### Please share! * Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn * Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads * Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email * More * * Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook * Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit * * Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr * Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest * * Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X * Do you have an email marketing plan? Experts say you should. But I’ve long suspected there’s a large gap between indie music “experts” and the people who are making it work. ## Advice Is What It Is In present times, people are often skeptical of those who give advice. You may be, too. In so many indie and general marketing guides, I’ve read/heard that having an active email list is crucial. On the flip side, marketing can feel like “putting myself out there” to many unsigned musicians. If I’m going to do that, I want the return to be worth it. Sometimes social networks can give that feeling. Similarly, email marketing often feels very vulnerable. There’s a huge difference between what experts say and what indies do. Click To Tweet Yet so many marketing avenues can seem like a huge vacuum. Sending a tweet or a toot can be much like sending a shout into the void. Real-world examples show that responses or engagement on social media can be less than 1% of your following. Even paid ads can seem to produce too little to make their expense worthwhile. (And don’t even get me started about how much the statistics provided by social networks are skewed.) ## Email Truth Email marketing is very similar. Typically, estimates range from 15-35% for how many recipients will open a message. Even worse, people who will click a link or reply to you drops under 5% on average. That does not seem like a great return. Many indies can’t afford to hire PR and marketers – you have to pick and choose Click To Tweet At the same time, the effort to create an email message with potential impact can be very challenging. All of this makes email marketing seem unappealing. ## Peer Confirmation I wondered if other unsigned musicians had similar experiences. Do most of my peers send regular newsletters? I was doubtful. A quick poll of indie musicians revealed that over 90% did little or no email marketing. Click To Tweet Sure enough: when I asked my indie musician friends, they confirmed my doubt. Both informal queries and polls on a few social networks verified that indies don’t email. 91% of the musicians I polled said they never or rarely send email. In fact, 41% don’t have an email list at all. ## Email Payoff Does this mean I’ll never send another email to my fans? Of course not. However challenging it may be, the real return is the interaction. Click here to sign up for my email newsletter It’s true: I send an email to my fans about once a quarter. And it does take me a while to create the message. Another time-consuming effort is getting the courage to press send. (OK, I’m half joking about that.) Even so, every time I send one of these, I start to get the replies. And that’s when I remember why I keep sending out my little announcements. Because I enjoy those responses so much. Even when I only get a few notes back, that connection makes the message sent feel worthwhile. Image of emails going into a mailbox is by Tumisu via Pixabay. ### Please share! * Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn * Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads * Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email * More * * Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook * Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit * * Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr * Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest * * Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X * ### Like this: Like Loading... ### _More for you_ * * * ### Discover more from Stan Stewart - @muz4now Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email. Type your email… Subscribe

Stan Stewart - @muz4now

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