Digital strategy, huh? It kind of sounds like a phrase used to describe how to use one of those fancy digital alarm clocks that has five different alarm settings,  a variety of nature sounds to choose from, and projects the constellations onto your ceiling. Well, as helpful as a strategy like that may be, that’s not what we do.

At Pet Marmoset, we define digital strategy as the necessary plan, development, tools and execution for marketing you and your music in a digital, online world. Having a Myspace page and a couple hundred friends on Facebook isn’t a strategy. In fact, it can hurt you if you’re not doing it right. An effective digital strategy is equally important, if not more important, as having a strong publicity campaign. In today’s day and age, more people are discovering, experiencing, and are talking about new music online and in digital mediums (ie: music blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, LastFM, LaLa, etc) than every before. You can find more context and background information about this in the “Strategy” sections of the Pet Marmoset Blog at http://petmarmoset.com/capabilities/digital-strategy/pet-marmoset-strategy-posts/. It is our belief that in the ultra competitive world of music, having an effective digital strategy isn’t merely an option: it’s essential.

It’s no secret that today’s music industry is upside down and there are far more questions than answers. While we certainly ask a lot of questions too… we focus most of our time on finding solutions. And if you want to succeed in todays wild wild west  era of the music biz, you absolutely MUST have an effective digital strategy.

No matter what you need, we’ve got it. From web hosting… to email marketing… to Twitter strategies… to digital sales tools… to highly customizable social media-powered websites… We can help you with practically anything and everything you need to succeed in a digital world.

Understanding the basic concepts involved is easy.  It goes something like this:

1. Create something special that people enjoy and want to experience (ie: your music, your live performance, your lyrics, etc).
2. Fine tune your “something special”, including/in addition to your sound, your image, your brand, and your overall strategy.
3. Develop your fan base. This step is all about fan acquisition. There are endless opportunities and initiatives to acquire new fans. Most importantly, you have to demonstrate and communicate why you are special. This is what separates truly talented artists from everyone else. This is also where knowing the right people and/or having a little luck can come in handy.
4. Engage your fan base. Inspire, excite, and compel your fans to interact and participate with you, your music, and whatever you’re doing. The internet, social media and Web 2.0 technologies have created a cornucopia of relatively low cost, new opportunities for artists to interact with and participate with their tribe of fans. For many artists today, figuring this out and finding time to do it effectively is the hardest part. Coincidentally, this is what we’re really good at.
5. Grow your fan base. This step is about scalability. You must chart a path to replicate and adapt your success to date. Growing your team and your available resources is crucial. Evangelizing the lost is your primary goal.  At this step, you must continually challenge yourself to find and create innovative and effective tactics for reaching your target fan. Today, quality often trumps quantity… especially in the early going. Remember the Longtail.

Developing and understanding a good, effective strategy like this is one thing. Executing it is a whole other ball game. This is where we truly excel. At Pet Marmoset, we develop strategies that fit your unique needs and your specific situation, providing the talent, experience, and resources to help you succeed.

Here’s some of the capabilities we offer:

+ Web hosting

+ Email marketing

+ Online music marketing

+ Easy to use, highly customizable, social media powered websites

+ Customized social media strategy

+ Custom social network sites (Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, etc)

+ Digital/online sales tools and infostructure

+ Digital distribution solutions

To continue this dialog and to explore your needs further, please reach out and contact us.