What I Learned About Marketing From... Radiohead

Let’s chat about marketing from the POV of Radiohead.  Radiohead is one of the most influential rock bands of the last three decades.  They were first formed in 1985 and came to prominence as part of the mid to late 90s. They initially broke through with their single Creep, which quickly became their least favorite song to play live.  They followed up their debut with genre-expanding albums like The Bends and OK Computer, and eventually redefined what it meant to be a rock band by obscuring guitars and drums in favor of synthesizers and computers with Kid A.

You probably know Radiohead. You may love them. You may hate them.  Regardless of what you think of their music, and I happen to love them, you have to acknowledge they are incredibly good at marketing, and any marketer can learn a lot from them.

What have I learned about marketing from Radiohead?

Maintain Focus On Vision & Mission

Radiohead is, first and foremost, a group of people with a shared vision.  They wanted to explore themes musically that resonated with each of them, and that combined entity created incredible music.  They never pandered to the public.  They never evaluated trends and tried to fit in.  Their direction stemmed from what they felt internally.  Their first album was, admittedly, very similar to what was going on the radio at the time.  It had a huge hit that tapped into a slacker mentality, and that certainly got them their initial recognition, but they were consciously trying to avoid the journey of the one-hit wonder.  They scaled back and locked in on a style that would evolve.  They knew this was what they wanted to do.

This is one of the core elements of being a marketer, which tends to get overlooked.  A great marketer ensures the positioning and the narrative are still aligned to the vision and the mission of the company and the brand.  Sometimes these will diverge due to macro-economics and performance in the market, and that requires a check to make sure your vision is still aligned to your story.  You should always plan to review your vision, mission and primary narrative every 6 months for early stage companies, and once a year for more established, mature companies.  That goes for B2B as well as B2C brands.  The vision should manifest in every aspect of the go-to-market, and the marketing is the most visible element of that.

Prioritize Brand Integrity Over Short-Term KPIs

As mentioned, Creep was the first big hit for Radiohead and it threatened to overshadow the vision of the band, trapping them into the aforementioned one-hit wonderland.  The band went into the studio to write and record The Bends, which also became a hit record.  That solidified them as more than a one-hit wonder, and they went further down the path of their vision with OK Computer.  This is where they had a decision to make.  They released the album, but famously shelved a song called Lift because it was so catchy that it risked them becoming too mainstream and losing the audience they had established in favor of money and fandom.  They shelved the song, later releasing it as b-sides and rarities.

For a marketer, you need to not only maintain the focus on that vision and mission, but you also want to maintain that core identity of your brand, or band, because that is what keeps you connected to the consumers who love you.  Doing that can sometimes sacrifice immediate profits, but long-term equity is more valuable than short-term hype.

Cultivate A Community & Activate It Continuously

Radiohead leaned in on their audience.  They nurtured the relationship, crafting a loyal fanbase that was established through a focus on their vision, a focus on their narrative and an authenticity coupled with experimentation and emotional resonance.  They created a truly excited fan community that fostered engagement with one another.  That fanbase further fostered the excitement and that created even more loyalty.

As a marketer, community can be everything.  You have to know your audience, and what keeps them coming back.  You want to know what attracts them initially and what makes them keep working with you.  You need to build relationships with your customers, not transactions.  Its not about selling a product as much as it is about creating a mutually beneficial relationship.  You should use storytelling to keep them engaged.  Build a community with tools like Slack, WhatsApp or Discord.  Invite your fans and followers to engage in these communities and engage with one another.  Maintain shared values with your customers, and exemplify that in your storytelling.  Doing that can turn your customers into advocates, and then they become the best marketing tool you have to work with.

A Little Mystery Goes A Long Way

One of the greatest tools in your marketing arsenal is intrigue, and Radiohead is always an expert at creating it.  They surprise release albums and change the expectations, as exhibited by them announcing The King of Limbs just a week before release—and then dropping it a day early. They released In Rainbows as previously mentioned without any set pricing model.  When you can take the expectations of your audience and play with them in such a way that doesn’t alienate them, and rather brings them into the conversation, you can succeed.

Disruption Is A Tool; Use It As Such

A running theme through all the ideas above, and for that matter across all sorts of marketing efforts for musicians and brands alike, is disruption.  The way things have been done in the past is not how you need to do things now.  You can be extremely successful by doing something new and different.  You can disrupt a model without destroying it, and in that truth is an art form.  A great marketer can create new ideas that are still in the vein of the brand and maintain the integrity of the brand, without maintaining the status quo.  You should reinvent things.  When your efforts are going well, that affords you the time to explore new ideas and try something different.

Radiohead is an incredibly influential band to me in more ways than one.  I love music and I am excited to explore how other acts are also inspiring from a marketing point of view.  More to come on that subject!