MarkeTech speaker Jennifer Rosenblatt on content marketing for new companies

AIM and GROW Nebraska are co-sponsoring the annual MarkeTECH Conference at the Kearney Holiday Inn Conference Center on April 26-27 in Kearney, Nebraska. The conference is billed as a place “where marketing and technology meet,” and provides an opportunity for small businesses and support organizations to learn from industry leaders on topics like e-commerce, social…

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Photo credit: Jessica Sodeke.

AIM and GROW Nebraska are co-sponsoring the annual MarkeTECH Conference at the Kearney Holiday Inn Conference Center on April 26-27 in Kearney, Nebraska. The conference is billed as a place “where marketing and technology meet,” and provides an opportunity for small businesses and support organizations to learn from industry leaders on topics like e-commerce, social media and building your brand.

One of the many high-caliber speakers at the conference is Jennifer Rosenblatt, co-founder along with husband Kurt Knecht of MusicSpoke, an online marketplace for composers. Instead of publishing pieces of music, the company finds gifted composers and gives them the tools and freedom to promote themselves.

Even if you don’t play or sing, Jennifer Rosenblatt thinks everybody knows a music teacher, maybe several.

“That’s the buying side of our market,” Rosenblatt said. “Most people have played in a band or taken piano lessons. It’s definitely more ubiquitous than people think.”

Composers lose intellectual property control and a high percentage of sales revenue from traditional publishing channels. The MusicSpoke platform disrupts this model by connecting conductors and performers directly with composers in an online community. By doing so, composers retain rights to their work and receive a much higher percentage of sales proceeds.

Using MusicSpoke and her other entrepreneurial experience as a foundation, Rosenblatt’s presentation at MarkeTECH will focus on lean startup methodology, content creation and inbound marketing.

“No matter what type of company you’re starting, you can apply lean startup concepts to everything you do and have a better chance of succeeding,” she said.

It starts with figuring out what problem you’re trying to solve.

“Ask people what they want and give it to them,” Rosenblatt said. “Then you have to let people know about your solution.”

This is where content creation and inbound marketing come in.

“There has been a big shift in marketing generally over the past 20 years,” Rosenblatt said. “It used to be about hiring a big ad exec to help you be cool and hip. Think Mad Men.’”

Today, consumers hold the power, whether it’s about cars, washing machines or just about anything else.

“Consumers don’t buy products like that anymore,” she said. “They pay for solutions to problems.”

In this environment, the goal of content marketing is to create valuable and trustworthy content that’s not a sales pitch.

“When my target market is experiencing a migraine-level pain point, Googling at midnight, I want to be the first thing that comes up,” Rosenblatt said. “Become the expert.”

MusicSpoke publishes 5 blog posts a week, with topics of interest to composers, fun facts and composers in the news.

“It’s not directly related to the product,” Rosenblatt said. “It’s providing value to solve problems.”

Becoming a trusted source doesn’t necessarily happen quickly.

“Sometimes you publish content and nothing happens,” Rosenblatt said. “But once people hit the blog a couple of times, we become a trusted source and position ourselves as a thought leader in the music industry.”

So how do you create content that sticks?

“It doesn’t have to be just blog posts,” Rosenblatt said. “Podcasts, YouTube videos, hitting people through multiple channels increases brand awareness and your chances to reach multiple market segments.”

Telling memorable stories about people is also important.

“People love to see their name in print,” Rosenblatt said. “They’ll tag it and share it several times.”

Rosenblatt advises patience and consistency.

“When you start an inbound marketing plan, success doesn’t happen overnight,” she said. “You have to stick to your strategy. Results may be 4 or 5 months out. Then you hit a turning point and people come back to all that content you’ve created.”

You can register for MarkeTech here.

Silicon Prairie News is a service of AIM and a member of the Omaha Startup Collaborative located at The AIM Exchange in downtown Omaha.

Rod Armstrong is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for AIM in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a regular contributor to Silicon Prairie News.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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