A guide to email marketing for musicians
Building your brand and getting your name out there as an artist isn’t always easy. Email marketing helps you reach a lot of the right people, all at once. Here’s how!
As an independent musician, you’re always looking for ways to connect with your fans, promote your music, and grow your brand. While social media gets a lot of attention, email marketing is an often overlooked yet powerful tool that can help you achieve all these goals.
In this guide, we’ll explore what email marketing for musicians is, why it matters, how to get started, and the best tools to help you along the way.
Why is email marketing important for musicians?
When you got into making music, you probably didn’t think you’d have to engage in so much marketing. As a creative, why would you want to get involved in something that sounds so corporate? Well, the truth is everything can be and needs to be marketed. This is what helps you grow your audience, advance your career, and ultimately allows you to keep doing what you love – being an artist.
Email marketing for musicians is a direct and personal way to communicate with your audience. Unlike social media, where algorithms can limit your reach, email allows you to speak directly to your fans right in their inboxes. This gives you more control over your message and ensures that your updates, new releases, and tour announcements reach the people who care most about your music.
Benefits of email marketing for musicians
If you’re still not quite sold on the prospect of email marketing, here are just a handful of the benefits it can afford you.
- Direct Communication: You control what the message says and when it gets sent, no relying on algorithms to put content in front of your audience.
- Higher Engagement: Emails tend to have higher engagement rates compared to social media posts. People are more likely to open an email than see a post buried in their feed.
- Building a Loyal Fanbase: Regular updates can keep your audience engaged, making them feel more connected to you and your artistic journey.
- Monetization Opportunities: Email marketing is the perfect opportunity for additional monetization. It enables you to sell merch, promote tickets for gigs, or offer exclusive content, driving revenue directly from your most loyal fans.
- Analytics and Insights: Most email marketing tools offer analytics that show you who opened your emails, clicked on links, and more, helping you refine your mailing strategy over time.
How to build a mailing list
Before you can begin firing out beautifully crafted emails to promote your creative works, you’ll need a mailing list. This is a list of names and addresses that consent to having marketing materials sent to them by you. Here’s how to take this crucial first step into building your email marketing campaign.
Offer a hook
To get people to sign up for your mailing list, you need to give them a reason to subscribe. A hook to reel them in. This could be exclusive content like a free track download, early access to concert tickets, or behind-the-scenes updates. Whatever it is, make sure it’s something your fans will find valuable.
Create a sign-up form
This can be done with an email marketing tool. Don’t overcomplicate it; you want to make signing up to your mailing list as smooth and simple for users as possible. Just ask for basic details like name and email address, as asking too much can put people off.
Promote your mailing list
If you’re active on social media (if you’re not, you absolutely should be), use your platform to shout about your mailing list. People can’t sign up if they don’t know it exists, after all. Share stories with a link on Instagram, link to it in YouTube video descriptions, anything to get the word out there.
Leverage your existing audience
If you already have an audience and fans, then encourage them to join your mailing list. These people are already interested and following you, so they’re far more likely to sign up. Explain the benefits and perks they’ll be enjoying by signing up, and you should get an easy number of subscribers right away.
How to execute a solid email campaign
Once you’ve built your mailing list, it’s time to start sending out emails. Email marketing for musicians requires some strategy and careful planning. Here’s how to get started.
Set clear goals
Before you send your first email, figure out what you want to achieve. Are you promoting a new single, driving traffic to your website, or selling fresh, exciting merch? Having clear goals will help you craft your message and measure success. It’s important to have clear goals from the beginning, so you can measure whether your campaign is actually working.
Create compelling content
As mentioned previously, you need to be offering some kind of hook to potential subscribers. Your emails should offer value and be worth receiving. This could be exclusive content, personal stories, or updates on your music career. Use an engaging subject line to grab attention and keep your content concise and to the point.
Include appealing visuals
Here’s where email marketing tools come in handy once more. They can help you to create visually appealing emails that reflect your brand. Include images, links to your music, and calls to action that encourage fans to take the next step, whether it’s buying tickets, streaming your latest song, or visiting your artist’s website.
Although just an emailing, you want your subscribers to have an engaging experience – nobody wants a big wall of black text on a white background landing in their inbox.
Keep a regular schedule
Finding the right frequency for sending emails is important. You don’t want to overwhelm your subscribers, but you also don’t want them to forget about you. A good starting point is to send one to two emails per month. Adjust based on your audience’s response; if your open rates are high, you can consider sending more frequent updates.
What tools can be used for email marketing?
There are plenty of tools available to help you get started with email marketing. Here are some popular options:
- Mailchimp: A user-friendly platform with templates, automation, and analytics features.
- ConvertKit: Great for creators, offering customizable forms and email sequences.
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): Offers advanced features like SMS marketing and detailed reporting.
- Constant Contact: Known for its easy-to-use interface and robust customer support.
These tools help take any stress out of setting up and running your email marketing campaign. They can assist you with designing your emails, managing your mailing list, and tracking the performance of your campaigns.
Summing up
Email marketing for musicians is a powerful tool that can help you build a stronger connection with your fans, promote your music, and grow your brand. By offering value, creating compelling content, and using the right tools, you can execute successful email campaigns that enhance your career as an independent artist.
Start building your mailing list today and add email marketing to your list of promotional tools for your music career!