NAMM U - Marketing

Are you making the most of the events you’re already hosting at your music retail business? During the 2016 NAMM Show, James Harding of Gist Piano Center addressed finding the profit in your existing events. He shared three ways to take what you’re doing every day in your business and make more money, with a few fine-tunings. “What are your most underrated traffic sources?” Harding asked. He then explained that they’re the events you’re already hosting that bring more people into your store—for instance, recitals, master classes, print music reading sessions, clinics, and communit

At the 2016 NAMM Show, Cris Behrens of Summerhays Music proved that you don’t need a big marketing budget to make a big impact. He updated his popular NAMM Idea Center session “Guerilla Marketing on a Chimp’s Budget 2.0” with new, out-of-the-box ideas to help you draw more customers to your business without spending much money. Here are Behrens’ guerilla marketing ideas. (Watch the video for the full session.) Watch out for musical artists coming to your area. Get in the habit of reaching out to your manufacturers to find out what artists will be in town on someone else’s dime, a

From the start, Mason Music’s website has been the centerpiece of its marketing strategy. The site has generated numerous leads for the business, helping grow its lesson program to 650 students per week. At 2016 Summer NAMM, owner Will Mason encouraged retailers to do four things to ensure an effective website that engages customers and generates sales. Here are highlights from the session. (Watch the video for the full session.) The Four Website Fundamentals 1.  Content: The stuff on your website—text, images, videos, etc. 2.  Function: What a visitor can do on your website—navig

So often, real-life stories emerge from memorable events, and those stories get passed on for a lifetime. At my business, Wentworth Music, we’ve created such notable stories and a local buzz year after year by being active in the community and holding special events. The result has been increased publicity, marketing and free advertising. More importantly, Wentworth Music’s signature events and stories regularly attract the media from all over and have caused people to associate us with music and community. Here are a few highlights of our community involvement from the past year

Music retailers don’t have to be left behind in the connected world of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social media lets you reach potential customers at a lower cost and in unique ways. At the 2016 NAMM Show, Ben Ash, director of social media at Sam Ash Music, showed how to get social with your retail business and savvy with managing your social media presence. Here are highlights from the session video. Four Rules for Social Media Use Ash offered four essential points to consider as you use social networking sites: 1. Be consistent. Post every day of the week, including weekend

What’s keeping you from getting found by the customers you want? Strap in and hold on as marketing guru Jeffrey Hayzlett delivers a bold, no-nonsense approach to driving change. Hayzlett, a best-selling author and the primetime television host of C-Suite and Executive Perspectives, looks at how to get results with online and social marketing. He’ll lead you through the necessary components to create an effective social media strategy, then guide you through implementation. Find out how to get your team aligned and on-board to drive change with your marketing—and within your busine

Even successful music retailers make common website mistakes—often unknowingly. Discover the top five website blunders and how they impact your online success. Most importantly, find out how these mistakes get made and how they can be corrected. Join Sean Roylance, founder of Rain, who will walk you through problems with website content and design. You’ll leave with an understanding of how to better market your site, increase conversion rates and make more sales.

At 2015 Summer NAMM, Brian Reardon revealed how a year-round promotions calendar helps create steady traffic and a balanced cash flow for his store, Monster Music. According to Reardon, it’s never too early to plan and stay ahead of the seasonal ups and downs using income-generating promotions. He admitted he tends to focus his promotions on the summer months, when business is traditionally slow, and noted that summer is a good time to get started. “Tailor your promotions to your store’s niche and community calendars, and adjust as you go,” Reardon said. He then gave the audience

At 2015 Summer NAMM, Mike Ross of Sweetwater Sound presented a big-picture session on making the most of your website—an issue that affects every music retailer and business owner, small and large. He encouraged retailers to take a closer look at their websites as a vital marketing tactic for continued success. Here are website best practices from the NAMM U session. (And make sure to watch the end of the session video for more information from the Q&A.) How do you know your website is good, working and worth it? Ross urged retailers to start by asking themselves some key ques

What if student events could be more than just a highlight of your lesson program? What if they became community blockbusters that generated huge word-of-mouth advertising and made dreams come true? At Wentworth Music, we turned a traditional student recital into a major rock production by going big! Instead of solo performances for family and friends at a local church or small venue, we organized and hosted a student bands event—promoting it the same way you might a major concert. We generated enormous local excitement, sparked our lesson program and gave back to our community by

At 2015 Summer NAMM, Chrissy Hansen of Chicago Music Exchange and Reverb.com revealed why a successful YouTube channel is one of a music retailer’s most powerful marketing tools. Hansen described how her company’s YouTube channel went from 30,000 to more than 125,000 subscribers in two years. During that period, the channel’s 600 videos garnered 32 million views. She added that it all started with one video, “100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock ’N’ Roll).” The video was filmed in one take, with one employee, a dynamic guitarist, playing the top 100 rock ’n’ roll guitar riffs. The v

In our mobile, social, right-now world, consumers speak their minds like never before—in-store and online. This presents a huge opportunity to music businesses willing to embrace comments and complaints. Join Jay Baer, digital business expert, entrepreneur and marketing guru, for this eye-opening and entertaining Breakfast Session on customer service in the modern era. He’ll reveal why customers are more vocal than ever and how to use this as an opportunity to grow your business and improve the customer experience. Baer will also share tips and strategies for turning bad news into