Yahoo Finance recently published a video item on “How Stores and Restaurants Choose their Music?” with the SoundTrack brand, the CEO explains. Seana Smith and Jared Blikre discussed the power of in-store music with the Soundtrack CEO; they talked about how music helps restaurants and stores to keep shoppers 55% longer and make them purchase more.
The Pandemic has changed how people feel about being in public. Social distancing and masks have changed the way how people head to the malls; very few people feel comfortable about being in crowds, coughs, and codes. However, we all miss being there, not for essentials but being transported and connected to the world outside and create personal experiences.
What is Brand Fit Music All About?
Just much like lighting, decor, and workers working in the stores, well-chosen brand-fit music in retail stores plays a crucial part in developing an atmosphere that makes shoppers stay longer and take a minute to feel welcome and soak it in. People’s relationship with music has significant importance, and there are few things that can be so comforting as good music.
No wonder music is the first thing you notice, the primary indication of whether you are in the perfect place when you step through the doors. Hearing is our fastest sense, which becomes more noteworthy given unique environmental stresses or how unfamiliar a catered sensory experience can be these days.
More than 84% of customers notice background music in retail stores. If the music played is something that customers like, they are more likely to stay longer in the store to engage, look up to lyrics and enjoy what is being played. With many of us longing for normal life and due to exposure to brand exposure, it’s vital to be part of what is relevant, engaging, and real.
What the CEO of SoundTrack Explains: How Do Stores and Restaurants Choose the Music?
In a recent discussion with Seana Smith and Jared Blikre, the CEO of Soundtrack explained the power of in-store music. Seana Smith started by saying, by the recent survey out by Soundtrack your brand, which they did in partnership with another company and they looked into music listening habits, and they found that the right music could actually make customers stay in the store longer than also potentially spend more.
Seana welcomed and introduced the CEO of Soundtrack, saying, it’s good to see your music can really set a mood. That’s something I think everyone knows about but when it comes to shopping, why is it so important?
Ola Sars, CEO, and Founder of Soundtrack replied, well, you can imagine walking into a store now during Thanksgiving in the U.S. or anywhere in Stockholm, Sweden, where I am right now where it’s pitch dark in the evening, and there’s no music playing, I mean music sets the whole scene.
It gets the vibe going, and actually, in the U.S. stand-alone, there are 91 billion shop visits every year and 24 billion in retail, specifically every time the U.S. citizens walk into their local retailer or to Macy’s and so forth, the music is playing, and it’s there for a reason it’s there to make you feel good, make you feel at home, make you feel inspired, maybe even dance over there and buy some more shirts or buy another drink in the restaurant you’re in.
Jared Blikre then asked I’m wondering how the licensing works, so let’s say; I’m a small business, I’m playing this music in my business, does my capacity, my potential capacity changes the fee structure, I’m just wondering in general what those dynamics are?
Ola Sars replied I come from a background in the consumer streaming space, where it’s illegal to use consumer streaming services in retail. So there’s a specific licensing and product you need to use like Soundtrack.
For example, when you are playing music in a commercial environment or the public domain it would be the equivalent of opening a cinema on a Netflix account. If you are using any of the consumer’s services, you need to get professional B2B services like Soundtrack and which covers the licensing to use music and audio to sell more coffee or shirts, whatever your business is.
Seana Smith then said, well, you have a range of clients they include Lululemon, K Crew, and McDonald’s, one of them when it comes to picking the right music how do you go about identifying that?
The CEO of Soundtrack replies that’s the interesting thing, first of all as a brand you are always thinking about how you want to be perceived or what type of customer experience you want to deliver. That is kind of a natural ingredient in building a brand and running a business.
Most brands do that, but then when you have that type of brand positioning statement or whatever you call it, then you want to translate that into a Soundtrack or the music of how your brand sound, that’s a fairly sophisticated exercise.
We’ve actually built algorithms that can interpret that brand positioning, develop, and then translate that into a Soundtrack of how a brand would sound but that brand sounds differently if it’s Thanksgiving or if it’s Christmas. We’re all getting very close to the Christmas holiday around the world, here in Sweden as well as in the U.S.
Christmas is big shopping and happening and it’s a big musical happening as well. So leading up to that brands really have to think about it. For example, what does their brand sound like during Christmas stand-alone but also for 365 days a year, you need to deliver that customer experience and have people stay longer feel more empowered, and most importantly not annoy them or scare them away from their store.
Jared Blikre further asked I’m wondering what the difference is. If you can, let’s see how restaurants and retail stores there are different genres of music specifically that go with different industries better than others.
The CEO Founder replying to Blikre said I wouldn’t say industry specifically. I mean you need to think again once about your brand and what type of customer experience if you’re running an Asian cross-fusion restaurant in Brooklyn.
You need to have a connection to what type of product you’re serving so you would most likely have some type of connection to Asian sounds or sounds that go in line with that type of experience and then you always have to think about that restaurant will sound different during lunch on a Monday than it does at 5 6’o clocks on a Friday when you have people come in to have drinks and you know to celebrate the end of the week.
So it’s not only about getting the right brand sound out there but it’s also giving the right brand side at the right place and at the right time. If you have a big chain like we have, you know multiple customers that are global we’re in 75 markets with 58 million tracks that you need to constantly deliver that customer experience through maybe that brand sounds different in Chicago than it does in New York than Miami then Stockholm, Munich, and Tokyo because you have local repertoire local music.
You have local holidays, you have different time zones running and maybe one is a high street and one is in a mall, and you have different types of customers. So it’s a fairly sophisticated equation that you need to balance the whole time when you’re investing in music in your business. Seana Smith then said Ola Sars, thanks so much for joining us.
Get More Sales by Proving Your Customers with the Music of Their Choice.
The consumer landscape is changing due to the prevalence and rise of the mobile experience. The number of customers interacting with live business is dropping; hence there is a great need for customers to connect with you. Articulating your brand for consumers might be difficult. You might think of yourself as hip and cool, but until you play the music that’s heavy and modern on the funk, your customers might get the message.
A Soundtrack in the background can help to explain the brand every minute. If you choose music perfectly, the brand may simply become unforgettable. Few businesses, including clothing stores, restaurants, and more, might want consumers to feel excited, and music is the best way to do the same.
The music you play must be influenced by the brand product you sell. For example, Chinese and Indian restaurants play soft music while Thai and fast-food restaurants prefer hard rock music. Customers like this type of music the most. The primary key is to think about what consumers will do while they are under your care and look for music that matches the activities.