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 When talking about marketing, promotion, and fan lists these days, it’s almost impossible to remember a time before the Internet. Back in the day, say pre-1997 or so, some of the most successful brand marketing campaigns for bands really were done through physical mail. I remember Phish’s Doniac Schvice – a regular mailer that was filled with great content written by the band, unusual merch only available through mail order, tour updates, notes from the road, and more. Although a bit expensive, it was a great way for Phish to provide updates to their base, and leave their fans looking for the next installment. Of course these days, it’s all a bit different. MySpace, YouTube, Blogs, web sites, and email newsletters are the vehicle of choice for communication between bands and their fans. The good news is that talking to your fan base is easier (and more free) than ever. The bad news is that you are fighting for time and visibility with hundreds of other bits of online information. With so many distractions, fans become a bit pickier about what they read. Therefore, if your content is not compelling, you could lose the ability to communicate with that fan forever. With that being said, there are a few key things to keep in mind when trying to build your fan base electronic and physical mail list. 1) You have a Web site, right? If not, build one. Right now. There are a ton of easy tools to do this, and you really don’t need anything overly complex. We talk about the specifics of what goes into a good web page in the marketing area of Artists House. Along with news, tour info, multimedia, and a sales section of your site, you are going to need a large ‘Register’ button on your site. The button should lead your users to a landing page talking about the benefits of staying up-to-date with your band through regular email newsletters (which you really will do on a REGULAR basis). 2) You have a MySpace page, right? This is another no brainer. Setting up a MySpace account is simple and allows for a completely different avenue of promotion and communication to your fan base. It’s viral, which is great for aligning yourself with like-minded bands that may share a similar fan base as you. 3) Tour Tour Tour. We know that touring and merch sales "keep the lights on" as they say for independent musicians. Not only does touring kick start all other avenues of marketing and sales, but it's of course a great way to collect information on your fans. Email addresses are mandatory, but collecting physical addresses is great as well for setting up geographically specific street team activity. You sometimes hear stories of bands "losing" their mailing addresses and email addresses. This always blows my mind. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU. It’s no joke. I suggest keeping a Filemaker database of all your fans contact info, preferably on a laptop that you can take with you on tour. Enter the info directly after the show or the next day, and when you get home, MAKE A COPY. I’ve signed up for tons of mailing lists from bands that I am into, and I receive info from maybe half of them. I can only assume that A) my name was lost from their mailing list, or B) the band really doesn’t have it together enough to keep me up-to-date on their activities. Either scenario is not good. Lastly: If you ever have eyes on signing with a label, or getting a publishing gig, or doing anything else related to the music industry, one of the first questions they will ask is “what is your fan base like?” This stuff is more important than it may seem!  Published: Tue, 12/12/2006 - 15:13 Attachments:  |
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