The Grateful Dead’s Lesson in Personal Branding
While the Grate Dead are not my cup of music tea, they offer a wonderful lesson about personal branding.
The music of the Grateful dead is a combination of rock and roll, bluegrass and jazz. They blend together these music styles into their own unique style. You either love or hate the music. It’s their personal brand of music.
The Grateful Dead went beyond their distinctive style of music as part of their personal brand. When they were starting as a band, they competed against music groups like the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Bands and music groups in those days obtained most of their revenue from the sale of records. Concerts were a way of promoting their record business. Concerts tours were a marketing technique to promote record sales.
The Grateful Dead turned this marketing model on its head. They made the concert tours the main source of their revenue. They did a first class job of making every concert top notch with sound and lighting techniques. They even let people record their concerts for free. Not allowed by other music groups.
Using their distinctive style of music and a new marketing method, they became the highest grossing band in history.
What the personal branding lesson for you? Create your personal brand by blending together three elements: the remarkable benefits from your business; the unique qualities you bring to the table; and market these to a particular group of customers who love what you offer.
Ask yourself, how can I market differently from my competition? Instead of expanding your business reach, go deeper. Instead of copying people in your industry, try something new.
(Thanks to Brian Halligan and DharmeshShah for sharing the Grateful Dead experience in their Inbound Marketing book.
While the Grate Dead are not my cup of music tea, they offer a wonderful lesson about personal branding.
A Unique Music Style
The music of the Grateful Dead is a combination of rock and roll, bluegrass and jazz. They blend together these music styles into their own unique music. You either love or hate it. It’s their personal brand of music followed by an avid group of followers.
New Form of Marketing
The Grateful Dead went beyond their distinctive style of music as part of their personal brand. When they were starting as a band, they competed against music groups like the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Bands and music groups in those days obtained most of their revenue from the sale of records. Concerts tours were a marketing technique to promote record sales.
The Grateful Dead turned this marketing model on its head. They made the concert tours the main source of their revenue. They did a first class job of making every concert performance top notch with sound and lighting techniques. They even let people at the concert record their music for free.
Using their distinctive style of music and a new marketing method, they became the highest grossing band in history.
Personal Branding Lesson
What the personal branding lesson for you? Create your personal brand by blending together three elements: the remarkable benefits from your business; the unique qualities you bring to the table; and a particular group of people who absolutely love what you offer.
Instead of expanding your business reach, go deeper. Instead of copying people in your industry, try something new.
(Thanks to Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah for sharing the Grateful Dead experience in their Inbound Marketing book.
To be continued, I would love to hear your comments
Al Hanzal
