As an independent artist, you’re obsessed with creating ways to stay engaged with your growing fan base. Social media moves fast and in real-time. Live shows provide face-to-face human connection. Merchandise lets people walk away with a piece of your brand.
If you only retain one thing from this blog post, let it be this: Don’t sleep on email. More specifically, email newsletters. Why? Glad you asked.
According to Constant Contact, 3 billion people worldwide will be using email as of this year. Talk about expanding your reach!
As much as 72 percent of adults have said that they prefer email as their business communication channel. If you read that and shuddered, remember that you are a business and you’re looking to make a transaction of some kind through your communications.
For independent artists, budget can be a roadblock. Newsletters are one of the most cost-effective communication tactics, with many email service providers (ESPs) offering free subscription plans as long as the amount of addresses you enter in their system stays under a certain number. My preferred ESP is Mailchimp (check out their benchmark stats for Music and Musicians here), though there are loads of providers out there to research, so do your homework to decide which one is best for you.
Have I convinced you to fire up your own newsletter and get busy making connections? That’s awesome, but before you run off, here are a few fundamental do’s and dont’s that you’ll want to keep in mind:
1) DO be consistent
Put yourself in the shoes of your fans. They are being inundated by online content and messaging 24/7. One way to break through all the noise and get noticed is by being consistent with the publishing frequency of your newsletter. Is it a monthly newsletter? Weekly? Once you decide on your schedule, stick to those deadlines like glue and don’t move for anything short of an apocalypse. People are much more likely to retain information once they know what they can expect from you and when. This is part of creating trust with your audience, and there is nothing more valuable than that.
Out-of-sight, out-of-mind is a real thing. If you don’t do a newsletter (or do it once or twice, but then disappear for months at a time), you shouldn’t expect many, if any, results. The good news is that ESPs allow you to schedule when your emails send, so you don’t have to worry about panicking at the last minute as you’re running out to your next gig.
2) DO use visuals
You may think of email as a primarily written communication, but humans are visual creatures, and email service providers have made it easy to include visuals like photos, videos, and even gifs in newsletters. The average person spends less than 15 seconds reading an email, and it’s likely that they’re on their phone while doing so. Quality visuals communicate quickly and effectively and will keep your email click-through rates healthy.
3) DON’T always be selling
When you think of a car salesperson, what emotions do you feel? I’m going to bet that what you’re feeling isn’t 100% positive. Nobody likes to be aggressively sold to. Yes, I did mention before that you’re in the music business and newsletters are a way to create transactions. However, a newsletter isn’t a megaphone, but more like a conversation between you and your fans. With customers looking more and more for authenticity in brand communications (yep, you’re a brand!), make that the goal for your newsletter and the sales will come.
It should go without saying, of course, that you need a method to collect email addresses so that you have recipients for your newsletter. Make sure that your website has a signup form and a way for people to sign up for it while at your live shows too.
Are you an independent musician with a newsletter? What has worked and hasn’t worked for you? Let me know on Instagram or Twitter at @_alisonclancy_ or in the Now Hear This Entertainment Facebook group!
Bruce
3 February 2020
By: Alison Clancy