Once you buy into this version of really pitching what you’re doing by going from “why, how, what,” and not “what, how, why,” and you look around at some successful examples of artists and companies, you realize that the ones that have this wide-reaching effect are doing exactly that. For a great orthogonal example outside of music, I love to look at a couple of technology ads from a while back.
What Can the Music Industry Learn From This IBM Commercial?
There’s a great ad from the ’80s with IBM, which was on top of the world then. They were making great products. But if you look at any of their ads, you’ll see that they’re talking about what they do constantly.
Let’s view this IBM commercial. You’re looking at a small portable computer called the IBM 5100. It’s helping a lot of different people do their work more productively.
From a real estate investor’s point of view: “Managing real estate investments entails many difficult decisions. Pay it now or later? What about the landscaping? Can we afford it? What about taxes? There are many, many difficult decisions to make.
“It’s really nice having a computer to help. It weighs about 50 pounds. You can plug it in anywhere. Bad weather, late deliveries, construction delays of all kinds. We need to find out how it is going to affect our schedule. Now we can find that out fast. The 5100 can help handle some very complex information.”
From a product developer’s point of view: “Jet fuel is expensive. At Simmonds Precision, we’re developing a product that’ll help the pilots save fuel. Flight test time is also expensive. But we do our flight tests right here in the lab on our IBM 5100 and save time and money. The capacity of the 5100 is about the same as some large computers a few years ago.”
From a life insurance agent’s point of view: “We’re a mid-sized life insurance company. If we want to compete, and we do, we’ve got to be flexible. We’ve got to get answers fast. This little machine will help us do it. The 5100 is easy to learn and simple to use.”
From a farmer’s point of view: “There are countless combinations of feed we can mix. What is the most economical for any particular herd? That’s what I’m figuring out now, and the cost of the 5100 is reasonable.”
From a printer’s point of view: “Paper, ink, size, waste, overhead, and don’t forget the shipping costs. Estimating a printing job is not so easy. Our estimators handle 50% more work since we got the 5100. We do it faster and a lot more accurately. And our customers really love it.”
The commercial tells us that the IBM 5100 is bringing the advantages of the computer to more and more people. IBM —helping put information to work for people.
You’ll see that they’re just talking about what they do constantly. They’re saying, this thing will help you. This thing has this much processor power. Blah, blah, blah.
In terms of who they’re choosing to associate with, which is a big part of building your image, they’re associating with, honestly, not the most exciting walks of life. They’re associating with people who are bored with their jobs, people who aren’t excited about what they do. These are people who might say, “I’m unhappy with what I do. This IBM thing will kind of help me.” That’s what we’re left with.
Contrast that with a very famous ad that Apple ran around the same time. It was called the “think different” campaign, and they took a completely different approach.
For Apple, It’s the “Why,” Not the “What”
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them, because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
In this ad, Apple doesn’t mention their product once. They only talk about their “why” and what they believe. On top of that, in terms of building their image, they’re associating with some of the greatest human beings of the past couple hundred years. They have video of Gandhi. They have video of Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, people that dared to challenge the status quo and believe what Apple claims to be believing.
We’re left, at the end, not really knowing anything about the computers they make, but knowing that, if I think what they think, maybe I’ll go check it out. Maybe I’ll go see what this Apple computer is all about. And so that’s a great example.
How Can These Two Examples Contribute to Your Online Music Education?
When you look around at any marketing, anything from what you see in the supermarket to your favorite band, ask yourself: “Are they aligning with my beliefs, or are they just trying to impress me with what they’ve made?” Because what they’ve made is going to become increasingly less important, in this time of so much supply. For example, on Spotify, I have all the greatest music of all time. Just the fact that you’re telling me your song exists isn’t enough for me to take the time to listen to it. You need to resonate with what I believe, to win the trust that I’ll go and listen to it, and hopefully love it.
After considering these commercials, we need to ask ourselves, “What does IBM believe, based on their commercial? What does Apple believe based on theirs?” I’ll leave it to you to answer. They sort of speak for themselves. What I’m getting at is that we need to think about broadcasting our values when we’re actually communicating what we’ve made. Because even though you might think, “My values, those have nothing to do with promoting my band,” the truth is, all this stuff comes under the heading of trying to win trust, so people will take the time to check out what you’ve made.
You know, there’s no shortage of great stuff. You need to win people’s trust before assuming you’ll be listened to. When you’re broadcasting your values, even though your values might not resonate with every person you meet, there are 7 billion people on the planet. And a lot of people will resonate with your values. They’ll think, “That person believes what I believe. I am going to take the time to check out what they’re saying.” And if it’s someone who might love what you’ve made, but they don’t resonate with your values, that’s OK. They might find your stuff later.
Music Education and Learning To Market
An important thing to remember is an idea called positive exclusivity, meaning that not everybody is supposed to love what you’re doing. More importantly, when you’re starting out, if you’re trying to market to everybody, if you want everyone in the room to love you, most likely no one is going to love you. That’s because people need to feel like there’s some sort of spotlight shown on them. And that’s where broadcasting your values is this tactic to reach people who feel like, “Gosh, I never hear an artist talk about X, Y, Z, that I really care about.” It could be something that has nothing to do with music. But that’s a moment when you can win trust.
I like to point out that this is very different from how we normally think about exclusivity in a negative way. Right? This is not about purposely leaving people out. I’m not saying, “Anyone who is X, Y, Z won’t get to hear my song.” I’m shining a light on people who are normally ignored. I’m saying, “Anyone who loves X, Y, Z, this is for you. And the other people can come check it out, too.”
This is our beachhead to get things started. When we tap out that market, we expand, and we open it up to everybody.
