Finish 2023 strong with a smart Fall and Holiday Music Marketing Plan

As we head into the eventful fall season, holidays and award ceremonies are right around the corner. This guide will help you get ahead of your work to create a successful music marketing plan to finish 2023 high note.

by. Randi Zimmerman of Symphonic Blog

If you’re in Florida like I am, you know it’s still blazing hot outside. Wherever you are, even if it doesn’t quite feel like it yet, fall is right around the corner! For musicians big and small, this means it’s time to start planning your marketing efforts for your fall and holiday releases, prepping for awards season and more. To make this process as easy as possible, our friends at Found.ee have some tips to help you get started.

Fall Releases

If you have any releases planned for the fall, you should err on the side of an earlier release to avoid running into holiday season. To make sure your releases get proper attention, you’ll want to avoid the time when the internet is saturated with holiday messaging, not to mention the increase in advertising costs. Conversely, ad costs in September and October (before Black Friday advertising) are some of the lowest all year.

Holidays

If you’re planning on releasing any physicals or new merch for the holidays, get started early! Global delays in production (especially for vinyl and other physical formats) have eased up, but are still ongoing. Now is a good time to build up your email lists and focus on re-marketing audiences now with ads and social media content so that you can market your merch effectively when the time finally comes.

Timelining

This goes without saying, but make sure you methodically plan out your next few months. This includes accounting for the time it takes to get content created and all the other behind-the-scenes efforts required to launch new music. The end of the year (and the dreaded holiday season) will come sooner than you realize.

All too often, we hear about fall releases being pushed to the following year due to scheduling issues. Don’t let that be you!

Grammys Prep

As you watch the Grammys each year, it seems as though the only people who win are always the Kanye’s and Beyoncé’s of the industry. What you may not know is that there are tons of other winners not shown on tv, most of which are talented independent artists who have been working just as hard as you are now. If you’re a talented musician, it’s not as hard as you think to get nominated for a Grammy, and it certainly is possible to win as an independent artist.

• If you’re trying to get nominated for a Grammy, there’s some important marketing you should be doing to make sure your chances are as high as possible. That’s what ‘For Your Consideration’ marketing is all about.

Although it may feel early to start FYC ads now, targeted advertising can help increase familiarity and awareness of your project amongst tastemakers before ad costs balloon as we enter awards season. If you want to put out a remix or other content to remind voters of your release from earlier in the year, you need to start planning now!

Need some help? — We did a whole article about how to get nominated as an independent artist. Be sure to check that out right here.

To wrap it all up…

If you’re looking to upgrade your marketing strategy for the fall, Found.ee makes music advertising quick and painless. If you’ve set up an ad before on another platform, you’ll be able to get an ad up on to sites like Pitchfork and Complex in less than 2 minutes. What’s not to love? // To learn more about Found.ee’s managed ads program, click here.

Good luck!