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The Internet is the perfect place for the dissemination of information and email is the ultimate promotion tool if you know how to use it. Your website is the perfect place to gather your fans email addresses so you can inform them of your next gig dates, and the cost of sending out an email gig newsletter from your PC is practically nothing, so it's almost always good value.
Keeping your fans informed is the main action that will pay big dividends, as it will create a link between you and your fans, and increase the size of your audience.
Basically, all you need is:
- a method of collecting the names and email addresses (a simple email link is fine)
- a method of keeping securely and maintaining the mailing list (Microsoft Notepad is fine)
- a suitable email client to send out your email gig update (Microsoft Outlook Express is fine)
- an understanding of privacy, a privacy policy and a clear NO spam policy (The DMA online Privacy policy generator)
My two keywords are "keep it simple" and "content". Create a simple HTML email gig update from your normal email client and send it to everyone in your mailing list. Use the BCC (blind carbon copy) option so you don't show and distribute everyone's email address. Concentrate your efforts on the quality content. When your mailing list goes over 250, you should start thinking of getting a professional system (maybe
Constant Contact!).
Email Gig Newsletter Statistics Trick
All band promotion efforts require you to keep track of the statistics so you can hone or tweak the method accordingly. If you are doing it all on the cheap - it's not easy, for instance: it's difficult working out how many of your fans are actually opening up and reading your email gig newsletter. Here's a trick:
The email gig newsletter needs to be sent out and received in HTML format. Create a single pixel transparent gif (that's 1x1 gif image) and name it (let's say) by date of issue for unique tracking. Upload the image to your web server. Before you send out the email gig newsletter, place the appropriate gif at the very top of the email. The code might look like this:
<img src="http://www.bandname.com/19-05-2005.gif" border=0 width=1 height=1>
I've created a single pixel transparent gif for you. Right click on the blue dot and choose, Save Picture As...
Now you will be able to use your "web activity report" to see how many fans are opening your email gig newsletter. Every time one of your fans opens up the email gig newsletter it will register one hit on the 1x1 gif, so it's not perfectly accurate, it may be inflated because it doesn't differentiate between the number of times the email is viewed and the number of fans who view the email. But, it will give you a good approximation.
Going Professional
The easiest, quickest and often the most economic way to get up and running with a professional system that will collect the email addresses of your site's visitors (with a "Join Our Mailing List" sign-up) and then enable you to compile and send a compelling email gig newsletter is to get
Constant Contact .
What You Get
You get: A customisable website visitor sign up form for your website; Professional templates (newsletters, promos, invites and more); Add a "forward to friend" to every email; Manages and hosts your subscriber list (including unsubscribe and bounce management); Automatic delivery in the correct format, HTML or text; Full real-time statistics report (including opens, who clicked on which links etc.) - basically, everything you need.
Constant Contact is easy and affordable, you can try it for free as they offer a 60 day free trial, which I definitely think is worth a go.
Click here to sign up for your Free Trial with Constant Contact
A website and a newsletter go together like Rock and Roll.
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