Chapter 6 Excerpt from
“The New Marketing - Part 2”
Best Email Practices
When it comes to emailing, there are good and bad ways to do it. Here are what you might consider “best practices” as revealed by Jed Carlson, founder and CEO of ReverbNation in his article on Music Think Tank.
1. Always respect a person’s desire to unsubscribe to your list. IMMEDIATELY UNSUBSCRIBE THEM if your mailing list doesn’t do it for you.
2. Always talk to them without swearing. It may be part of your ‘persona’ as a band, but some people don’t like that language. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Yahoo mail, hotmail, AOL, etc don’t like it either, and your message will go directly to the junk box. You wouldn’t talk to your grandma that way, would you?
3. Always avoid ‘scam’ words in the subject line. Words like ‘Free’ and ‘Help’ will land your message in the junk box 100% of the time.
4. Always target them with messages that are relevant to them. If you have a show in Seattle, don’t message your fans in Miami. Keep your powder dry for a message to them later about something else.
5. Always give them the basics about the information you are conveying. Reporters call this the ‘who, what, why, when, where, how’ model. If you have a show coming up, do your fans (and yourself) the service of providing dates, times, locations, ticket links, and lineup of the show. Over 75% of Artists miss this essential piece when they email. If you want someone to respond and come to your show, for goodness sake, go so far as to give them driving directions if you can. Each ticket sold is money in your pocket.
6. Always link them to some place to find out more info about the band. This could be ReverbNation or a homepage or blog, but ALWAYS give them a way to find out more.
So don’t overlook the obvious. Your email list is your most important tool in M3.0 for reaching your fans, but you need a specialized application to use it to its utmost.
More is Less
In M3.0, “more is less” should be one of your main mantras. There’s a limit to what fans can absorb, and exceeding that limit can alienate them. Too much communication can be counterproductive. Once a week is about the limit, although once a month can work, too. More is okay if there’s a real purpose.
Mailing list blasts have a definite point where it’s too much. We like to limit those to a couple of times a month, or once a week at most if you’re really doing something special or have unique content. If it’s just announcing tour dates or trying to sell something, you shouldn’t do it more than once a week, but we find once or twice a month works best. If it’s unique content that could be cool to blast weekly. On the other hand, if you’re Twittering, the more the merrier because that’s the kind of minutia that people are into. That platform is great for 3 to 10, even 20 times a day.
Jacob Tell of Oniracom
Just as fifteen songs on a release are not necessarily better than eight even if they’re all great, there is a tipping point for email blasts at which fans go from feeling informed to being intruded upon. The leader of the tribe must have a feel for where that point is and be sure to never cross it. It’s just overload at that point and actually dilutes the effectiveness of your message and your marketing. The leader of the tribe must have a feel for where that point is and be sure to never cross it.
Figure 6.2: Your Email List
Your Email List
The most important tool you have
To utilize properly requires a special application
Significant extra benefits from the use professional list-management services
Make your list sign-up easy to find and easy to do
Think through your email before you send it
Observe best practices
Fewer emails is always better
Copyright © 2012 Bobby Owsinski Media
Author - Producer
Music and Technology Advisor
“I've found this book to be of great assistance and wanted to share that with GP readers, but I'm also interested in hearing from anyone that can recommend other materials—print or online—or has a personal experience to share that could benefit myself and others.”
Barry Cleveland - Guitar Player Magazine
