Daily Tip #106

Next to a phone call, email is the most direct and powerful way a music professional or artist can communicate with their industry contacts. Even with the constant barrage hitting our inboxes everyday, email click-through rates are still about 20x higher than engagement on any social platform. An email relationship therefore needs to be treated with respect and care. So under what circumstances and how often should you be reaching out to those on your email lists? The answer depends on how each person came to be on your list.

For fans, friends, and those that have taken some initiative to sign up for your mailing list on your website, Bandcamp page, or at a gig, a good communication cadence would be whenever you have something truly newsworthy to share – a new song, some recent press, announcement of a show that is local to them, new merch… but still no more than about once a week. Rule of thumb: don’t email this group more often than you would likely call and leave them a message. Would you call every

For your industry contacts (bloggers, music supervisors, press contacts), instead of focusing on frequency, think in terms of providing value. Your goal when doing broadcast emails should be to offer something that is going to make their jobs easier – by helping them discover music that you know is in their stylistic wheelhouse (you), or showing that you know what they’re currently working on and tailoring your email to that. Yes, this will require some research, and will mean that your emails become much more targeted, but also MUCH more impactful.

Rather than having one giant email list called “Industry People”, break it down into segments and sub-segments with messaging that shows you understand the unique needs of for example, an editor versus a music supervisor, or an A&R person versus a club owner. By forcing yourself to be hyper-targeted in your campaigns, you’ll be less likely to obsessively spam, and your emails will be met with more curiosity and enthusiasm (translation: success).

Magnetracks is a great tool to create lists and send compelling emails with click-through tracking.

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