1 Picture = 1000 Words

     I've heard the saying before, and I hadn't really paid much attention to it. It was a phrase of sentiment, and that's as far as my mind had taken it. But it seems that this statement is true in more ways than what (I believe, anyway) was intended.

     I read an article on Forbes.com about online marketing trends that dominated 2014. A very large portion of them were social media related. But the main idea behind all the successful marketing of 2014 is something I could term "information digestibility." Put simply, the most effective marketing was the simplest, and the most quickly understood.

     One of the points made in the article was the emergence of numerous social media networks. However, most never really got off the ground. But the ones who did had one thing in common: a focus on images. Pinterest and Instagram were among those mentioned. The success of these really points to the power of imagery. A Picture truly is worth a thousand words. Consumers can digest the information contained in an image way faster than a paragraph, not to mention the emotion an image an invoke almost instantly.

     I really want to take this approach on our next album in terms of title, artwork, etc. Simple is the name of the game.

Black Friday

     We're all obviously aware of the Black Friday deals and how everyone scrambles to get the products they love for the best prices they'll see all year. But in checking up on Apple's deals, I was surprised to find out there were none. I hadn't looked into Apple during Black Friday before, but in doing a little research, I found out that they've never been big into Black Friday deals. They don't do much more than offer minuscule (in comparison to their prices) gift cards with purchases.
     I've really been wondering why this is, and my first thought wandered to the fact that they position themselves as a premium brand. Maybe having their products discounted to such a degree as those products around them would "de-value" them or something? I'm not entirely sure. Or maybe, it just makes more sense to give away software (these are app store/itunes cards), which is extremely cost effective to make and sell, as you only have to write the software once, and there are virtually no production costs beyond a programmer's salary unless you package dvds for installation.
     Apple has really done an excellent job position their products (especially their laptops) as premium devices. Their computers are often status symbols. Contrast this with Google, who makes their largest amount of money from delivering targeted advertising on behalf of businesses world wide, offers many of their products for a fraction of the price of their competitors. Take Google Fiber for example: it's high speed internet for a price that no one could even hope to match. I think that Google seeks bring in as many users to their products as possible so that they have a larger audience for their targeted ads.
     These two businesses have very difference business models, each a different approach to their products. This has really gotten me thinking about our product. I've given a ton of thought to how we offer value to promoters looking to book us for shows, but I haven't thought much about how we can do things differently to give our music a unique appeal to consumers in general. After all, the consumers of our music are who drive the demand for our concerts, hence the interest of promoters.

Moments of Misery

     I went through this very thing with Nine Lashes. We had launched a facebook merchandise store in the effort to generate more revenue. But we were not ready for that in the slightest. We weren't exactly the most responsible group of individuals to begin with. Eventually, we found ourselves behind on orders, out of items that were being ordered, refunding frustrated customers left and right.
     There is simply NO WAY we were growing through all of that. This video really confirmed what I was feeling at the time. I eventually took the store down because of the impression I was worried about it making on our fans.
     But this concept really goes beyond just our merch store. Sometimes, I wonder if there is anything we can do differently than other bands? I wonder if there's a model we could adopt that allows us to sell our albums for cheaper than anyone else AND have them be ultra rewarding? How can we make people cherish our albums, beyond making awesome music? An interaction of some sort, maybe? A puzzle with a prize? In any case, I really like the idea of capitalizing on the "moments of magic" concept.

Distribution

     In a conversation between bands, distribution tends to mean that a band has signed a contract with a company that will put their music in stores. But in this digital day, there's so much more to this. We really need to do some serious research on when and how people are discovering our music. Then we need to double down on those "places" as well as get creative with new ways to expose new people. Most of my new music discovery is from people I know listening to something that catches my ear. Maybe we lower the price of our music at shows, so that more people buy, and word of mouth increases.
     Maybe it doesn't look like that at all. Maybe, like Dropbox (which I use) we make a video that will capture the attention of people that aren't necessarily looking for us. And I think that is one way that we fall short. It seems that alot of our marketing, even the part that comes from our label, is geared toward people who are looking for music like ours. This isn't bad, it just doesn't lead to great growth. I am of the opinion that the world is full of people that just don't know that they want a Nine Lashes album, yet.
     I think I'm going to post a poll on Facebook asking how our fans discovered our music.

