We all wish it was as enjoyable to find success in music as it is to create the art.

Unfortunately, success requires a lot of hard work, persistence, and things that artists typically dislike–such as marketing campaigns.The good news is, once you get a strategy in place and start to follow it, the momentum you generate will start to pay off with less effort.

The biggest hurdle is getting started. But you’re here, so obviously you’re committed to doing whatever it takes to make it.

So let’s delve into some ways to use a killer marketing strategy and make it in the music industry.

The Marketing Strategy

Make a Plan

This may seem like a no-brainer, but many people neglect this crucial first step when setting out to do anything complicated.

And let me tell you, making it big is definitely a long-term goal.

You need to sit down and define your objectives. ‘Making it big’ isn’t specific enough to act upon.

Where do you want to perform? How many fans do you want to have on your favorite social media platform? How many albums do you want to sell?

Start with a goal, and then you can define milestones along the way.

Always break a huge project into smaller pieces, so that you can see either progress, or lack thereof.

If you see that you’re failing your smaller goals, you can adjust your strategy before it threatens the entire project.

There will be failures and setbacks. The key to success is minimizing the harm from such failures, and making the most of your learning experience in each.

That’s how you collect the knowledge and skills that will propel you toward your ultimate dream.

Marketing Basics

“If you play it, they will come.” Said no one ever.

But even if they did–they were wrong.

Affordable recording software that will work on any home PC has more people than ever recording their own music. Thanks to the Internet, they’re also posting it for everyone to see.

The result: really cluttered music content that tends to obscure true greatness. What does this mean for you?

You have to be the best player, the one everyone wants to listen to.

But even if you are the best, without marketing, you’re just one name on a list of songs, that at first glance looks just like everyone else.

Marketing is the only way to change that.

You not only have to tell people that you exist, you have to let them know who you are and why they want to listen to your music rather than someone else’s.

This also requires telling the right people that you exist. Pop-country buffs probably don’t care about your heavy death metal band. And vice-versa.

If you tell people interested in your genre that you exist, that’s better, but still not guaranteed to get them to click on, download, or buy your stuff.

You can only reel them in if they like what they hear.

And that’s why you have to get your music out in front of them.

Strategy

Where and how you market your music will depend on your genre and the kind of audience it attracts.

Different audiences are more likely to use different social media apps, which differ in usage by age group.

For instance, TikTok tilts strongly to younger users, while older users are more likely to use Facebook.

So you’ll want to use these social media platforms differently depending on who is most likely to listen to your music.

Knowing your audience is the first step to success.

Pay attention to who shows up at your events or concerts, and who leaves the most excited comments.

They will be your biggest fans.

Management

You’ll want to create a timeline for your actions, and some way to track their success.

Business-level accounts allow for more detailed metrics so that you can tell who liked your post, who shared it, and when it got viewed the most.

This will help you adjust your social media posts to get better and better results as you continue to get to know your fans.

When you post is almost as important as what you post. Certain times of day get better results than others.

Different age groups also use social media differently, so that’s also important to keep in mind.

Communication

Make sure you know exactly what you’re trying to say.

All the posts in the world won’t help you if no one knows what you’re trying to say.

Have a message in mind before you post anything. Ask yourself: what is this post or tweet trying to say?

Is it an update? An announcement? A preview or promotion?

Vary your content types, and also remember to adjust it based on the platform you’re using.

Keep tweets short and sweet, make Instagram all about the visual, and use videos and links in your Facebook posts.

Social media marketing is an important part of every marketing strategy, and one you will need to master in order to get ahead.

Finances

Make the most of free advertising by creating posts that people want to share.

But also realize that at a certain point, it will become necessary to run paid social ads.

Once you’ve learned how to make the most of social media, your paid ads will become more effective.

It makes no financial sense to pay money upfront for boosted ads when you don’t know how best to use them yet.

Spend your time learning what works before you step it up to the next level. Then, your returns will be even better!

