PR 20/20 Blog

Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: 3 Key Takeaways

By Dia Dalsky | Posted Aug 24, 2010 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Brand Marketing, Marketing
Like many influencers ahead of their time, the Grateful Dead took risks and made sacrifices to pursue their passion and ultimately change the landscape of the music industry. Lucky for us (and them), their struggles paid off and now present an excellent case study that is inciting the rise of a new, niche fan base —today’s marketing professionals.

Since the mid-1960s, the band has abandoned standards in branding, building a business model, communication style, marketing and performances — all of which are examined in Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan.

The book documents the band’s success in creating a unique brand and encouraging a truly engaging fan experience. Scott and Halligan present simple marketing tactics used by the band, apply them to today’s business world and provide examples of companies that, like the Grateful Dead, have found success in going against “the norm.”

Here are a few marketing takeaways I found particularly insightful:

Create an Original and Innovative Brand

From the beginning, the Grateful Dead built a unique brand that set them apart from their competitors and intrigued fans. They did this by selecting an unusual name, constructing a band of unlikely musicians and creating a business model that defied normal success factors (e.g. achieving platinum record sales). As a result, it was able to establish its own category focused on listening to (rather than defining) its audiences’ needs.

Similarly, Scott and Halligan urge companies to think from a customer standpoint. Forget about the industry norm and ask yourself “What is the most logical way to fill my customers’ needs?” and “What differentiates me from my competitors?” While it’s important to stay in touch with your industry and remain conscious of your competitors, it should never dictate or limit where you take your business.

To champion the brand and connect with your audiences, you need to build a marketing team with diverse talent. Scott and Halligan encourage companies to build teams with a range of skill sets and experiences, including digital citizens, analytical thinkers, content creators and those with industry reach.

Attract and Engage Your Fans

The leading factor behind the Grateful Dead’s success was its die-hard community of Deadheads that supported, listened to and lived for the music. From its beginnings in San Francisco, the band sought to encourage personal connections and open dialogue with fans.

For example, the Grateful Dead placed a direct call-to-action inside the October 1971 live Skull and Roses album, requesting their fans to connect with them:

“DEAD FREAKS UNITE: Who are you? Where are you? How are you? Send us your name and address and we’ll keep you informed. Deadheads, P.O. Box 1065, San Rafael, California 94901.” – pg. 70, Ch. 9: Bring People on an Odessey

The response was overwhelming, receiving 10,257 responses in six months. Within five years, 63,147 Deadheads (in the United States alone) had requested to receive regular mailings from the band. Scott and Halligan relate this permission-based fan connection to a pre-Internet social network.

With this opt-in mailing list, the band was able to know their audience better, deliver fan communications and establish a community for Deadheads. The list also supported a variety of the band’s marketing activities, including ticket sales, which were kept entirely in-house and generated a majority of the band’s income.

Share Your Value Through (Free) Content

Deadheads also benefited from premium, or “fremium,” content, which is also the foundation of inbound marketing today.

By allowing fans to record live performances, permitting entrepreneurial vendors to create band paraphernalia and encouraging the distribution of both, the Grateful Dead removed the usual obstacles for music enthusiasts during the pre-Internet era. This availability of content without barriers makes the Dead’s music and brand “spreadable.”

“The Grateful Dead teaches us that your most passionate fans will pay a premium price for the best quality….The challenge in the upgrade model is to give away something that is considered valuable, and something that people will use regularly and become familiar with. It is the familiarity that grows from regular use…that generates the value and desire for the premium version of the same product or service.” – pg. 122, Ch. 15: Upgrade to Premium

Scott and Halligan have found professional inspiration from a shared interest in the Grateful Dead, the music and the experience they receive from being loyal followers (aka Deadheads). What brands give you inspiration from their marketing mission or core values? What lessons can you draw from them to implement in your own marketing strategy?

For more information

To learn more about individual businesses implementing Grateful Dead marketing tactics, watch How to Market Your Business Like the Most Iconic Band in History, a recent HubSpot webinar hosted by co-authors Scott and Halligan. The webinar showcases innovative companies such as Rue La La, Burton Snowboards and the New Belgium Brewing Company.

Dia Dalsky is an associate consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Dia on Twitter @DiaDalsky.

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Photo credits taken from Flickr Creative Commons (in order): Tony the Misfit; ActiveSteve; Jared
Trust Agents: Who Are They and How Do You Become One?

By Tracy DiMarino | Posted Aug 24, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Social Media
Today marks the official launch of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith ’s new book, Trust Agents. For those of you who have not had a chance to read it yet, here’s a Cliff notes version of what you can expect.

What is a Trust Agent?

“Trust agents aren’t necessarily marketers or salespeople; they’re the digitally savvy people who use the Web to humanize businesses using transparency, honesty and genuine relationships."

Relationships have always been essential in offline business transactions; therefore, it makes sense that their importance extends online. However, without the social cues that are available offline, people have developed new ways to determine who they should trust online. Trust agents understand how technology can influence trust and they use this understanding to their business advantage.

According to Brogan and Smith, trust agents have six characteristics:

Make Your Own Game

Trust agents are constantly looking for a better way to do something. They learn the rules of their field and then they decide which rules can be ignored, changed or modified. They take chances and create their own way of doing things, differentiating themselves from their competition and establishing themselves as experts.

One of Us

When it comes down to it, people would rather do business with someone they like. Therefore, trust agents become a member of the community and are genuine and honest with those they encounter. They present themselves as individuals with real opinions who interact and provide value. They comment, share, participate and promote others, instead of constantly trying to sell their services or products.

