Cassie Petrey, 30, co-founder of the digital marketing company Crowd Surf, knows how to build communities through marketing. She has made a career of it, starting Crowd Surf nine years ago when the business role of “community manager” didn’t exist. She leveraged her knowledge of social media to connect fans and artists, and has seen her clientele grow to include record companies, promoters, festivals and tours.
Petrey will be a panelist on the topic of marketing to millennials at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, at the International Association of Entertainment Buyers Association meet in Nashville. She will be joined by Brittany Flores, Live Nation; Ben Greenspan, ViCE (Vassar Campus Entertainment); Matt Meyer, AM Only, and Kylen Sharpe, CAA.
At age 12, Petrey ran a Backstreet Boys newsletter through AOL that had over 10,000 subscribers. By age 17, she worked at Warner Music Group as a college representative. Petrey was also an early adopter of MySpace.
Petrey founded Crowd Surf in 2007, where she said her goal is to “solve problems. You’d be surprised. We handle anything related to consumers, either communicating with or acquiring consumers.” Her client base ranges from pop to legendary rock, all assisted by a staff of 34 full-time employees and 50 total. Venues Today talked with Petrey about the state of her industry today.
Is there a difference in the way you market to the younger people? Does your approach primarily depend on the age group?
Age is a variable with the platforms and kinds of content you use, but also the part of the world and even the part of the U.S. they live in is very different. Teens and millennials in California probably use digital marketing platforms very differently than someone who lives in Iowa. Somebody who is the same age in different parts of the country will have different digital habits. And if you go to Japan, they have a platform called Line that’s huge, and Facebook and Twitter don’t really have the relevancy there that Line does.
It isn’t one world because of the internet?
No. As much as email and digital makes it easy to communicate with people all around the world, geography heavily affects how digital platforms affect people’s everyday lives.
Specifically, what is the difference between California and Iowa millennials?
California millennials are probably more likely to adopt technologies earlier so they will be further along in the bell curve on the Snapchat cycle, for example, than maybe some other areas of the country. And they are more likely to use new tools early on. Instagram Stories just launched, and it’s probably more likely people in the bigger metropolitan areas are adopting that first.
How do you keep up with the tools?
Lucky for me, I work with a lot of artists, so I have a lot of data from that, which is great. The thing that is interesting about digital right now is that there aren’t tried-and-true methods. You have to be okay with failing sometimes and trying new things by just looking at your data to constantly improve how you run your marketing campaigns. If I’m doing a Facebook advertising campaign, I see how it’s performing in different territories, and I can do a better advertising campaign the next time around.
Is your client almost always the artist?
Sometimes the artist directly, sometime labels. Live Nation is a client and we’ll work on live events directly, festivals and touring properties. We were hired directly by the DigiTour. We’re seeing more of that actually.
Are you ever hired by the arena side, or is that too local?
I’ve seen more venues take this more seriously, and they oftentimes have great people running the accounts and populating them with content. There is some macro strategy that a company like ours can help with.
What is your best advice to IEBA attendees on marketing to millennials, the new fan base?
The only thing that’s not going to change is that things are always going to be changing. It’s important to develop a habit of spending time analyzing the pattern and feedback you’re getting from your consumer fan base. That’s the best way to consistently make your own properties better. They will always be evolving and changing. You have to accept that and constantly look at data and adjust your campaign.
But there’s always something new. How do you keep up?
I love Musical.ly. It’s for the little kids, but I love Musical.ly. It’s very massive, has a lot of people on it and it’s getting bigger and bigger. I use it all the time. We signed a project I found on that platform.
What project is that?
Max and Harvey, twin boys in the U.K. I believe in them. I signed on as their co-manager. That’s not usually my thing, but I see where they are going and I think I can help them a lot.
When you say things change all the time, how often is that?
Instagram Stories launched a couple of weeks ago and we’ll include it in our marketing campaign moving forward. And it’s not just new features, but what kind of content is performing well on a platform. Right now video performs well on Facebook, but it didn’t used to.
What do you read to keep up?
I like Forbes and Entrepreneur. Mashable is more pop culture now but they still cover technology. TechCrunch. Those are my go-tos. I get individual articles online. If I want to learn something, I Google it and see what articles come up. But, especially when traveling, I read magazines, and I love ordering books off Amazon and reading them. I love to hold that book in my hand.
Is the workforce today different than it was 10 years ago — the millennial influence?
For sure, absolutely. The main difference is the average amount of time someone stays at a job is different now than 10-20 years ago. It parallels how dating is working now, too. Digital makes it easier for people to seek other options and careers and dating and other things in life. Before, looking for another job was harder. It’s easier now.
Then, as an employer, how do you keep people on board?
It’s hard. You can read every book and do everything you can and people are still going to look and go other places. I do my best to keep employees happy and know about their long-term goals, but there are situations in which I’ve done that every way possible and they still leave. Sometimes they work in a completely different field. It’s the world we live in. People don’t get a job out of school and stay there ‘til they retire. As an employer it’s challenging, but it’s the reality of how work is happening now.
Any specifics to share?
I had a situation where I recently had someone leave who had been here 3-4 years and I gave them everything they wanted — travel how they wanted, everything I could. And they tell me they’re leaving and I ask why, and they say, ‘I always felt amazing here, respected, I wasn’t looking for another job, but someone approached me. It’s not even the same field.’ It’s easier for them to look for other jobs, and it’s easier for employers to look for people who aren’t looking for jobs.
Employers are part of the change?
There are people poaching people, and it’s easier for them to poach even people not looking for other jobs. It’s especially true in music, where there is not as much money as in other fields. There are only so many financial resources to compete with some of these tech companies. I do my best, but it’s a big part of how things operate now. Maybe that’s okay.
You’re a millennial. Do you also crave change?
I have clients I’ve worked for eight years. I like to stick with stuff a really long time, but I know that’s not how people my age are usually operating.
Contact: (615) 495-0496