Maybe it's a sign that I've become a total geek, but lately I keep spotting inbound marketing in unlikely places.
Most recently, with one of my favorite bands: Phish. After a five-year break from playing music together, the band finally reunited, and did so with a three-day concert in Hampton, VA.
I went to their website to check out the show reviews, as millions of others did, and was surprised at what I found: a free download of the entire three-day concert!
Obviously, I was pumped. But I also couldn't help thinking what a great inbound marketing strategy this was.
Love the music or hate it, you have to respect Phish as one of the top revenue producing bands of all time -- and you can't deny the role inbound marketing played here.
With that in mind, here are 4 inbound marketing lessons from Phish:
1. Provide some value for free and results will follow
As I mentioned above, Phish is publicly allowing a free download of their reunion concert. Although the band could have made some money selling the recordings, they let their fans have it for FREE.
In fact, Phish (and the Grateful Dead) have been doing this for years! It's a great strategy. By allowing people to easily experience and share live shows with one another, it helps build exposure to their music, i.e. their "brand." Ultimately, this will lead to ticket revenue from the band's relentless touring.
Marketing Guru (and Dead Head) David Meerman Scott talks about creating a Worldwide rave, and how it is necessary to create triggers that get people to spread your ideas .
That's exactly what Phish is doing, and you as a marketer or business owner shouldn't be afraid to do something similar. If you're a consultant or coach, give some free tips on your blog. If you're a software company, offer a trial.
HubSpot's Website Grader is like our own version of the free Phish download. We could charge for it, but over half a million people have been exposed to our company and brand because Website Grader is free and offers great value.
2. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, but you do need to stand out
The similarities between Phish and The Grateful Dead are many. Musically, philosophically and even right down to their marketing strategies, as noted above in their distribution of the "brand." (There's a good breakdown of the Dead's marketing strategy here ).
As a marketer or business owner, it's important to study other successful marketers. Phish learned it from the Dead, so the question is: Who in your vertical is doing something outside of the box and getting great results? Learn from them and put your own twist on it. If there isn't someone, well, maybe it should be you!
3. Inbound Marketing only gets you results if you're persistent
Phish was a touring machine, playing concerts in different cities all over the world for month and months on end. Their relentless touring resulted in a loyal fan base and nearly unparalleled ticket revenue.
Just like Phish's dedication to touring, your inbound marketing strategy will only be successful if you are regularly creating great content.
By blogging frequently, you'll improve SEO, traffic, and if done correctly, sales leads. BUT, you must be persistent.
This type of persistence is how Phish built up an enormous following, and it's how you'll build one too. (Plus, it's easier to follow someone on Twitter then a band up and down the East Coast!)
4. Interesting content will help you build a following
In addition to regularly creating content, you must be fresh and interesting to your market (not just to you). Phish will play a different set list of songs every concert, and often throw in something theatrical to keep it interesting. (One time I saw the band fly over the audience in a giant hot dog! )
Fans love them for this because we never knew what to expect. It's interesting, and it keeps people coming back.
Just like Phish, you need to promote your products and services by publishing new, fresh ideas about your business and your target market.
Many people ask me why their blog subscriptions have plateaued, and it's often because the content they produce has become very familiar, almost jaded. This kills your following, and doesn't help you attract inbound links for SEO. Look at your blog, are you doing this? If so, don't be afraid to change things up, keep it fresh, and be borderline unpredictable!
Phish was able to recognize a unique but successful strategy, apply it to their own brand, and effectively market it over time by providing free value. The result was one of the top grossing bands of all time, and they never even had a hit on the radio!
Applying this inbound marketing approach, especially to a B2B business, is becoming increasingly effective, and now there are ROI numbers to support this .
Can you apply these Phishy lessons to your inbound marketing strategy?
Photo credit here .
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Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Dan Tyre 10:00 AM on March 12, 2009
They flew IN a giant hot dog? Did they steal that from Pink Floyd (who had a giant pig). Trey Anastasio is a very innovative guitarist. Wish I made it to the shows
Kip 10:25 AM on March 13, 2009
Ah the hot dog. Didn't catch the flying dog but was next to it when they threw it up on a track that led to the stage at the new years eve show in the Florida everglades. I think it's now hanging in the rock n' roll hall of fame.
Brian Halligan 10:48 AM on March 13, 2009
Nice Maverick!
Matt Flynn 10:48 AM on March 13, 2009
There's a critical flaw in this entry. I thought the heading was interesting, so I came to read, but by the end of the third paragraph, I felt compelled to click on to another site :)
...I did eventually come back (after my downloads were complete).
