Monday, January 11, 2010

Guidelines For Direct Marketing To Your Audience


It's easy to think that since you have this great mailing list or gigantic list of friends that you have the perfect way to sell your products to them. That's true, but in Music 3.0, direct marketing to your audience must be approached with caution. Your fans want to hear from you, but they want to be informed, not hyped.

Chances are your fans want everything you have to offer, but they don’t want the feeling that they're being "sold". Make an announcement about a new release or a piece of swag, but don’t oversell it. Fans don’t need to know that you think your new music is the greatest thing you ever did and it’s better than the Foo Fighters last release. They’ll decide for themselves and then sell it for you in their own conversations if they like it.

The way to market to your tribe is by simply presenting your product to them. Just make them aware that it’s available, and they’ll do the rest. You can take it a bit further by offering them information about the product - the more exclusive, the better.

Instead of a sales pitch:
  • Give them a behind the scenes story about the making of the product.
  • Tell them where the idea for it came.
  • Tell them about all the people involved, especially other tribe members.
  • Provide interviews with others involved in the project.
  • Give them all the trivia involved in the project, no matter how small. True fans will eat it up. If it’s a new song, tell them where it was recorded, who the engineer and producer were, how many tracks were needed, how long the mix took, how many mixes you did, how the final mix compared to the rough mix, and all of the hundred other fine details that go into producing a song. If you just produced a new T-shirt, describe where the design came from, why you chose the manufacturer, what the shirt is made of, why you chose the color, etc. Get the idea?
Giving them insight that no ones else has makes them feel special, will keep them loyal, and will show casual fans and lurkers the benefits of their participation with you.

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