Pricing and Competition

     In the Christian music industry, your pricing really reflects a lot on your brand. We try to not book shows for $500, because, while it may pay the bills, it also sends the message that we're not worth more. If someone books Thousand Foot Krutch, they're expecting to pay a lot of money because that name is expected to draw a large crowd. Because of the association of price and prestige, we really have to be conscious about how much we charge. We need to be a cheaper alternative to, say, Disciple, but we can't send the message that they're not getting quality.
     I think our answer is in the founding of our worship project, called Long Live The King. Since both Long Live The King and Nine Lashes are the same physical people, yet separate projects, we are able to offer promoters excellent prices while not sacrificing quality. No promoter would argue with getting a rock band, a worship act, and full, top-quality sound and lighting provided for over $1,000 cheaper. Even with things like food, they're essentially only having to feed one band while getting the performance and music of two.
     This, I believe, is what will separate us from our competition, and I really believe it will propel us forward tremendously.

Celebrity Branding

     I don't know about a second career, but Donald Trump definitely capitalized on his reputation for successful business to brand the shows "The Apprentice" and then "The Celebrity Apprentice." The show was a hit for a few years. Now, even more so, his name is pretty much synonymous with business success.
     As far as us using a celebrity, it's a no brainer. If we had someone ultra famous tweet about our album, we'd see a major spike in sales. Maybe we should start some drama about a celebrity on our Facebook! lol
     In all seriousness, the music industry is built on this idea. Smaller bands buy onto larger tours. To the consumer, it looks as if the larger band approves of the opener, when in actuality the opener just paid enough money to win the spot. It's how you grow your brand in this industry.

Product Positioning

     I was intrigued by the talk of positioning in one of the videos, and it's not something I've thought much about with our brand, Nine Lashes. If you really stop and think, we're a Christian Rock band. What hurts this market isn't the demand for it, but it's the exposure for it. Christian radio doesn't bring in advertising dollars when their station plays more edgy music. What really generates revenue in the Christian industry is the more conservative music.
     So I would imagine that we face some choices. Either we make our music less edgy, or we find a different method to get our product before the eyes (or ears, rather) of those that want it. With bands larger than us, we can't really position ourselves as the "best" rock band. That's too subjective. But what I do think we can do is position ourselves as one of the most ministry oriented Christian Rock bands there are. This would resonate with youth pastors. And if we coupled worship music with our brand by branching out with a sort of side project (almost like Beats is a headphone company that exists under Apple since they bought it) that plays worship, we could be the best bargain for youth pastors wanting both a good time for their kids and a night of worship after.
     We need to find ways that we add value that no one else adds, and then we need to make sure our target audience knows what exactly it is that we bring to the table.

A Good Name

     A good name is just plain valuable. At last night's show, I saw a flyer taped to the wall inside an elevator advertising a concert that featured an artist name "Nicole Croteau and The Era." The name stuck out to me like a sore thumb.
     When it comes to being an artist, there are two sides to the coin: artistry and business. I'm sure their name has plenty of artistic merit. It gives me the impression that they are incredibly deep and meaningful in their music, but what it doesn't do is help me remember them. I'm not sure I could have looked them up later even if I had wanted to.
     This is where the concept of marketing ties in. Brand awareness. You want your product or company to be on people's minds as often as possible. While no form of mind control currently exists (whoever invented that would be RICH!), I feel there are plenty of steps we can take to make sure our name is memorable and triggers good feelings.
     Sometimes I worry about our name, Nine Lashes. I think we get written off as a metal band, sometimes, and we've honestly kinda shot ourselves in the foot with our imagery, as well. Most of our photos look militaristic. And I think there's this other side of my band that people don't get to enjoy simply because they may move on after reading the name or seeing our picture. Definitely something to keep in mind for our next album.

Statistical Analysis vs Intuition

     It's hard to ignore numbers. They tell a story, paint a landscape. Not necessarily of what will happen, but definitely of what has happened or how what the state of things are. For example, if I am an app developer, and I only have the resources, starting out, to develop my app for either iOS or Android, having a statistic sitting in front of me that says more people use Android than iOS, that will greatly sway my decision. Developing for one or the other affects the number of people my app is available to.
     On the other hand, there are areas that analysis simply won't fill. Henry Ford said that if he had asked people what they wanted, they would have said, "Faster horses!" He didn't have a number in front of him. But reason and problem solving, rather than statistical analysis, led him to developing the car. He just knew it would catch on.
     I tend to lean on analysis for decisions. We recently had some shirts printed, and we polled on Facebook asking which shirt they would want out of five options. Since then, we've seen the number one shirt, having ordered it, flies off our table.
     In the end, I think that each has its place, and each, in that proper place and in conjunction with the other, will lead you to growth.