Archimedes Effect

Due to the social aspect of the Internet and the vast amount of resources it provides, trust agents use it to improve what they are already doing. By leveraging the power of technology, trust agents can do their job better with less effort. They develop new opportunities from their existing ones and enable their online communities to help them spread the word.

Agent Zero

Trust agents realize that the power of their networks lies in their ability to connect people and find resources. They introduce people with similar interests, pass along business opportunities and offer support. They are the people in the center who tie groups together.

Human Artist

Soft skills are just as important online as they are off. Trust agents can identify people’s strengths and weaknesses and they understand which relationships are worth cultivating. They communicate in real and thoughtful ways and are helpful whenever possible. They interact on their audience’s terms and know what is and is not acceptable for communicating online.

Build an Army

The Web is vast, technology is always changing and people only have so much time in one day. Because of this, trust agents build groups of people with similar interests. This enables people within the groups to work together in improving themselves, sharing ideas and promoting causes. A group of people is more powerful than any one individual working by himself.

How Do You Become a Trust Agent?

“You need to be liked, and you start becoming likable by being worthy of being liked. Be kind. Be patient. Be humble, on time and generous. Be that person you would like to be friends with.”

To be a trust agent, let your human side show online. Build relationships with people, share knowledge and participate. Add to the body of content already available with your own eBooks, blog posts, photos and comments. Help others when you can by sharing what you know and the resources you have. Promote others. Be active.

By being present, listening and contributing, other people will learn to trust you. Once this happens, your opportunities will flourish. Just remember, everything you do online leaves a trace and those traces are there forever. Make sure they provide others with a positive impression of you.

What are some ways you establish trust online? Share with me your best practices for interaction in the comments section below.

For more information on Trust Agents, become a fan of the book on Facebook or follow Chris Brogan and Julien Smith on Twitter.

Tracy DiMarino is an associate consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Tracy on Twitter @TracyDiMarino.

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What I Learned: Pour Your Heart Into It

By Paul | Posted Dec 30, 2007 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Business, Management
PR 20/20 started out in February 2004 as a vision to evolve the PR industry. That vision, which 21 months later manifested into an upstart PR and marketing firm, was fueled by remarkable books that told inspirational stories of vision, passion and innovation. “What I Learned” is a series of blog postings about the books and experiences that continue to shape our agency, and our vision. My hope is that these insights will inspire others to pursue their dreams.

Some men see things as they are and say “Why?” I dream things that never were, and say “Why not?” - George Bernard Shaw

Pour Your Heart Into It by Starbuck’s Chairman Howard Schultz For this installment of What I Learned, I’ve included a selection of my favorite quotes from Pour Your Heart Into It. It’s a classic story about an entrepreneur with a vision, and the passion to make it a reality:
- “A company can grow big without losing the passion and personality that built it, but only if it’s driven not by profits but by values and people.”
- “If it captures your imagination, it will captivate others.”
- “Vision is what they call it when others can’t see what you see.”
- “Naysayers never built a great enterprise.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- “When you see the opportunity of a lifetime, move quickly.”
- “Don’t be threatened by people smarter than you.”
- “Everything matters.”
- “Strong brands create a powerful, personal connection.”
15 Things I Learned from the 4-Hour Workweek

By Paul | Posted Dec 30, 2007 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Business, Resources
Eric Clemens, president of Acroment Technologies, and IT consultant extraordinaire, recently sent me a copy of The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris.

I have to admit that I was highly skeptical of the title at first, but after devouring the book earlier this week on a trip to Vegas, I am pleased to report it has changed the way I look at success, and given me valuable insight into ways to increase the efficiency and productivity of our PR and marketing agency.

Some of the concepts are a bit far-fetched for service-based businesses like PR 20/20, but there are lessons to be learned for every professional, especially entrepreneurs.

Check out 15 of my favorite excerpts, and then grab a copy for yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised:
1. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” - Mark Twain
2. “I can’t give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.” - Herbert Bayard Swope, American editor & journalist; first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize
3. “Having an unusually larger goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal.”
4. “It is easy to get lost in minutiae, and the key to not feeling rushed is remembering that lack of time is actually lack of priorities.”
5. “The end product of a shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus.”
6. “Don’t ever arrive at the office or in front of your computer without a clear list of priorities.”
7. “If you prioritize properly, there is no need to multitask. . . . Divided attention will result in more frequent interruptions, lapses in concentration, poorer net results and less gratification.”
8. “Stop asking for opinions and start proposing solutions.”
9. “An interruption is anything that prevents the start-to-finish completion of a critical task, and there are three principal offenders: time wasters (those things that can be ignored with little or no consequence), time consumers (repetitive tasks or requests that need to be completed but often interrupt high-level work) and empowerment failures (instances where someone needs approval to make something small happened).”
10. “There is a psychological switching of gears that can require up to 45 minutes to resume a major task that has been interrupted.”
11. “For the employee, the goal is to have full access to necessary information and as much independent decision-making ability as possible. For the entrepreneur, the goal is to grant as much information and independent decision-making ability to employees or contractors as possible.”
12. “If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake.” - Frank Wilczek, 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics
13. “Life is too short to waste, but it is also too long to be a pessimist or nihilist.”
14. “Surround yourself with smiling, positive people. . .”
15. [This one is my personal favorite] “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose.” - Steve Jobs, Stanford University Commencement, 2005