How We Helped SmartMusic from MakeMusic Establish
a New Category and Focus Messaging

Canopy Medical

Defining a new product category

SmartMusic is a whole new kind of music education software that provides students and teachers with access to thousands of band, orchestra and vocal pieces.
With SmartMusic:

  • Students can practice with background accompaniment and get immediate feedback on
    their performance.
  • Teachers have the tools to provide individualized instruction for each student—no matter how many students they have.

The capabilities of SmartMusic put it in a category of its own, which created a key marketing challenge. The brand not only needed to increase awareness for the product, but also educate consumers about the benefits they could gain from this new product category.

Key audience insights that drove messaging recommendations
Key audience insights that drove messaging recommendations

Focusing messaging

Because the product had so many features to offer to a wide range of audiences from teachers and administrators to students and their parents, it was difficult to determine which aspects to highlight for each audience. This left the brand burdened with a complex story.

Our assignment was to establish a product category definition that consumers could intuitively understand and define top-level messaging that would clearly highlight the most important features for each key audience.

Key audience insights that drove messaging recommendations
Prioritized product feature messaging by audience

Building the product category leader

Based on a series of exploratory interviews with audiences, we narrowed the list of product category definitions and product attributes we wanted to test. We then conducted online surveys to determine which category definition resonated most strongly and which product aspects led the pack.

This led us to a single competitive brand positioning that’s relevant to the wide-ranging audiences while also explaining the impact the tool can have on music education.

Positioning:
SmartMusic is a tool to help students achieve their personal potential, enriching their overall
musical experience.

We also created a category description, interactive music learning software, which allowed audiences to quickly understand that SmartMusic was different.  And we built a top-level brand messaging matrix for each audience, highlighting the most important product features to drive action.

A direct mail piece for teachers featuring updated product messaging
A direct mail piece for teachers featuring updated product messaging

Boosting the organization and focusing their efforts

This effort has streamlined the once complex brand story and top-level brand messaging, providing marketing with a top-level definition and clearly defined product attributes. MakeMusic has used this information to create targeted brand messages for all SmartMusic marketing and sales efforts.