The Freshmen Founders podcast discusses specific business topics for first time entrepreneurs and lays out a roadmap on how to get started. Channing + Makenzie provide resources, anecdotes, and lessons learned to ease the process of the entrepreneurial journey. This is a recap from episode 6, season 2 with Michael Sloane as Freshmen Founder’s guest.
In a world where almost everything is digital, having a strategy that sets you apart and makes you stand out is so important. This digitalized era has brought immense change to businesses and individuals, making it much easier to reach people and connect with your audience.
On the Freshmen Founders podcast, Makenzie and Channing recently spoke with Michael Sloane, a digital marketing expert who is co-founder of Streaming Promotions. Streaming Promotions’ goal is “to build your [artists] overall presence on the platform growing or maintaining your monthly listeners, setting you up for long term success on Spotify.” Michael Sloane gave insight into creating a digital strategy and how to effectively market your business as a brand. Digital marketing is essentially the only type of marketing used today, which becomes pretty obvious when you are scrolling through your social media feed. Most companies are going to use about 90% of their marketing campaign budget on digital marketing alone. While you can still purchase radio ads or billboards, those aren’t businesses most prioritized marketing strategies.
According to Michael Sloane, what really grabs the attention of your audience is making posts personal. The key is to always relay a story to make your audience feel let in. Pushy posts do not translate well with viewers and only push them away. Artists must understand their fan base and give them what they want. A large majority of successful artists have a personal story that goes along with their songs, albums, merchandise, or any other product they are trying to promote. The personal touch they use attracts more people and creates reoccurring customers. Along with personal gestures, you want to have unexpected gestures as well. This catches people’s eyes and keeps them interested. Taylor Swift’s recent mural debut in the Gulch neighborhood in Nashville was a prime example of giving your audience the unexpected. Her stunt was personal, fan driven, and drew many people in despite Nashville’s focus on the NFL Draft. This was considered a huge success in promoting her new album.
Digital strategy does change between corporate entities, startups, and artists. Artists and startups are able to get away with a lot more, while corporate entities are usually more conservative and play it safe. Corporations aim to attract a wide base of people and demographics. The further the niche you get in within a business, the more specific you can be about your marketing. Companies that have more defined brands have additional rules and guidelines to follow within their digital strategy. Startups are the lucky ones who are able to experiment more. So, for all of you entrepreneurs out there, the beginning gives you the most freedom so make the most of it.
When setting a digital strategy for either yourself or your company, there is a high chance you may fail at first. And that is completely fine. Moral of the story: the best thing to do is to fail fast and hard. That way you can move on, learn from your mistake, and try a new strategy. Building your strategy with the customer in mind is so important and crucial to creating a successful plan. Your digital strategy should aim to build relationships and create incentives for buyers to become further engaged. Digitalization has leveled the playing field. Take advantage of this opportunity and grow your business. You got this!
