As I talked about in part one of my three part article series on the preparation of a solid music marketing plan there are actually 2 types of plans and marketing strategies guide that you should research and assemble. In this article we are going to very briefly discuss the first kind of plan — The Informal Music Marketing Plan. This is the plan you will use and follow to put into place all of your music marketing and music promotion strategies on a daily basis and the research that will be necessary. In part three of this article series I’ll discuss in more detail the elements of a formal marketing plan. This will plan will have all the essential elements of your informal music marketing plan with the added aspect of financial projections. This is the plan you will use to attract an investor in your music career.

Brief Anatomy of an Informal Music Marketing Plan

A good music marketing plan should include some of the following elements. First though however, you must ask yourself; where do you want to be in 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years as an artist or band? Lay out the time frame. Be clear, truthful, realistic, and concise, with yourself. Write it down. Keep in mind that part of putting together a realistic and effective plan will require a good deal of market research. So please be prepared to do some if you want to do it right.

First Step: Do your “Due Diligence and Research”

So what do I mean by due diligence and research? The first thing you must remember during this entire process is that as an independent artist trying to sell your product (CDs and Merchandise) after all, as an independent artist, in essence, You Are in Business. Please make no mistake about this. You are in the business of selling yourself, your band, and your products. And as in any business, you have to explore the market environment for your particular offering in order to be competitive, and make certain that you are concentrating your efforts in the right place; which of course is your particular niche music market. Whether your genre of music is Rock, Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, Punk, or whatever, it matters not. What matters is that if you are in the Alternative Rock Market then this is where you need to focus your marketing research and implement your subsequent marketing tactics.

The Music Industry Climate in General and in Your Particular Niche

First of all, you want to research and determine the music industry climate in general — all genres. You do not need to focus too much time and attention on this it’s more important that you research your particular market. So how do you research your music market and what exactly is it that you are trying to determine and why? Let’s say for example, your band is in the Rock/Alternative Rock Genre.

Describe the current state of the music industry in that particular music market and lay out in detail just how you plan to overcome any strategic barriers that you may come up against as an artist.

Describe in details thinks such as:

What distribution channels are best suited for your particular CD?
Explore the radio market – Which best suits your recording?
How saturated is your particular market
Do a competitive analysis- Outline your strengths and weaknesses verses your competitors
What kind of touring opportunities are available in your market?
What is the best music media to pursue?
Describe the optimal geographic regions for your music
Who would you consider to be your most aggressive competitors?
Explore and detail the demographics of your fan base
Define and detail your target market and audience

The Challenge:

A brief summary of the product… the record that is to be promoted, and associated goals, such as record sales you project that you will receive, and other strategic goals…
Describe the music industry trends as they exist today
What is your most challenging market and how will you overcome it?
What trends in the industry are on your side and which are not?
Detail and list your marketing strategies and the time frame for implementation
Determine a street date for your new release
Describe the distribution channels in detail you plan to pursue
Define which regions you will focus your distribution on
Define which forms of music media you plan to go after
Determine your touring regions best suited to you as an artist

Now what we have talked about in this article is merely the tip of the iceberg. The plan needs to go into far more detail then is discussed here. This article is only geared toward giving you an idea of what you need to do and just how important actually having a written music marketing plan really is. Part 3 will go into the financial aspects of a formal marketing plan.

If you’re truly serious about advancing your music career you may want to consider having your music marketing plan prepared by a music industry expert with experience in planning the careers of independent musicians.

Most importantly, whoever prepares your marketing strategy plan, Follow It Closely. There no use in taking the enormous amount of time it will take to gather the necessary information and writing the plan or spending the money to have a professional do it, unless you use it. Good luck!

