Jay-Z, Viral Marketing and Local Bands

This is part 2 from Wednesday’s post on Jay-Z and his newest release, American Gangster. After thinking about what Jay did in efforts to market his release with that of the movie of the same name I thought about how local and indie bands could jump on this promotional strategy.

1.Use local events as selling points. Quick example: Release a short EP loosely based around the Florida Music Festival and use Axis Magazine to ride the coattails of this festival. Everytime someone searches for FMF, use some creative search marketing to get your new album to rank high in the Search Engines. Create a new Myspace page with keywords in the title and URL, create short commercials on YouTube, have Craigslist postings selling the CD and even asking for volunteers to help sell it or pass it out at the Festival. Create events for its release on every platform there is. Then, once you have dominated the search rankings, you will leave Axis no other choice but to throw an article your way about the album, its marketing, hopefully your showcase in the festival and even an album review. Now you are getting the exposure of playing in a great festival, the press that goes with the mad being distributed to everyone in attendance, and everyone online who wants more info on the festival.

2.Use holidays to your advantage. Create events around holidays and make them an event instead of just another show. Halloween is obviously easy as costume parties are great. Make it memorable so the casual bar hopper remembers your band and what you did on that holiday. Having an Easter Bunny mascot hanging out chocolates with your band’s name on the wrapper, Special Green CD’s on St Patty’s Day, having a retirement group do a dance video of one of your songs to promote on YouTube for Veteran’s Day. Get creative and create something with a lasting impression.

3.Incorporate local business. Writing a song about a favorite hang out, bar, restaurant or store can get the establishment involved in the promotion of your band. The local store may play the song on loop all day and sell your CD’s at the counter. Give away free stickers, buttons, CD’s; give away their stickers, coupons or promo material at your shows. Not only will customers be exposed to your music but you are creating free advertising for the business and may just convert some employees into fans and better yet street team/salespeople for your music.

4. Use the movie effect. Rappers have used these to generate interest in mixtapes for years. Try having parodies of titles, goofy bonus songs and even viral videos that compliment the latest blockbuster movie.

5. Controversy sells. When a new law is passed, many people research it online. Having a song, video, concept that goes along with this law will get your ban extra exposure and may even make you an authority on the law in question.

There are countless other ways to cross promote your product with that of other products. The key is to react fast. With a movie release you can find the release date, weeks if not months in advance. You want your product’s marketing to launch before or at the same time as the product you are trying to promote off of. Being ahead of the curve gets the early adopters to site you as an authority on the subject and can get press involved if they find your work good and buzzworthy. Be fast, be creative and be heard.

If your band wants to get heard louder, faster and with more impact, email me to schedule a consultation.

-g-ro