This is #10 of 12 experiments for the year, offered to get you inspired, thinking creatively, and organized in the pursuit of bold life ambitions of deep personal meaning. (Click on the numbers to read the January through September experiments for 2023 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9.)
A major element of any startup’s business strategy is the channel(s) through which it promotes, sells, and supports its amazing product or service. Online, in a brick-and-mortar store, direct mail or email, through the Green Stamps catalog (okay, that’s dating me), or via another creative avenue? Will they touch end consumers directly (B2C) or to and through other businesses (B2B)? There is a myriad of channel options, each with distinctive costs and benefits. It can be challenging to get right.
We interpreneurs are not startups, but also have to think about channels. In the course of developing plans for our big dreams a key step and consideration are the avenues through which we are discovered and engaged. There is an appointed cell for channel strategy in those Life Leap Canvases we use to brainstorm and get our inteprize ambitions organized (refer to our July Experiment for more on the Canvas) .
What are you offering: artistic creativity, a benevolent service, a restoration project? The patrons, characteristics, and compensation of each interprize are unique and the most effective channels will likewise be distinctive and evolving (in some cases rapidly).
An example may be helpful. When considering the channels for my own grand projects - how do patrons find me, enjoy me, and maybe even pay me - there are a wealth of options.
MY MUSIC:
Learning about it. Positive reviews are a good way to promote creative output. Even bad reviews will raise awareness, although most of us prefer those of the high-praise variety. I decided to work through an agency when releasing Last Night at the Ha-Ra in 2018, which had it reviewed by various critics, including at RnR Magazine and Klef Notes (read Kiki Skinner’s review here). Facebook and Instagram are 2 media platforms I’ve used to socialize my output. (This part of my strategy still needs a lot of work.)
Listening to it. Both of my albums can be listened to on streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.), online media (Soundcloud, YouTube), and on my billmagill.com website. None of this generates direct income, which is fine. If money was a priority I’d concentrate on live performances (plans are in work for live drama bombs, … stay tuned!).
Buying it. CDs are available on Bandcamp, … or send me a tenderly crafted, handwritten letter as to why you’d LOVE one and I’ll get it into the mail for free (address below). When my album Ekimo in the Sun was released 25 years ago industry sales were mostly through CD and album distribution. Few people buy those anymore and most patrons (critics, agents, labels, etc.) want a link. I won’t use CDs as a sales channel for my next song collection, planned for late 2023.
Wanting more of it. It’s important to build lasting relations with your patrons, not just one-off engagements. I drop posts on social media about projects in work, hoping to maintain a stream of awareness with fans and friends who enjoy my music. As mentioned above, I’m bad at this. I should be posting daily on different platforms with photos and links, but distractions from other Bill Magill endeavors – teaching entrepreneurship, developing a new Life Leap summer camp (this will be great fun!), writing the music and script for my next rock drama (it’s going to be killer!), taking late-afternoon apéros with friends – get in the way. Luckily, I have Gen Z daughter who’s improving this side of my game. C’mon Dad, we need some new content! Prescient timing there on the family planning with my ex.
Bill’s albums from 1996 and 2018.
My channel strategy has pivoted significantly since my first solo recordings in the early 1980s. Back then it was cassette mix tapes of Bill Magill demos handed out to friends. For my recent full theatrical musicals a radically different approach is called for, including all of the above plus live stagings, … and that demands an entire strategy of its own. As I said, every interprize channel strategy calls for bespoke noodling on the most effective paths to touch your public, which will likely require constant tweaking.
Channel Experiment
Revisit your work from earlier experiments regarding: your grand legacy ambition (your interprize); the North Star (your Mission) guiding all those interpreneurial plans and efforts; your gift that it illuminates and leads; and the patrons most appreciative of that gift.
Identify all channel options for connecting your gift to these patrons. Include the channels that help them:
Find you.
Consume or enjoy your gift.
Compensate you (monetarily or in other forms).
Continue their interest and patronage.
As with all experiments it’s important to run through your first framing of a channel strategy (consider it Channel Strategy v1.0), then leave it be and walk away, give it some more thought when out and about, and return to it through the week and strengthen with v2.0 or more. This process may also prod reconsiderations of those other elements of your interprize plan we’ve touched on in earlier experiments. That’s a good thing.
If you want to know more about the art of interpreneurship and the work we do at the Interprize Group contact us here, or ping me directly at bill@interprizegroup.com.
Oh, …. and if you want one of those CDs as mentioned above, mail that handwritten note to:
Bill Magill 7 rue Manuel 13100 Aix-en-Provence France
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