January 16th, 2008
Hello Jazz Friends,
Welcome back once again to another jazz music marketing post. Before we delve into the subject of marketing research, I feel that it’s important to really define what the term marketing really means.
Some common mistakes being made in defining this term is to equate it with advertising or selling. Advertising is merely a segment of marketing although an important component. Marketing is also in no way related to being a great salesperson. We’ll elaborate on the topic of sales in later posts.
In it’s most simple definition, marketing is satisfying or fulfilling a customer need. It’s important for jazz musicians to view fans as mutual partners. A broader definition of marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance relationships with fans or customers, for profit, so that the wants, needs, and desires of all parties involved are met.
The process in which the mutual relationship between jazz performer and audience is achieved successfully is through market orientation. Once you begin to understand where your existing and future fan base congregates, the better you can maximize and leverage your music marketing efforts.
Here are some ways to truly segment a jazz music audience:
Demographics – age, gender, income, ethnicity, marital status, education, occupation, household size, length of residence, social status
Geographic – city, state, zip code, county, region, location
Psychographic – attitudes, lifestyle, hobbies, personality traits, leadership traits, magazines read, TV programs
Behavioral – brand loyalty, usage level, benefits sought
Geo-Demographic – analysis of individuals by location. Combines geographic information with both demographics and even lifestyle information.
With that in mind here are some free tools that can be utilized for jazz market research.
Trade Publications:
For this type of research, simply go and visit the magazine rack of any bookstore and locate any jazz music or music industry magazines possible. These magazines can also be found at the public library. Also inquire about non mainstream publications with a reference librarian.
Although this is obviously not a music related site, it is very powerful because you can obtain some very detailed information pertaining to market segmentation by typing in a particular zip code using the neighborhood and schools tab.
The neat thing about this tool is that every piece of niche information by zip code is charted graphically. Be sure to bookmark this site. It’s going to helpful in the future for creating direct mail campaigns and scouting additional performance opportunities.
The majority of market segment information can be obtained from government websites. A powerful resource is the US Census Bureau. Again, everything from population, demographics, social, and income status is right here.
This is definitely another website that should be bookmarked without question.
All this talk of market research, segmentation, niche targeting may seem a little boring and trivial, but as jazz musicians today, we cannot afford to observe our audiences solely from the bandstand. Doing these initial pieces of homework will not only provide you with more comprehensive knowledge of your target audience, it will serve as way to build more loyal, dedicated fans and keep those bank accounts full.
Blessings and continue to research.
Keep Swinging!
Andre Hayward
Posted in Niche Marketing, Offline Marketing | No Comments »
January 1st, 2008
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to the jazz musician marketing blog. Today’s post is on the topic of solidifying your business model. Knowing that seeking work as a jazz musician is like riding a seesaw, it’s ever so important for us musicians to have a clear map of how one’s business structure should be developed.
I’d like to suggest that you consider categorizing your business into three sections:
-
Business Theme
-
Niche Marketing
-
Music Business Identity
Business Theme:
This is the simplest part but important in order to really bring true validation to what we do. It’s simply a matter of knowing what industry we are participating in. There’s no need for me to even elaborate on this any further. We all know what this is.
Unique Niche:
By definition, a niche market is simply targeting to a small segment or subset within a particular industry.
This is by far the most important element of determining your business model. A grave danger in marketing jazz music is to try to market to any and everyone. Just from observing the various venues we perform in from jazz clubs, orchestra halls, to international festivals, it’s very easy to scope out the exact niche segments we should be marketing to. In future posts, I will go into more depth on the subject of niche marketing utilizing offline and online resources.
Music Business Identity :
Another important componet in the whole jazz business model determination is to realize ones true musical identity. In the tangible world of business, it is often labeled as:
-
USP- Unique Selling Proposition
-
UBP- Unique Business Proposition
-
UBI- Unique Business Identity
There’s more acronyms than the three listed.
In the jazz world, we’re more involved with intangible, spiritual elements if you will. Every musician brings something unique to the wellspring of improvisational music.
One’s musical identity is shaped and molded from birth. It’s a combination of upbringing, family values, religious beliefs, music you may have been exposed to from chidhood, education, and other musical peers. Once you begin to realize your musical identity, it not only solidifies your concept and approach to playing, most importantly it brings some focus to how your business plan will be constructed. You will no longer feel as if you’re shooting in the dark waiting for the phone to ring.
I would encourage everyone to take the time to determine your theme, niche, and identity. No need for an elaborate plan right now although there’s some great business plan software out there on the market.
Just grab a pen and piece of paper or open notepad on your computer and begin to write out this information. This will more or less be a skeletal framework for a more sophisticated business plan in the future.
I will eventually recommend some tools and resources that will help to bring this jazz business model to fruition in later posts. Just try this little exercise for now.
Good Luck and Keep Swinging!
Andre Hayward
Posted in Internet Marketng, Music Business, Music Marketing, Niche Marketing, Offline Marketing | No Comments »