The busiest shopping season of the year is nearly here, and we have the tips you need to make this Black Friday your most successful to date!
Black Friday is coming! Are you prepared?
Everywhere you look, anyone and any company with something to sell is either teasing or already promoting holiday sales. The last six weeks of the year are the busiest for shopping, and it’s only right that you stake your claim at all the cash exchanging hands.
But there is a catch. Black Friday 2021 is unlike any before. Between consumer fears regarding the ongoing pandemic, shipping delays causing shortages in virtually every market, and rising demand for a finite amount of raw materials, this year’s shopping gold rush comes with several unique challenges. Anyone trying to adhere to the marketing and product tactics of years past is only going to all sorts of trouble, and you deserve better!
In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell explains what makes this holiday season unique for fans and artists alike. He also shares a few tips to streamline your sales, expand your short-term inventory, and build stronger relationships with fans.
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Consumers love to spend money the day after Thanksgiving, so why don’t more artists take advantage of Black Friday?
Black Friday is practically a holiday in the United States. Every year, millions of consumers flood stores and online retailers in search of deals to purchase the stuff they have always wanted (as well as a few gifts) at discounted prices. It is an event unlike any other, and there is no reason musicians should miss out on the fun.
Musicians don’t like to hear this, but your music is a business. Just like any brick and mortar operation, you need customers (aka fans) to spend money to support your dreams. Since Black Friday is all about supporting the businesses you love, artists need to get with the times and promote themselves around this special day.
From promotion and pricing to less direct means of raising awareness and engagement, the latest episode of Music Biz will tell you everything you need to make the most of Black Friday in 2019 and beyond. Much like the holidays themselves, participation is not about stuff as much as it is the motivation behind the things we share. Check it out:
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Holiday shopping season is upon us, and the biggest day of the year for consumerism is right around the corner. Black Friday happens on November 23. To help improve your sales and ensure your promotions go off without a hitch, we’ve developed a series of tips to ensure your holiday sales occur without issue. Some will seem obvious, but no point should be overlooked. Every step outlined below will help streamline your business, improve shipping speed, and – if you’re lucky – bring in a few additional customers.
Check your inventory. Twice (just like Santa).
Your goal with holiday sales should be to liquidate as much of the merchandise you have in stock as possible while still making a healthy profit on each product sold. Before you can do this to the best of your abilities, you need to know what you have available, and how much of it is in stock. Running out of something during your holiday sale will cause headaches for everyone, and that goes double if you run out of something because you forgot to check your inventory before launching your sale. The back and forth required to straighten out orders that cannot be fulfilled may cause you to lose future sales, as well as those you are forced to cancel. Prevent this mess from ever happening and do inventory first. Do it twice, in fact, and ask someone else to check your work.
Promote your entire sale, as well as individual items.
You want people to use your discounts to buy more than they usually would, but often those attempting to promote a store-wide sale forget the impact that promoting key items one at a time can have on consumers. You should still mention store-wide discounts, of course, but you should also make room to highlight individual items. If you’re offering 25% off everything online, you should promote the sale by showing how the discount changes the cost for specific products. Create images for Instagram and other networks that highlight these changes. That way, people can more easily understand what a great deal you are giving them. Likewise, you can use Twitter to promote various items and their price after discounts throughout the holiday weekend.
Speaking of promotion, think about paying for it.
I’m about to say something most artists hate to hear: Paying for promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter can have a positive impact on your reach, as well as your overall sales. It would be wonderful if this were not the case, and that those who could not afford paid promotion on social networks saw their sales work just as well, but years of research has made it clear that is not the case. Thankfully, the cost of entry into paid promotions is low. For as little as five dollars you can have a guaranteed reach to hundreds, if not thousands of people who have previously enjoyed your music enough to give you a Like/Follow online. Whether or not they take advantage of the message being conveyed will depend on how you choose to present yourself, but at least you know your efforts are reaching those who are most likely to jump on them.
Create specific Twitter search streams for particular items you sell.
This one is a bit more time-consuming than other tips, but it can help you bring in a lot of new consumers who may have otherwise not checked your store. Numerous tools allow you to create and save Twitter search streams. Find one you like and use it to track people tweeting about shopping/looking for things like ‘new vinyl’ or ‘cool band t-shirts.’ It’s likely these people already have an artist or genre in mind when they send these messages, but you can still reply with links to your store and music. If they don’t respond, oh well. If they do, you’ve got a potential new consumer/fan.
