A successful music marketing campaign is built on data and is the result of careful planning, targeted advertising, strong branding, and a lot of behind-the-scenes work. In an industry saturated with players who will try to take advantage of artists by providing fake results with bots, marketing your music the way businesses market their products and services will set you up for longterm success. In this article, we will teach you how to develop and execute a strategic music marketing plan in 8 steps. Interested in more tips like these? Check out all of our free artist resources. Want help marketing your music? Take a look at our music marketing services.
What is a music marketing plan?
A music marketing plan is a guide to help you strategize and achieve the goals you have for your music release, whether it’s a single, an EP, a mixtape, or an album. No matter how big or how small your release is, you need to think strategically.
What should a music marketing plan include?
It doesn’t matter if you do it yourself or have a record label or an agency like DCR create your plan, but every successful music promotion plan should include these 8 steps.
- Identifying the target audience
- Deciding on advertising platforms based on budget and goals
- Aligning on KPIs and goals
- Auditing and updating brand accounts to follow best practices and solidify your brand image
- Identifying relevant influencers
- Using organic social media to increase brand awareness
- Launching your campaigns
- Reporting on goals and KPIs
Identifying the target audience
Before you begin marketing, you need to figure out who your target audience is. At DCR, we call this your “most valuable listener”. We find this audience by looking at your data on streaming platforms and social media and seeing who is most engaged with your content. We also use insights and data points we have found through marketing similar artists.
Deciding on advertising platforms based on your budget and goals for the release
Where you advertise is based on your goals and your budget. Do you want more people to stream your music on Spotify? Include Spotify advertising. Do you have a very small budget? Stick to Google Ads video campaigns on YouTube. Want your brand to reach as many people as possible? Make sure you have Meta advertising.
Aligning on KPIs and goals
Before you start drafting and launching your campaigns, you need to set expectations for yourself. Advertising platforms give estimates on how many people within an audience they can reach and for how much spend. This can also be used to deciding how much to spend and where. You want to decide on what metrics you will be using to judge success, such as streams, and what your goals are, or what numbers you want to hit. This helps you determine if your campaign worked or not when it’s complete.
Auditing and updating brand accounts to follow best practices and solidify your brand image
With every new release, you want to make sure you are updating your accounts on social media, streaming platforms, and your website to have the strongest brand image as possible. Make sure you are using the best photography and graphics and that the feel of your brand is consistent. Across platforms, you should have the same profile picture, header image, linktree in the website section, description, etc. so that your fans get the best of your brand wherever they are and know that those accounts are yours.
Identifying relevant influencers and industry stakeholders
You need to figure out who calls the shots online—TikTokers, music-sharing pages, blogs, podcasts, radio stations, and YouTubers. Reach out to them professionally and see if they would be interested in covering your music on their channels, creating a viral video using your sound, using your sound in a video, playing it on their radio station, etc. You want your music to be at the watering holes for fans of your genre.
Using organic social media to increase brand awareness
TikTok and Reels are all the rage right now and for good reason. The algorithms on these platforms will blast out your content to social media users who follow and don’t follow you easier than ever before. Look over trending videos and sounds on these platforms and find ways to relate these to your brand and use them to promote your music. Make sure you’re repurposing all video content you have as short form videos for TikToks and Reels to extend the life of music videos, performance footage, etc.
Launching your music marketing campaigns
Now that you have determined how you want to advertise, where you want to advertise, and what influencers and stakeholders are going to help you, it’s time to launch your campaign.
Reporting on the success of your campaigns
When your campaigns are completed, you need to look back at your KPIs and goals that you decided on earlier and see if you hit them. Take time to look into the data and see why you did well or why you did not and use those learnings for your next campaign. You will also be able to get more insights into your “most valuable listener” and who to advertise to going forward.
Navigate the music industry with confidence
With this guide, you’re on your way to building a successful music marketing plan and launching your next music marketing campaign. Are you looking for a team to help you come up with a music marketing plan and promote your music the right way? Take a look at our artist marketing services or contact a member of our team.