Thanks to social networks like Facebook or Twitter it’s easy for us artists to have a constant communication with our followers. However, studies proove that more than a 75% of people still preffers email to receive important news. So, are you an artist and you still don’t have your own newsletter? What are you waiting for?
Here you have some things you have to keep in mind before you start your newsletter:
– Choose a newsletter provider that you like and you feel comfortable with: You’ll have to take some time to get used to it, so I recommend for you to start messing around with different ones (sending emails to yourself) before you start promoting it. Most of them have a free option, so take advantage of it in the beginning, unless you’re really sure the one you have is the one you’re going to stick with and you like the perks that the paid option offers. Here you have some examples of well known newsletter providers:
- Reverbnation: www.reverbnation.com
- FanBridge: www.fanbridge.com
- Bandletter: www.bandletter.com
- MailChimp: www.mailchimp.com
– Pick up a calendar & start using your marker! It doesn’t have to be exact, but just so you start getting used to having a routine I recommend for you to plan the dates ahead. Start sending a monthly newsletter, and, ir you feel chatty and genereous, you can even do it twice a month! I wouldn’t recommend writing more than that, unless you have MAJOR NEWS! Newsletters tend to get annoying if sent too often. Also, you might think it’s weird, but studies prove people read more newsletters if sent oh weekdays, as opposed to weekends, so… get your Wednesday newsletters going!
– Write down everything you want to add to your email: I do this everytime, when anything happens that I want to add in my next newsletter, I write it down and outline what my newsletter will be. This allows me not to forget anything in the process and re-order my ideas. Do the same!
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What to add on a newsletter? Well, first off, you don’t have to have big news to send an email to your followers, they like to know about you anyway! So it doesn’t matter if you’re in between albums and there is not much to talk about or promote: Talk about your songwriting, recordings, projects, etc. You can even tell them how your last workout went or where you to a trip to last.
- Subject, short & sweet: Not too long, around 50 characters.
- Salutation, personal: There are many newsletter providers that let you personalize the greetings so the person’s name is shown. If this is not possible, try to make it something personal so whoever reads it relates to it… good examples of using something “general” but personal is naming your fans, just like Lady Gaga (little monsters) or Mariah Carey (lambs), just to name a couple.
- First paragraph, personal: Don’t go right to the point, your projects, etc. Start with something personal, like where you’ve been, what you’ve been doing, post a fun picture, etc.
- Second paragraph, content: Now you can start introducing a little bit of promo: your new record, gigs, etc.
- Third paragraph & goodbye: This is the “call-to-action” paragraph, encourage your followers to buy your record, watch your video or like your Facebook. And last, but not least, warmly say goodbye, tell them how much you’d like to see them at your next gig, you know! something nice!
Hope all these tips help!! If you got any question… you know what to do! indieartistdiary@ireneb.com!