Beatstruggles.com

Are you a beat maker WITHOUT a Newsletter?

In this blog post, I want to introduce to you the benefits of a Newsletter.  Also, to let you know how much potential you are missing out on.

What is a Newsletter.. Why would it help me?

A newsletter allows people to stay up to date with you when they sign up with their emails.  Whether that be a website, beat store, etc.

So first, let me start off with this.

Newsletters are not spammy IF!  Your clients, customers, or fans actually sign up to them.

You see, if the customer signs up to your newsletter, they are interested in you, and their tolerance of spam towards you is not going to be as high.

These are the people who are interested in what you do and actually want to stay up to date cause they signed up! (Or.. because you’ve offered them an incentive, such as FREE SOUNDS, or free beats, maybe a coupon etc.).

Either way of how you’ve got them to sign up to your newsletter, they are now your customers/fans. I want to show you the do’s and don’ts, plus introduce the basics on getting started up with a newsletter.

Before emailing, pretend you are the receiver of your email,

So let’s look at it the other way around; as if it were spam, or you are receiving an email by being signed up to someone’s newsletter. 

You would want people to be respectful towards you, plus you’d want some awesome content that is going to help you. That’s the reason you signed up right? So, send things out that you think will be helpful! (Or, your products occassionally).

If someone randomly adds you to their newsletter and sends you an email saying, “BUY MY BEATS!”, you’re going to INSTANTLY look for the unsubscribe button.

Why?

1. You didn’t sign up, so therefore it will annoy you wondering how they got a hold of your email
2. It’s content that doesn’t relate to you, or your not interested, cause if you’re a beatmaker.. you make your own beats!
3. Adding someone to a newsletter without approval is against the law! (There’s some big fines you can pay for this, if caught!  Google Spam Act).

Now, if you are one of those people who think newsletters are spammy, it’s because you’ve always been on the end of it.  Getting emails from stores after you purchase on their website.  They send you an email about all their latest sales.. yet you never “opted in” to their newsletter. (Never signed up yourself).

But, there are people out there that do like to stay up to date with a website, a singer, graphic designer, web developer, different companies etc.  And you do this by signing up to their newsletter.

Reaping in the Benefits of a Newsletter,

Ok so, since we got that out of the way, we can now get to the benefits of how newsletters actually help you, and how they are your absolute BEST WAY TO MARKET YOURSELF and PRODUCT!

I’ll make a little list here:

1. Absolutely FREE to advertise, share, or keep in touch with your subscribers. (Usually under 2,000 subscribers is free, or they limit the amount of emails you can send each month).
2. It really builds a little community to your business or blog.  If you put out a new post, you can email your subscribers to let them know.  Find something cool?  Send an email to share the coolness! (Don’t get carried away though, as you’re dealing with people’s tolerance of spam.  You want to keep them updated, but also be respective to their inbox; keep in mind that you may be annoying them).
3. Keep your customers coming back. (Release a new product, new beat, have a sale, or review a product?  Send a newsletter! ).
4. Keep track of your statistics – If you use Google Analytics, or like to keep track of what your visitors do so you can market effectively, newsletters are great for this.  You can see where they have clicked on your newsletter!

If it’s that easy, everyone would have 100,000 subscribers!

Now, having an active newsletter that is full of people is not easy to obtain.  It takes a lot of work, a lot of planning, and having easy access for your readers/customers to sign up!

A few things that will generate more subscribers are:

• REAL RICH CONTENT — That means actually helpful information that does just that.  Help people. (Not just CHECK OUT MY BEAT! As in Google’s eyes, and most of ours, that’s called spam).
• Offer a free product — For example, Beatstruggles.com has Get Free Sounds by SoundsinHD! Or, SoundPackFlyer.com has Get a 10% OFF Coupon + FREE SOUNDS By Xclusive-Audio.com!  — Or, if you’re a beat maker.. you probably already guessed it; offer a free beat(s) on sign up!
• A Place to Actually Sign up - You can have a tab on Facebook, or place it on your actual website.  (The more places available the better).
• Let Them Know What They Are Signing Up For — I find this one to be an important one.  When someone signs up, they may be a bit cautious to actually sign up, because they don’t want to get spammed! (A few things you can do is say, “Your email will never be sold, rented, or shared.  This is just so I can stay up to date with you.  Try to keep it as honest as possible, people who sign up will actually want to be up to date with you).

