Category: NewslettersCategory: Newsletters

We’re all uploading video to social media, then sending out email newsletters with vinyl mock ups.

If you don’t know what I mean by vinyl mock ups, I mean stuff like this:

I get it – there’s definitely a place for that (like your online store), and for some of you with 10,000+ email subscribers it does the job, but this takes me back to my idea of mullet marketing.

Your social media is fresh videos!
IG stories are fun and spontaneous!
Your Twitter takes are sassy and smart!
Your feeds are bursting with amazing concert photos!

Then your email newsletter is… an image of a record.

How boring.

This isn’t even a matter of budget or time – you already have the images and videos uploaded to social media, and they’re sitting there unseen by (sometimes) 70% of your fans – fun!

Host your videos somewhere like YouTube or Vimeo. Use WordPress? Upload right to your site with VideoPress. Use SquareSpace? You can upload 30 minutes of video direct to your site. Upload videos direct to Substack.

THEN, screen shot your video for your next newsletter, and link to YOUR SITE.

Your website, the place where you sell concert tickets, vinyl, shirts, and all your other products that your fans like to buy.

More people to your website means more people buy things.
I’m not even good at math, and I know it works.

Getting 10 people to your site might not lead to many sales.
But get 100 people to your site, and see what happens.
Instead of sending 1,000 fans to YouTube to watch a video, or a DSP to stream a song, put your best material on your site and include a link – your fans will click it!

This bit from Julia Evans is about email lists, and the myth of “you have to trick people into signing up for your email marketing list.”

If you clearly communicate who your mailing list will help, then people can easily filter themselves in, and the only people on the list will be happy to be on the list. And then you don’t have to send any unwanted email at all! Hooray!

I want to break down that first line a bit, and how it applies to all of us here at SOCIAL MEDIA ESCAPE CLUB:

If you clearly communicate who your mailing list will help…

Maybe not help, in our case, but delight. Excite. Who will love seeing our email pop up in their inbox?

Fans, right? People who enjoy what we write, what we do, the songs we play, the products we ship, the podcasts we produce.

So if you “clearly communicate” that, you’ll have “people on the list will be happy to be on the list.”

This means you can finally stop worrying about being spammy.

People signed up, right? So don’t be afraid to show up in their inbox more than once a month. Most of your fans won’t see your posts on social media because of algorithms, but most of your fans will open your next email.

Read the rest of Julia’s post, ‘A few things I’ve learned about email marketing,’ for sending out emails with less MARKETING vibes (via Kottke).

Do I want free donuts? Yes.

Do I want rewards? Well wait, what are the rewards? How do I get them?

I went out for a donut and iced coffee today.

The owner and I got talking about websites, social media, and email marketing of course – yes, I’m loads of fun at parties!

The owner told me the challenge of getting people into their reward program (buy enough donuts and coffee, get free donuts).

Her pitch is basically, “do you want to join our rewards program?”

And those go (usually) three ways:

1. Yeah, sure.
2. No, thanks.
3. Wait, what’s the rewards program?

For me, if you ask someone who’s buying donuts if they want free donuts, I think that changes the response a bit, to something like:

1. Uhh, yes.
2. Wait, what?

➡️ Think of this when writing subject lines.

Your “West Coast Tour Dates Announced” subject line is great for fans on the West Coast, but a horrible subject line for everyone else.

For someone like me in Pennsylvania, I have no incentive to open that email. Go have fun, West Coast!

But a subject line that says, “Do you remember when those cowboys got us back on the road when our van broke down?” – that’s for everyone! I want my van-repairing cowboys!

Then, of course (ahem), include your West Coast tour info later in the email, for your West Coast fans.

➡️ Think of this when asking your social media followers to subscribe to your newsletter.

When you say “sign up for updates,” people who’ve been on the internet for more than five seconds can already assume what they’re signing up for; deals, discounts, sales, bargains, big BUY NOW buttons.

Boring.

Make it easy for your fans to say “yes, I want that.”

Do you want free donuts? Yes.

Do you want more of my art? Yes.

Do you want more photos of my travels? Yes.

Do you want more writing? Yes.

Don’t tell me to sign up for updates, tell me what I’m getting.

Make your ask so good I have to say yes.

It’s almost summer, and who wants to spend more time on their computer? This is why I’ve been shouting about re-using the stuff you post on socials for your newsletters.

Not everyone who follows you on social media will see every post. Hell, people who subscribe to your email newsletter won’t open every email, either.

Re-purposing the content you’ve already posted (on socials) means less time thinking about your next email newsletter, and gives you a jump on the creative process.

When I talk about re-purposing live action shots from social media in your newsletter, this email campaign from Pupil Slicer is exactly what I’m talking about.

I’m assuming those pics were posted on socials, but hey, how many live shots do bands post every week on socials?! A TON! Put ‘em in an email with your next tour announcement!

This email campaign from BATZION makes great use of product shots from their Bandcamp, combined with a fun mix of behind the scenes photos, which look like images you’d see on social media, right?

Why spend several hours a day on socials when you could just send out a newsletter?

Social media has conditioned us that if we’re not on their app several hours a day promoting our work, then we’ll get left in the dust.

Remember, people get paid lots of money to keep you on their platform. They are incentivized to show you LIKES and BEEPS and REPLIES, all while throttling who actually sees your posts.

Maybe just spend one hour a day on socials.

Then send an email once a week using the things you posted on social media throughout the week.

When you’re done, get outside for a walk, a dip in a creek, make some tea, or go out for ice cream!

Should you wait until you have a lot of email subscribers before sending your first newsletter?

No.

Learn from Chris Spencer of Unsane, from an interview with Echoes and Dust:

“We played a show at CBGBs, we got offered a show with Sonic Youth and we got there to find out that we were playing the graveyard shift, which was actually after Sonic Youth … we had to go out and the place cleared out and we went on to like twelve people!”

Got twelve people on your list? That’s enough.

Don’t wait for more people – level the room. Impress the people in front of you. Serve the people who signed up.

“Fortunately for us, Gerard Cosmos from Matador Records happened to still be there and offered us a record deal after that, so it actually really worked out.”

You never know who might read your newsletter, so don’t hold back.

If five people sign up, you’re writing an email for five people this week. Sit down and get to work.

Figure out how to write a newsletter for five people, because you’ve got a lot to learn.

Make your mistakes in front of a few people instead of fucking something up and sending out the wrong link to 5000 people.

Show up for the people who subscribed, who showed up to your gig on a Tuesday night, or who ordered your product.