Music, Mischief And Marketing: A Guerrilla's Guide For The Creative Protagonist

By Nathan Dube

The story of how one man created his own career in marketing with no budget or college degree and how you can leverage modern opportunities to do the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nathan Dube
• Release date: Jan 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465988195

Nathan Dube

I am a musician, artist, digital marketing specialist, and author.

Book preview

Introduction

This book is first and foremost a marketing book, so why Music, Mischief And Marketing? Well, at least in regards to marketing; both music and mischief have played an integral part in the manifestation of my career. My work in guerilla marketing has laid the foundation for my success and said marketing technique (at least for me) is all about mischief. Bending or breaking the rules where possible while still achieving the goals of a project either for myself, a client or an employer has been at the heart of what I do in both music and marketing.

Music, while always having been a semi-professional aspect of my life, has fueled my success in marketing. I believe that music is a language that transcends all barriers and is capable of cross-cultural communication more so than any other art. Within my marketing career it has acted as a catalyst for connections with hundreds of professional individuals spanning multiple industries. Furthermore, the ways in which music has taught me to project energy has allowed me to evolve in my abilities to make positive connections with other human beings in ways I never would have, had it not been for the countless opportunities I have had to perform live music in both the settings of a band or in the position of a solo artist. Music has made me a better marketing professional and whether performing or listening, it can do the same for you.

As far as marketing itself is concerned, it was not something I had been passionate about my entire life. Due to an opportunity which presented itself through family I was able to get into an entry level position at a local company near the town where I grew up. It was not love at first sight. It is an art and craft that I had to learn to love. In the first few years I had to undergo experiences that to this day were some of the most miserable hours of my life. Things were so bad that I almost quit, but I didn’t. Once I had learned all that my supervisor had to offer in the art of marketing, I created my own career in social media within my company by asking for it and then proving that I could make it profitable. I used what resources I had, within the situation I was in to invoke my bliss and by doing so I brought forth a true passion for my work that is paralleled only by my love of music.

So, it is both music and mischief that have produced a fruitful career in marketing for me and while each element of music, mischief and marketing are independent arts in their own right, it is the sum of their parts that have made the journey worth pursuing.

I hope that this book inspires you to create, have fun, take risks and chase your bliss with whatever resources you currently have and at whatever point you currently find yourself in this life.

Chapter One

Music, Art And Other Tools

I am willing to bet that for most of you the most poignant and memorable experiences of your life can be drawn from your memory when you hear a certain piece of music. Whether a single lick of guitar from your favorite rock song or melody from one of the

great composers, music has the ability to transport us the moment we hear it. If a piece of music is playing while one of those experiences is happening you can almost guarantee that for the rest of your life, every time you hear it you will be instantly brought back to that time and place.

This power, or this resonance if you will, is pure gold when it comes to marketing. This may not be a huge revelation to you. Now, you might suggest that every major marketing department uses music. To this I would ask, is yours? If you are trying to sell an idea or a product, no matter how mundane or boring you may think it is, music can and will charge whatever that idea or product is with whatever emotion you want.

In the summer of 2011, I spoke at MarketingProfs B2B Forum in Boston where a woman (who was a rather talented and accomplished marketing professional) spoke to the audience about the challenges of marketing a software product to her customer base. The one thing that really stood out to me was her perception of her product and company. She proclaimed something to the effect of we are not cool, we are not hip, and I am ok with that. I can own that. I could not help but wonder if she wanted her products and services to be cool and/or hip and if she simply accepted that they were not. Who knows, maybe it really did not bother her at all but the point I am trying to make is, should she have wanted her products and services to be hip (no matter how mundane they actually are) she could in fact make them hip. By utilizing a tool such as music, or any other art form for that matter, she could in fact charge her marketing efforts with said tools and manifest what ever energy she wants into her products and services.

For example, Expert Laser Services (the company I work for) sells managed print services programs and remanufactured toner cartridges in addition to servicing and supplying laser printers and other office equipment. This is probably one of the most boring, un-cool, un-hip products one could possibly be tasked with marketing. Indeed at the onset of my career at Expert Laser Services I experienced 40 years of tunnel vision as yet another casualty of the corporate noose. I felt that I was doomed to the miserable task of selling one of the most boring products on the face of the planet. All this doom and gloom was going to do one of two things to me. Either it would drive me insane or force me to find a way to make it fun and to develop a passion for it. I choose option number two.

In 2009 I approached the president of my company and suggested that we get involved with social media. I also suggested that I should be put in charge of said marketing paradigm. My president is thankfully a younger gentleman closer to my age and is also a musician (thank you, God). While he himself did not see any potential for such an endeavor right off the bat, he did give me the opportunity to do a presentation for the management team. It was a homerun and I was given 6 months to produce some form of ROI whether it be buzz, sales or valuable contacts and new business relationships. Some of those in attendance expected little to nothing to come from this little experiment that the boss had let me delve into.

As soon as I walked out of the conference room I sat down at my desk and started accounts with the big four. I opened corporate accounts on Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Blogger would be the home of the content that I would generate to establish a position of thought leadership in the managed print services industry while Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn would serve as mediums to publish said content.

I wrote a few introductory posts about how to pick the right service provider, what to look for in a repair technician, the total cost of ownership of inkjet printers versus laser printers, and several other essential posts that where necessary but all together boring. There was nothing