Members ckoehler Posted November 9, 2011 Members Share Posted November 9, 2011 I was reading an article on CDBaby about being overly protective of your music and frustrating your fans (you can read it here). I understand where they are coming from but they are implying that it is the only way, and I think that’s a mistake. I too used to think that this was the law when it came to attracting fans but not anymore. All because of one of the most powerful forces – curiosity. Let me explain. Check out the landing page I use to promote my music – Free Love Song. Notice there is no music. Believe it or not it has signed up over 160 fans at a +20% conversion rate since January 3rd. In other words 1 in 5 people that visit this page site become fans without hear even a note. Here are the actual stats. I just use some compelling copy to invoke curiosity (will it really melt my heart?) and some testimonials from fans and media (they like it, maybe I will too). When I think it about it isn’t much different than the record store days. Hell, there were many times my friends and I bought tapes/albums/cd’s from bands and artists we never heard of based on the album cover (or its location in the store or on the rack). Sure we got burned here and there but that’s part of the thrill of discovery. I think this proves that there are still music fans like us out there today.The best part is, they don’t risk $10-$15. Don’t get me wrong, I still have full tracks featured on my main site. I think that is a good idea for those people who do need to hear my stuff plus it is handy for me to send people there if they ask where they can check me out. All I am saying is don’t think that you HAVE to have music samples to get new fans. Experiment with some good ole curiosity. Anyway, that’s my two cents. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted November 9, 2011 Moderators Share Posted November 9, 2011 fans? Of what? Of clicking a weblink?Here's the thing: The numbers people post regarding their web hits are always suspect, since they are not qualifiable. Did you notice an actual increase in sales from this? Can you quantify and qualify it, and relate it directly to this process? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ido1957 Posted November 9, 2011 Members Share Posted November 9, 2011 It helps to be a hot female - worked for Taylor Swift .... j/s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scarecrowbob Posted November 9, 2011 Members Share Posted November 9, 2011 "Can you quantify and qualify it, and relate it directly to this process?" FWIW, I agree that this is prolly not the best strategy in the world. I mean, how did those folks who came to the site get there, and were they already pre-disposed to dl your music... I don't think you'd get a 20% conversion rate for that site in an affiliate campaign, but I'm not an SEO/PPC/SEM guy. But at this point, he's got 160 email addresses that are known-good and expressed an interest in the music. Actually, that is quite a bit of fairly valuable info. If you also collect their city, you can even segment a list so that you know you're only hitting the right folks when you send out a mailing on your email list for your performances. And if you use something like mail chimp, you can do all this recording/responding automatically... you don't have to do anything other than setup the account and the response email (with a unique link to the DL), and then you can even quantify the folks who are actually DLing the song. You still aren't hitting anything that you can get revenue directly from (unless you're nefarious and are selling their emails or getting paid to promote other stuff to people on that list-- which people do). But if you're trying to get people to come out to a show, an active, qualified email list could be a good tool. Combine that with some way of quickly signing folks up at the show, and you could grow a list pretty quickly. And, yes: there is a tangible, measurable conversion there. Like almost any promo, the conversion is only useful if there is some thing at the end of it (a ticket sale, a t-shirt purchase, a paid download), but that's the marketing biz. Here's the math: if it takes you 8 hours to setup, you collect 160 emails, and 10 of those emails convert to a real ticket sale at 7.50? Well, heck-- that's more than minimum wage. #winning Just some random numbers, tho. If it takes me 3 hours to do it (at $45/hr), and I collect 400 local email addresses, and they convert to 50 ticket sales at $5 over 3 months of shows, it makes a lot more sense. Not that I think it would be worth it, but you could get really geeky and start to track email conversions by incentivizing that as well (print this email out and come get your free sticker....). Cynicism about these things is healthy, but if you want to talk about measurable success, the discussions are a lot more interesting to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ckoehler Posted November 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 9, 2011 fans? Of what? Of clicking a weblink?Here's the thing: The numbers people post regarding their web hits are always suspect, since they are not qualifiable. Did you notice an actual increase in sales from this? Can you quantify and qualify it, and relate it directly to this process? Fans - people who like your music and support you.Of what - my musicClicking on a website - Yes and then signing up on my mailing list to receive free music , then receiving future updates and finally interacting with me. Those aren't web hits, those are people who are actually on my mailing list interacting with me and my music as well as buying my music. Not sure what isn't quantifiable? I laid out the numbers for you. 1 in 5 people who visited my page signed up and are now a part of my mailing where again, they are downloading and listening to my music as well as building a relationship with me. Not much different than collecting emails at a gig. I did notice an increase in sales all around. In my follow-up emails I do mention that I have music for sale on iTunes, CDBaby, Bandcamp, etc. Dozens of downloads have been purchased on iTunes and 14 CD sales on Bandcamp (the place i promote the most) have been purchased as a result of the people on this list. On top of sales I've gotten some great testimonials, made some great connections and have some new fans that I consider friends. Does that help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ckoehler Posted November 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 9, 2011 how did those folks who came to the site get there, and were they already pre-disposed to dl your music... I don't think you'd get a 20% conversion rate for that site in an affiliate campaign, but I'm not an SEO/PPC/SEM guy. The people that come to my landing page in this example either came from Facebook ads or Twitter. I aim for people who either state or show an interested in my particular genre of music (folk rock, country, Americana, etc) OR for people who are fans of artists who make music similar to mine (Mellencamp, Darius Rucker, etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scarecrowbob Posted November 9, 2011 Members Share Posted November 9, 2011 "The people that come to my landing page in this example either came from Facebook ads or Twitter. I aim for people who either state or show an interested in my particular genre of music (folk rock, country, Americana, etc) OR for people who are fans of artists who make music similar to mine (Mellencamp, Darius Rucker, etc)." Well, congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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