How to Create a Music Marketing Plan Pt.1

When it comes to finding success as a musician, it’s not enough to just create good music, you’ll also need to market it so that new listeners and labels can find you. And we get it, for many musicians, marketing is out of your element, and it’s nowhere near as fun as the creative side of being a musician. However, music marketing plays a crucial role in getting your music in front of new audiences and growing your fan base.

If you’re unsure how or where to begin creating a music marketing plan, you’re in luck. Below we’ve created a guide to get you started down the path of creating a successful and engaging music marketing plan. Stay tuned for part 2!

Why You Need a Marketing Plan

Because you just do. And before you open your mouth to say that you don’t need a music marketing plan, the answer is everyone does. Music marketing is essential to the music industry. It’s most commonly used to highlight events and newsworthy things in music, including your music. When most indie artists promote a new single or album they’ve released, they share it with their inner circle and fan base, but we invite you to think bigger. Music marketing allows you to reach listeners outside of your local music scene and outside of your genre. There are four main questions you should have answers for before you start hashing out your plan: what are your marketing goals? Who is your target audience? Where will you market your music? And how will you market yourself? In the next section, we break down each question individually.

How to Create a Marketing Plan

Establish Your Goals

The first step in creating a successful marketing plan is to map out your goals. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish and who you want to reach. Identifying your target audience and naming your desires will guide your approach when it comes to crafting your campaign. Not having a clearly defined goal is often where many music marketing campaigns fail. To reduce your chances of failure, you need to have a set of S.M.A.R.T. goals or goals that are:

Specific: “Become famous” is too general of a goal. Try something like “Score a gig at (insert favorite venue here),” which leaves no room for misinterpretation.

Measurable: Your goal should be measurable, whether that’s a number, like reach 3,000 followers on Twitter, or has a finite end like playing in a choice festival.

Achievable: While it’s great to have a dream venue or collaboration in mind, we recommend starting with a goal that’s a bit smaller and easier to achieve. Once you’ve met that goal, increase the challenge on the next.

Relevant: Pick a goal that’s relevant to something you want to achieve. Don’t set it for something that you’re not interested in just because it’s an option. Prefer Spotify over Apple Music? Aim to get your music on there instead.

Time-based: Having a time limit on when you should accomplish your goal by helping you stay on track and holds you accountable. Without a deadline, you could lose motivation.

Define Your Brand

Every artist has a brand image. It tells your fans who you are, what you stand for, and what you’re passionate about. You might not know right off the bat, and that’s ok. You must take the time to ask yourself what kind of message you want to spread, how do you want your fans to feel about you? After self-reflecting, use your answers to build and define your brand. You can incorporate the various elements that make up your brand into your music marketing campaigns. If you would describe yourself as being hopeful and ethereal, use soft pastel colors and lots of white space in your newsletters to express that to your fans.

Consider Your Budget

As you’re building your music marketing plan, one of the things that may come up is different marketing channels and which ones to use to boost your ad’s visibility. Before you leap, consider your budget and what it looks like. Contrary to popular belief, you can do a lot with a smaller budget; you need to do your research. Find out how much promotion costs on each channel and what the package offers. Then, make your decision.

It’s widely known that social media is the most popular marketing tool of the modern age. It’s easy to learn, and it’s relatively inexpensive when compared to some other media channels. Still, you need to weigh whether or not it’s worth it to use Instagram or Facebook ads, as they may be too expensive for those with a smaller budget. 

If you’re ok with handling things yourself, there’s nothing wrong with promoting the old-fashioned way; it can be a lot of extra work. Start by personally reaching out to music publications or post ad-like content on your musician's social media accounts and newsletters.

Define Your Strategy

Once you’ve established your goals, defined your brand, figured out who your audience is, and considered your budget, now you can get to the nitty-gritty: laying out your plan of action. It’s where you get to have fun and use some of the creativity you often dedicate to songwriting and art.

Think about the different outlets like your website, social media, and email subscriber lists that you have and how you want to use them. Just remember that whatever you implement must be in alignment with the goal you set at the beginning. Next, map out the details of how you plan to use each outlet on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis — whichever your schedule permits.

Lastly, be sure to monitor the progress of your music marketing plan regularly. Use analytic tools from social media platforms and even A/B testing to gain insight into how your music marketing plan performs and tweak it accordingly.

Check-In

Even though you’ve created a stunning music marketing campaign, your work doesn’t end here. That’s because things are always changing, and there’s a possibility that the plan you developed six months ago is no longer relevant. In that time, the industry may have changed, and you, too, may be different. Your sound may be different, you may have gone solo or joined a band, or you may have realized that the brand you built isn’t really you. There’s also a possibility that part of your plan didn’t work out. No matter what the reason, it’s wise to revisit your plan from time to time to make sure you’re promoting the most recent info.

Mirada Media

Creating a killer music marketing plan may take a lot of work, but it’s well worth it when the brand recognition, fans, and performance requests start rolling in. Another thing to consider while drafting your master plan is protecting your sensitive information, music, and more from falling into the wrong hands. With Mirada Media’s SecureMedia API, you and many others in the entertainment industry can breathe easy, protected from premature releases, and more.

To learn about how SecureMedia works and our other services for independent musicians, contact us today!