Make the most of SEO.
We’ve talked about this before, but keywords are becoming increasingly important when it comes to how people find your content online. Use a tool such as the Google Keyword tool to understand better how your customers are searching, then modify your own store to reflect what you have learned. It is essential to know which keywords are mostly used during the holidays, such as ‘sales,’ ‘top gifts,’ ‘Cyber Monday,’ and ‘Black Friday.’
If you know nothing about SEO, some services can help you improve your efforts, as well as people on Fiverr willing to work for just $5. Get creative if you must, but the smart decision would be to master SEO yourself as soon as possible.
Make sure everything is working before promoting your sale.
This one may seem obvious, but every year there are a handful of musicians who see their site, or at least parts of their website, crash amidst the sudden upswing in view brought on by the holiday shopping season. Before you push your sale live, make sure every item on your store is listed correctly and that every discount is working correctly. If there is a code word needed, make sure you test it out before sharing it online.
November is here, which means the Christmas shopping season is officially underway. There may still be a few weeks before Thanksgiving, but that shouldn’t stop you from preparing for what could be the most profitable period for online sales you experience all year. Black Friday happens on November 27, and today we’ve prepared a series of tips to ensure your holiday sales happen without issue. Some will seem obvious, but no point should be overlooked. Every step outlined below will help streamline your business, improve shipping speed, and – if you’re lucky – bring in a few additional customers.
Check your inventory. Twice.
Your goal with holiday sales should be to liquidate as much of the merchandise you have in stock as possible while still making a healthy profit on each product sold. Before you can do this to the best of your abilities you need to know what you have available, and how much of it is in stock. Running out of something during your holiday sale will cause headaches for everyone, and that goes double if you run out of something because you forgot to check your inventory prior to launching your sale. The back and forth required to straighten out orders that cannot be fulfilled may cause you to lose future sales, as well as those you are forced to cancel. Prevent this mess from ever happening and do inventory first. Do it twice, in fact, and ask someone else to check your work.
Promote your entire sale, as well as individual items.
You want people to use your discounts to buy more than they usually would, but often those attempting to promote a store-wide sale forget the impact that promoting key items one at a time can have on consumers. You should still mention store-wide discounts, of course, but you should also make room to highlight individual items. If you’re offering 25% off everything online, you should promote the sale as how it impacts items like shirts or vinyl. Create images for Instagram and other networks that highlight how the discount impacts the cost of single items, that way people can more easily understand what a great deal you are giving them. Likewise, you can use Twitter to promote various items and their price after discounts throughout the holiday weekend.
Speaking of promotion, think about paying for it.
I’m about to say something most artists hate to hear: Paying for promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter can have a positive impact on your reach, as well as your overall sales. It would be wonderful if this were not the case, and that those who could not afford paid promotion on social networks saw their sales work just as well, but years of research has made it clear that is not the case. Thankfully, the cost of entry into paid promotions is low. For as little as five dollars you can have a guaranteed reach to hundreds, if not thousands of people who have previously enjoyed your music enough to give you a Like/Follow online. Whether or not they take advantage of the message being conveyed will depend on how you choose to present yourself, but at least you know your efforts are reaching those who are most likely to jump on them.
Create specific Twitter search streams for particular items you sell.
This one is a bit more time-consuming than other tips, but it can help you bring in a lot of new consumers who may have otherwise not checked your store. There are numerous tools that allow you to create and save Twitter search streams. Find one you like and use it to track people tweeting about shopping/looking for things like ‘new vinyl’ or ‘cool band t-shirts.’ It’s likely these people already have an artist or genre in mind when they send these messages, but you can still reply with links to your store and music. If they don’t respond, oh well. If they do, you’ve got a potential new consumer/fan.
Make the most of SEO
We’ve talked about this before, but keywords are becoming increasingly important when it comes to how people find your content online. Use a tool such as the Google Keyword tool to better understand how your customers are searching, then modify your own store to reflect what you have learned. It is important to know which keywords are mostly used during the holidays, such as ‘sales,’ ‘top gifts,’ ‘cyber Monday,’ and ‘black Friday.’
Make sure everything is working before promoting your sale.
