What Post Malone Can Teach Us About Marketing

As soon as you have somebody else really like nodding you on and supporting you and sharing your genius with their people, that trust is immediately there. It's immediately implied. You get that credibility right away.

This is the Entrepreneur School Podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you, the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair, and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under three. I'm a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out on this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to Entrepreneur School.

If you tuned into this episode because the title cuts your eye and you were like, What the heck does Post Malone have to do with marketing? I am about to tell you, I am very excited for this episode. I've just been thinking about it so much over the last couple of weeks, because this is very present and happening now. I don't usually do a lot of like trends or current events kind of things, but what you need to know about me is I am a die hard country music fan. I used to want to be a country music singer when I was a kid. I am not qualified for that in any way, shape or form. But you might also say, neither is Post Malone. So this is what I want to talk about. Is Post Malone dropped a new album called F 1 trillion at the end of August, and it is a country album. And so I wanted to talk about how he has been welcomed into the world of country music, and the strategy that he used, at least like, I mean, I didn't talk to him personally, obviously, but from what I can see, I just want to give you my interpretation of this. Now, here's the thing, this album has 18 tracks on it, and 15 of them are collaborations, so they have guest singers on them. And I think this is the key to why it has been successful, and why he was on in the grand old Opry stage, which is like a coveted experience for most artists that they wait forever to be able to be invited to. He got on the Grand Ole Opry stage before his album even dropped, and I think that's got a lot to do with the fact that he aligned himself with the right people, right? So I talk a lot about collaborations in marketing and visibility, and how this can really enhance your credibility. And what better endorsement into country music than to have classic artists like Hank Williams Jr, Dolly Parton rad, Paisley, Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, all on this album, as well as the hot new like people who everybody is currently like downloading and going to concerts for like jelly roll, Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wallen, Luke combs, Chris Stapleton, Hardy, and there are others as well on This album. And that's really like the cohesiveness of both sides of the fence of like classic country music, where we're not rejecting Post Malone just because he comes from a hip hop background, or he has tattoos all over his face, or any of those things because of what country is defined to be, but we're accepting Him because, well, Dolly Parton says it's okay, Brad Paisley says it's okay, Lake Sheldon says it's okay, and they're right there beside him.

So this is the whole idea of aligning yourself with strategic partners who can help you get in front of the audience that you need to get in front of and have that trust built, like automatically, right? So the idea of Post Malone, launching a country album may have had some people skeptical, including myself, definitely. In fact, I've really never liked Post Malone up until now, and I have a hard time saying it, but the album is good. It was really good. I really liked it England. I really liked his solo songs on there, which are only three. And then I've noticed that he's actually launched a a longer edition of the album with like nine more solo tracks, which I haven't heard yet. But I would imagine that that was a two phase approach on purpose get people excited. And behind it, and then get into more of his solo tracks so that he can be accepted as an individual in this space, as well as a collaboration artist. I also saw on line that he had done in his performance at the grand old Opry, a collaboration with John Michael Montgomery, again, one of like the classics, I think I saw John Michael Montgomery in concert when I was 10 years old, because that's when he was cool, in the 90 so it's amazing to just notice what the power of that collaboration can do. And as soon as you have somebody else really like nodding you on and supporting you and sharing your genius with their people. That trust is immediately there. It's immediately implied. You get that credibility right away. So if you think about how this then applies to you when you are looking for visibility, opportunities and ways to grow your audience, it really starts with creating those collaborations and those connections. What are the relationships that you could establish and nurture and mutually benefit from with other people who are working in your space, who share an audience, right? So that is the common thread in all of this, is that the audience has shared. So people who listen to Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson and more Morgan Wallen are all people who Post Malone wants to get in front of because these are country music fangs. That's his audience, right? People who like music and who like are open minded, especially to variations on the genre.

So if you think about that, who are the people who already have an audience similar to who you are trying to attract? And maybe you do different things, right? Everyone has their different style. All of these artists have different styles in the way that they show up in the country music space. And you have a different way of showing up in your industry and in your space as well than the others, and there's room for everybody too. I think that's another great thing that this whole this whole album, really proves, is that we can work together. We can share each other's success. We can partner with people, and we can really all benefit and create something amazing that the audience really loves and gets value from, right? And in the country music world, it's entertainment. It's strictly, I'm here for the experience of listening to music and how that makes me feel, and all of those kinds of things. And of course, in your space, in your industry, and what you do, it's about how you transform people's lives in the way that your service is helpful, the way that you teach, in the way that you showcase what you do, and the way that you communicate that is all is how your artistry, essentially is showing up for you. So I would encourage you to just take a look at this case study, which is very current and hot right now, and see how it really is an invitation for you to try more collaborations.

