Promote your band with E-mail

Make sure your band has an e-mail list. These are very useful for getting the word out for a show, that a new song available for download, or for asking with help moving a dead body. A few tips for making the most out of your mailing list.

Get a band e-mail account- Use G-mail or yahoo if you don’t already have another account. You should use YOURBANDNAME@gmail.com . If the address is already taken, best to get a new band name. G-mail allows you to e-mail to 500 people a day but if you BCC about 20 in an e-mail. Anything over that and they disable your account from sending mail for 24 hours.

Collect E-mails- Start by putting all of your bands friends on the e-mail list. Make sure you ask their permission, no one likes spam. At every show you play make sure you have a clipboard with a “sign up for our mailing list sheet.” Don’t just put the clipboard on a table and leave it there; solicit people! How??? During your set make sure you tell people you have a list and they can sign up. If you have a cute friend; have them walk around while you are playing and ask people to sign up. Some people may not want to harass people into signing up BUT, if they don’t want to sign up, they won’t or will give you a fake address. You’ll know when you get the mailed returned as undeliverable.

Don’t e-mail to often- Don’t send an e-mail unless you actually have something to say. More then once a week is too much. And if you don’t have anything to say; once a week can be to often

Keep your list up to date- Make sure you delete people when you get a returned e-mail. Continuing to send to a disabled E-mail might make google/yahoo think you are sending spam and disable your account.

Formatting- make your e-mails short, too much information and people will stop reading. Always have a link to your web page at the bottom of the e-mail. If you are announcing a show make sure you include the venue name, time, cover change, address and a link to Google maps with the address for directions. Always say thank you!

5 quick DON’Ts- Don’t swear; don’t TALK IN ALL CAPS; don’t send 4 e-mails for the same show; Don’t allow people to see the other people’s email (use BCC); don’t forget to use spell check.

E-mail Example:
Hey Everyone,

has a show coming up on at the . The show starts at and is at the door. You must be . We will be playing with .

The venue is located at ,. If you need directions here is a link to the address on Google maps Make sure you put it on your calendar!!!

Again that’s, , on at,.

Thank you,