1.Marketing with Data

• January 27, 2010

Shamal Ranasinghe

Cofounder, Topspin

MIDEM Academy

2. Focus on Data

More revenue, more fans

Right offers in front of the right audience

Measurement frameworks

Specific steps

• Hypothesize and collect data

• Test and measure

• Analyzing and Optimizing

3. 4. Opportunity is real

Internet levels the playing field

• Particularly true when it comes to both granularity and accessibility of data

• Direct to fan response can be quantitatively tracked and improved online

Historical ways of releasing music for the industry meant getting measured by Soundscan, Billboard, BDS radio spins, but now artists can make music for their fans and measure that response accordingly

Empowered artists need to pay attention to different key metrics

5. Better Business

Let the data determine how to invest in new artist products

• Fans pay more: >$20 average revenue / transaction, $50 with branded artists

• More Margin: 85% vs. 70% -20% in your direct channel vs. others

Own your fan and super-serve them

• Use fanbase data to segment and target for higher conversion

• Save on remarketing costs

Success stories abound

• Michael Masnicks presentations atMIDEMandNARMdiscuss Trent Reznors approach and offer several great artist examples

• Case studies: Fanfarlo, Jonathan Coulton, Metric, David Byrne

6. Think in terms of a Funnel 7. Steps to take

Establish goals

Craft offers to meet goals

Collect data

Test and Measure

Optimize

Repeat, iterate, experiment

8. 1. Set Direct to Fan Data Goals REACH My widget on 100+ sites this year 50,000 unique visitors this month ENGAGEMENT Single played 10,000 times on the web Fans to share my video 2,500 times ACQUISITION 5,000 email addresses by January Sell out the Mercury Lounge in NYC (capacity 250) MONETIZATION Make $60,000 from a series of DTF offers Average fan revenue is $50 per year across all offers 9. 2. Craft Your Offer

Authentically connect with your fans

• Do not focus on topline revenue of one product

• Artist as a brand with many products

• Variety of offers to serve a wide spectrum of fans

Emerging artists prioritize on fan acquisition through low friction, low cost offers

Established artists benefit from fans wanting collectibles and higher-value experiences

All should include tiered premium offers vs. leaving major revenue and margin on the table

10. Impact of Physical Goods in Offers *Source: Topspin direct to fan campaigns 11. Consider Premium Offers

50% of transactions occur at under $10, but account for less than 18% of Revenue

Greater than 50% of revenue is earned at price points over $25

*Source: Topspin direct to fan campaigns 12. Plot and Serve Your Demand Curve 13. 3. Collect Data

Once youve crafted your offers, project demand

• Calculate weighted average transaction value based on product mix and expected distribution

• Multiply average revenue & margin by conversion rates from channel

Get a handle on accessible channels

• Number of emails in your list (ensure freshness for optimal conversion)

• Traffic to primary and secondary sites measured in visits

• Search volume ( Googles search term tool )

• Social network reach in friends or followers: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Last.FM, YouTube, iLike, etc.

14. Google Analytics Required 15. Topspin Conversion Averages Source: Topspin Direct to Fan Averages CHANNEL CONSERVATIVE NORMAL AGGRESSIVE

Email

Visits (clicks)

Sales from visits

10% 4% 15% 8% 20% 12%

Traffic to Primary Site

Visits

Sales

Email acquisition

100% 2.4% 7% 100% 4.8% 15% 100% 8% 20%

Traffic to Secondary Sites

Visits

Sales

Emails

8% 2% 3.2% 16% 3.2% 6.4% 24% 5.6% 8%

Search

Visits

Sales

Emails

2.4% 1.6% 3.2% 4% 3.2% 7.2% 5.6% 4.8% 11.2% 16. Topspin Conversion Averages Source: Topspin Direct to Fan Averages CHANNEL CONSERVATIVE NORMAL AGGRESSIVE

Facebook

Visits

Sales

Emails

0.8% 1.6% 2.8% 2.4% 2.8% 3.6% 4% 4.4% 7.2%

MySpace

Visits

Sales

Emails

0.8% 1.2% 2.4% 2.4% 2.4% 3.2% 4% 4% 6.4%

Twitter

Visits

Sales

Emails

2.4% 1.6% 2.4% 4.8% 2.8% 3.2% 7.2% 4.4% 6.4%

YouTube

Visits

Sales

Emails

2% 1.2% 2.4% 3.2% 2% 3.6% 4.8% 3.2% 4.8% 17. Compare Funnel Conversions Source: Topspin Live Artist Example 18. Essential Lessons

