Music marketing with email marketing? What would it mean to the bottom line of your music business if you could increase your sales by up to 50%? Would that entice you to consider email marketing? My imagination tells me that you're screaming a resounding YES to yourself at this point.
Email marketing is a relatively new and very lucrative method of marketing your music, and is definitely something that you should be looking into if you're not already taking advantage of this profitable marketing medium.
Over the years, many internet users have been consistently blasted with what has now become known internationally as spam. However spam is not what we'll be discussing today. In fact, spam is a practice that as a musician you're going to want to keep yourself as far away from as possible. There is a very thin line between what we know as spam and a music business email, such as the professional(and free) option offered by ReverbNation. You're not only going to want to make certain that your emails don't look like spam, but you'll also want to be certain that your emails are providing enough punch so your readers will really take notice of the great information you send them.
To start, your music business website should be designed to capture potential fan and customer email addresses the moment they've arrived at your website. This is a great way to start a non-threatening relationship that - if approached properly - can lead to merch sales later on in your email marketing efforts.
Studies have shown that the best way to entice your visitors to either buy your merchandise, or join your email list is by offering them something of value related to your band - at no cost. Think coupon and you'll understand why this works so well. Your fans have already shown an interest in what you have to offer by visiting your band website, so by offering them something free (like a song, or free entry to one of your shows) without a sales pitch will begin to develop the trust that is absolutely necessary to making the future sale.
Below I've detailed 7 very effective ways in which you can achieve the same results that many successful musicians are already putting to good use;
1 - Add a Form For Your Band's Email List to Your Band Website
You can set up an auto-responder to automate your communication with new subscribers. With a set it and forget it system, your email marketing campaign can work at marketing your music for you 24 hours a day and 365 days a year... all while you attend to important daily music business affairs, and while you sleep peacefully at night.
2 - Provide Great Content In Your First Email and Continue to Build Trust
Be diligent and creative in what you provide your readers in their first email. This is a make or break email in terms of creating a long term relationship with your potential customers. The first email you send will almost always be opened and read and it's at this point that you really need to wow them with the quality of your content. Impress them at this stage and you can raise your chances considerably of having them open your future emails.
3 - Provide Free & Valuable Information To Entice Continued Interest
Remember that you're not always "on" when it comes to selling. No one wants to be sold to all of the time, and nowhere is this more true than in your fans in-box. Providing quality content and information related to your music is most useful to your visitors. It's best if your first two to three emails are nothing but quality information that's absolutely free.
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Your Fans Expect To Be Sold... Eventually. Provide Solid Offers And Free Content - Keep Them Happy
Once you've gained your readers trust they are most certainly ready to hear from you regarding what you have to offer in terms of the sales of your music and merchandise. Heck, they are fans right? And they signed on to your email list knowing that you'd be selling them something at some point in time, so by the third email they should be ready to receive some type of sales offer. To maintain a good relationship, continue offering free quality content in every email you send. This will continue to raise their trust levels with your band and your music business and as a result, you'll elevate their reciprocity (give and take) patterns with your products.
5 - Don't Give Away The Farm In Your Music Business Email Marketing Campaigns
Remember not to raise their expectations too high. Offering ONE free bit of music news, a helpful resource link, a free downloadable video, a secret advanced listening opportunity, or a trial to your band membership club per email is more than enough to demonstrate your willingness to share valuable information with them.
6 - Encourage Interactivity - Keep Your Fans Involved
Always try to make your emails as interactive as possible. Whenever possible, include an excerpt to a post on your music business website to direct them back to your own band website. (You DO have your own band website... right?) Ask them to comment and join in the community conversations. Provide them with opportunities to enter contests on your website or to respond to surveys - again - all hosted on your website. A great website that is loved by the search engines, ensures repeat visits, bookmarks and the nirvana of all music business email marketers and indie bands, blog subscribers. Concentrate your efforts on generating traffic to your band website as much as you do on the quality of the emails that you send.
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A Great Subject Line Can Raise Your Email Marketing Open Rates Exponentially
I simply can't stress enough, the importance of your subject line. This is the one area that studies have shown is key to whether your email is opened or not. You'll need to rivet their attention with an enticing subject line if you're going to succeed with your band's email marketing campaigns. The subject line is what they see before anything else, so spell out the details of your message clearly and give them just enough information to make it compelling enough to open your message and read the contents. Of course once you've proven that you provide quality content regularly, your fans will come to know that opening your emails will be well worth their time and they'll open them without even thinking at some point.
These are just some of the basics of managing a successful band email marketing system and is by no means a complete list of what you'll need to succeed in your email campaigns.
Use these tips as a starting point and you could very well have your own successful band email marketing campaign up and running in no time. Just remember to always treat your fans with respect and integrity when sending anything to their in-box. No one likes spam.
