How to Create a Beat Selling Marketing Plan

Joining BeatStars and uploading your tracks to the Marketplace is just half of the journey to becoming a successful online beat seller. Like any business, marketing your art is the bridge between your track upload and a sale. Unless you’re a professional marketer, it can be difficult to know what you should prioritize and where to even begin when it comes to promoting your music and brand. That’s where we step in - keep the following marketing tips and advice in mind as you go about making (or revising!) your beat selling marketing plan. 

Know Your Audience 

Marketing is all about communication, and effective communication comes from knowing who your audience is and what they want. It’s important to know where your audience is from, what their goals and challenges are, and where their pain points lie. As a seller and producer, it’s your job to stay on top of what artists are looking for, and how your beat selling services can better their own creative endeavors. 

The question is, how do you reach these people? Whether you’re an established producer with a mass following or a budding producer, try out these tips to get those answers and learn more about who you’re targeting. 

• Create polls on Instagram Stories or Twitter Polls
• Send your email contacts or mutual social followers a Typeform survey
• Monitor your comments and online engagement 
• Create a customer persona 
  

List Out Your Marketing Channels 

As we blast further into the digital age, more and more social channels are popping demanding your time, content, and attention. It’s important to have a presence on as many channels as possible, but if you’re just one person doing all of your music’s marketing, then try narrowing in on a select few. When you select your go-to channels to build your audience and market new music on, it’s important to post consistently (we’re talking everyday or every two days) and keep up with the platform’s ever-changing algorithmic features. If you’re going to pick three, the most important, must-use channels to utilize as a musician are: 

1. YouTube
2. Tik Tok
3. Instagram ‍

Set Metric Driven Goals 

Setting metric driven goals is an important part of performance management, giving you a baseline of where you’re doing well and where you need to improve or restructure. Establishing metric driven goals can be as simple as aiming to procure 20 more BeatStars followers, or as large as increasing your earned revenue by 10% month-over-month. 

Day 8 of the BeatStars 30 Day Challenge was created with successful goal planning in mind. Turn your goals into a reality with our Official Guide to Goal Planning.‍

Research Your Competitors (or inspirations!) 

If a customer isn’t doing business with you, then they’re probably doing business with a competitor. There’s no need to be salty though - take some pointers from your competitors (or artists you find inspiring) and apply them to your own business strategies. When browsing your competition’s website or social channels, take notes on what they are doing right, and what they are lacking in. Use what they’re doing right to your own advantage and implement something similar in your own strategies. Take what they’re lacking in and offer those services to not only your own customers, but your competitors as well. Wink wink. 

Conduct a SWOT Analysis 

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats make up the components of the popular SWOT technique. Many companies and organizations use SWOT Analysis when making important business decisions or developing quarterly goals. SWOT Analysis is a simple tool that can help you to analyze what you’re doing best right now, and to devise a successful strategy for the future. Remember that things constantly change and new challenges can arise, so be sure to reassess your strategy and conduct a new SWOT Analysis every 4 to 6 months. 
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Determine Your Budget 

Sometimes you need to give so you can take, which is why it’s important to devise a budget for ad campaigns, giveaways, and tools like the Pro Page Plan or BeatStars Distribution. Budgeting helps you keep your eyes on the prize, and helps ensure you don’t spend money you don’t have. Start mapping out your budget with our official Budget Planner, found on Day 9 of the BeatStars 30 Day Challenge.