A couple weeks ago, I asked "How do you sweeten the deal?" to find out what you give your fans to secure extra CD sales. Then I started reading Seth Godin's new book, "Free Prize Inside!", and I realized a big mistake I've made. I'm a big fan of freebies. Peruse my many websites, you'll find freebies of all shapes and sizes from MP3s to stickers, CDs to occasional t-shirts. I love giving things away. It's sorta my contribution to the 'free prize inside' concept. Except that's really not what Seth is about. Seems I've been giving away a free prize for years without entirely recognizing it. It's the same thing that made me a wild fan of Black 47. You can even read about Andrew WK has done the same on David Hooper's Music Business Blog. What am I talking about? Exactly. I'm talking about talking with fans. I do my best to respond to every email that our fans send to us. If they take the time to write us, you can bet, I'm gonna take the time to respond. And with the growing swarm of junk mail it's getting tougher and tougher, but dangit, they deserve it! I'm sorry to say, there is one area I have neglected until now-CD order forms. CDBaby, our main online retailer, is kind enough to offer all that great contact information about people who order our CDs. I have done a very poor job contacting those people. But as every marketer mentions, the majority of sales will come from past customers. So those are the people I NEED to be following up with. Think about it a moment. I've built a very strong and loyal fanbase by communicating with fans. I have lots of personal information online and chat with these folks. They've consequently gone out of their way to support us, buying many CDs and telling their friends. Just imagine if I contacted those hundreds of past buyers and said thank you. Not to sell them something more. Just to say "thanks". That's powerful stuff. Those who've stopped listening will start back up. Those who already tell their friends are gonna be a million times more passionate when they relate how I went out of my way to write them. It gets me excited just thinking about it. If you really can't think of a way to "sweeten the deal". Don't sweat it. But make sure you get their email address. Drop 'em a line and say, "thank you". And you'll be sure to have a brand new fan for life! References: Seth Godin's "Free Prize Inside" (1st printing) comes in a cereal box Andrew WK in David Hooper's Music Business Blog |
