Deadmau5, real name Joel Zimmerman, is one of the biggest electronic music acts in the US and his anti-marketing approach has been a huge success. He has found a way to really connect with the growing EDM audience.
Joel is not competing directly with these traditional pop acts but he has had two top ten albums on the US Billboard charts, as well as regularly topping the dance charts. But it is his approach to self-promotion and the way he interacts with his audience that we’re interested in today. Although some of this is unique to music, there are interesting lessons to be learnt about honesty and openness with your customers, as well as getting the balance right between promoting but not overdoing it.
In a blog post, Joel makes the analogy with a roller coaster. Even if everyone loves the rollercoaster, they’re eventually going to get sick of it. We know this is true; products and services have a lifespan. They either reach saturation or a competitor creates a better or cheaper option. This is why you need a theme park; a rich variety of experiences, some small, some big. Not only does this attract a wider audience but it also keeps the core audience more engaged. It’s all about building a world.
For businesses, the point of creating this world is that your customers feel like they are getting more from you than just the product or service that they paid for. And the benefit works two ways. For the customer, they get better support and advice, as well as some entertainment, depending on the kind of world you build. For you, the business, you create a core audience that you don’t really need to sell to; they are already involved, they know what new things are coming up and when they’re going to be available. They are practically marketing you to each other.
When it comes to Joel’s honesty, he combines it with a dry sense of humour. Just look at his album titles:
For Lack of a Better Name
album title goes here
W:2016ALBUM
What he’s saying here is that he doesn’t know how to dress this up and sell it, all he cared about was the music, that he put all his effort into creating it, not on planning how to make money out of it. The fans are in on the joke.
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Music: https://soundcloud.com/handsalmon
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