On a serious note, is this going to lead innovators to create more flashy/cool stuff and ignore the traditionally important "solid architecture" underneath. It seems that if this is how buyers buy, it will lead producers to abandon substance for hype. Any thoughts on that?
Katie Farrar 11:19 AM on March 13, 2009
Nice analogy Mav! I especially agree with point #3. I talk to so many people every day that think inbound marketing is a one time thing. Like if they optimize their site and write a few blog articles they are "done" with inbound marketing. Like you said, always be creating fresh, innovative content to attract more followers.
And I'm super sad I missed the flying hot dog.
charles cawlishaw 11:25 AM on March 13, 2009
great post, thanks.
Adam Mav 12:53 PM on March 13, 2009
@Matt Flynn, excellent question...
In Phish's case, they were able to demonstrate substance(talent) to their product (music) through the relentless content they produced (touring) and how interesting and different they were in their approach. In other words, steady, fresh content plus interesting and out of the box ideas will naturally breed thought leadership. I'd argue this is the 5th Inbound Marketing lesson from Phish. Phish never could have pulled off this type of Inbound Marketing strategy if they weren’t ridiculously talented musicians.
This musical talent is the 'solid architecture' you mentioned above and is the reason their strategy worked. Just like Phish let their fans and touring demonstrate this natrurally, your blog should do the same for your business.
Jen Horton 3:10 PM on March 13, 2009
I like it when all of my interests come together! I did see the flying hot dog as well as the hot dog on wheels. And, I couldn't agree more with the points made in this post. Content is king! Thank you for the post.
PhishTube 3:49 PM on March 13, 2009
This is crazy. I came across this article twice today. Once during the course of my business day as an "Internet Professional" via my RSS reader, and then on Twitter as I was checking out what Phish news was going on, just for fun. Phish is hot right now.. great idea to link into the buzz to get your ideas out there. You couldn't be more right on with your observations. When I offered live Phish broadcasts from Hampton people flocked to my site and spread my ideas without me having to promote it at all. Stay tuned for summer broadcasts from inside the shows!
kate 5:02 PM on March 13, 2009
I seem to be a bit thick here but can someone point me in the direction of the download link? Can't find the freebie....
Bob Johnson 6:55 PM on March 13, 2009
Hey guys, Great Post. I remember Paul Simon on a morning TV dressed up as a turkey. He was hilarious and of course the music phenominal.
David Locke 2:15 PM on March 14, 2009
In brand, every touchpoint contributes emergently to a purchase decision. Ads are said to assist buyers in finding the goods that they will purchase, so ads influence search. The problem with ads is their lack of infrastructure, and as a result a lack of ROIability.
Content doesn't become direct marketing or even inbound by itself. It's not enough to get a download. The content needs to pull them back again and again. The content needs to move them along to the next content, to move them towards the sales funnel. The content needs to be linked, whether online or offline.
IM Products Reviews 9:54 AM on March 15, 2009
Impressive post Adam! I hope I can apply Phishy lessons to my IM strategies. Thanks a lot.
Dave Ford 2:53 PM on March 16, 2009
Adam - great article, and I wholeheartedly agree. As a phish veteran of about 40 shows since 1995, and a first hand viewer of the aforementioned flying Hot Dog, I am a perfect case study for Phish's inbound and traditional marketing plans.
There was an interesting article that I read about how Phish, unlike most artists, try to formulate their marketing messages specifically for their "phans" and not necessarily for the general masses, like most mainstream artists. It's a brilliant marketing and business strategy that basically proves that a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. It's essentially a retention play. Why focus on diversifying your market and watering down the product when the demand is so high with your loyal customer base?
Keep them wanting more.
This is a key aspect to Inbound Marketing. it's all about driving QUALIFIED traffic and having a compelling call to action for that traffic. What a better call to action than a crispy soundboard recording of an entire show that was played about 8 hours prior.
Phish was always a "word of mouth" phenomenon and as soon as the web became relevant, they pioneered that channel from a music perspective. Sharing of lossles audio on bt.etree.org, paying for soundboards on Livephish.com, online ticketing direct from the band (F**** Ticetbastard), and endless amounts of blogs, forums, and recent social media plays.
Clearly, I could go on and on, but Adams, observations are spot-on.
DM Patten 9:39 AM on March 17, 2009
Great Post!
As the Dead and Phish have show us - this is a proven method for branding. Unfortunately, far too few companies see the value in this as they still cling to traditional business models.
I tell just about every client I work for or with:
"Companies either adapt or die"
It's a new world we live/work in and it's up to us to educate our clients as much as possible. I just wish more of my employers were either Phish or Dead fans so they could see the correlation!
--doug--