Built To Assist - Channels

Permission Marketing, coined by Seth Godin (www.sethgodin.com), focuses on the channels your consumer draws from and requesting permission from those channels to access the consumer.

Channels are avenues directly to your consumer. Where does your consumer spend his attention points?


Identify your target channels with these questions:

1) Where do messages that resonate with him/her come from?

2) Does he/she have a cause that he/she cares more about than the music they listen to?

3) Which channels are emotionally based channels? These will be more likely to allow your music to become a part of it as compared to channels that are necessary and intrinsic.



Once you identify these channels, HAVE SOMETHING TO CONTRIBUTE to the bigger picture. Your consumer cares about this channel, loves this channel, and actively engages with this channel. Do not replace the channel, simply merge with the channel. Add value to the channel. This will gain your consumer's trust and, provided you are true to the tenants and values of the channel, their love.


An example of this: The Matt Enik Independent We Stand Summer 2013 Tour. This is a summer tour designed by Red Dog Music Group to carry a young country act to consumers. The channel is the preservation of small, local businesses. Red Dog partnered with Independent We Stand, a trusted small business advocacy group through STIHL, Inc and are using Matt's performances to highlight local businesses. Fairs, festivals, high schools, and minor league baseballs teams have all bought into Matt and his performance because of their shared desire to support local businesses. Matt is trusted by the recipients of the content Independent We Stand's channel distributes and, through association, the small business movement channel.

Psalm 62 1-2 

Built To Assist - Change

Hi all, thank you so much for following. I have recently discovered Seth Godin (www.sethgodin.com) and have had the desire over the past month or so to begin writing about some of his theories and their applications to the music industry. So begins Built To Assist.



Seth writes in his blog that marketing equals "change--changing people's actions, conversations, or perceptions."



In the music industry, the goal is to change listeners into followers. But why should they change? Is it because the emotions that our music causes will inspire them on such a level to become rabid followers? No, pointedly it is not. Emotions are fleeting, and with the incredible amount of music available because of the Internet, listeners need more than just 3 minutes and 30 seconds of emotional enhancement to become followers.



Ask yourself these questions as you begin to think about marketing your tunes:

1) What am I without the music? What will these people like about me outside of the music?

2) Do I identify with them, their values, what they care about?

3) Should my music add value to MY life or THEIR lives first?



Think these things over carefully. Followers want to follow real, valuable people who contribute to their lives. Why are YOU valuable?

Psalm 62 1-2