This one may seem obvious, but every year there are a handful of musicians who see their site, or at least parts of their site, crash amidst the sudden upswing in view brought on by the holiday shopping season. Before you push your sale live, make sure every item on your store is properly listed and that every sale is working correctly. If there is a code word needed, make sure you test it out prior to sharing it online.
Hello, everyone! Thank you for finding time in your schedule to spend a few minutes with us. This week has focused heavily on ways artists can keep merchandise costs low while furthering their overall reach, and this post is a continuation of that effort. If you’re feeling burnt out on this topic, don’t fret. We’ll be back to our regular series of interviews and editorials next week.
This site exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Today is the day before Thanksgiving, which means we are less than two full days from the official start of the year’s busiest shopping season. Christmas is right the corner, and if you’re smart you’ve already begun putting thought into the various sales and discounts you are able to offer fans during this time. If not, there’s still time to get prepared, and we’re here to offer a little help.
We cannot guarantee a boom in sales this holiday season. In fact, we cannot guarantee a rise in the number of sales you see at all. What we can do, however, is help ensure your marketing and sales efforts are top notch. To do that, follow these tips:
Check your inventory. Twice.
Your goal with holiday sales should be to liquidate as much of the merchandise you have in stock as possible while still making a healthy profit on each product sold. Before you can do this to the best of your abilities you need to know what you have available, and how much of it is in stock. Running out of something during your holiday sale will cause headaches for everyone, and that goes double if you run out of something because you forgot to check your inventory prior to launching your sale. The back and forth required to straighten out orders that cannot be fulfilled may cause you to lose future sales, as well as those you are forced to cancel. Prevent this mess from ever happening and do inventory first. Do it twice, in fact, and ask someone else to check your work.
Promote your entire sale, as well as individual items.
You want people to use your discounts to buy more than they usually would, but often those attempting to promote a store-wide sale forget the impact that promoting key items one at a time can have on consumers. You should still mention store-wide discounts, of course, but you should also make room to highlight individual items. If you’re offering 25% off everything online, you should promote the sale as how it impacts items like shirts or vinyl. Create images for Instagram and other networks that highlight how the discount impacts the cost of single items, that way people can more easily understand what a great deal you are giving them. Likewise, you can use Twitter to promote various items and their price after discounts throughout the holiday weekend.
Speaking of promotion, think about paying for it.
I’m about to say something most artists hate to hear: Paying for promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter can have a positive impact on your reach, as well as your overall sales. It would be wonderful if this were not the case, and that those who could not afford paid promotion on social networks saw their sales work just as well, but years of research has made it clear that is not the case. Thankfully, the cost of entry into paid promotions is low. For as little as five dollars you can have a guaranteed reach to hundreds, if not thousands of people who have previously enjoyed your music enough to give you a Like/Follow online. Whether or not they take advantage of the message being conveyed will depend on how you choose to present yourself, but at least you know your efforts are reaching those who are most likely to jump on them.
Create specific Twitter search streams for particular items you sell.
This one is a bit more time-consuming than other tips, but it can help you bring in a lot of new consumers who may have otherwise not checked your store. There are numerous tools that allow you to create and save Twitter search streams. Find one you like and use it to track people tweeting about shopping/looking for things like ‘new vinyl’ or ‘cool band t-shirts.’ It’s likely these people already have an artist or genre in mind when they send these messages, but you can still reply with links to your store and music. If they don’t respond, oh well. If they do, you’ve got a potential new consumer/fan.
Make the most of SEO
We’ve talked about this before, but keywords are becoming increasingly important when it comes to how people find your content online. Use a tool such as the Google Keyword tool to better understand how your customers are searching, then modify your own store to reflect what you have learned. It is important to know which keywords are mostly used during the holidays, such as ‘sales,’ ‘top gifts,’ ‘cyber Monday,’ and ‘black Friday.’
Make sure everything is working before promoting your sale.
This one may seem obvious, but every year there are a handful of musicians who see their site, or at least parts of their site, crash amidst the sudden upswing in view brought on by the holiday shopping season. Before you push your sale live, make sure every item on your store is properly listed and that every sale is working correctly. If there is a code word needed, make sure you test it out prior to sharing it online.
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We have plans to share additional merchandising tips for bands in the weeks ahead. If you have an idea for a column, or if you have a question about merchandising and branding that you want us to answer, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We look forward to hearing from you.
