Our Organic Marketing Philosophy
Our Organic Marketing Philosophy
or
Why We Don’t Do Traditional Marketing Anymore
For my first album, we did some traditional marketing, paid up to enter some awards competitions, and hired a great publicist. The kindie industry responded positively, wrote some nice things about Doctor Noize, and showered much of its praise and attention on my wonderfully silly, effortlessly catchy, one-word ska song Banana.
The industry — from kids’ radio to kindie bloggers — showed far less interest in my more sophisticated fare that equally captivated kids and families at every show I played. This would all be fine if it didn’t tempt family artists to simplify what they do for kids. Wanna raise a nation of two-minute attention spans? Then treat your kids like that’s all they’ve got. But educators and the grass roots Noizemakers have loved our more substantial fare. So I had a choice to make: Go with what I know in my heart is best for kids, or simplify it up a bit so it can get past the adult gatekeepers of the industry.
That’s an easy choice for a naive dreamer like me. Goodbye huge paycheck. Hello glorious challenge and purpose.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the sheer fun of Banana, I place some giddy ear candy on every album I produce, and I’m grateful for the kickoff the industry gave me. But my main passion is working with folks who value both simple and sophisticated fare for kids. Together we can contribute far more to your children’s development when we give them both. Life is precious. Do your best work every day. Go to bed knowing you used your sphere of influence for the greatest good possible.
So we don’t do much traditional marketing to the industry anymore. It takes a lot of time and money — for example, the Parents’ Choice Awards charge a substantial fee to enter, and significant Doctor Noize radio airplay, awards and print articles have rarely happened when I’m not paying an industry PR agent thousands of dollars to push the latest album. (Kudos to XM Kids radio for making Welcome To Grammaropolis a Top Ten hit even though we simply mailed them the song without fanfare.) More significantly, I’ve found industry response encourages me to think about our productions in ways that are not beneficial to making the most inspired stuff possible for your kids.
So what we used to spend on traditional marketing is now spent making even better products and sponsoring events that connect us organically to everyday Noizemakers, Very Important Noizemakers, musical organizations, and educators — with no middle man. The truth is, the industry attention didn’t lead to meaningful sales or transformative fans anyway. Organic love rules, the courage to risk challenging ourselves inspires, and pursuing your passion with like-minded individuals is where it’s at. We love what we do and we love you. We don’t do anything that doesn’t purely reflect our company philosophy.
There are great people in the kindie industry, and we welcome any of them who would like to be Noizemakers. We don’t send out unsolicited material anymore. But if you’re in the industry, are crazy about kids, think they’re smart, and would like free copies of our products, contact us and we’ll send ’em to you. Maybe you can find some print or airspace for us! We’ll love you for it.
Yer buddy for life,
Doctor Noize
Mission Statement: Doctor Noize inspires creativity, curiosity and character through music, art and words.
or
Why We Don’t Do Traditional Marketing Anymore
For my first album, we did some traditional marketing, paid up to enter some awards competitions, and hired a great publicist. The kindie industry responded positively, wrote some nice things about Doctor Noize, and showered much of its praise and attention on my wonderfully silly, effortlessly catchy, one-word ska song Banana.
The industry — from kids’ radio to kindie bloggers — showed far less interest in my more sophisticated fare that equally captivated kids and families at every show I played. This would all be fine if it didn’t tempt family artists to simplify what they do for kids. Wanna raise a nation of two-minute attention spans? Then treat your kids like that’s all they’ve got. But educators and the grass roots Noizemakers have loved our more substantial fare. So I had a choice to make: Go with what I know in my heart is best for kids, or simplify it up a bit so it can get past the adult gatekeepers of the industry.
That’s an easy choice for a naive dreamer like me. Goodbye huge paycheck. Hello glorious challenge and purpose.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the sheer fun of Banana, I place some giddy ear candy on every album I produce, and I’m grateful for the kickoff the industry gave me. But my main passion is working with folks who value both simple and sophisticated fare for kids. Together we can contribute far more to your children’s development when we give them both. Life is precious. Do your best work every day. Go to bed knowing you used your sphere of influence for the greatest good possible.
So we don’t do much traditional marketing to the industry anymore. It takes a lot of time and money — for example, the Parents’ Choice Awards charge a substantial fee to enter, and significant Doctor Noize radio airplay, awards and print articles have rarely happened when I’m not paying an industry PR agent thousands of dollars to push the latest album. (Kudos to XM Kids radio for making Welcome To Grammaropolis a Top Ten hit even though we simply mailed them the song without fanfare.) More significantly, I’ve found industry response encourages me to think about our productions in ways that are not beneficial to making the most inspired stuff possible for your kids.
So what we used to spend on traditional marketing is now spent making even better products and sponsoring events that connect us organically to everyday Noizemakers, Very Important Noizemakers, musical organizations, and educators — with no middle man. The truth is, the industry attention didn’t lead to meaningful sales or transformative fans anyway. Organic love rules, the courage to risk challenging ourselves inspires, and pursuing your passion with like-minded individuals is where it’s at. We love what we do and we love you. We don’t do anything that doesn’t purely reflect our company philosophy.
There are great people in the kindie industry, and we welcome any of them who would like to be Noizemakers. We don’t send out unsolicited material anymore. But if you’re in the industry, are crazy about kids, think they’re smart, and would like free copies of our products, contact us and we’ll send ’em to you. Maybe you can find some print or airspace for us! We’ll love you for it.
Yer buddy for life,
Doctor Noize
Mission Statement: Doctor Noize inspires creativity, curiosity and character through music, art and words.