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Category: Branding

A Trade Show Booth With No Gear? What Music Brands Can Learn From Moog

Moog booth back wall at NAMM 2017

What Moog Synthesizers can teach the music industry about trade shows.

Every January, over 100,000 attendees descend upon Anaheim, California, to investigate the latest and coolest music gear at NAMM. Hundreds of vendors showcase equipment ranging from concert pianos to boutique guitar pedals to high technology DJ products—so it was an outrageous idea for Moog … [Read more...]

Music brands with history need to be marketed with an eye toward tomorrow

Historic and antique record plares, tape decks, radios and audio equipment

Learn to balance the past and present of your music brand for future success.

Brands with a long history require a tricky balancing act. For example, if a brand gets too weighed down by the past, it will have difficulty moving forward. If it has a legendary history that’s buried under layers of new products, new technology and management turnover, then an … [Read more...]

Extraordinary British Rock Albums Still Inspire Music Brands

Outrageous album cover for Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones

Four design lessons in memorable branding from landmark British albums.

Great Britain is one-fifth the population of the United States, but it has produced some of the greatest rock bands of all time, including the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones and the Clash. And it’s not just the flood of amazing music that has influenced generations of … [Read more...]

Basic Tactics So Your Music Brand’s Website Won’t Suck

Illustration of a web team working on social media for music brand

Five simple website tips for music brands.

If you don’t have a great website, you are missing new customers, growth opportunity and more revenue. But before you hire a web team, you need clear goals and strategies. Here are five basic considerations to keep in mind as you develop your musical instrument and equipment manufacturers website. 1) Convert or … [Read more...]

Practicing Brand Alignment Can Help Music Brands Become More Powerful

Brand alignment comes from balancing promise, beliefs, and story

Create better customer experiences with your company by being consistent with your brand.

If you’re in the marketing department of a music manufacturer, you’re probably busier than a talented, in-demand session guitarist. You’ve covered all the big marketing bases: sound strategy, social media plan, ad schedule, product videos, and plenty of PR in the music trades. It … [Read more...]

Music Brands: Your Brand is Bigger Than Your Product

Harley-Davidson tattoo on arm of brand enthusiast

Three essential lessons about marketing every music brand should learn.

A brand is not the Nike Swoosh. It is not McDonald’s Golden Arches. Leo Burnett put it very simply: “A brand is anything that leaves a mental picture of the brand’s identity.” Musical instrument and equipment manufacturers need to understand that the brand is bigger than the … [Read more...]

What Music Brands Can Do to Build Legions of Loyalists

Learn how cultivating loyalty boosts sales and momentum for your music brand.

If you work in marketing for a music brand, you spend your days planning, tweeting, posting, making videos, handling media, developing advertising and a myriad of other tasks to help build your brand. But there should be a bigger payoff than simply awareness and healthy sales. Your … [Read more...]

What Makes Music Brands Cool?

Musician rocking out on an electric guitar

Defining the word “cool” and how it applies to your music brand marketing.

When someone says to you, “That’s a cool electric guitar,” or “That ad campaign looks really cool,” or tells you to check out a “cool website,” what exactly does that mean? “Cool” is one of those words tossed around a lot in marketing without any real understanding of its many definitions. … [Read more...]

Is Anyone Paying Attention to Your Music Brand’s Content?

Attention Please graffiti

With the glut of content, there is a need for a thoughtful online content strategy.

There is an obsession with online content as the easy fix for musical instrument and equipment manufacturers’ marketing woes. But there are so many channels of communication available and so many opportunities to connect that a marketing plan needs to be extremely focused and … [Read more...]

How Influencer Marketing Helps Music Brands

Under the Influence stamp

An introduction to influencer marketing.

What is influencer marketing? There has been much buzz around influencer marketing recently, and for good reason. With messaging control increasingly shifting from brands to consumers, the slow but real decline in content engagement, and the rise of ad blockers, influencer marketing programs provide brands with an effective … [Read more...]

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Welcome to the show.

Sound Marketing sits at the intersection of music, sales & marketing. We explore how insightful strategy, focused tactics, and organizational change will help manufacturers be heard over all the noise in the musical instrument marketplace.

My name is Doug Nestler, and I’ve spent 40 years—still going strong—in sales & marketing. My resume includes roles in all areas of channel management and distribution, and Sound Marketing is a way to share my expertise with you.

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