Mashup Marketing: Mix and mash to make a masterpiece
It is time to MASH!
Mashup music is exactly what it sounds like. Take various tunes, beats, lyrics, and harmonies from different songs, mix them all together, and you create an entirely new track that stands on its own. The rebellious child of many other music genres, mashup's mixed sound allows it to be its own genre and many other genres all at the same time.
If you haven't heard mashup music yet, check it out here. This song is a mix called Crazy Little Feel Called Love by ElectroSound. It mixes tracks from Queen, James Brown, Fat Boy Slim, and Beck. The song is old and new, fun and funky, sly and sleek. While I work, mashups are often my soundtrack.
I live in a mashup world right now. This got me thinking about mixing old with new, fun with funky, sly with sleek advertising and marketing plans. In our current economy many of our customers are doing everything they can to stretch every dollar, and launching a new product is often not in budget. Here at rfi Marketing we are helping our customers come up with new pseudo products from old product lines. Here are five tips for mashup-itizing your marketing.
1. Start with something people know:
Some of the best mashups start with songs people know and include popular beats and melodies from classic tunes and big hits. Familiarity draws people in so they are more likely to keep listening. This also applies to marketing: use what people already know and love about your company and build on it.
It is also important to avoid the abstract. If you aren't specific and don't use concrete information about your product, customers are going to be less likely to grab onto and remember what it is you are trying to sell them.
2. Mix two hit products:
Mashup artists know that combining two hit songs brings out new things from both pieces of music and makes a new sound that neither could have created by themselves. Mixing two of your own hit products often does the same thing and allows clients to view your company from a different perspective.
3. Sell it to your easy customers:
If you make a sweet hip hop mashup, you probably aren't going to take it home and play it to your grandma who likes Lawrence Welk. Instead, you will probably play it for your friends and family who are more into those kinds of sounds. The same idea goes for marketing: pitch your product to your easy customers first. Some of the best people to pitch to are your regulars, previous customers, and those who are likely future clients. After that, try presenting it to some of your Christmas card clients or those who have shown interest but who may have been put aside for the time being.
4. Put it out there and get feedback:
Just like any other art form, mashups and marketing always come out better if someone else takes a listen. Other people might hear something that needs to be changed or added that will make your work even better. So send out your new idea to a select group of people via a private Facebook post or email attachment and see what they think.
Feedback can give you more perspective and help you work out some of the minor kinks. However it is important to remember that your marketing mashup still belongs to you and you get the final say it how in comes out. With that said, it is OK to be choosy with what advice and criticism you take to heart and which you don't.
5. If you see another mix, spin it!
Most artists, musicians, DJs, authors, and anyone else who is artistic know that your first try might not be your greatest hit, but something spawning from your original might be. The spinoffs you could find while you are working are one of the best parts of creating mashups. As you grow you will discover what works and what doesn't and your own creative process for mashup-itizing your marketing will be born. So no matter what you do, keep spinning and new sound and new clients are sure to come your way.
