TPS #010: “The Artist Creator Funnel”
Author: Andre Mullen - 3 min Read
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In order to build an audience and a community, an artist needs a well-constructed “creator funnel”.
The creator funnel represents a simple journey that the audience goes through, increasing the chance of becoming part of the artist’s community – their fan base.
When I started working with artist clients, I worked without a funnel and generated relatively poor results.
Fast forward, and over the last 3 years, my own business runs through an intentionally designed creator funnel.
I want to share mine that I share with my artist clients with the hopes that it helps you.
A great creator funnel starts with discovery
A successful creator funnel starts with discovery.
If nobody finds your thoughts or ideas – or music – none of the other parts of the funnel matter.
Learning to stand out online is part of modern marketing.
The easiest way to get your client discovered is for them to create value where people are already consuming.
There are four types of content that generally “add value” and therefore have positive results:
This person teaches me
This person entertains me
This person makes me think
This person understands me
Once you understand the skill of creating value, you should distribute it to places where people are already consuming: Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, etc.
One of my former clients – an R&B singer from California – was intimidated by social media because she felt that she had to do things that weren’t true to who she was.
The irony of this was that her personality, and her music, were very relatable.
When she approached her content creation from socials as such, she saw an increase in her following and her streams across DSPs (digital streaming platforms).
After discovery, building trust is critical
Once your client has been discovered, it’s important that you move the audience from thinking, “this person is familiar” to “this person is someone I trust”.
When I say “trust”, I mean they trust that your client is going to deliver the same message and emotion over and over again.
To deepen that trust, longer-form content can be used:
Newsletter
SMS Text
Podcasts
Website
For my own creator funnel, I move people from Twitter and LinkedIn to my weekly newsletter.
My goal is twofold:
Show people how I think on a deeper level (trust)
De-platform my closest followers to my email list and off of social media.
Remember – it’s critical to “own” your audience (email list) vs. “rent” your audience (social media).
Deep relationships take trust to the next level
Once trust is built, your client can begin establishing true relationships.
True relationships are about access. A “behind-the-scenes” glimpse at how someone thinks, acts, works, etc.
It’s much easier to invite someone into this phase of the funnel once they fully trust your client’s brand.
Your client has a relationship builder in community platforms such as Patreon and Discord. It can give your client an opportunity to engage and share with their fans in a much deeper way.
Their fans would join to deepen their relationship with your client and other motivated fans, all focused on the same thing: the music.
Relationships are much easier to monetize
Think about the journey someone takes to join a community. They:
Discover you
Build trust through high-quality content & music presentation
Invest in a long-term relationship through community
Once someone has come this far, they are highly likely to want more of what you create.
This is where monetization is the easiest.
Not only are these your closest followers, but they are also a captive audience. You can reach out directly via your community.
There’s no algorithm to beat. No open rates to worry about. No competition.
Just a captive audience of likely buyers.
This is where you and your client can get creative. Offer up access to exclusives like music, merch, and backstage passes to shows.
Congrats! You’re ready to build your own creator funnel.
See you next week.
TL;DR:
Artist creator funnel in 2023:
Discovery: DSPs & Instagram/TikTok
Trust Builder: Newsletter
Relationship Builder: Community
Automated Income Builder: Patreon
Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I can help you:
1. I’m offering a Growth Strategy Session. Let’s put together a growth strategy for your and/or your client’s business for FREE.
2. I’m also conducting a FREE Systems Audit to see what systems you are using and optimize them.