Rock on: More marketing tips inspired by the Grateful Dead

By Ginny Kipling

September 07, 2010 at 08:00 PM

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Here's more groovy advice from David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan's book, Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead, on how the Dead's marketing brilliance can be used in today's business world.

Embrace technology

*The Grateful Dead pushed the boundaries of technology for decades. Their "Wall of Sound" took eight years of experimenting, $350,000 to create and used power from 55 McIntosh amplifiers. The result: a music revolution.

Action: If you don't already have a website, a LinkedIn group, a Twitter or Facebook page, now is the time to get up to social-networking speed. Think about new technology emerging today. Educate yourself on web analytics, marketing optimization, customer-relationship management systems and social media.

Create your own landscape:

*The Grateful Dead created a business model that was the opposite of every band's at the time.

Action: You want to break free from the competition and build an impressive business model. What do you do three times better than your competitors? What do you do three times worse? Watch your competition, and rethink your business model.

Create exclusive programs for your most loyal customers

*The Grateful Dead announced tours to fans first and treated supporters to the best seats, driving passionate loyalty

Action: Identify your most loyal customers and add them to a database so you can reach them. What can you offer them that would be valuable and not available to the public? Communicate to this group first. Do a special event, teleconference or webinar just to keep in touch or before your next product release.

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