Motion City Soundtrack Knows How To Rock A Marketing Plan

The Indie Biz Chicks Podcast had it’s first male guest in August 2008. It was Justin Pierre from Motion City Soundtrack. We talked about the marketing strategies the band was using and how all businesses should be doing those very same things. (you can listen to and download that episode of the podcast by clicking here)

Motion City Soundtrack will be releasing their fourth album, My Dinosaur Life, on January 19, 2010 (that is the album art, over on the above left). Let me tell you, when it comes to marketing, these guys are ready to BRING IT!  I don’t know who’s idea this latest campaign is, but let me tell you… it is GENIUS.

I could tell something BIG was brewing this past summer, as the band was tweeting about the songs they were currently working on for the forthcoming album. And then the website got a huge makeover, including a new blog.

And then I got an email from Justin last week, asking if I would be around because he was taking off on a tour called The Dino Trail. Armed with an acoustic guitar he is making random stops around the country. So far, he has sung songs on city streets, on college campuses, in front of Michigan’s State Capitol building, in a high school parking lot, on The People Mover in Detroit, and in some  dude’s apartment, just to name a few.

He is using Twitter to update fans of where he will be showing up and to take requests on where to show up next. (click here to follow him) He used Twitter to let fans know he was bringing hot chocolate to pass out to those in line for The All American Rejects show last night and he also invited fans to come see the movie Zombieland with him that afternoon (and yes, a row of kids came and sat behind us). And he’s documenting everything through blog posts, videos, and photos on a special blog titled My Dinosaur Life.

Like I said earlier… This marketing campaign is pure and total GENIUS. Why? Well, here are my reasons:

It costs next to nothing. Yes, they’re paying for gas, food, and lodging, but he’s stopping at random, FREE places to sing, meet fans, and promote the album. Do you know how much glossy ads in magazines cost? A lot more than this tour costs!

Social Media creates BUZZ… Again, this is free and it WORKS. He is alerting fans via Twitter of where he’ll be at, the fans are following him and re-tweeting his posts, their followers are seeing these RTs, their curiosity is piqued, they go to Justin’s Twitter to see what all this stuff is about and they get hooked. The fans that go out to meet him are tweeting about their experience on Twitter and those tweets get re-tweeted and so forth. It all gets passed around quicker than the swine flu, and that is exactly why this is called viral marketing. And did I mention that it WORKS?

You CANNOT beat the fan interaction… Let me start this off by saying that Motion City Soundtrack is a band that tours heavily and they normally have a lot of interaction with their fans. They do meet and greets, signings, and after a show, they hang out with fans, sign merchandise and pose for pictures. (hey – most of the band is from Minnesota, and they have a great Midwestern work ethic.)

Right now, the random stops that Justin is making are priceless. Think back to when you were in high school… If the frontman of a band you listened to showed up and played some songs in your school’s parking lot, wouldn’t you be totally stoked? YES, you would. These meet-ups are pretty much the coolest thing that has ever happened to these kids. I am pretty sure that those kids at the movie theater feel that Zombieland was the best movie they ever saw, and it has nothing to do with the writing, acting, or direction.

Bands do not make a lot of money off of record sales. They make money from selling tickets and merchandise. When the new album goes on sale in January, a lot of these kids are going to buy it. Unfortunately, a lot more will go to a music download site and steal it.

BUT these kids will remember the experience of seeing Justin in some random place in a random town. When Motion City Soundtrack goes out on tour next summer, they’re gonna go to the show. And they’re gonna go up to Justin after the show and say “Hey – remember me? I saw you in (blank) town on The Dino Trail!”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – building relationships with your target market is the BEST thing you can do for your business.

And right now, Motion City Soundtrack is totally rocking it out.