Earned media is marketing content so good that it earns placements, promotions and shares on third-party sites without ever being paid for. More companies are turning to earned media strategies every day, but big brands are not the only ones who have made a splash while riding the crest of the content marketing wave. Timeflies, an up-and-coming electro-pop-dubstep duo, is the perfect example of a branding legacy built through earned media – and there are many lessons businesses can learn from them today.
Founded by Tufts University students Rob Resnick and Cal Shapiro in October of 2010, Timeflies has gone from mixing beats in Resnick’s dorm room to performing live at Lollapalooza in Chicago for 12,000 people—in less than three years. This November they will perform at Madison Square Garden, the pinnacle venue of every musical artist’s career – and one that few ever reach. Meanwhile, it’s impossible to ignore the way they’ve blazed their own trail to success with revolutionary marketing tactics.
The secret to Timeflies’ success
There’s no doubt that the fellas from Timeflies are talented, but talent can go to waste if not marketed properly. The secret to the band’s lightning-fast rise to stardom was a kick-ass earned media strategy backed by irresistible content. Long before Timeflies released their debut album The Scotch Tape in September 2011, the duo was already basking in the popularity generated by their unique approach to earned media.
Since their inception, the band has released a new video nearly every Tuesday with their YouTube series Timeflies Tuesdays. Whether a brand new hit, remix, freestyle, exclusive interview, documentary or general shout out to their fans, you can count on them to produce something amazing come Tuesday night. The best part? It’s totally free. Their three-step strategy is simple: Make great content. Give it away for free. Promote it with social media.
The Simple Truth
The simple truth is this: Timeflies makes music to entertain their fans, not to make money. Instead of selling their videos, they give them away for free. Why? Because selling creates a customer for today, but helping creates a customer for life. This concept is echoed perfectly in Jay Baer’s 2013 best-selling book, Youtility. Instead of marketing that companies need, Youtility is marketing that customers want – and if a couple of scrappy young college kids can do it, so can you. 
This approach has been monumental to the band’s growth as they earned social shares, mentions, links, reviews, air time and even PR articles on third-party sites (like this one) that have engaged millions of listeners with their music. Timeflies has earned media coverage on Vanity Fair, Billboard.com, Buzzfeed and ESPN, just to name a few. Two of the band’s original pieces were even featured in FOX’s 2012 coverage of the Cotton Bowl. Timeflies has nearly 230 thousand subscribers and over 61 million views on their YouTube channel, not to mention enough viral videos to clog any bandwidth.
Started from the bottom, now we hear
The duo that started in a college dorm room three years ago has since become an international sensation. Thanks to brilliant and industry-leading earned media tactics, the gentlemen of Timeflies are now poised to become A-list celebrities, so long as they keep the gravy train rolling.
Earned media has been the key to Timeflies’ success, and it can be the key to your brand’s success as well. An earned media marketing strategy is the most effective way to capture the undivided attention of your target audience while generating buzz, building trust and promoting transparency with your customers. To learn more, check out our Inbound Marketer’s Guide to Earned Media and take a page out of the Timeflies playbook!
Image credit: Last.fm
via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/marketing/timeflies-musical-masterminds-earned-media-marketing-0596186?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=timeflies-musical-masterminds-earned-media-marketing
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