How To Market To Your Fans Effectively: Research shows their preference

     Only in a perfect world would every "Like" equal a sale, and every “Share” a guarantee of more fans who sat and read your information with earnest. It is just not happening. You're a manager, a promoter, or an independent label owner, you have all of your analytics setup for various blogs and web-pages and perhaps your mobile landing pages as well trying to figure out what content is making fans respond and ultimately earning a few more. But there is a problem. As all of the likes and shares stack up and the fans are even clicking play on the button for your attached media player, no one is buying or even seems to be talking specifically about you are promoting. We all put so much of our resources and belief into these projects that we even check back frequently thinking this has got to be the one that grabs them, nope.

     A little bit of research can help you find reports such as this one from Exact Target's 2012 Channel preference Survey found on marketingland.com. This report shows quantifiable numbers based on polls taken from fans and consumers after being asked a simple question, how do you like to receive permission-based messages and marketing materials? Email was the chosen channel 7.7 out of 10 times. Direct mail and text messaging came in second and third at nine and five percent respectively. This doesn't seem to be a fad or present anomaly that is expected to change. The report shows that the preference for permission-based email marketing over any other type has actually grown from 72% to 77% since 2008. So as they state in the article, "there is no close second-place channel."

     Here's a shocker, Social Media barely even made a blip on the radar. The report shows that consumers love to "Like" and "Follow" brands but don't respond in a way that will produce sustained sales numbers or even free download numbers as the report shows that Facebook and Twitter come in at four and one percent respectively as the channels that costumers respond to when receiving promotional messages. I can personally speak from experience that since using automated email collection and newsletter services like Fanbridge, and tying them together with promotions on other sites that allow for free mass-mail and messaging like ReverbNation and others, we have seen tremendous growth in numbers for both dedicated followers AND Sales.

    Increasingly our email list has grown as our "tried and true" fan-bases actually do forward the messages to their address books and then they buy. We have web and social pages in every country in most languages for our artists, and we did amazingly well in the beginning, but not until we tied in automated, and consistent messages, and targeted emails did we start to see real sustainable and large growth in numbers across all of our networks. Give it a try, let me know how it works for you, perhaps we can learn from each other.