{"id":3970,"date":"2015-01-06T18:28:58","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T18:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lionssharedigital.com\/?p=3970"},"modified":"2020-08-27T16:55:16","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T16:55:16","slug":"how-to-maximize-ecommerce-profitability-in-the-music-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lionssharedigital.com\/branding\/how-to-maximize-ecommerce-profitability-in-the-music-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Maximize Ecommerce Profitability in the Music Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]\n

Times Have Changed, Time to Change With Them<\/h2>\n

As you’ve probably already noticed, the music industry has changed greatly in light of the digital age. While not impossible, it is challenging to obtain financial sustainability in a market with endless options, and many artists just simply giving their music away for free. Many musicians, music labels and other entities are now turning to eCommerce<\/a> platforms in order to sell their music and merch.<\/p>\n

Three of our favorite clients, Gravitas Create<\/a>, Vespers.ca<\/a>\u00a0and ill.Methodology are great examples of how to create a sustainable and profitable website through eCommerce<\/a>. As three of the leading electronic music online educators, they hired us to create and update their WordPress<\/a> sites with fully functioning WooCommerce<\/a> stores. We also did the logo and product branding to give them a polished look that matched their music and persona.\u00a0 All three sites are profitable and allow their fans to purchase sample packs, educational video courses, merch, and even midi controllers.<\/p>\n

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These guys are at the top of their games. We learned a ton of valuable pointers about eCommerce profitability in the music industry from working with Gravitas Create, ill.Methodology, and Vespers<\/a>, and\u00a0thought it would be nice to share\u00a0some of that knowledge with you:<\/p>\n

Provide Quality Products<\/h2>\n

We are stating the obvious in saying that selling quality products is the single most important ingredient in creating a successful and profitable eCommerce website. Substance is everything<\/strong>. Gravitas Create, Vespers.ca,<\/strong> and ill.Methodology<\/strong> have successfully created quality educational music production products<\/strong> that are\u00a0both useful and desired within the electronic music community. There is no magic formula here.<\/strong> You’ll have to spend real time working on creating products that people will actually want to buy.<\/p>\n

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Know Your Target Audience<\/h2>\n

While having quality products is definitely the most important part of running a successful eCommerce<\/a> platform, it’s equally as important to know who you intend to sell that product to. Identifying your target audience will allow you to take the next step in branding and marketing your eCommerce store. Gravitas Create, ill.Methodology and Vespers.ca have done phenomenal jobs in identifying, marketing, and selling to their target audiences. Simply stated, they know what their fans want and give it to them.<\/p>\n

Offer Freebies\/Deals<\/h2>\n

We all know that people love free things, and there is actually a way to utilize freebies\u00a0in exchange for profitability.\u00a0Giving people a taste of what you can do, helps you reach even more people while building brand loyalty.<\/p>\n

For example, Vespers does an awesome job of leading free downloads through what he calls “The Vault”<\/strong><\/a>. \u00a0Users must register and login to his site in order to download the freebies. This allows him to follow up with them down the road via email with sales and new exciting products.<\/p>\n

Distinguishable Branding Design<\/h2>\n

Once you’ve identified your target audience, it’s time to move forward in creating a unique branding design<\/a> that is appealing to that group of people. Distinguishable branding<\/a> such as logo design and product images help your product stand out in a sea of competitors. The brand and design should help the overall site aesthetic, while also making the brands more marketable to your target audience.<\/p>\n

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Utilize Social Media<\/h2>\n

Integrating social media<\/a> with your eCommerce platform is absolutely imperative in today’s day and age of Web 2.0. Your target audience wants to connect with you and is likely to become your loyal customer when they feel that connection. It’s also a fantastic way for you to reach more of your target audience.<\/p>\n

ill.Gates, founder of ill.Methodology, is a great example of social media usage with his strong social media presence and engagement (77k Facebook “Likes” and 14k Twitter followers). Often somewhat divisive and controversial, his blog posts are regularly circulated around Facebook. As a result, the engagement on his Facebook page is some of the best we’ve ever seen. His post, “Is Dubstep Dead”, had over 5 million views on Facebook, 32k likes, and generate over 100k+ pageviews on site. The sidebar of his blog lists popular products and even if 1% of the traffic converted into customers, that was a highly valuable blog post that all started within the echo chamber of social media.<\/p>\n

Create a Youtube Channel<\/h2>\n

Humans are visuals creatures. Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world making videos easily discovered and shared. Youtube is ideal for further-reaching a target audience. Vespers is a cut above the rest with over 50k subscribers to his channel. Check out a couple of examples of their videos.<\/p>\n