One thing that many bands need to learn is how to harness the power of email marketing to its fullest extent. In this post, we will attempt to help you learn how!
Why Email Lists Matter
The reason why email lists are so important is because they are an asset that is fully under your control. Unlike social media, your audience cannot be taken away from you and you will have full control over the list and its content. This makes it a key tool in your marketing arsenal.
First A Warning
A common mistake many bands make is adding people to their list who did not request to be added. Sometimes bands will scrape their social media followers or add journalists. Do not do this as it is considered spamming and is illegal no matter what country you are located in. If you get caught adding people to your list who don’t belong there, you could get your email account marked as a spammer.
How To Collect Emails
This is pretty simple, and there are a few ways:
Get a landing page made up on your webpage and just request fans to give you their email so they can stay up to date on news and updates.
Enable Bandcamp to collect emails for you. There is an option in Bandcamp where you can ask fans to give you their email.
Run a giveaway and request that fans give you their email to participate.
Ask for emails when you sell your merch at shows. You could even offer a sticker or something small that a person gets if they sign up.
How Frequently Should You Email Your List?
This depends, but in short, you should email them only when you have something important to announce. Here are some examples:
A new single
Album pre-orders
A new merch item
Tour dates
A special show
A new video
A sale
You don’t want to be too frequent, but you do want to make sure that you keep your fanbase updated with important information.
A key point is, don’t always just send out emails with an “ask” in them. You do need to use your email newsletter to sell, obviously, but every once in a while, send something out without a direct ask in it. For example, you could send something out talking about a new song you are writing or maybe talking about what’s going on while you’re out on the road. The key is to stay in communication with people without being pushy or salesy all the time.
What Should You Use To Send Out A Newsletter
Don’t use just Gmail to send out a newsletter, as a mass mailing will most likely get marked as spam if you do that. Instead, use an email service like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or MailerLite. Another alternative is to send via Substack. All of these options have free plans, so you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get this going.
I hope this helped! If you have any further questions on the subject, get in touch with us, and we will be happy to help you.