Inbound marketers are fond of saying content is king. However, not all content is the same in terms of accuracy, indelibility or search marketing. Some online content is easily found by search engines whereas other content is difficult to find or simply does not appear insearch engine results pages (SERPs).
Make a concerted effort to boost your search marketing with a comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) push and your music store will enjoy the gift that never stops giving: a high SERP ranking that steers online traffic to your website and your brick-and-mortar music store.
Understanding the Music Store Market
The music store niche is idiosyncratic, meaning it is significantly different from other lines of business. The customers who desire or need musical instruments, digital downloads and other music-related value offerings are unique. As is often said, musicians and music fanatics march to their own beat. Recognize that much of your audience consists of non-conformists and create content accordingly.
There is no harm in taking a look at the competition’s online content to get a sense of what other music stores offer. Research the following components of competing music stores to better understand their search marketing strategies:
- Store websites
- Blogs
- Social media
- Other components of music stores’ online footprints
Take notes while researching the competition. Weave in the best elements of those competitors throughout your online content. When in doubt, add content that reflects the ever-changing nature of the dynamic music industry. Scroll through music fans’ social media to get a sense of what music is hottest at the moment and center your content on those trends.
Keyword Research and Optimization
When researching music trends, the local music scenes and competing music stores, jot down some notes regarding keywords and key phrases. Look for repetitive patterns in terms of word and phrase choice.
Add those keywords and key phrases throughout the entirety of your online footprint at a keyword saturation rate between 1.5% and 3%. Be mindful that keyword saturation rate in excess of 3% has the potential to result in Google and other search engine punishment for oversaturation.
If you are struggling to identify keywords and key phrases to incorporate into your online content, focus on your strengths:
- Musical instruments
- Music accessories
- Music lessons
- Other music-related services
Create a word bank of words and phrases that relate to these components of your industry and strategically sprinkle them into your content. Don’t forget to add keywords and key phrases to your headings and meta tags for an additional SEO boost.
Creating Compelling and Relevant Content
Content is only king when it is informative and relevant. Use your blog to highlight local artists and tour dates at nearby venues.
Naturally incorporate relevant keywords into authoritative blog posts that highlight your team’s musical acumen and you’ll establish your music store as legitimate and worthy of customer business.
Local SEO for Music Stores
Google’s search engine has advanced to the point that it is now possible to connect with locals through the addition of zip codes, area codes, local landmarks and additional local identifiers throughout your online content.
If you do not yet have a Google My Business listing, create one now. Optimize your listing with local identifiers to boost your local SEO all the more.
The subtleties of local SEO are of the utmost importance. Encourage your customers to leave positive reviews to online review directories and you’ll enjoy the benefits of no-cost online referrals to the entirety of your local community and beyond.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)
PPC advertising is as relevant and effective as ever as we transition to the midway point of the 2020s. Create a PPC campaign on the web’s top search engines as well as social media platforms. Choose the keywords that are most relevant to your business and location, consider hiring a PPC expert to develop compelling ads and monitor that effort to gauge its success. Tweak the subtleties of your PPC campaign accordingly and you’ll maximize your return on investment.
Leveraging Social Media Platforms
Meta (Facebook), Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms have become the new age “Agora”, meaning they serve as open public forums for discussion similar to ancient Greece’s communal center for discourse. Moreover, the socials are used to spread the word about meritorious music stores and other businesses.
Create accounts for your business on all the top socials. Respond to questions, address concerns and continue to engage with your audience even if it means employing a part-time social media manager. Build your social media following, promote your store products/services on your pages and you’ll notice a meaningful uptick in business.
Monitoring and Analytics
The numbers tell the story of a business’s success or failure. To enhance your search marketing efforts, use Google’s analytics to gauge your music store’s online success, make changes as necessary and continue to track online traffic along with other analytics.
As an example, bounce rate is an important analytic tool that shows how many online visitors find your website only to digress to another site without surfing to one of your service/product pages or taking a desired action such as an online purchase. Use actual data to drive your decisions and you’ll succeed in improving your website for increased sales across posterity.
Building Customer Relationships
Relationships are the building block of a successful music store. A satisfied customer will spread the word about your music store’s merits both in-person and online. Email marketing is an invaluable tool for reconnecting with current customers as well as those who provided their email address as prospective customers.
Send out a monthly or quarterly email newsletter to keep those targets in the fold and they’ll reciprocate with purchases. Collect USPS snail mail addresses to deliver personally tailored offers and recommendations through traditional mail.
Pay close attention to your customers and encourage those who seem pleased with their purchases to refer your store to friends, family, coworkers and the online community.
Music Shop 360 is Here to Help Your Music Store
Search marketing is only one piece of the marketing puzzle. The most successful music stores complement online marketing with traditional outbound advertising for a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
We take pride in helping music stores fulfill their true potential. If you manage, own or work for a music store, take full advantage of our tech tools for success. Our team is laser-focused on assisting music-lovers like you make a career out of this art form. Surf through our website and you’ll find we make it easy for music store owners to run both offline and online music stores with simplicity and efficiency.
Our all-in-one solution for managing music point-of-sale provides everything you could possibly need to automate your business. From our intuitive POS system to automated marketing tools and additional high-tech solutions, we’ve got everything you need in one consolidated place for sales optimization. Our mission is to help your customers make the best music while keeping your music store operating like a well-oiled machine.
Reach out to us today at (385) 279-4567 or sales@musicshop360.com to learn more about how we help music stores like yours maximize the bottom line. You can also contact our friendly team online from the comfort of your music store or home.