Do you REALLY know your audience?

By Teresa MartiniContributing Author

Article photo - Do you REALLY know your audience?

You are all set up: you have your vision written down, you are getting creative every day by producing new music and you Keep Posting new stuff on your social media channels. So, what now? How can you progress and increase your visibility?

WHERE

The very first step is to understand where your music is most likely to be listened and start your market research.
For example, if you are a musician singing in a language other than English, you should firstly focus on the countries that speak and understand the language of your music. 

For example, if you are a classical Greek singer, make sure you focus on your local market rather than trying to conquer foreign markets right in the beginning. Obviously, there will always be people interested in Greek music on a worldwide level, but for the beginning it could be time and financially consuming trying to catch everyone.  

If you are singing in English or you are producing a non-vocal sound, ensure that you do market research beforehand and define the top 5-10 countries worldwide who consume your type of music. Trust me, you will be surprised!

Make sure that you "stalk" your competitors: follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube and try to understand why are they successful.

WHO

The second point is to draw your typical music consumer. Age is the most important factor that you should keep into consideration: a young millennial will behave completely differently from someone who was born in the 70s. The younger your crowd, the more digital and "social" your promotion should be. On the other hand, if your target market is more classic, your promotion should include other channels like for example printed media, radio, TV and other type of collaborations.

Once the age group is defined, you should find out if your fans are mainly females, males or both. For example, in the techno music world, the ratio is generally 70% males vs 30% females. On the opposite side, a singer like Ariana Grande will probably have a bigger women's fanbase.

Next on, create a list of competitors and artists who do a similar sound to yours. This will help you find new fans who are very likely to enjoy your music especially when it comes to social media promotion. Also, make sure that you "stalk" your competitors: follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube and try to understand why are they successful. You should not copy what somebody else is doing as this will only jeopardise your work, however be mentally open and look for inspiration. 

The more you know your fans, the better you will be able to adapt your marketing strategy in order to spread your music.

HOW

How do your fans listen to music? What channel is mostly used? Different music genres and formats work best on different platforms: if lately you are producing long DJ sets and podcasts, your fans will more likely be on Soundcloud rather than Apple Music. If your fans are very visual, they will probably use Youtube rather than Spotify.

Furthermore, do your fans buy music or simply stream it? Once you have your answer, make sure you use the right platform to increase visibility.

Lastly, ask yourself what media do your fans use to listen to music. Do they prefer mp3s, cds or vinyls? Once you understand the strongest media, make sure that your focus is there when it comes to your marketing campaign.

WHAT

What can you do to find detailed information about your fans? The easiest and quickest way is to have a look in your Facebook and Instagram (make sure you have a Business profile) insights. Nowadays, social media can give you extremely detailed information about the people that follow you and how they behave. Of course, as numbers will change daily, ensure that you check your numbers on a regular basis to be always up to date. The more you know your fans, the better you will be able to adapt your marketing strategy in order to spread your music.

If you are already playing gigs in clubs, pubs and venues, you should analyse your crowd before and after you play. How old are they? Is it mainly females, males or both? Where are they from? 

Knowledge is power! Know your crowd and your crowd will know you even more :)

About Teresa Martini

Terry is a marketing and event director from Italy based in Frankfurt, Germany. After completing her bachelor degree in Tourism Business between Milan and Amsterdam and her master in Events & Festivals management in Edinburgh, her career took off when she started working for Sven Väth and Cocoon Music Event GmbH in Frankfurt in 2012. After 6 years, she has decided to start her own adventure by offering her services as music marketing specialist to companies and brands which need a hand pushing their image and promotion to the right markets. Furthermore, Terry is now part of the MusicNGear team!

Contact Teresa Martini at teresa.martini@musicngear.com

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