directly with them. Turn them from “friends” into real “fans”.

The album no longer needs to be the only way you release content.
You can release content and music digitally as frequently as you choose, so you need a way to get it out there and promote it. Whether that is music you sell, or music you give away to gain ears, you have to create demand –get folks hooked on your music and be excited for more of it.  As we mentioned in “digital demand for urban artists” when done strategically over time, a steady stream of content released throughout the internet can help boost your career. Notice I am using the word “content”. Music isn’t the only form of content – it could also be a blog you write, photos your upload, videos you make etc. Content can take so many forms these days and all are useful in providing touchstones for people to engage with you. A digital strategy will mean that you have the tools to create and distribute this content in an effective manner, then harness the benefits of it.

Think long-term
Many of the tools now becoming available online have to do with social networking, which is most effective as a part of a long-term plan. The social networks only work if you work them and are best used consistently and not just for promotions otherwise you will turn people off with your advertising and lack of personality. Many labels I come across are guilty of this. They set up a MySpace for a particular album release and promote it for about 2-3 months but after that it languishes. It’s smarter to have profiles based around your brand and maintain them for the long term since they will reap greater benefits. Again, think strategically for the long-term. The nature of branding, is really that it only works over time, so this is something you commit to for the long haul.

Create systems for residual income
A digital strategy will help you realize that you can be residually generating revenue all the time through your own website where people can make a purchase. Not to mention continual demand will drive organic traffic to a catalog of releases you may have. Contrary to what major labels would have you believe, your catalog is valuable. Once people discover you, they want to have access to all your music, not just what you’ve released in the last 30 days.

Have I convinced you yet?
I want to hear from you if:
You have a strategy and would like to brag about it. Or at least share some insights.
You don’t have one and need help masterminding one.
You think I’m on crack.

I’ll get into some specifics of what the strategy actually looks like in another article…

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Photo credits (in order of appearance):
http://flickr.com/photos/vascellari/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidking/