It has not been a good year for popular music. The deaths of Prince and David Bowie have left a vacuum that will never be filled. But what made these two musicians so special and are there lessons that humble content marketers can learn from them?

It’s not easy to pinpoint their genius though there are traits that both of them share.

Originality

This has to be the key to their greatness. No-one before them had made music in quite the same way. Of course they were aware of the scene around them but they didn’t seek to merely adapt and develop. They had a strong belief in their art and followed their own path. They were always looking forward, for the next thing.

As marketers it is tempting to stay in the herd, to look at the competition and do something similar (but hopefully better). We all need to mindful of audience, data and research but that shouldn’t stop us taking risks. Only by innovating can we make a serious impact and so deliver truly impressive ROI.

Identity

Prince and Bowie both had incredibly strong identities. The former was purple, paisley and petit. The latter will always be remembered by the lightening make-up. Indeed Prince took it the extent that he became his logo during the ‘Artist Formerly Known As’ years.

You could never confuse any aspect of either man’s work for that of anyone else. That should be our goal when marketing. Of course there will be aspects of content marketing where the brand takes a back seat but there should be clarity of identity and consistency of brand. Well, consistency up to a point…

Re-invention

For both singers there was always a next thing. They were constantly reinventing themselves. Rather than sit on the laurels of their success they innovated and changed. These changes came periodically but were executed with confidence. Not all of them were successful of course. Who remembers Bowie’s Glass Spider phase in the mid-eighties? Exactly. But that didn’t stop the next bold new approach that kept a clear gap between these men who led and those who followed.

Perhaps you are successful enough to come up with a content marketing strategy that is wonderfully original and to then communicate it with clarity and strength. Fantastic. The next step is to look at how to move on, to break the bonds with your current approach so that you can come up with something even better. Not just to keep up with best practice but to help define it.