Songs That Tell A Story : Similarities Between Music And Marketing

Last night at TD Garden, I had the opportunity to see Stevie Nicks perform live. It was a jam packed show, and the energy was amazing. I was ecstatic; I've always been an enormous Fleetwood Mac fan, and as someone who studied the art of writing in college, I'm particularly fond of her songs that tell a story. The music was outstanding, and given her age I was impressed with her ability to retain so much of her talent. I could go on and on about the amazing marketing put on by Stevie and her team (I talk about marketing for music festivals &concerts in my blog post here), but what occurred to me during the show was that in the same way that we relate to and appreciate songs that tell a story, good marketing has the same effect. Businesses that are able to convey who they are, what they want their customers to experience, and the message that they want to send well are by far the most successful. Many, many lessons can be learned on this front through studying a star.

Stevie Nicks has been unapologetically herself since she entered the music industry, and people love it. In between her songs, she would talk - and in these conversations, she would literally say whatever she wanted. Her clothing, her dancing on stage, her lyrics - everything about her personality is and has been genuine for decades. And as a result, people love it. I was surrounded by fans wearing top hats, shawls, and Stevie Nicks outfits screaming her lyrics word for word. By telling her story well in a genuine, meaningful way and just being herself, Stevie essentially is her marketing.

It's the same for businesses. People love what's real, and people love good stories. Stevie Nicks has songs that tell a story. she has something to say that people deem worth hearing. Take Landslide, for example. She takes her problems, explains them, and presents them to everyone else in a relatable way. It doesn't seem like she's trying to sell anything or present herself in a certain way; she's simply providing something that she feels strongly about and she hopes that people will like. Each business needs to implement a marketing strategy that does this with whatever product or service they provide.

My take? Using Stevie Nicks as inspiration, fall in love with what you do, and then find a way to share it with the world in a one-of-a-kind, authentic way that makes it easy for people to connect with it. Then ask yourself : how is your business currently telling a story?