Turning names into fans

In a previous post I revealed the most important secret for being successful in the music business is capturing and then wisely marketing to the names, email addresses, and zip codes for the people who comes to your shows, your web site, your MySpace page and more.

As promised, this month I’m going to talk about turning names into fans .

The names that you have captured are the people who can make you a prosperous future in music or put you behind the counter at Blockbuster Video. So you need to take care of them...turn them into fans.

How? You need to get personal.

No, I’m not talking about the little chickadee that you get personal with as she’s tuning your flute during one of the breaks.

When you capture a name....within the first week send a email thanking them for signing up, visiting your site etc.. Let them know that you appreciate them and wouldn’t be able to make a living in music without them. Don’t hesitate to be humble....put down the rock star persona for just a moment to recognize that without the fans you just might have to adopt the “Starbuck’s barista persona”.

Go out of your way to make everything you do with your email list, web site, any contact with the names you capture have a personal touch. Professional, knowledgeable, but personal.

Each week send them an email. Don’t just put the dates, times and location of where you are playing. Sure you want to put that info in the email. You want them to come out to the gigs. But you want to convey more.... you want to be personal....like each and every one of them is a friend. You really should think of them that way. They will have a lot more to do with your making a living in the music business than many of your “friends.”

Each week as part of the email, have a different person in the band (if you are a band) write a paragraph or two about what is going on in your career and sign it. Let them know about song writing, recording sessions, trying to get a deal, radio play, birth of your kids (the ones you know about,) buying a new guitar, and more. If you give folks a chance to be part of your life and career, many of them will love you for it, be loyal, buy your stuff and assist your career in ways you can’t even think of now.

Your web site should be fan friendly with some sort of personal communication between you and the person coming to your site. Make it easy for them to get in and stay. Whether it be a personal greeting letter for low bandwidth or a welcoming video for high....thank them for coming to see you right up front.

If you have a message board on your web site be sure that someone in the band responds to questions and comments. Give folks a chance to sign up to be part of your formal fan club. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of FREE vs charging for the fan club and a lot more about web sites, in a different column. Joining the fan club should have lots of benefits...discounts or free downloads, merchandise discounts, special fan club only performances or meet and greets, advance ticket sales. Make them the ultimate insiders with contests for back stage visits and monthly chats. Set up a “putyourbandnamehere” chat group on Yahoo, MSN or other site specifically for fan club members. Once a month on an advance scheduled time have one or more band members join the chat for personal insights about what is going on with you and your fans.

There is a lot more....but that’s a start. Be regular, professional and above all....be personal in all ways you interact with your fan base. Get started now. It will pay off for you.

PS. Take good care of your “flute tuner” too. From personal experience I have seen an artist who “blew off” a flute tuner after a few rendezvous's, that later suffered cause the “flute tuner” had the ear of the “head” of A&R at a major label. Seems he liked having his flute tuned as well.