Finding Your Audience
Before Initsix, we ran Anticulture PR - a music PR agency that specialised in bringing international bands to UK audiences. We worked with artists across genres, but some of the most valuable lessons came from promoting acts that didn't fit neatly into any category.
One of those acts was ArnoCorps - an Austrian action-adventure hardcore band whose entire catalogue consisted of songs about Arnold Schwarzenegger films. Yes, really.
The ArnoCorps Problem
How do you market a band that's simultaneously a hardcore punk act, a comedy troupe, and a tribute to 1980s action cinema? Traditional music PR channels didn't know what to do with them. They weren't quite metal enough for metal press, not quite comedy enough for comedy circuits, and definitely too niche for mainstream coverage.
The answer wasn't to sand down the edges and make them more palatable to a general audience. It was to lean into what made them unique and find the people who would genuinely love it.
Niche Marketing Done Right
We identified overlapping communities: hardcore music fans who appreciated absurdist humour, film buffs with a love for Schwarzenegger's filmography, and people who simply wanted something different from the usual touring circuit. We targeted film blogs, cult cinema forums, and fitness communities (Arnie fans, naturally). The coverage we secured wasn't always in traditional music press - but it reached people who actually cared.
The result? Packed shows, genuine fan engagement, and word-of-mouth that no amount of generic press coverage could have generated.
What This Means for Creative Businesses
The principles we learned promoting bands translate directly to marketing creative businesses today:
- Specificity beats generality - A message that resonates deeply with a small audience outperforms a bland message that reaches everyone
- Find adjacent communities - Your ideal customers might not be where you expect. Look for overlapping interests
- Authenticity travels - Genuine enthusiasm is contagious. People can smell manufactured marketing from a mile away
- Owned channels matter - Building your own audience (email lists, communities, direct relationships) is more valuable than chasing algorithm-driven platforms
PR in the Digital Age
The tools have changed since our Anticulture days, but the fundamentals haven't. Whether you're promoting a band, launching a product, or building a creative business, success comes from understanding your audience deeply and reaching them where they already are.
Today, that might mean:
- SEO that targets the specific terms your niche audience actually searches for
- Content marketing that demonstrates genuine expertise rather than keyword-stuffed filler
- Community building in spaces where your potential customers already gather
- Email marketing that treats subscribers as people, not metrics
How We Can Help
At Initsix, we combine technical capability with marketing experience. We don't just build platforms - we help you build audiences. From SEO-optimised content management systems to community platforms and email automation, we create the technical foundation for effective niche marketing.
If you're building something for a specific audience and need help reaching them, get in touch.
Based in Bristol, UK. Still fans of absurdist Austrian hardcore.
