I spend hours listening to the sounds different cymbals make when they are hit in various locations. If you aren’t a drummer, this moment is tough to relate to -- but for a drummer, the decision to buy a cymbal is a very personal one.
You might imagine that the only way to sell a product as nuanced as this would be inside a physical store. After all, what kind of drummer would buy a mail order cymbal without hearing and testing it out for himself? The Memphis Drum Shop, however, found a solution: they created a "virtual test" by creating a YouTube channel with videos testing the sound of various cymbals. The channel has been up for a little over four years, and has amassed over 15 million views -- not bad for a site targeted to a relatively small population of active drummers.
How did they succeed? By using this simple, yet effective strategy:
Create a broad URL.
Their official site URL is the enviable www.mycymbal.com. It’s easy to remember, descriptive and is included on all of their videos to help drive traffic back to the site.
Tell people how to have the optimal experience.
On every video, they say “headphones recommended.” For most people viewing a video like this, they may not consider putting on a pair of headphones. But instead of relying on the low quality of most computer speakers, requesting the watcher to use a higher quality headphone (which most musicians will likely have) ensures that the experience of listening to the cymbals in the video is as positive as possible.
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Focus on the exclusivity and reason to buy.
One place where many small businesses fall short is that they do all the work to demonstrate their expertise, but once a consumer is convinced to buy the product, you must also answer why they should buy from you. In every video, the Memphis Drum Shop makes a point to say that the cymbals being played in the video are exclusively available from them -- making it far more likely that drummers will follow through and purchase.
Demonstrate and live up to your tagline.
When choosing a tagline for your small business, you’ll often pick something that is relatively generic and descriptive. In the case of Memphis Drum Shop, they picked “we are the experts.” That tagline alone could be claimed by many music shops, however, the way that they have built an entire video channel on YouTube to bring this claim to life and demonstrate how true it is helps them to stand out. They really are the experts and have hundreds of videos to prove it.
Consistently add new content.
The last element that makes this strategy work is the commitment to adding new videos to their channel. This isn’t a one-time deal or something that a sales associate does whenever he or she finds time. This is something that the entire store is devoted to doing and maintaining, and therefore potential consumers are much more likely to return and recommend the site to fellow drummers.
Rohit Bhargava is the author of the best selling marketing book Personality Not Included, a guide on using personality to create a more human small business that employees love to work for and customers can’t wait to buy from.
