As a music store owner, you likely wear many hats — there are tons of business management tasks on your plate. And one task that can be especially challenging is implementing marketing strategies.
Successful marketing is key if you want to improve sales and revenue. And while it can seem difficult to know where to start, you do know it’s important for your music shop.
Luckily, we’ve got you covered. In this blog, we’ll cover eight music store marketing strategies that will help you improve sales in no time.
Understanding Your Customers
First things first: You need to understand your customers. Who are your customers? This question includes demographics like age, gender, occupation, and income level. It’s important for you to identify who your target audience is — and once you understand who they are, you need to identify their needs and wants.
Here are some questions you might ask:
- What’s important to my customers?
- What problems or challenges do they have that my business can solve?
- What factors do they consider when making a purchase?
- Do they prefer to shop in store or online?
- How do they discover new music products or brands?
- What musical instruments or equipment are they most interested in?
- How often do they purchase instruments or equipment?
There are many questions you can ask to understand your target market a bit better. It’s important to know who you are talking to so you can effectively market to them.
As you attract customers to your music store, make sure to gather customer feedback. Learn about your customers. Did they have a good experience? What suggestions do they have for improving your store and products? This feedback will help you improve your business and the customer experience.
Related Read: How To Use POS Software at Your Music Store
Digital Marketing Strategies for Music Stores
There are some simple ways to get in front of your customers through digital media efforts. Make sure to utilize digital marketing strategies to create multiple customer touchpoints for your brand. Here are four digital marketing strategies that can help you market to your customers.
Website
A website is one of the most common places that people look when they’re considering a purchase, so make sure you have a well-designed and user-friendly website. Your website should be easy to navigate so that customers can find exactly what they’re looking for. A professional website will help attract and retain customers.
Make sure the content on your website is clear. Product descriptions should include detailed information, such as product name, description, price, and image of each product. Product images should be high-quality images that make it easy for customers to see exactly what they’re considering for purchase.
Remember: Customers not only visit your website via a desktop computer, they also visit using a mobile device. Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly, so that your customers have a good mobile experience.
Social Media
With social media, you can share engaging content with your audience. You want to create content that resonates with music lovers — for example, you might share behind-the-scenes content such as unboxing new shipments, introductions of your staff members, or posts about the history and craftsmanship of specific instruments.
Social media is also a powerful tool to promote new products or sales. These posts are timely. Make sure you carefully plan for when these types of posts go live and when they are no longer valid.
Social media advertising allows you to reach a broader audience of potential customers that interact and share the same interests as your current customers. With social media advertising, you can target an audience based on demographics, behaviors, and interests. These capabilities on social media allow you to get in front of your target audience. It’s important to carefully consider which social media platforms your target audience interacts with, and what content resonates with them the most.
Lastly, make sure to stay active on social media and interact with customers. Respond to comments and messages — this will build relationships and loyalty with your audience.
Email Marketing
Email marketing campaigns are another helpful marketing tool. Send out regular newsletters to keep customers informed about new products, events, or sales. You can send special or exclusive deals — even early access to sales — to your email subscribers.
As a music shop owner, it’s important to gather emails and have your customers opt in to your regular emails. Remember: Make sure to segment your email list so that you can send more targeted and relevant content.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a powerful marketing strategy that allows you to optimize your website so your website can rank higher in search results. Keyword optimization allows you to rank higher in the search results so your customers can more easily find your music shop.
You need to make sure that you’re optimizing your website content, product descriptions, and blog posts with relevant keywords.
The keywords for your website content will be related directly to your music store. These keywords can include; music store in [location], music instrument store, music shop, or music instruments for sale.
Keywords for your product descriptions will be closely related to the product you’re selling. If you sell guitars, specifically a Fender Stratocaster, you can include the “Fender Stratocaster guitar” keyword in your description. Be specific to the brand and model of each product you have listed for sale.
Keywords for blog content could include anything around best practices or how-to guides on music-related topics. For example, you can create a blog post on “how to clean a guitar” or “best practices to care for a guitar.”
As you do keyword research and include the keywords on your website, your website gains authority online. When you increase the authority on your website, search engines are able to understand your content and rank your website on search results.
Related Read: A Guide to Search Marketing for Music Stores
In-Store Marketing Strategies for Music Stores
In-store marketing is just as valuable as digital marketing efforts — you want to create a positive in-store experience for your customers. Here are a few in-store marketing strategies you can use to drive sales for your music store.
Store Atmosphere
One of the first impressions a customer will have is your music store’s atmosphere. Make sure your store is organized and clean. Customers should feel like it is easy to find what they’re looking for. Ensure all signage, product categories, prices, and promotions are clear.
You also want to make your music store a space where customers want to spend more time. Consider the right lighting, what music you’ll play in the store, and the decor around the shop. The longer you keep your customers engaged in your store, the more money they are willing to spend.
In-Store Events
There are a range of events that you can hold at your music store to attract an audience — these include live music performances, instrument demos, or music lessons. These events help attract new customers and create a sense of community.
When you host an event, encourage people who attend to make a purchase. You can have a special sale or exclusive discount for attendees. These events can drive sales as you focus on getting people to the event and encourage them to purchase.
Friendly Staff
A knowledgeable and friendly staff is valuable for the in-store experience. Your staff should be able to provide advice and product recommendations to customers, which is essential to help you build trust.
Your customers should have an excellent experience — and that starts with the customer service in your store. Make sure your staff is trained with a friendly attitude to greet customers, answer questions, and handle complaints professionally.
Loyalty Program
A loyalty program encourages repeat purchases — and increased sales. Loyalty programs encourage customers to come back to the store time after time. There are different types of programs to choose from: a point system, membership clubs, or referral programs. Choose the loyalty program that’s best for your music store.
Related Read: Maximizing the Appeal of Your Music Retail Store
Collaborations and Partnerships
Partnerships with local musicians, music schools, or other local businesses can help you improve sales. These efforts help you attract new customers, in addition to building your trust with the local community. You can plan and host joint promotions or events with your partnerships. Special event promotions or discounts can be coordinated with partnerships to drive sales to your music store.
Measuring Your Music Store Marketing Success
In order to measure success, you need to track sales and customer feedback. Sales data gives you valuable insights into what products are being sold, what time of the year you’re most busy, and what marketing strategies are most effective. As you get started with marketing for your music store, make sure you have a plan in place for how you’ll measure success and performance.
These marketing strategies will help you increase sales in your music store. There are many different avenues that you can take, but you need to decide which strategies would be best for you and your music business.
Try them out and measure the success. Look into the data and decide what worked and what didn’t. These learnings help you make better decisions for marketing strategies in the future.
Music Shop 360 is an all-in-one point of sale (POS) system that helps music store owners with their in-store and online purchases and inventory management. Music store marketing strategies are built into the point of sale system to make your marketing campaigns easier. You can easily set up and manage an email marketing strategy, and get started with SEO — all from your point of sale.
There’s no need to manage your music store marketing from multiple different platforms, when you can manage it all in one. If you’re interested in learning more about Music Shop 360, request a demo today!