eMarketer has a new article out that is of great interest to those of us in the music industry. Basically, it says that while digital music purchases are up, the revenue generated by these sales is still down, per capita, from what it was is 1995.
The most interesting point that was made, in my opinion, was that record sales are no longer the core source of revenue for artists, but instead concert tickets and merchandising have moved into the foreground.
This just re-affirms what we at FanMail have been saying. It is more important than ever to find ways to keep the fans involved and connected. Through integrations with FrontGate Solutions, as well as various digital shopping carts and ticketing outfits, there are an amazing number of ways to efficiently and effectively engage the core fans and to encourage their continued involvement with the music that they love.
We believe that the most effective one-to-one marketing programs seek to communicate with people, not lists.
This statement is much more than an affirmation of our long-held policy that email, SMS, and other one-to-one marketing efforts must be built upon a foundation of permission. Rather, it is a broader acknowledgement that we, as marketers, bear a responsibility to deploy one-to-one marketing technologies in ways that put subscriber needs first.
We believe that the subscriber rules the one-to-one marketing environment, and must be given the means to dictate and control the manner and frequency by which companies can communicate with them.
The subscriber-centric philosophy is built upon three simple directives:
- Serve the individual
- Honor their unique preferences with regard to communication channels, content & frequency
- Deliver them timely, relevant content that improves their lives
Check out the new whitepaper from our partner ExactTarget on subscriber preference. The interesting thing to note is the preferances between email, sms and social network messages.
Enjoy!
Labels: best practices, e-mail marketing, subscribers, superfan
