Every artist should utilize the three pillars of digital marketing: organic content, advertising, and email.

The problem is that most artists get stuck either creating content or running ads and never move beyond that.

And they almost always leave out email altogether.

Each of these avenues has its own unique benefits, but the trifecta of success lies in utilizing all three.

So here’s a five-step sequence to implement content, ads, and email into your music marketing strategy.

The right way.

Create content

It all starts with creating content centered around your music.

This is not just to promote your work, but to learn and understand what your listeners actually like.

Because what my audience enjoys may not be what your audience enjoys, which may not be what his audience enjoys, what her audience enjoys, etc.

Every artist is unique and therefore, every audience is unique by association.

Each subsequent step in your marketing journey depends upon finding your voice and understanding your audience.

Boost engagement

Once you’ve hit a bit of a stride with organic content, you can use ads to extend the reach of the best-performing posts to unlock even more listeners for your music.

And hopefully some new followers too.

You’re basically putting your winners to work here.

If posting organic content is the testing ground, running ads to boost the winners is like putting in your A-team.

Push your music

The point of content isn’t to use every post as a call to action to “listen to my music on Spotify”.

Organic content is an opportunity to attach a “feeling” to your music by using it in conjunction with engaging visual creative that emphasizes that emotion.

Yes, you want people to know you’re an artist, but if you go straight for the ask every time, you will wear them out.

No one wants to be overly sold to.

Once you’ve identified the “feeling” your audience wants, you can lean into that when pushing people to your music with ads.

Recycle winning posts as ads, attach a call to action to visit your profile within a select few posts, or simply use a video here and there to ask for the click-through to listen.

If every single thing you post online, whether paid or organic, says, “Listen to my music, listen to my music, listen to my music,” that gets old.

Giving people a reason to enjoy your work and then peppering in the ask as a small percentage of your presence online is a more effective long-term strategy.

Retarget for email

Outside of the almighty dollar, the email address is the highest-value return we can get for our efforts.

The “real” world calls this generating leads; the music business calls them fans.

Either way, you want to build your email list.

Running an ad with an attractive value proposition (like a free download) in exchange for someone’s email address is a winning ticket every time.

Identify something your audience wants and then offer it for free.

You get what you want, and they get what they want—a clear exchange of value.

Once you have that email address, you have a direct link to your listeners outside of ad spend or algorithms.

Use email to sell

You can sell merch, concert tickets, event passes, and a ton of other stuff on top of social platforms or by running paid ads.

But the best place to do this is via email.

Again, this is free marketing.

Ads cost money.

Algorithms change.

But your email list is a hot audience that wants more from you.

They wouldn’t have signed up if they didn’t.

Now, much as with your content strategy, you can’t ask, ask, ask.

You have to give first.

What that looks like will vary for every artist (much as it does with content), but once you’ve found your voice and identified how to consistently deliver value to your fans, you can use email to generate sales and turn those fans into customers.

And customers are what allow you to turn your hobby into a business.