Success with Text? Look to Retail.

Musicians looking for case studies and examples of where Text Marketing is having success can look to Retail. And since retailers are typically targeting the same consumer demographic that represents a Fan, the appeal of text for Artists to connect with fans is obvious.  Here are how some (of many) retailers are using text to connect with consumers both inside and outside their storefronts.

Abercrombie & Fitch - recently launched “club” programs that focus on mobile communications. Customers who “opt-in”for membership receive exclusive product offers and content, plus value-added services.  A representative states “growing our text file has been a very strong focus. You do have some issues on what and how often you can communicate to consumers via text because there are spam laws. But we’ve grown our text file essentially from a couple of hundred thousand to one or more million in the span of twelve months.”

Aerie & American Eagle Outfitters  - created a sweepstakes (contest) that includes a text-to-enter instant-win game wherein participants have the opportunity to win American Eagle Outfitters shorts and Aerie swim suits. While in the fitting room trying on the latest spring styles of American Eagle Outfitters shorts and Aerie swim suits, shoppers can enter to instantly win by texting in to American Eagle Outfitters or Aerie.

Aeropostale – created an opt in text campaign for an exclusive VIP invite to the launch of Aero by having consumers text REVEAL to 237687 (AERO87) and signing up for Aero Texts.

Toys  R Us – has grown their text database to over 450,000 subscribers. The retailer sends regular text messages supporting key shopping periods and promoting important new product launches.

Dress Barn – A representative states “More and more we are seeing that our consumers and target audience are extremely receptive to using both SMS messaging and their mobile phones to stay in contact and receive updates from brands with which they associate themselves.”

Kohls - is using SMS texts to inform consumers that if they spend $30, they can win various prizes including discounts at other retailers like Staples.

Lord & Taylor  With hundreds of the largest brands now running text message marketing campaigns, it’s no wonder that many of these brands sent SMS promotions to their customers in celebration of July 4th. It’s common for brands such as Lord & Taylor, Tommy Bahamas, JCPenney, Michaels, Simon Malls, Stage and Payless Shoes to use holidays as a chance to promote some special offer.  

Use Text Messaging for the "Moment"

Sending fans a text message creates a "moment" of connection between you, the Artist, and your fans. It's a tool to create fan loyalty and, ultimately, drive business results (a sale). Mobile text messaging is rooted in it's immediacy, and it's the trigger or catalyst for a mobile moment. It's a mechanism to get a fan to take action now.

These mobile moments are present throughout the entirety of the Artist - Fan relationship.

Engage: Connect with fans and have fun using Contests, Exclusive Content, or Voting.

Discover: Alert fans to new content.

Buy: Prompt fans to purchase show tickets, special deals, or send them a coupon.

Explore: Remind fans of all the cool music, videos and news they can find on your Web App.

Use:  The most engaged fans expect help to get the most of your Web App. Send texts to encourage activity so they get the most from their connection to you and your music.

Ask: Send fans a poll, asking them to vote on a topic important to them.

Your fans connect with you during their entire journey with you throughout your Artistic career. Map your mobile messaging to key moments in this journey. The immediacy and effectiveness of Text Messaging  drives fan action and increases sales, engagement and loyalty.


Thanks to Forrester Research for the inspiration, and some of the ideas, for this article.

Web Sites or Web Apps? Which is better for Musicians?

“Every Artist needs a Web Site”. We read that and hear that all the

time. But is a Web Site the right digital footprint for an Artist? Maybe not.

When you think of Web Site, you think of consuming information that is mostly static and doesn’t change very often. When you think of Applications, you’re DOING something. Like desktop applications (Word, Photoshop, Skype), Web Applications are dynamic and ever-changing. Web applications rely on you to interact with them, whether by contributing content or by gathering data from other sources and presenting it to you.

Now, think of how an Artist uses the internet:

·        Continually uploading content – music, videos, photos

·        Continually communicating with Fans – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Vine, etc.

·        Continually updating Show information

·        A desire to have regular engagement with Fans

The dynamic nature of the Artist to Fan relationship speaks volumes to having a Web Application and not a Web Site. Where “Web Sites” end and “Web Apps” begin. Compared to the classic web, i.e. blogs and news sites, Web Apps provide a richer user experience and access to advanced browser capabilities. But it’s more about the task focus than the technology itself. The use case of an application is always to DO something with it.

Also, how you use your Web App or Web Site is also important. Since Web Sites are, for the most part, static and unchanging, it’s OK to have fans find you. But with the dynamic nature of Web Apps, you want to proactively drive your fans to your Web App because there is constantly changing news and content. 

Onboard Your Fans

You've run a contest at a show, or a shout out about that new

song they can upload. Or maybe a post on social media, telling fans about your new web app. And fans are responding, texting in. Last night, 30 new fans opted in!

