The music business has a long and well documented history of ignoring their customers and their wishes. Examples include the failure to embrace new digital models of distribution, pricing strategies, and even ‘artistic’ choice of genre. Marketing your music and the products associated should be a well thought-out and planned process, and it should start with you answering the following question: “Who is My Customer?”
When you ask this question many a musician, manager or label head the typical answer will be much too general. If your customer is defined as “Everyone that likes music!”, “High School kids!”, “Jazz lovers!” then I wish you good luck trying to devise a succinct and successful marketing strategy to reach those folks and make a profit.
Now take Trader Joe’s, my favorite super market, and their description of their target customer: “An unemployed college professor who drives a very, very used Volvo.” This is specific to the point of caricature, and there probably aren’t very many people out there that fit that exact description, but it provides TJ employees with a very identifiable and vivid picture of their customers. Whether you are someone stocking shelves, an executive, or the dairy buyer for TJ, you know who you’re trying to reach and please. Strategies can be formulated based on this image, products can be chosen, advertising can be designed, etc.
Now try again and tell me: Who is your customer?
Related Reading: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip & Dan Heath. Well worth reading, and it includes many examples of ideas that stick, including the TJ customer definition.