As musicians, it’s almost guaranteed that at some point you will have said or at least thought “I need more fans!”, and while there are countless blogs, resources, and gig slots open for you to act on that, I often feel that the best way to learn why someone does something is to be that someone – or as they say “take a step into their shoes”.
So I thought I would apply that theory to building fans and work out why I recently became a loyal fan of the artist Jason Mraz – what was the psychology and marketing that really made me warm to not just his music, but him as a artist (or brand).
I wanted to know how I went from being just aware of his hit single ‘I’m Yours’ to downloading albums of tracks, checking out his videos and tour dates - what steps did I go through as a fan, and what breadcrumbs did he leave online to turn me into a fan?
It’s worth noting that I first heard ‘I’m yours’ in Summer 2009, yet only recently became a fan of his - what was my hold up? Here’s what I think happened.
This is How I Became a Fan of Jason Mraz
Here is my recollection of how Jason Mraz made me a fan of his split into seven steps.
Step 1 – I first heard of Jason Mraz when I was driving along the south coast of the United Kingdom in the summer of 2009 when he released ‘I’m Yours’. Since then i’ve always associated his music with a nice summer vibe, but after that summer I didn’t become a fan for another 12 months or so..
Step 2 – One day when I was in the office trying to find more chilled out acoustic music that I enjoy and I decided to add a whole album of Jason Mraz to my Spotify playlist, thinking there may be a few decent tracks on there.
Step 3 – Over the weeks I start to notice a few songs of his that caught my attention and that I actually prefer to the original hit he released, but more importantly I realised that l liked all of his songs.
Step 4 – So now I’m at home with one of these songs stuck in my head and I go on my computer. Because I don’t have Spotify installed at home I go on to Youtube and because I’m comfortable that I will like all Jason Mraz songs I search for ‘Jason Mraz Playlist’ and stick a video playlist on in the background, of course I catch a glimpse to some of the videos – in particular the ones where there’s no music, just him talking.
Step 5 – I subconsciously take in what Jason Mraz is saying during the interviews and start to learn more about Jason’s personality and I begin to connect with his brand of being a non-materialistic and genuinely funny guy – which is a very likeable style.
Step 6 – I start to watch more videos, and learn more about his music until I finally decide to visit his official website to find out if he’s touring in the U.K anytime soon. Expecting a very bland list of dates and venues I am pleasantly serenaded by a hilarious background song that Jason sings about his tour webpage! (At this point i’m very impressed)
Step 7 – I am so impressed and happy as a fan of his that I start to tell my friends about his music, share his songs and well, write this blog post!
How I got to Know Jason Mraz
I believe that the biggest transition in the seven steps above from being interested in Jason Mraz’s music to being a loyal fan was step 5 where I started being exposed to his personality through videos. Here is the best example of a video that really shows how Jason talks to his fans, and invites them into his personality – whilst maintaining the highest of performing standards.
How can you make your fans fall in love you?
- Be yourself – Most people despise a fake personality and can smell it a mile off, be your self and people will appreciate that.
- Be transparent – don’t hide the fact that you’re a small local band if that’s what you are – if you’re honest and likeable then your fans will be more inclined to help you get to the next step.
- Be professional but not too serious – After all, life’s too short for being too serious and worrying about everything, have fun but remain professional.
- Leave breadcrumbs everywhere – better yet, leave breadcrumbs that show off the points above and give your fans a good reason to love you. Remember not all fans react to the same mediums as strongly so keep producing images, videos, and text content to bait them.
And finally good luck :) - I acknowledge that there are obviously thousands of ways to build fans, but I hope this has been helpful and showed the value of actually tracking your footsteps and reading the effects of music marketing from the fans perspective.
Image Credit: Photofmdotcom
Marcus Taylor is the founder of The Musician’s Guide, a music marketing start-up based in Oxford, United Kingdom. If you want to contact Marcus you can fire over a question on Twitter, or on Email.