I spent 16 years in marching band, only 4 of those was when I was a student in high school. When I graduated, I marched one season with the Indiana University Marching Hundred in the Flag Corps, and continued to choreograph and teach other high school groups for years.

The number of shows, themes, costumes, props, charts, sunscreen, instruments, and early Saturday morning wake-ups is too many to count. Each season was new and exciting – until it wasn’t – then it required more commitment to excellence to show up for the audience and judges.

I loved my marching band life!

How does this relate to marketing?  Here are 5 ways.

1. The fundamentals are reviewed often and drilled to near perfection.

When a new season started, all the kids would be on the pavement in single file lines learning their left from right, how to turn on command in unison, and how to move succinctly while playing music on their instrument (not just sounds).

Marketing works the same. If you are not reviewing your foundation on a regular basis, your efforts in the channels you are advertising and spending money in are going to miss the mark. Your marketing foundation is your brand identity that includes your strategic statements, your mission, your ideal client definition and target audience, and your main objectives for your marketing efforts (making money is NOT the only objective).

2. Making noise is not the same as making music that moves someone.

When a student tries to play and march the first time, it’s a noisy hot mess.  The beginning of the season tends to be very piecemeal of random notes and lucky landings on the right yard line. Over time, with guidance from the director, practice, and a commitment to the music, the band develops as a unit that produces the kind of music that gets an audience off their seats cheering for more and the judge’s high praise shows in the scores.

Marketing works the same. Without guidance, practice, and a commitment to the audience’s experience, you are just a noisy hot-mess in your messaging.  Even if you are the marketing leader in your company/organization, you still don’t know everything or you may have gotten into a rut. Get a guide to help you see things in a new way. Then practice. Keep studying the art of marketing, and other examples of great marketing, to potentially emulate. Then commit to your target audience’s experience with your marketing.  Don’t just push noise, pull them in with something that moves them to action.

3. Preparation from leadership keeps everyone going.

By the end of every marching band season (which is from June to November for most schools with parades, games, and contests), every director I have ever worked alongside has said, “This is the last time I ever do this!”  Until January and they have been refreshed over the holidays and listening to fun music again. That’s when I get a call, “You gotta listen to this!  What if we did something a little extra this year?”  And we’d be planning and preparing for June.  The amount of preparation we as leaders did set-up every student for a successful season. WE had to be ready for THEM to get excited about what we wanted to accomplish for the audience.

Marketing is no different. Have you done the necessary preparation and planning for your audience’s experience with your business?  Do you have a strategic plan in place? Do you have a messaging strategy? Content plan? Channel objectives? Conversion flow charts? People in the right seats to do the work? Enough people to do the work? A budget for media to grow an audience faster? And so on.

4. One clarinet is not a whole marching band show experience.

If you’ve ever seen a live marching band in a parade or football game, you know how many different instruments it takes to play a song in its totality.

The same works for your marketing. One post on Facebook isn’t going to be a complete message. You need to incorporate a fully integrated marketing plan that is strategic and suitable for your target audience.

5. Your distinctiveness is solidifying your reputation out in the world.

When I got the real spark of marching band it was from watching a Drum Corps International band competition. I loved the pageantry, the traditions, the live heart-thumping music, and the entertainment of flying colors and dancing on the green. Each band’s show was a different theme ranging from classical to Broadway and everything in-between.  I loved so many of the bands, but one stood out the most to me then:  The Velvet Knights of California.  These people didn’t have marching uniforms, they wore tuxes with converse shoes. They didn’t just play the classics, they acted it out humorously. They weren’t the band with the highest score, but they were the band the audience engaged with the most. They were KNOWN FOR THEIR ENTERTAINMENT.

What is your business KNOWN for? I have had plenty of conversations with sales reps over the years about “best customer service” or “lower prices.”  Not enough to be KNOWN for something. What goes with that? Walmart claims lowest prices, but it’s KNOWN for your ability to show up in that store as your worst-looking self and no one cares. Buccee’s is KNOWN for the clean restrooms and massive amount of fueling stations with a shopping experience to be able to get you in-and-out with everything you could possibly need to fill you and your vehicle up to get back on the road while getting you to share their now iconic beaver character on your social feeds.

Out of the two examples, one was not planned, the other was. Don’t let the world create a “people of Walmart” about your business. Design your brand experience on purpose and fully integrate that into the audience experience.

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Marching band has its complexities, but when the final result is energizing to both the audience and the band members, everyone wins. You may not always feel like doing the work required to make marketing work in your favor and feel energizing, but the results are rewarding in so many ways.

As I write this, I am reminding myself that my own brands of business need a revisit and refresh.  Time to get to work – while I play some marching music in the background.