How to Market to this List

jfingaz,

I hope you don't think I'm being too direct or snarky, but what you're asking is basically, "how do I do Internet marketing?" which is what this forum is all about.

There are hundreds of ways to handle a list and sell products and services.

But the bottom line is this: understand what your customers want and give it to them in such a way that they will rely on you to be their "go to" authority so that they will come back for more and more of your products/services.

Here's an important hint: begin with niche research. It's how you find a position for your business, validate the market, and determine what the needs/wants in your market might be. If you don't know how to do niche research, make good use of the search function in this forum and learn all about it.

No one can tell you what type of content to send and how to market to your audience. Those are specifics about your business that will depend entirely upon how you position your business, what niche you choose, and what business model you adopt.

Good luck to you. It will come if you start at the beginning.

Steve

This is what I'd suggest..

1. Ask them what they want. And I don't mean with just a survey where they'll be thinking that you aren't interested. I mean really try to engage with them personally. So ask an open question and promise you'll write back to them. When you get answers coming back then respond individually and show them you're responsive as well as a source of useful stuff. You'll learn an awful lot about your market then and discover the types of content and products they may be looking for.

2. Once you've established what they're into and what would help them then go out and find those products. If they don't exist then look at how you can create them yourself.

3. I'd test out the free offer a bit too. It may be that you're giving away the sink..? It might be worth you breaking up your sound library so you only give away a smaller fraction of it, and then offer to upsell them more of your library once they've signed up as an upsell offer..

4. Set up your email sequences once they've signed up. You didn't say if you have an AR yet but if not then you should have one. You can use a hosted service like Mailchimp that has an initial free amount of emails before you have to pay.. At least it allows you to set things up before paying out for a monthly. Alternatively you could go for a self-hosted option which will save a lot of money in the long term but you need to be aware of what you should and shouldn't do so that you keep a good mail sender score.

5. In your email sequences then plan them out well. Use a spread sheeet and with each email then map out what the intent of the email is. Some emails will just be giving value and if that's the case then you need to look at tips and advice that will be evergreen otherwise your autoresponder sequences will become out of date too quickly.

You can seek out articles to link to that will also give value. I've just done a search on music articles that have been shared a lot recently and found this example - The 14 pieces of software that shaped modern music but of course this may be a conflict of interest to send out if you're planning to sell music software, though you could provide additional commentary in your email with your own affiliate link.

I may have a few other thoughts - I may send you a PM..

As jaypoole mentioned above, it's best to find out directly from them.

Remember, there are different kinds of people who record from home - singers, songwriters who just want demos, producers, etc.

My favourite technique, is something I got from Glenn Livingston.

Basically, right after they sign up, you ask them three questions:

1) What's you biggest unanswered question/frustration about X?

2) How hard has it been for you to find the answer?
a) Not hard
b) Hard
c) Very hard

3) What caused you to search for the answer about X today?

These will give you a lot of insight about what you audience is looking for. I hope that helps.

If you want to determine what to promote by way of products and offer by way of content, a great place to start would be studying what sorts of things are being purchased in that particular market.
Education? Recording equipment? Who's buying what? Figure that stuff out first and then you'll have a much easier time promoting and providing value.

If you've got the expertise them sell that. Offer consulting, offer the first ten minute session free, wow them, build a relationship and charge for the next session.