So let's talk a little bit about some ideas for those collaborations. So I give you a bit of a framework for moving forward. How can you say you want to be a speaker now, again, I will always tell you that there is no one size fits all when it comes to visibility, and you need to choose a strategy that's going to work for you, that aligns with your own strengths and that supports you in your goals, in reaching your audience, right? I've said it time and time and time again. I'm almost sick of hearing myself say it, but that's how I know it's an important message, and that's that I've worked in communications and marketing for over 15 years and never written the same marketing plan twice, and that's because it needs to be really customized to the company and the business that the plan is for. So when you're thinking about your visibility and how you can bring more collaborations into it. For speakers, if you like speaking, if you want to be on podcasts, if you want to be on stages, virtual or in person stages, it's a matter of identifying who is already bringing together an audience that you are trying to reach. So that is the that is the way that you skip steps in this whole big marketing space, like trying to get yourself seen and heard in this online space that is so busy and oversaturated and full of three second memes and reels on Instagram, how do you get heard? Right? You need to create relationships with the people who are already working to bring together the audience that you want to serve. And so then you get to showcase how you can add value to them and how you can demonstrate a mutually beneficial relationship with. The person who's the leader there. So looking for event hosts, looking for podcast hosts, and not just cold pitching them, but creating relationships, finding ways that you can showcase, how you can give them something as well, in return, that is really the foundation.

I was just recording a podcast episode that's going to air on my friend Holly Haines show, which is called Crush the rush, if you want to go and subscribe and listen to that, she and I have very similar outlooks, and we do very similar things in terms of teaching business strategy and marketing strategy and prioritizing visibility. And when we were talking about, sort of my methods and how I prioritize visibility. She was asking for, like tangible pieces to share with the audience, about how we create relationships, right? And the main thing is, if it feels yucky, it probably is. If you're going out with a request that feels like very one sided about why you want to be on this podcast. That's not going to work. And I can tell you, as a podcast host, I get handfuls of pitches on a daily basis, and I do not like most of them, because they're very much about why this person is great, or why I'm great and not why I can help your audience. So what you need to think about is how you can make the host person look good, right? We want help doing our jobs. The media wants help doing their jobs. The event host wants help doing their jobs. They want to really make a successful event, and you need to demonstrate how you can come alongside them to do that. So whether that's a summit or a podcast or even a media pitch, that's exactly the angle that you're always looking at. And you just want to start up a relationship the way that you would, you know, go meet a new friend in a networking scenario. Sometimes it feels awkward when it's online and you just have to, you know, send them a DM or something, but try and just make it like, like how you would naturally go and talk to somebody at an event, and then the key is to remember to maintain the relationship.

So when we were talking on the podcast episode that I was guesting on yesterday, it was just that made me think of exactly how you know that you haven't reached out to your girlfriends in a while, like your friends circle. You haven't, all of a sudden, seen them or talked to them in weeks or months, because life is crazy, and if you don't make an intentional effort to stay connected with people, then it doesn't work, right? So make sure that you have a system in place for maintaining those relationships, for continuing to reach out to them, and for just staying present like it doesn't always have to be a request. It shouldn't be. Otherwise it's gonna feel like a one sided relationship. You know, the kind where it's like every time I hear from this person, they're asking me for something that's annoying, like, just apply your regular social etiquette to business relationships, and even you even will become friends with the people who you collaborate with. I've had the pleasure of meeting some of my online friends in person multiple times, and now we just really are friends, and we really are top of mind for each other, and we always are talking about each other when we're in different rooms, sharing that they would be a great podcast guest or person to approach for an event, and we're just giving each other opportunities, and that's exactly what you want. You want to build more of those for you, so that you have advocates who are helping you to get in front of the right audience, so that, you know, I can't imagine that all of these guests on the Post Malone album. Like, did, who else did he ask? Did anyone say No, really? Like, I don't know, right? Obviously, I don't have that insight. But I'd be curious to know if there's somebody who's, like, kicking themselves now because they weren't part of this album, or part of this like, very hot, newsworthy And, quite honestly, very good publicity piece that's beneficial for absolutely everybody who participated in this work. So there you have it. There's my little like, hot tips and trends on what you can learn from Post Malone and how you can apply more collaborations into your visibility plan. And as always, if you want to talk about how to create your own customized visibility plan, I am here for you. I love to work one on one with you, on coming up with a strategy that's going to work, and then giving you the tools that you need to implement it.

You did it. You just listened to another episode of the Entrepreneur School Podcast. It's like you just went to business school while you folded your laundry, prepped dinner or picked up your kids at school. Thank you so much for being here. I want to personally celebrate your commitment to growing your business. You can imagine I'm throwing confetti for you right now. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review. Make sure you're subscribed and let us know you're listening by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram. Head to entrepreneurschool.ca. For tons of tools and resources to help you grow your business while keeping your family a priority. You can subscribe to our email list and join our community and until next time, go out there and do the thing you.