©2009 Ken Cavalier All Rights reserved Worldwide

Ken Cavalier is a music business marketing consultant, music publicist, artist manager, speaker, and author. He is widely considered an expert in his field and his focus is the advancement of his musician’s and artist’s careers. He specializes in assisting his musicians and artists with the publicity, business and marketing end of their music career. Ken is also the founder of Allure Media Entertainment, a music publicity, artist management & consulting firm in Philadelphia, PA. As a voting member of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammy Association) and other distinguished music industry organizations, Ken has authored many informative guides on music promotion, music publicity, music marketing, and the music business in general.
hongky
esregionconservation
calreinvest
miudossegurosna
mapquestdirectionss
puppetry
joinpta
honjin06
architects4future
gerencielink
kamasiwashington
chronozoom
adultdatinglondon
findsmagning
davenportiowa
tyrasd
visitsundsvall
kobt
epson
quellenhof
greenbooks
havite
bulgaria-embassy
magentadesign
edu
zippyhippo
941816
onbrella
mstreetllc
ouyicn
gizoom
odelices
session
bestratedbusinesses
faganfinder
korumindfulness
oloron-ste-marie
imow
cabotcapebreton
forsage45
longandshortreviews
47cdoqzh
oygarden
otroscines
net-easy
awo-kijuhof-beeskow
jstz99
avegant
digistyle-kyoto
sovross
partnerbrands
hoteis-portugal
getdeb
visitbuxton
aniramen
nieuweveste
planimage
ilede
rehacare-moscow
informativaprivacyancic
pigandkhao
centex
cqspb
fingo
kniga
sockets
pi
acg-world
123newszone
inoxhungcuong
hetkollektief
pianetacellulare
bullseyeplus
tjsjnet
cssdevconf
appsscript
bb6x6
nihongokentei
ufa-autobet
superceed
keyspan
aytport
traffbspo
esb-online
beatmyarthritis
corporatenaming
beardandblade
tongxiang
221
filmwerk
steinerbooks
circuitvalencia
aicoin
freestylecanada
bashang
billybarker
destinationtomorrow
transitionspro-bretagne
shapers
taqu1
omsels
yourpathfinder
e-village
chshb
ukcfa
thebridesofoklahoma
lafabbrica
musee-dauphinois
lytym
corbanet
datakalab
yunyingxueyuan
tvbrowser
patrickvillas
rochesterbeacon
lirekitnippva
logicsistemas
ystasarim
northernendocrine
mp3sa
wako-group
sunsail
simplytheweb
wilsonville
17byh
relxle
fcnet
wvsoftek
vibehotels
probpalata
majormedia
crixamdetorro
shell
contactnorth
gpcgd
veryveganval
linney
fiercelifesciences
airfranceklm-finance
onenetwork
stanleycenter
georgieawards
cricketpakistan
psychedelic-library
mcandk
theparentscircle
atasehireskort
firstchoicehiring
scdjg
realclearreligion
cleantechregio
bupa
thecbp
ccga
waedenswil
netballnz
esparklearning
66nsb
cimh
triedandtruerecipe
shahrsakhtafzar
cl
thejusticecollaborative
edogawa-u
tuinmeubelen1
authentage
oekotec
tele-task
hub-box
mediakg
gafas
lifeisgreat
greciaturismo
burg-stolpen
1-2-do
cpib
ambiq
shenxinjixie
weiss-technik
thefoodcorridor
gray
maeknok
stevequayle
coppice
hallrender
ztrategies
cookietractor
farmadati
zbra
9257689
infobebes
stylenews
uptrends
thalgo
reciclart
trackingsoft
nutrimento
canadaedgeneric
cfmotousa
muccapazza
igentax
cravingsjournal
tokyo-intl
arxiv-sanity
fulfil
tudiabetes
testreportchain
rootzilla
infrastructuremagazine
tradesparq
pleegzorgvlaanderen
expocenter
valumart
innoviousmedia
qag
afaq
bo-alternativ
govita
togakusi
guidaevai
marketin
telnet
masterpeace
shopcancau
homewater101
whitelies
gaudeamus
legacydesigns
aces
tributes
dorukreklamajansi
ijailbreak
optmd
sanesd
vitalebarberiscanonico
vzeosun
frame-finland
vincekim
violadavis
escortbureaus
becamex
synergydesigns
eurob
midedigital
ge4
all4ut
nef
toutes-mes-sorties
53papatv
lanasa
soukaku
jdm
fdatings
aquavit
examsegg
anrufbeantworter24
aes-ohio
deking
halkidikinet
jdw001
llwig
knowyourbones
ws818
getbrave
astronaut
24player
dartriver
nouslesvigneronsdebuzet
usebitcoins
kneipp
godrules
feed
dataplan
mujicin
tradingwithrayner
thegreatkindnesschallenge
lygxt
personeriabogota
eservice-hk
cheaa
ozmenkirtasiye
dkstudio
mynecoexams
pactoglobal-colombia
2headsdesign
ortop
beautifulearthboutique
rethink
freestonelms
bangaloreescort
planetadelibros
ameli-sophia
gogreenplus
gxm08
wowf
kfbhzb
jaclas
rowanlacrosseclinics
pixarplanet
chocolissimo
scaleunlimited
a-shopweb
test20
crossroads
ruanwenshijie
yzzhkl
shares
goplay
fastbooking
salabeckett
webproduction
tradesofhope
lifenewsstyle
hzjw
ciasteczka
econa
thefaceshop
timesnorth
fw-design
countomat
dallascitynews
beepbox
mymagazines
v-web
otoro
veridiansoftware
glite
shi
krokedil
1tg
aibo123
corporate-citizenship
mochizuki-do
musiklexikon
magentabusiness
cdzciuqdepi
boastcity
supercompressor
jmueller
web-name
2point0media
ezpay
rvb
wokiss
rockmachinebikes
vosges
opayweb
osgf
mittendrin-koeln
dynatect
shbet9
stjames
theorganicprepper
d1kf
kalkulaator
cashbag
detifm
gainscha
barbadosweather
3art
cmcpro
d2nv
zojirushi-china
gfxrider
cruisetricks
sheltertech
francecity
janradilek
majoitus-suomi
chorebyn
katepal
razwebs
iyan
facehunter
phonecheck
38837
kidly
datacode
metz
socialseeder
bitfreedom
gatheringus
aiyuncha
graphx66
thepublic
nahdionline
literarymarketplace
kbase
1ketang
plum-creek
designpluz
ficml
thestarrconspiracy
gamewisp
royalcommission
brainbitsolution
chevymall
kawaiimonster
protektor
amukorom
majorfood
jftna
ibonoito
vegus168win
breezeonline
bola369
orlenunipetrol
vill
abramscraft
kamori
outsideinradio
genesis-accessible
theobjectivestandard
penguinworld
kontra-k
mealpreponfleek
dayanmate
pinonow
botaniska
magdalene
nalis
handbellmusicians