New Ways to Market Your Music Store Online

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At 2014 Summer NAMM, Peter Dods, owner of Easy Music Center, revealed how to market your store in a digital world—and how applying basic principles of marketing excellence will help you achieve healthy growth. Highlights from the session video: Nail Down Email According to Dods, email is still one of the simplest and most powerful online marketing tools. “Email marketing is still greater than social media,” he said. Dods advised retail owners to take a hands-on approach to email by personally responding to customers and creating relationships. “Every email request is a hot lead,” he said. “Don’t just answer their questions. Ask a couple of questions, and make a friend with your emails.” Peter cautioned that opportunities get missed by not letting customers email you—and by not responding to them quickly. He mentioned that he doesn’t do business with deaf response companies, so why would you want to? Once customers have that direct line to you and your store, leverage your social media on your emails by including the icons (Facebook and Twitter, for instance) along the bottom. Build Your Brand With Social Media Even though his store has made sales on Facebook, Dods advised retailers to use Facebook to build their brands instead of trying to sell products and services. “Create great content, such as a video of how to play chords or what’s going on in your store, which will give viewers context for your store,” he said. “Be generous with your gives on social media instead of your asks.” Once you’ve developed your Facebook base, you can widen your audience and manage targeted ad campaigns through Facebook’s Ads Manager. This can help you grab visitors you’re not already capturing. Dods counseled that retailers respond to all comments on their Facebook posts, even if they’re not in the habit of using email. He also shared his marketing budgeting breakdown, along with his experience with Yelp, Instagram, Vines and blogs. His online marketing mix has worked for Easy Music Center, and it can work for you.