OK, so I stole this title from Led Zeppelin, but it’s really the best way to describe what’s going on in today’s music industry — and especially in its marketing. I’m amazed by the continual insistence on the “next big thing” being hyped long before the current big thing has been proven. For example, is anyone still using Ping?
Holy crap, when Ping launched it was a clusterfuck race to get your artist profile. And then …. um …. the buzz died down about 20 minutes later when folks realized that there wasn’t a whole lot of upside going on. That and it was far easier to use things like Twitter and Facebook (and yes, MySpace…) to hype what you’re listening to or even possibly buying. That is, of course, if you still bother to buy music.
As marketers, we haven’t fully capitalized on the existing tools in our arsenal. Recently, studies showed that newsletter remain the most effective tool for conveying “meaningful” or rich content. Strangely though, there are few companies that truly specialize in that format — there are tools to create (Constant Contact, Bronto, Emma, MailChimp, FanBridge, and a kajillion others…), but none that really get you to understand how to place the content, what words to use, strategies for open rates, and so on.
In our quest to find the next big thing, we’re also looking for the fastest, easiest way too. As we search for fast and easy, we end up with less effective. Yet again, no big surprise. I don’t advocate that marketers stop Tweeting, but I do recommend that we pay attention to the things that have been proven effective.
I’ve spent the last week looking at the various tools in my marketing arsenal. There are many, but it’s fascinating to see which make the most sense, generate the most consistent return, require the most attention to execute on, and (most importantly!) return measurable results.
More on this coming (very) soon, but to give it all away in one post — come on, then why come back? 😉
