Sales Strategy….Why?
November 30, 2009
In todays industries be it music or any other there is a heavy reliance on marketing, now when I began in the music industry I didn’t know the difference until as a matter of recording company practise, when an act is signed to a major label you are taken to meet the different teams that will be involved in your future success. So we met the marketing and promotion department in the lovely Warner building each of them with their own desk and relaxed surrounding opposite the big hitters such as the head of various sections in the label.
After meeting the marketing team we were taken to another building to meet the sales team. We were taken into a open plan office with a number of workers in a room which felt alive of activity. This was not the typical feel of a record company department with lots of people on the phone, it sort of felt like the real world of world rather than the typical record company office (not that other record companies department don’t work hard). It was explained to us that without this department the whole system crashes so it is important that the individuals in this department liked you!
After the release of my former bands first single I realised why this department was so important. To understand the importance we should break down the difference between sales and marketing.
Some have described marketing as the act of developing awareness and pursuading prospective consumers to buy your product and sales the art of closing the deal.
Now where it comes to music product a lot rides of letting people know where or how they can buy your product, there is no point spending tons on marketing and then once you have persuaded people to buy your product they cannot get hold of it.
Case study Speech Debelle
Mercury award winner Speech Debelle has recently announced she has parted with her current recording company due to poor sales figures post receiving the Mercury music award. Debelle was upset due to the fact not that she didn’t have enough exposure, but people were unable to buy the actual product from record stores due to product being sold out and not replenished. Debelle stated that online downloads increased 4,000% but people who wished to buy it from the stores could not.
Now Speech Debelle is signed to a small independent company and may not be to produce the amount of CD’s to have a commercial hit as it costs to produce them, or maybe they didn’t expect to win the award, the fact remains, according to Speech Debelle that their weren’t enough CD’s in the stores.
Now if this is true then the record company has failed in its sales strategy, if you enter into a competition there is a small chance you could win, even if you are nominated you should be aware of the increase in exposure you will experience. There are a number of different ways the company could have dealt with the issue, maybe get a loan, or more likely strike a deal with a larger company, this could be done quite quickly once companies know they had won the award.
If you intend to be in this industry planning is a given, but in your planning don’t forget you should plan for success not failure, you need to be realistic but all scenarios should be thought out. If you get your product development right, your marketing right, your promotions right and you sales wrong…. well you get the picture.
