Do you know how many fans you truly have?

If not, have no fear because we’re here to show you how to find them.

But first, let’s define what a fan actually is.

A fan is someone who checks for you (they want to know everything that you have going on). They’ll share your music, they’ll tell all of their friends about your new song.

A fan is also someone who will spend money on you – they’ll purchase your music, they’ll buy your merch, they’ll buy a ticket to a show if you’re in their area.

Fans interact with you.

Basically, a fan is NOT just someone that follows you on social media.

So how do you find out exactly how many fans you have?

You can do this in a few ways, but my favorite (and most accurate) way to do this is by having a NEWSLETTER.

Your NEWSLETTER is your VIP section.

Your SUPER fans will want to be on your newsletter because your newsletter gets all of the exclusive stuff (they are the first to get the new music, discounted merch, free giveaways etc.) Reaching out to your current audience and seeing how many people you can get to subscribe gives you a very measurable idea of how many fans you have.

When someone subscribes to your newsletter they are giving you permission to market to them.

Do you realize how awesome that is?

These are people that WANT you to send them your new music so they can share it with their friends.

These are people that WANT you to send them a discount code for your merch because they want to buy it.

These are people that WANT you to send them an email about your new show because they want to see you perform.

Do you understand the magic that can come of this?

 

So for instance, you recorded a single off of your upcoming album and you’re looking to release it next week.

You have 1200 people that are subscribed to your newsletter.

The night before your new single drops, you send out a newsletter to your fans with a link to the new song. You express how much you need their help in spreading it around.

Even if only HALF of those people open up that email, you’re still getting 600 plays, almost IMMEDIATELY.

AND if it’s a good song, you should also have at least 50-100 shares, depending on how in-tune people are on your list.

All of that and all you did was send out ONE EMAIL!

Imagine the possibilities!

Here’s another scenario…

You just dropped this new line of merch and you’re selling it for $25 a shirt.

(Remember, you have 1200 people subscribed to your newsletter.)

So, the day that you drop the new merch, you send an email to your newsletter with a discount code for your new merch. You let them know that because they’re on your newsletter, they get the discount code which will give them the shirts for $20 instead of $25. The kick is, the sale will only be available for 24 hours.

Even if only HALF of your list opens the email, how much do you wanna bet that you make AT LEAST 25 sales of your shirt within 24 hours?

…and again, all you did was send out ONE email.

ONE EMAIL!!

You just sent ONE email and made $500. 

Can you imagine all of the money that you’ve been missing out on????

ALSO, did you know that when you send out an email to your newsletter, you can track exactly who opens it, what links they click on, and you’ll even see where they are located! This means that if you have fans in a certain area, you can actually travel to that area for your tour. And since you can track who opens your emails, you can create a new list of people that always open up your emails and give them the super crazy discounts and exclusive updates. I can literally go on for hours about the many ways you can utilize your newsletter.

 

So now it’s time to create your newsletter and find out exactly how many fans you have.

1. Go to mailchimp.com and create an account (it’s free). There are other programs that you can use to create your newsletter but after experimenting with many of them, Mailchimp is our favorite for numerous reasons. Once you have an account, go to LISTS and “create new list” – you can call this list whatever you want (I suggest calling it FAN NEWSLETTER). Once you’re in the list, you’ll see an option to “create subscribe form.” You can design your subribe form to match your brand.
2. Start collecting a database of emails. You can collect emails in many ways. We suggest that you start by personally reaching out to everyone you typically interact with (feel free to text the people in your phone). You can also share the link to your subscribe form on your social networks (say something like “To get exclusive updates and new music, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter [include link to subscribe form]”
3. Send out your first email. You do this by logging into Mailchimp and creating a new campaign.Everything is drag and drop so it’s really simple. You can even create a template that you can save and utilize again. Once you send it out, wait a little bit and click on REPORTS to see who opened it.

It’s really that simple.

But there’s something very important that you need to know before you go.

Your newsletter will only be effective if you collect emails from people who are genuinely interested in receiving updates from you. This means that you should definitely stay away from finding random emails online and adding them to your list. Also, blogs and press don’t go on this list (unless they personally subscribe on their own). Blogs/press get personal emails directed to them specifically.