When you’re just starting off your career as a jazz musician, chances are that you don’t have the means to advertise using traditional methods such as with newspaper ads or paid promotions online. Instead, you have to gain exposure organically and use free services like a business Facebook page to promote yourself and your latest track.
However, with so much activity online, it is likely your social media posts will be missed as people scroll through their busy news feeds. Plenty of your posts will eventually be forgotten. The question is, how do you effectively inform your followers of your upcoming gigs or latest downloadable tracks when they don’t notice your posts on Facebook? Luckily, a mailing list is something that you can use to maintain direct contact with your audience and improve your jazz career.
What Is A Mailing List?
A mailing list is an online collection of all of your followers who want to be kept up-to-date on your music career and what you are doing. When signing up for the list, people have to input their email address, name, and any other information that you may need. The mailing list allows you, a musician to send material to all of the individuals who signed up to your list, making it easy for you to communicate with your fans.
How Does A Mailing List Help My Career?
You’re probably wondering how having a mailing list helps your jazz music career. After all, a lengthy list doesn’t necessarily earn you money. However, there are indirect benefits of using a mailing list. Being in constant contact with your followers allows you to develop and maintain a relationship with them. You can communicate with them through a weekly newsletter or provide updates about your upcoming summer tour.
The newsletter that you send will go directly to their inbox, making the interaction more personal and encouraging your fans to respond to your calls-to-action like buying your CD. If you’re going to be playing at a local music bar next week, tell everyone about it on the mailing list. This will motivate followers to come if they are nearby and even bring their friends or family along.
It’s Not Too Late To Start Building A Mailing List
Whether you’re 3 months into your jazz music career or 3 years in, it’s a good idea to start building your mailing list as soon as you can. Obviously, the earlier you do it, the better, but even after a few years, your fans will still be interested in joining the list. Create an online form and share it across all of your social media platforms. Ask people to sign up and slowly the list will grow. In no time at all, you will have a strong fanbase to be proud of!
Managing A Mailing List
Now that you have a mailing list full of fans, start to send out information about your tours and releases. You want to maintain consistent contact but refrain from sending material out too often. Doing so can come across as too aggressive and cause some fans to unsubscribe. You should send out material once a week, at most, and once a month, at a minimum. The right number will depend on how much time you have to write a newsletter and how often you have news to update your followers about.
Promo.ly is a music promotion platform for musicians. If you’re looking for a music PR service to deliver music to your mailing list, get in touch to see how we can help today!
