The Importance Of A Customer Funnel When Building Your Fanbase

As an independent musician today, your ability to build and grow a dedicated fanbase directly impacts your career success and earning potential. Gone are the days of relying solely on radio play and record label marketing pushes. You need to take the lead in proactively cultivating solid fan relationships.

This is where having a strategic "customer funnel" approach becomes absolutely crucial. A customer funnel is the virtual space where you will work to attract, engage and monetize your audience and it involves connecting all your online channels, so that they work together.

Here's a look at the 3 parts of a musician’s customer funnel:

Part 1: Attract
When setting up your funnel the first thing you will need to do is establish ways for fans to discover your music. Some methods for Attracting new fans include: Showing videos on YouTube, playing live shows and getting referrals from fans. The goal is getting fans introduced to you and your music.

Part 2: Engage

Once fans discover you, the next crucial step is pulling them into a deeper level of engagement, so that you can work towards building a relationship with them and turn them into a fan. This can be done in person or through your social media channels, but the main purpose is to keep fans focused on your career, so they get to know you, as well as learn about who they are so you can better engage with them.

Part 3: Monetize
After someone becomes a fan, your final goal is to Monetize them, which will primarily be done using your website. When people hear the word monetize, the first thing they think about is making money, which is accurate because that’s what the word means. However, a musician needs to understand there are 2 forms of currency which supports their career:
Money and People. So the Monetization part of a musician’s Customer Funnel is first about collecting people then about collecting money. And when we say collect people, we mean convince them to sign up for your email list. Your email list is the most important thing you’ll possess because it provides you with a way to directly speak with your fans, so that you can build a relationship with them. Once a relationship is established, this direct connection gives you the opportunity to generate money from your fans by getting them to purchase music, attend live shows and fund your crowdfunding campaigns.

By developing a customer funnel, you remove the randomness involved in building a fanbase and set up a system that helps you to capture your success. Eventually, all your online activities will have a specific purpose and your channels will complement one another, so you efficiently grow your audience.

In short, your customer funnel will be the framework on which you build your music career, providing you with a space to nurture your relationship with your audience and create true fans that support you.

And finally, if you're serious about making music your profession, then I strongly encourage you to learn how to build a sustainable music career for yourself because it takes more than talent and great songs to be successful.

Suggested Articles: