Breaking Down The Strategy
In 1969, a young kid was born to a single mother on the streets of Brooklyn, New York.
By 13, that young kid was already selling crack on the streets. By 14, he’d dropped out of school for good. By 16, he’d been arrested for the first time.
But by 50 that young kid was the first-ever hip-hop billionaire.
His name? Jay-Z.
Now, when most of us hear that name we instantly think of him as a rapper.
But you don’t become a billionaire by releasing a few good rap albums.
It takes being a great businessman and an even better marketer.
Today, we’re looking at the latter.
Over the last week I’ve spent an ungodly amount of hours consuming everything and anything I could find on Jay-Z’s life story.
Unsurprisingly, it was plagued with marketing lessons.
So, here are 5 lessons on how to market your way to billionaire status from the one and only Jay-Z:
Lesson 1: Focus On Attention First
The biggest sin in business is when someone spends years building out a product or service, just to have absolutely no attention on it by the time it launches.
And the same goes for most early musicians/artists.
They spend years crafting the “perfect album” just for no one to listen to it upon release.
Well, that wasn’t Jay-Z.
Before anyone knew who he was, Jay-Z was known for getting his music in front of people by any means possible.
He would jump at any opportunity to tour with someone or even just get on stage with them.
One of my favourite examples of this is him turning up to his friend & mentor – Big Daddy Kane’s – club appearances for just a 10-minute slot.
In his autobiography he says:
“Big Dady Kane would say “Oh, Jay-Z’s here,” then I would get on stage, rip it for 10 minutes and then I’d leave. I’d get in my car and I’d go home and go back to work.”
This may sound like a nothing moment, but how many rappers today would go out of their way for just a 10 minute gig and then go straight home to work?
Very few.
It was this understanding – that he needed eyes on him – that gave Jay-Z a head start in the early days.
But that’s a pretty basic lesson, so let’s get into the good stuff!
Lesson 2: Launch MVP’s
By 1997, Jay-Z’s attempts to get attention had finally paid off, and he had built himself a substantial fanbase in New York.
Still, he wanted to take it up a notch and decided he would attempt to jump on the popular wave of RnB inspired rap songs to get himself off the ground.
But rather than slaving away at an RnB album for years, Jay decided it would be a better idea to test the water with an MVP (minimum viable product) or in his case a single.
So he released one titled ‘Sunshine’.
By the fact you have never heard of
