Billie Eilish’s Email Marketing Secrets (that you can use too)
Discover how Billie Eilish’s team has successfully used email marketing to boost her fan engagement and sales and keep reading to learn how to apply these strategies to your campaigns.
by Chris Robley of the Reverbnation Blog
What’s the biggest mistake musicians make when it comes to email marketing?
JUST. NOT. EMAILING.
😱
Most musicians neglect their email lists.
Perhaps out of fear that “marketing” makes us look sales-y, self-centered, or desperate.
Or maybe it’s a fear that we’ll send an email and hear… crickets.
But we ghost our subscribers (our biggest fans, btw!) for weeks or months at a time.
Then whenever there’s important news — like an album drop, video release, or regional tour — we share the details once with our list and act like the job is done.
Not Billie Eilish!
A music marketing lesson from Billie Eilish
Billie is one of the biggest artists in the world. Does she rely on fame, or magazines, or word-of-mouth, or Instagram to get her most important messages out there?
No. She uses email. A lot!
In fact, Billie supported the release of her new album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT with daily emails to her fans, like this:
“But I’m not a megastar like Billie Eilish!”
I hear that.
And normally I’m reluctant to draw too many marketing parallels between independent musicians and household names. For instance, just because Beyoncé releases secret albums overnight doesn’t mean you should too.
But in THIS case, the lesson is worth learning: Successful artists know their fans want to hear from them. And they’re not afraid to send frequent emails and make frequent merch offers.
You should do the same. You need to be giving your audience multiple chances to pay attention.
When you do, consider the following.
Email marketing guidelines for musicians:
- Give yourself permission to email daily during big campaigns
- Email weekly throughout the rest of the year
- Send a dedicated email for each newsworthy item: Don’t send bulk news roundups
- Emails can be super short: If you shared a pic on Instagram, share it via email with a sentence or two caption
- Re-send important emails to subscribers who didn’t open the email the first time
- Ask questions that prompt responses from subscribers; replies help you stay out of the junk folders
- Don’t be shy: Tell fans exactly what you want them to do (remix, purchase, stream, view, etc.)
- Use a super-signature in every email with clear calls-to-action
You are not imposing on your fans when you send emails.
After all, your subscribers are your most reliable listeners and customers. Talk to them!