Once a fan has opted in to receive your text messages, you don’t want to wear out the welcome mat – or go dark on them. Just as you would welcome your email subscribers with a series of welcome emails, your mobile messaging strategy should help your new fans get to know you, and it can take anywhere from 10 days to 2 months, depending on the journey you want to take them on.

Onboarding New Fans

Remember that fans expect communications that speak directly to their behaviors, preferences, and history with you or your band. As you welcome new fans, keep in mind your targeting criteria – to make your welcome message valuable from the start.

You can use your welcome message to help your fans learn what to expect from their relationship with you. For example, send them to your News Page with an article about what they can expect when they get texts from you. Or, send out a voting contest asking them what they want to get from you – four choices. Run the voting poll monthly, sending a text to all the fans that opted in last month.

When onboarding new fans, pay attention to the time of day. Remember, texts usually come in with a sound on their mobile device. So watch the time zones, and don’t send texts from, say 10pm to 10am.

With the Adva Mobile text service, onboarding new fans is easy. Mark in your calendar twice a month (or once a month). On the Fans – Your Fans page, run a filter of everyone who joined in the last 2 weeks (or month). Send them a welcome message in your text, and point them to a page on your web app that will help them learn more about you (not the merch/Store page, for example, on the first few texts.)

You may not be onboarding thousands of new fans each month at the start, but a “big list” is not the measure of success here. These fans that have chosen to hear from you regularly via text are a smaller, but more engaged group – your superfans. So make it your goal to show them a rewarding, relevant mobile experience from the start.

What's the proper budget for Mobile Marketing?

If you're treating your music career like the small business that you are, you're likely spending some time right now planning for 2015. You're setting goals, making a schedule of activities and trying to predict revenues and match them to a budget of expenses. Marketing is certainly a line item in your budget, and so it's a reasonable question - Mobile is here, what's the right number to dedicate to mobile marketing?

 While the circumstances of small businesses are as varied as the products and services they provide, a very common rule of thumb for small businesses is that about 4% of revenues should be devoted to marketing - all the expense efforts you need to undertake to get new fans and keep existing fans. Promotion, publicity, getting airplay, web site, social media, etc. all are marketing expenses.

What about mobile? Mobile Marketing offers unprecedented ways to reach fans and engage them, leading to a propensity for the fan to support you with purchases. Mobile optimized web sites / Apps, text based campaigns, mobile coupons and offers, QR codes, and other marketing tools can be effectively deployed to acquire and engage fans.

Here again, generally, the 4% rule is applicable. Four percent of your marketing budget should be targeted to Mobile Marketing activities. Here's a brief guide:

Band Revenues Marketing Budget Mobile Budget

$100,000      $4,000    $160

$250,000      $10,000   $400

$1,500,000  $60,000   $2,400

$5,000,000  $200,000 $8,000

Use these percentages as a guide to model your own marketing budget for 2015 and PLAN your way to success! And, if you have other ideas about how much of your budget should be dedicated to mobile marketing, share them here!

The Annual Mobile Readiness Survey

It's time again for our Annual "State of Mobile Readiness" Survey to the Artist community. This simple survey - takes about 1-2 minutes - will help us assess and measure the progress being made within the music industry toward the adoption of mobile marketing . With more and more fans engaging their favorite bands on mobile devices, we're interested in learning whether Artists are thinking about - or using - mobile technologies to connect with fans.

We'll run the survey through January and publish the results in the next Newsletter and here. We conduct this survey annually (this is the third annual survey) to gauge trends and movement in mobile adoption.

If you enter your email address at the completion of the survey, we'll send you the results of the survey and also enter your email into a random contest to win a $25 iTunes gift card.

Besides, it's fun. Go here to access the survey. And Thanks!

 http://goo.gl/forms/OBTDIrpvR1

The best way to support Artists is to pay them directly

What if streaming doesn't work out for the Artist? If streaming services aren't the answer for the music business, what will be the model for creators moving forward? If it doesn't work out, will there ever be enough money for musicians to make a living?

Technology in this space has been all about making consumer friendly solutions, and streaming provides a solution consumers are looking for – a jukebox in the sky, large catalogs of music, on demand, any time, streamed to any speaker you own. Companies making consumer first products are driven to make the product as cheap as possible. They’re not creating creator-first companies. And so creators are struggling to make a living.

Fans, however, want to support Artists they love. If there are easy ways to let fans pay Artists directly, they will do so. Often they will pay more for music if offered the opportunity to do so.

If streaming services do not convince large masses of consumers to pay for their services, and the distribution of this subscription revenue is not passed to independent Artists, then these Artists will need creator driven technology that helps fans easily support Artists by paying them directly. Fans will step up to the plate, either through patronage, crowdfunding, tips or direct purchases.

Artists have a role here also. Most Artists don’t tell fans how they can support them, or take advantage of tools that make it easy for fans to support them. 

Music itself is not doomed, because we’ll always need it to free our souls. If streaming doesn’t work out and creators stop making music because they can’t make a living from their streaming royalties, fans will step up and support Artists by paying them directly to keep music alive.