Learn and master Google Analytics

• Simple to put into footer of website, blog, CMS

• Its free and a universal standard

• Third party integration, i.e., Topspin purchase flow

Premium offers = more revenue

• Include physical goods to generate demand

• Service fans who want more and are willing to pay

Understand conversion ratesproject demand

19. 4. Test + Measure = ROI

What was the before and after of your marketing?

Compare and contrast how different channels drive traffic, fan acquisition, and revenue

Benchmark and improve each fan touch-point sales conversion

• Web page views and click-throughs

• Email open-rates, click-throughs, unsubscribes

• Widget loads, plays, shares

• Purchase points: impressions, acquired fans

20. Revenue by Channel 21. Website Traffic

• Identify major sources of traffic to your site

• • Topspin Knowledge Base instructions

Assess ecommerce and conversion by source to reinforce and reward high-performing channels

• For each source, uniquely track traffic and commerce by tagging the URLs:Google URL Builder

• Topspin Knowledge Base instructions

• • Advanced users can develop unique landing pages for each source of traffic

Bit.lyandAwe.smURL shortners provide tracking and metrics

22. Social Network Data Platforms Analyze social network metrics and engage fans periodically with new media and posts 23. Third Party Metrics Providers 24. 5. Optimize

Initial direct marketing is an investment in data and benchmarking

SEO

Landing pages

Email

New metrics for the new business

25. SEO

Imperative that primary site is ranked highest

• SEO Advice and Tips :

Search Engine Traffic #2-#3 source of artists traffic and revenue during releases

Ensure release and artist specific key words are resulting in top placement for your site

• Rank Checker :

26. SEO

Can you tell below when this artists primary site fell out of top placement in search rankings?

• Drop in traffic = drop in revenue

• Requires continual monitoring or setting up data alerts

27. Landing Pages 28. Landing Page Data Lessons

Your offer should never be more than one click away

• Why? only 15-30% of visitors follow the link to the offer page

• Compare:

• • Offer page is one click away: 30% click and 10% buy = 3% total conversion

• • Offer page is two clicks away: 30% click once, 30% click again, 10% buy = 0.9%

• • Assume 10,000 visitors and $20 avg sale: this is $6,000 vs. $1,800

• Emails should drive fans direct to offer page

Integrate offer page into homepage

Advanced users A/B landing pages for high conversions

• Google Webpage Optimizer

29. David Byrne Email Marketing

Strongest revenue channel

3,000 to 30,000 in two weeks

28% CTR

13% purchased

Tip: Streaming players or widget images in emails have highest CTR

30. Metrics for the New Music Business MEASURE EXAMPLES Play to Purchase Ratio Byrne and Eno: 20% Fans Acquired per 1000 Viral impressions Fanfarlo: 49/1000 Fans Acquired per 1000Paid impressions Average: 0.7/1000 Dispersion David Byrne: 160 sites Fanfarlo: 248 sites Shares to Sales Ratio Fanfarlo: 1.1 31. 6. Repeat, Iterate, Experiment

Promotional effectiveness has short half-life so emulate successful methods quickly and measure constantly

Investing in data intelligence enables better remarketing

Experiment with limited fan sets

• Plot your own demand curves and determine price elasticities

• A/B test for incremental gains on all fan touchpoints

Future of artist marketing is based onyourcreative ideas

• Tools will allow easier implementation and more immediate measurement

• Actively engage with audience to sustain and grow fanbase KPIs

32. Some (More) Creative Campaigns

Fanfarlocase study

The Elk

Get Busy Committee

Joe Pug

Golden Filter

Ambling Alp

33. Further Resources

[email_address]

• Twitter:@shamalman

• Skype:shamal_topspin

Topspin Green Room

Topspin Knowledge Base

Google Analytics:Conversion University

Berklee College of Music

• Course:Online Music Marketing with Topspin

• Certificate program:Topspin-Certified Marketer Specialist

Copyblogger

34. Thank you.