FOUR THE WEEKEND: HOW TO REACH NEW FANS
Figure out how to reach your existing fanbase first
Folks email / DM me questions about email marketing stuff and then I re-purpose those replies for the masses - YOU’RE WELCOME.
QUESTION: I had a large mailing list it got 10% open rate / 1% click rate and was far more work than social media. So same reach w/o reaching new fans. Is it worth it? Younger crowds don't even do email.
MY TWO CENTS: With a 10% open rate and a 1% click rate it just sounds like people were getting an email they didn’t care about.
Is there a hack, or technique, or process you can implement to fix that?
Yes. Send better emails.
This might mean that your email isn’t for EVERYONE. You can’t impress EVERYONE, not even all your fans.
Some love you and will buy your all your stuff, and some will like occasionally like your Tweets. There’s a difference.
So don’t tell your fans you’re sending out UPDATES. You’re an artist, a guitarist, a photographer, a painter, a writer, a producer - and you’re telling me you’re selling your magic as just “updates?”
We’ve got enough brands to “follow” and get updates from.
Maybe save some of the 9000 image you give away to social media companies every day and use them as a “lead magnet” for your email newsletter. Sort of like, “like these? Join my newsletter for more.”
Tell a story. Remember, you are someone’s HERO. You’re an inspiration. So tell some stories about who you are, and how you got where you are today.
Low number of clicks? Sell it with more than just “watch my new video,” or “listen our new song.” Include screen shots from the video, or an animated GIF like this one I made of Slash from ‘November Rain’!
As for “younger crowds don't even do email.,” pop star Olivia Rodrigo recently sent a hand-written note to her email list, and it’s not on any of her socials (as of me writing this). So do something special for your fans! Anyone can include a fancy designed “new album, pre-order now” square image in their newsletter - but what can YOU do for your fans that no one else can?
Stop shoveling all your creative energy into social media platforms that will someday implode and leave you with nothing. Use your existing social audience to build your email newsletter audience, so when these companies disappear, you’ll still have access to your fans.
QUICK BITS:
“Our reach on social media is basically terrible… we're going to run flash 50% off sales… the codes will be send to all of our newsletter subscribers.”
Church Road Records started doing their own order fulfillment (due to rising costs), and they’re looking to grow their email list because reaching their fans on social media is hard - even when you happen to be in a band as big as Employed To Serve!
“It’s rarely a single tactic that drives growth. Over time, if you do a lot of little things — creating good sign-up pages, making it easy for readers to share newsletters with friends, testing out both on- and off-site acquisition tactics, etc. — you’ll have a good chance to grow a big, engaged newsletter list.”
This bit from ‘Not a Newsletter: A Monthly Guide to Sending Better Emails’ rings loud and true. It’s the things you try, tweak, stop doing, try again, and figure out along the way that will get people on your email list.
"In the future all advertising gets replaced by content creation."
I loathe the term “content creation,” and the idea that “all traditional brands are gonna die,” is pretty bold - BUT… I think of someone like Craig Reynolds of Stray From The Path and how he’s doing amazing things with the Downbeat brand, and it’s all driven by… Craig Reynolds.
Which leads to…
GOOD TWEETS:
That’s freaking cool.
Our pal Ryan J. Downey (of the wonderful Stream N’ Destroy newsletter) asking the important question of the week. I’d say 10 minutes.
Solid advice as always from @bigsto. Like horror movies? Four-wheeling? Paintball? Collecting 70s art? Talk about it - connect!
It’s all in how you look at things, right?
Who is Seth Werkheiser of HEAVY METAL EMAIL?
I started two pretty okay music blogs back in the day (Buzzgrinder in 2001, and Noisecreep for AOL Music in 2008).
I do D2C email marketing work for MNRK Heavy (High On Fire, Black Label Society, Ace Frehley), and previously did D2C email work for Death Row Records and direct to fan email campaigns for Holdtight PR.
I’m also working with three big metal publicists in Atom Splitter PR, Freeman Promotions, and Adrenaline PR (they do press for everyone from Alice Cooper to Lamb of God to GWAR and like a million other bands).
Over 20 years of doing this music stuff on the internet, so hit reply on this email and ask me anything! I just wanna help you reach your audience.
I’m turning on SUBSCRIPTIONS at $10/mo. I’ll keep everything free and open for everyone, but if you appreciate what I’m doing, consider supporting this work so I can keep reaching independent artists with the gospel of email marketing.
Have a great weekend!
/// SETH