How to put this info to use, and GET STARTED!

I personally feel newsletters are THE BEST WAY to market and stay connected to your customers.

– GratuiTous

Now, there are a couple companies out there such as Aweber and Mail Chimp (haven’t looked around much for other companies), but personally I use Mail Chimp as it’s free to use with up to 2,000 subscribers!

It’s a matter of going to the website, signing up, then creating your form.  (Take your time on the form.  Figure out what colors go nice with your logo, how to set it all up etc.)

Once you are complete, you will be given a code that you can place as widget on your websites side bar, or, you can use a link to promote on social media, such as your Twitter Biography, Facebook About etc.

Your link will look something like this if you go with Mail Chimp:

eepurl.com/ob2q9

Give your Subscribers a Chance!

If you feel that your readers that come to your website/beatstore don’t want to fully stay up to date with you, there are other options. You can create groups.

What are groups?

Groups allow you to give your subscribers a chance to still stay up to date with you, only in certain areas.

For example, with Beatstruggles, I have an option for readers to stay up to date on Contests Only. I do this is because not everyone wants to be updated on audio production tricks and tips.  But, they may see that I have the option for Contests Only.  So they sign up, and I will not email them unless Beatstruggles is having a contest!

But you see, if I didn’t give them a chance to at least be updated on contests, I would of lost the subscriber totally, rather than maybe seeing them once in awhile (When Beatstruggles has contests).

So what happens with the image below is, if they sign up regularly, they are updated on everything (Posts, contests, videos, discounts, reviews, etc. etc.).  If they click Contest ONLY, they are strictly just updated only when Beatstruggles has contests.

You can check out the newsletter live, or check the image below for groups:

Now it’s Up to You!!

Alright, so hopefully this information gets you guys started in the right direction.

Newsletters are not easy at first, they do take time to learn and understand, but they are very beneficial to your online business.

I would like to leave you with a little “to-do” list to get your newsletter up and running:

• Choose a newsletter website — I’d recommend Mail Chimp
• Design Your Form to Your Liking — You have the option to just accept emails, but I like to be a bit more personal and have a required first name; last name I don’t require).
• Maybe Think of Groups — This allows you to capture as many subscribers as you can get! (Don’t make like 10, maybe just 1-3.  This can cause confusion to the reader!).
• Promote Your Newsletter! – This is where all the fun begins!  Who knows who will sign up, hear about you, or truly want to be updated!

Now, here’s a few things of the do’s and don’ts:

Don’ts,

•  Don’t Add People Without Approval – As mentioned, check out Spam Act.
• Be careful with the Amount of Emails – Think of you in the driver seat, do you want 2 emails a day from a website?  Especially when they are trying to sell something; just be cautious.

Do’s,

• Create an Incentive — In other words, a free product if they sign up.  (Free Beat, FREE SOUNDS, a coupon, free shirt etc.)
• Promote your Newsletter! – Again, be careful.  This is considered major spam!  Not to say you can’t say “Sign up to my newsletter!”, but maybe on your own Facebook wall; not others .
• Maybe Cut Deals – Get your artists to promote your newsletter in their newsletter instead of taking more money on a beat sale.  For example.  If you sell a beat for $250, say, “How about $200 with your next newsletter encouraging your readers to sign up to my newsletter?”

It’s time to Experiment,

This is real tricky stuff, so welcome to the marketing world!

The bigger your list, the bigger the audience.  Which comes with it’s own pros and cons.

• Cons = have to pay more for your mailing list + have a reasonably fast website when you send out a newsletter.
• Pros = Reach more people, more sales, etc!

Conclusion,

Here’s another example of one of my Newsletter Signup Forms on my website, ItsGratuiTous.com:

Last Minute, Conclusion-Pointers,

As you can see, my information here was very rich and helpful.  This is what Google likes, and this is what readers like.

Real information, that actually helps.

Keep your content rich, keep it helpful, and if you keep pressing, you will get to where you want to get.

Now, with my rich content, if you would Donate an Email,

Haha, just kidding, I’m not a big fan of asking for donations.

But, if you’d like to stay up to date with Beatstruggles, you can sign up to the Beatstruggles Newsletter!

Also, if this has helped, please leave your feedback! I would appreciate that!

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