Musicians, here’s how to make the most of your email list

Everyone is talking about cool new ways to get fans to sign up for emails, but this is only the first step.

It’s true, these days many people are wary of giving out their email address – there’s just too much inbox-clogging spam out there – but even if they do subscribe, the second a newsletter becomes too promotional or fails to deliver interesting content, they’re out.

With that in mind, you need to not only be thinking of how to grow your list, but also how to keep your fans subscribed. Providing incredible value to your fans via email is the second step of a successful email strategy.

I want you to start thinking of your email newsletter as something completely separate from your social media channels and website. Why would someone sign up for your emails and add more to their inbox if they can get all the same information on your Facebook page? You need to think about something special you can offer your email subscribers to show that you value their trust and support, and we’re going to go through four great options in this article.

1. Use Your Own Voice

One of the easiest fixes you can do to make your emails more valuable is to stop referring to yourself in the third person. It instantly creates a disconnect between you and your fans and comes across as promotional (even if the content is cool and engaging). Especially during the earlier stages of your career, an email written in the third person can seem fake.

Instead, I highly recommend you write in your own voice. Tell your fans your thoughts on the new developments in your career, share funny stories and keep it informal – almost like you’re talking to an old friend. This elevates the newsletter from a generic list of newsworthy points to a personal insight into your life. That personal connection will make your emails much more valuable to your fans.

2. Early Content

Once you’ve established your own voice when writing emails, it’s time to start offering your subscribers great content. Of course, you’ll want to send out big news like tour dates or a new song or album, but it’s exclusivity that will keep them around. Exclusive content doesn’t have to take any extra time to develop. In fact, you can use the content you’re already creating and give your email subscribers early access.

This is extremely easy to do with YouTube. As you upload a video, instead of publishing it to the public, keep in unlisted – meaning only people with the direct link can view it. You do this in the privacy settings while you’re uploading. Now go ahead and email that link out to your list and tell them they get exclusive early access to all your videos. Change the video to public after a few days in your video manager.

3. Get Them Involved

Email communication with fans tends to be very one-sided – the artist tells their fans what’s going on and the fans passively read. After all, there’s no commenting tools for emails like there is on social media. But there are actually plenty of ways you can get direct feedback from your fans via email and this two-way conversation will make your fans feel like they contributed to your career, therefore developing a deeper bond.

If you’re working on a new song, cover, video, or set list, you can use Google forms to poll your email list and get feedback. Simply log into Google, go to your drive, and create a new Google Form. Create some multiple-choice questions and send the link to the form to your email list. Ask your email list what songs they’d like to see you cover, what your set list should be for the next gig, what T-shirt design to use, or even which title to use for a new original song. The results will show up right in your Drive. When you share the finished product, be sure to thank your email list for helping you.

4. Go Behind the Scenes

No doubt you’re already sharing some cool behind the scenes content with your fans on social media, but you can take this up a level with your email subscribers. It’s all about giving your email subscribers a little something extra.

Post a photo of a lyric sheet on social media, but share the song’s story to your email subscribers. Tell them what the lyrics mean to you, your struggles writing it, or the story behind the song. Post a music video on social media but release a blooper reel to your email list. Announce that you’re working on a new album on social media, but release short, unlisted video blogs from the studio to your email list.

As you can see, there are a lot of creative ways you can develop a strong email strategy. In the New Artist Model online music business programs you’ll learn how to turn your music into a successful business – a business where you are in control! You’ll create an actionable and personalized plan that will help you achieve a career in music, and you’ll be able to do it all with the resources you have available right now.

If you’d like more strategies like these, you can download this ebook for free. It will take you through some of the best strategies for indie musicians to help you grow your fanbase and your career.

[Email image from Shutterstock.]

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Source: Musician Resources