Ben Frampton – Marketing Plan
This marketing plan aims to showcase one’s services as a session drummer. Regarding this marketing plan, there are two key marketing theories in mind. The first marketing theory, being the segmentation, targeting, and positioning theory, and the second theory being relationship marketing. Competitor research has been applied here as ideas have been borrowed from two session drummers based in Leeds: John Arnesen and Tom Hawthorn.
Tom Hawthorn’s positioning combines three key income streams: live performance, high level education and remote recording. Between the jazz-trained musicianship and commercially viable performances, Tom’s profile is particularly competitive. His branding is heavily community oriented and professional, which appeals to independent artists and educational institutions. This is a massive advantage as collaboration and networking are a lot more important than mainstream visibility and being able to combine reliability, studio capability and teaching experience only adds to this.
John Arnesen, similarly with Tom Hawthorn offers remote recording, private drum tuition and session drumming. His profile is strongly positioned around professionalism as well as long term teaching experience as opposed to social media driven branding. His business model appears to be rooted in repeat client relationships, turning attention over to the relationship marketing theory. With all of this in mind, through trusted networks and recommendations, this reputation based positioning can be extremely sustainable. His brand is less focused on identity, but more on accessibility and teaching culture, which could most likely attract long term students and independent artists who are looking for collaborative reliability and consistency. Due to all of this, the competitive market doesn’t just include aspiring session musicians, but also musical educators, function band players and content driven freelancers, who all compete for work streams.
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP)
“A company discovers different needs and groups of consumers in the marketplace, targets those it can satisfy in a superior way, and then develops a value proposition and positions its offerings so the target customers recognize the benefits of its offerings. By clearly articulating its value proposition and positioning, companies can deliver high value and satisfaction, which lead to high repeat purchases and ultimately to greater company profitability” – Kotler & Keller (2021). One thing that was discovered when researching this competitive market of Leeds session drumming work was that these other drummers have home recording equipment. Because of this, these players are able to gain work, purely for the convenience of not having to worry about expenditure costs in going to a studio. In response to this, one plans to start out by going into the studio for artists, but as time passes and more work is added, money will be saved in order to pay for home recording equipment. This will involve good quality microphones for every drum, including the bass drum and overheads. This will also cover the funding for a DAW in order to mix and master what has been recorded. This will open up a door to provide a premium service.
The segmentation side of things focuses on dividing a broad market into distinct groups of customers with similar needs or characteristics. Key segments of this area could include independent artists, recording studios, bands and producers. Each of these different groups have distinct expectations. An example of this could be independent artists prioritising creativity and collaboration, whereas producers would value technical consistency along with the ability to deliver high quality recordings quickly. Knowing this is a necessity, in order to identify the different needs and be able to adapt quicker.
Following this is the targeting. “With segments mapped, you must make a strategic decision about where to focus. While it is tempting to chase every potential customer, the most effective campaigns focus on a single segment to prevent spreading the budget too thin” – Adobe for Business (2026). In this line of work, targeting is particularly important due to limited time and resources and attempting to serve all segments creates risks of lack of clarity and even a reduced competitiveness. To begin, one plans to target producers and recording studios to help to gain in-person service through professional relationships, linked to artists. However as time progresses and the home equipment is gained, one will target more towards the artist themselves, in order to advertise the premium service.
“Positioning is about competitive advantage and what sets apart the company from the competition the target customer segments” – BRM (2026). In this market, positioning is closely linked to professional reputation as well as personal branding. It goes beyond merely competence or versatility, but articulating a stand out value proposition. An example of this could be gaining a reputation for getting recordings completed quickly and ready to be mixed after one or two takes. This type of positioning reflects points of difference, distinguishing an offering from competitors.
Overall, segmentation will allow one to understand the market, targeting will allow focus to shine on the most important and necessary segments and positioning will ensure that one is perceived as a stand out and differentiated choice within those segments.
Relationship Marketing
The way that relationship marketing will be applied will link directly to how one will gain collaborations with artists, continue to work with these artists, and potentially gain more work through word of mouth. “Relationship marketing emphasizes building long-term
relationships with customers by demonstrating a corporate commitment to prioritizing their
needs, expectations, and demands” (Payne & Frow, 2017). One plans to build up long lasting relations with different artists, in order to learn what sound they’re after and overall improve massively as a musician. This will come purely from playing with different artists specialising in completely different styles of music from one another and learning to adapt to what the music needs. Because one’s work is a service and not a specific tangible product, this is all heavily relevant, so the relationship aspect itself will become a part of the value. Building up trust will be absolutely essential for when it comes to being called back by the same artists. This is also a necessity for getting one’s services recommended by certain artists for other artists, in order to build a reputation. “We conceptualize trust as existing when one party has confidence in an exchange partner’s reliability and Integrity” – Morgan & Hunt (1994). Due to clients not being fully able to evaluate one, before working together, adaptability, reliability and professionalism will become trust signals. And drum parts are not just being delivered, as the final musical outcome is being shaped with the artist/ producer. The stronger the relationship, the more creative input one will be trusted with. In Gummesson’s 2008 book “Total Relationship Marketing”, he argues that marketing happens in a series of relationships that come about through word of mouth, not through isolated transactions.
Goals
. Collaborate: 5 Artists over the next three months
This will come through networking at local open mic nights as well as reaching out to people via social media actively seeking out work.
. Learn all relevant information within time frame
After gaining work with different artists, there will be a possibility that one will have to learn songs from only one of two listens. If not then there will be deadlines, which potentially won’t be long. Lots of work will need to be done to make sure everything will be ready quickly and recorded and ready for mixing after just one or two takes.
. Over the course of the next year, have made enough money to provide a premium service, investing in recording equipment at home
Spreadsheet
This spreadsheet aims to target the costs of this project, splitting into expenditure and income. The expenditure will cover the costs of any essentials needed if and when not available, and the income will be any money made from the project and how.
As part of the expenditure section, the basic needs such as transport, food and drinks have been included. Regarding the drinks, this is more in consideration for whether it is a live show, in which case they could potentially be more expensive.
In this section, I have also included equipment hire as a separate area, as these are items that will potentially need to be hired out or provided by the artist. These include the bass drum, the toms and the hardware (cymbal stands and drum rug).
Regarding the income, one’s prices have been noted down hourly, depending on a live situation or a recording session. As this is a starting point, the prices are quite low, but as more experience is gained through time, the prices will slowly rise. As more money is made, a more premium service can be provided due to investments in home equipment such as good quality drum microphones, a mixing desk, etc.
Finally, the savings section completely outlines the costs of desired microphones, showing the amount of money needing saving for these. The purchase of this equipment will be slow and gradual, aiming to get everything, piece by piece over a long period of time. Once all of this has been sorted, one plans to carry out the home, premium service and push promotion for it over the portfolio and social media.
The grand total combines the grand total of money necessary to carry out these services.
Ben Frampton Marketing Plan – Bibliography
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