An Idea For The Online Store

     We're getting ready to launch our online store, and it's got me racking my brain for ideas on getting the word out. A Facebook post will obviously get things started, but what if there was a way to extend the word beyond the followers reached by the post? We have 72,000 likes on Facebook, but our very best posts end up reaching less than half of that.
     So I think I have an idea to expand those numbers. When customers purchase something on our store, I need to find a way to implement some sort of reward for sharing that purchase on their social media sites. The hope is that friends of friends of friends will see our merchandise and find themselves wanting some for themselves. =]
     Another avenue we can pursue, is having some sort of membership that our fans can join. They could get discounts for referring people to our store and our brand in general. The hurdle here is the logistics of keeping up with who is a member and who suggested who. If we could figure that out, I think it would ramp up our brand awareness, and our sales would greatly increase.

     In a very A.D.D. side note, I can't believe Apple didn't name their smart watch the "iWatch." Maybe they're trying to build the "Apple" brand even more than it already is and they feel that the i-naming system lessens that? I don't know.

Some Thoughts

     I feel like I've been having some great ideas, lately. But through these ideas, I really felt like I needed to step back and simplify who and what this business/band/ministry is. I felt really inspired in reading the material from my ETP 279 class. I felt like that class and the 265 class have really helped me understand what it is that we do and what it is that we need to do. Seems like my brain has been nonstop since starting these classes. It's been great.
     Stepping back was actually quicker and easier than I had anticipated. Who and what we are (or want to be) is really simple. We want to be an organization, however structured, that cultivates a relationship with Christ in the people we encounter. Second to that, we want to make a living while doing so.
     This goal breaks down into two pieces. On the one hand, we want to reach those who haven't given their lives to Christ, and on the other hand we need to help those who know Christ grow in that relationship.
     With this break down, it's easy for me to visualize the future Nine Lashes. Maybe we don't just make rock music. Maybe we branch out with a worship side project. Maybe we build our website to be more community oriented where followers can connect with each other instead of product oriented where we just have our tour dates and online store and nothing else.
     We've even started taking prayer requests at our merch table via anonymous cards. We then send those requests back to our home church.
     All these things, while making a difference in people's lives, leaves us to wrestle with the other part of our goals: making a living.
     There is one thing that bands have in common with churches: they create a sense of community. With that community, you can both change lives and generate revenue. Churches can rally behind what we're doing and help fund our venture. The community can donate and feel like they're playing a part in reaching people. Perhaps we could even create a sort of membership for our fans to join, where they feel like they belong; like they're part of a bigger picture. They, in turn, will be a very strong source of word of mouth, which will obviously generate merchandise sales.
     Then there's always youtube. Videos where fans are either entertained, inspired, or simply momentarily amused, all while serving ads that generate revenue at no expense to our fans.
     I had really gotten down for a while, thinking that we as a band and a business had a ceiling due to certain personal convictions that really kept us from being competitive in the secular music industry. But now, I really see that there is so much opportunity.

Under-utilized Business Opportunities

          I've spent the past week with a guy who makes his living with marketing. He was basically handed a concept for a suicide prevention and awareness ministry, and told to make it grow. His path crossed ours and we're now partnering to help make an impact on kids.
          But the time I've spent with the guy has had some other major benefits. It made me realize how BEHIND we were in terms of growth for our business. We're a band. We write music and we're all A.D.D. That equals out to not a lot getting done a good bit of the time. What must be done, gets done. But there are so many under-utilized opportunities.
          For instance, Youtube. On the road, the guys and I always get into crazy situations. Seems like everywhere we go, we run into people willing to take us snowmobiling, four-wheeler riding, golfing, eating, and anything else you can think of. There are plenty of opportunities to record footage of our "adventures" and post the videos for our fan base to follow. It could help generate web traffic to our website, making it more valuable digital real estate for future sponsors.
          Facebook is another. Sure we post statuses occasionally, but we're far from consistent. Making sure we post regularly and that our posts are of great quality, we're able to grow and leverage our audience for different purposes. Say, for instance, we were putting a tour together and we were seeking sponsors. We could post to Facebook asking who was planning to come out, and use the analytics of that post in our pitch to, say, Monster Energy Drinks.
          In short, this guy has gotten my wheels turning, and I'm excited to come up with little things we can do to really grow this thing beyond where we are, now.

Entrepreneurial Marketing

          I run a business. Every day of my life consists of figuring out the next step in growth. I am really, very seriously, looking forward to this class as well as ETP 279. In spite of these classes not being directly tied to my major (classes filled up on me), I think I'll gain quite a bit of practical knowledge.

          If you're one of my normal readers, I should probably let you know that this blog is for my class. While I posted more than never, I'm still not familiar enough with this ecosystem to know whether you guys are notified about this blog the same way you are on "My Thoughts."