Getting your start on SoundCloud is tough, especially when you take marketing into account. Not only do you need to create high-quality, popular music, but you also need to market that content so you build an audience up from scratch.
But even though it can be hard to make it on SoundCloud, it is possible… especially if you leverage the right marketing strategies. Today, let’s take a look at seven ways you can market your SoundCloud songs successfully in 2022 and beyond.
Recommendations and Endorsements
Firstly, consider reaching out to other SoundCloud artists or other digital music artists in general. No matter who you contact, ask them for recommendations and endorsements to their current audiences.
This is similar to using influencers to market your SoundCloud songs. But in contrast, if you reach out to other artists or music creators, you’ll potentially gain access to the exact target audience you want to cultivate: music lovers who consume a lot of content from SoundCloud.
Naturally, you’ll have better odds of doing this if you create great music in the first place. To get other artists to agree to this proposal, offer to do the same for them once you build up an audience, and don’t forget to provide some sample tunes for them to enjoy so they know you are worth their time.
Make Digital Posters
However, you can and should also take your SoundCloud marketing into your own hands through digital posters. Digital posters are great means to advertise online, especially when you have a new album or single track coming out.
But if you don’t have a graphic design skill set, you can still make quality SoundCloud banners and other posters using free online tools like PosterMyWall. This tool allows you to whip up high-quality digital posters and other two-dimensional graphics in a matter of minutes from predesigned, attractive templates.
Digital posters are excellent marketing materials to create and hold onto since you can use them in multiple places. You can use them in Google PPC or pay-per-click ads, on your social media marketing, and even on your personal website.
Be sure to put together a new digital poster each time you create a new album and want to drum up anticipation among your target audience.
Craft Quality Album Covers
Despite what the phrase intends, many people do in fact judge books by their covers. Similarly, many people judge SoundCloud albums and other digital music by the quality of their covers or cover art. To that end, you can use the cover art as another marketing vector to build and maintain an audience for a long time to come.
Specifically, you should create high-quality album cover art for all your SoundCloud tracks and collections. High-quality art can:
- Convince music lovers on the fence to give your tunes a try
- Make people more likely to purchase full albums so they get access to the excellent cover art
Cover art can be thought of as the first impression of your music or artistic style overall. This is doubly true if a given SoundCloud music album has a theme or aesthetic you’re trying to transmit to the audience.
Again, free and versatile tools like PosterMyWall make creating great album cover art easier than ever.
Email Newsletters
Don’t forget to lean into email newsletters and use them regularly. Email newsletters are great tools for you to contact current and repeat customers or listeners among your target audience.
For example, you can send email newsletters to:
- Announce the release of a new single track or album
- Remind people who abandoned a cart at your online store to complete their purchase
- Provide song recommendations from all your SoundCloud tracks to current or previous customers
- And more
Plus, you can use email newsletters to announce special deals or offers for your most loyal fans. Gather email addresses as soon as you can and start using them to send marketing emails to promote your SoundCloud releases.
Get (on) Social
Social media marketing is a major part of all digital marketing, no matter what you want to advertise for. This is also true for SoundCloud songs and albums.
You should already have several social media profiles up and running on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These social platforms are great avenues for you to announce new song or album releases and to generally market or drum up anticipation for your SoundCloud productions.
Be sure to get on social media immediately and post regularly. You should try to post at least once per week on each platform, but try to post more frequently; this gives you the opportunity to interact with your target audience and build relationships with your fans.
YouTube Marketing and Other Demos
YouTube can be used for marketing if you put together a video for an upcoming SoundCloud song release, like a demo of the first 30 seconds of music. You can also use YouTube videos to showcase your creation process or other “behind-the-scenes” footage that is great for rewarding your longtime fans or getting people interested in how you compose your art.
Get Involved in SoundCloud Communities
Lastly, remember that SoundCloud itself has a number of communities you can and should be a part of. SoundCloud communities allow you to connect with others in the industry, form friendships and professional relationships, and even enter cross-promotional agreements with other SoundCloud artists.
Those cross-promotional agreements are particularly useful, especially if you are just starting out and are trying to build an audience for the first time. Plus, joining forums and groups on SoundCloud may provide you with the inspiration you need to stick with it as you build your brand.
At the end of the day, marketing on SoundCloud means following many of the same broad digital marketing principles for success in other industries. Be authentic, create music worth listening to, and an audience will grow sooner or later. Good luck!