• Contact Me
  • Archives

Sound Marketing

helping music brands be heard

  • About
  • Blog
  • Consulting
  • Let’s Talk
  • Email
  • Print

What Makes Music Brands Cool?

Share this:
TwitterFacebookLinkedIn

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

Musician rocking out on an electric guitar

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. When was the last time you pondered the meaning of cool? And how does it apply to your music brand and marketing communications?

Of course, the big question here is, what is cool? The definition has changed over the past seven decades or so. It was first used by jazz musicians in NYC in the late ’40s and early ’50s to describe a cutting-edge player who flipped a middle finger in the face of convention. If you were breaking new musical ground with an indifferent attitude to what anyone thought of you or your music, you were cool. It combined an adventurous spirit, rebellious attitude and not giving a (insert favorite four-letter word here). Those original cool guys (Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and many more) lived by their own rules, upended jazz and sent it spinning in exciting new directions.

In the ’70s, cool changed. It retained its anti-establishment overtones, but cool evolved to mean someone who’s friendly. It also grew to mean someone who’s into similar things and has the same belief system you do. Lastly, it also means understanding, as in, “We’re cool, right?” and approval, “That’s cool.”

How does that short history of cool apply to your music brand? Some basic things to consider:

You can’t work too hard at being cool. This is rule #1. It’s sort of like someone trying to get out of quicksand—the harder you struggle, the faster you sink. The harder you try being cool, the more you aren’t. You can’t ever actually say you’re cool. You just have to be. Apple is cool. Even though it has achieved mind-boggling mainstream success, there’s a whiff of an anti-establishment attitude (versus PCs and Microsoft) that permeates its marketing. Apple breaks new design and technological ground, yet feels approachable and friendly. All definitions of cool are covered here.

Stand for something. Wishy-washy isn’t cool. Changing things up too much is confusing. Figure out what your music brand is all about—that timeless, never-changing thing that defines who you are as a company. Turn it into a core message and create products, advertising and other content around it. Be consistent. Tactics can change, messages can change, stories can evolve, but everything should tie back to a central, meaningful idea. Don’t be a slave to trends. Being trendy doesn’t equate to coolness.

Find a signature style. Being unique is cool. Whether it’s an unusual design for a product, the use of a color (Orange Amps comes to mind), a unique tone of voice or an ad campaign that’s unconventional—but not too far out there—different is cool. A signature style gives you swagger and confidence—think Nike and Harley-Davidson.

Talk to people, not at them. This falls under the likeable aspect of cool. No one likes hard sell, being shouted at or talked to in an obnoxious, in-your-face way. Craft your communications to speak to people in a way that makes an emotional or intellectual connection. Music speaks to people through the heart. Your marketing needs to do the same thing.

Cool walks a razor’s edge between approachable and indifferent and between edgy and too far out there. Understanding what cool really means will help you better judge your work and your brand.

Are we cool?

Share this:
TwitterFacebookLinkedIn

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing

About Doug Nestler

Sales Consultant | Author | Player
Doug is the author of Sound Marketing: Helping Music Brands Be Heard, and has been involved in the musical instrument and pro audio business for nearly four decades. His expertise is in sales & marketing strategy, key account management, product roll-outs and overall channel management.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Join over 2,000 musical instrument and equipment manufacturers to get the latest music industry news.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Categories

Popular Posts

sales rep with many arms handling phones, computer, clock and coffee

How to distinguish yourself as a sales rep

Grateful for my time in the musical instrument trade

musical instruments and audio equipment in a shopping cart

Psst…want to know the secret of sales?

bearded music store dealer with crossed arms standing in front of music equipment and instruments

Reciprocity – the key to a successful vendor-dealer relationship

illustration of electric guitar with wings in a decorative background

Partnering with your retailers in the musical instrument and pro audio trade

© Copyright 2022 Sound Marketing · All Rights Reserved