Marketing Approaches For Success:

Don’t hyper-focus on musical content

Spread your efforts to use ad channels that aren’t only music-related.

Use blogs, articles, videos, photos, and other content to spread the word and keep fans interested.

Pay attention to your existing fans before seeking new ones

Your current fanbase needs some love to keep them from wandering off.

Don’t be so eager to chase after new fans that you neglect your loyal supporters.

Acknowledge the part they’ve played in your success so far, and give them a shout-out now and then.

Promote Your Music to Unique Sources

Blogs

Blogs are a great place to get exposure.

Do some internet searching and find music blogs that mention independent artists or feature local content, and reach out to them about covering your music.

Offer to guest post on such blogs. This provides the blogger with easy content, and gives you free advertising in return. It’s a win-win!

Make sure to keep your own blog or artist website updated and full of interesting tidbits.

Choose a good domain name and put it out there on all of your social media posts, posters, signs, and business cards.

Have all of your social media accounts linked and displayed where people can easily like, follow, and share your posts.

Playlists

Playlists are a great way to get your name out there to people who are likely to be interested in your music.

On streaming apps such as Spotify, playlists are curated in one of two ways.

You can be added to an algorithmic playlist that a computer generates based on a user’s plays, likes, and skips.

The other kind of playlist is curated by editors working for the streaming platform.

Spotify is known for being pretty good at suggesting music that listeners might like.

So, all you need to do is get listed in the platforms with the appropriate genre info, and you have a decent chance of being discovered.

However, a quicker way to get yourself out there is to get put on a custom playlist curated by music influencers.

You can create your own playlists, but that won’t be as effective as getting onto playlists created by people with bigger audiences.

To do that, you’ll have to pitch yourself to the people who curate playlists that people follow.

Pitching is an important part of being a musician, and if you’re not yet ready to pitch to a record label, this is a great place to hone your skills.

Start small: don’t try to get on Jay-Z’s playlists without working your way up the ladder the right way,

Send each playlist curator you’ve chosen a polite and professional message letting them know who you are, and that you think your song would be a great fit for their playlists.

Just make sure that your music actually would be a great fit.

Once your song shows up in streaming playlists, people interested in your music genre will get the chance to hear your songs.

News Outlets

Local newspapers are also a good way to get coverage for your music.

If you have a great origin story or interesting hook, get yourself a good write-up and submit it to local papers and newsletters.

Make sure you use a really good pitch.

Send the details of your story to local papers, news sources, or news blogs and see if they’re willing to publish it.

Keep the details short and sweet.

Ask yourself: if you were a music fan who didn’t already know about your music, what would get you interested?

Get your own website up and running

Set up a good artist website and monetize it. How?

Well, if you have any kind of merchandise available for sale, that’s an obvious first step.

Get your merch up and listed with a good website builder with retail sales options that let you showcase what you’ve got.

But another option you may not know about is monetizing your site with ad banners.

Google AdWords or Amazon Native Ads are a great place to start making money from your site, even if people don’t buy your merchandise.

Having your site monetized for advertising means that you can’t just slap up an author bio and list your merch and leave it at that.

You’ll have to post content. Blog posts, videos, news updates, and so on, are all important parts of keeping your blog well-visited.

Add a place for people to sign up for email alerts and merch sales to start building an email list of interested fans.

This mailing list is an important part of marketing yourself, and will come in extra handy when you’re ready to release an album or promote a major concert or event.

In Conclusion

While marketing isn’t always fun, it’s necessary if you want to make a name for yourself in the industry.

There are a lot of avenues to cover, but by taking it one step at a time, you can learn the skills you need to get ahead.

You have a lot on your plate. Worrying about your demo tracks and label or venue pitches shouldn’t be one of them.

That’s why GigFaster is here to help you organize your demos and help you line up gigs with a minimum of hassle.

You have to be a jack-of-all-trades to get ahead these days, but it doesn’t mean that you have to do everything by yourself.

Sign up today for a one-week free trial, and see what GigFaster can do for you!