If you were asked to name three top marketing pioneers, the Grateful Dead probably wouldn’t be on the tip of your tongue. But as David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan explain in their new book, “Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History” (Wiley, August 2010), the Grateful Dead actually created many digital age marketing strategies, such as viral marketing, social networking, giving away products or services, and asking for input from customers.
Here are 5 tips on how the Dead’s marketing savvy can be used in today’s business world:
1. Carve out your own landscape. Rather than focusing on the business model du jour—selling albums—the Grateful Dead focused on generating revenue from live concerts, and in doing so created a fan “experience” that was unlike any other.
2. Mix up your marketing department. Scott and Halligan suggest you organize your marketing team in this way: You want someone responsible for “getting found,” someone responsible for “converting” the folks who are getting pulled in, and someone responsible for “analyzing” the numbers and helping you make better decisions.
3. Experiment. The Grateful Dead played more than 2,300 concerts, and each one was unique due to their improvisational style. Says Halligan, “You should be doing at least five times more experiments than you likely are doing today. In terms of marketing, this could mean starting a blog, freeing your employees to Tweet or write posts for your blog, or leaving comments on others’ blogs.”
4. Lose control of your marketing messages. “In building a community, the Grateful Dead were willing to give up a large degree of control over how they were defined and instead hand it to their fans,” explains Halligan. “So let your community define you, rather than trying to dictate what’s said—and how—about your company.”
5. Put fans in the front row and give them free content. Unlike nearly every other band, the Grateful Dead controlled the ticket sales for their concerts, allowing them to announce tours to fans first and treat supporters to the best seats, driving passionate loyalty. They also encouraged concertgoers to record their live shows. “The way to reach your marketplace,” says Halligan, “is to create tons of free content such as blogs, videos, white papers, and e-books.”
For information about the book, call 800.225.5945.
