Promotion Through Mailing Lists

Fans love to get news about you and your music, a heads-up when there's a sale or promotion, and advance notice of new releases. If you have an existing mailing list, we’ll work with you to make sure that fans are notified about any exciting happenings at your online store.

If you don’t have a mailing list, we can offer advice on how to get one set up, and show you how to create a sign-up form on your web page, MySpace page, blog, or what-have-you. We will also help you develop strategies to increase the size of your mailing list as well as increase key metrics such as open and click through rates.

Promotion Through Your Website

Most of the suggestions for MySpace hold true for your website. Every website is a little different, so we’ll help you to figure out what we've got that could work on your site.

Promotion Through Other Social Networks

Don't forget about the rest of the internet! There are a ton of other places online to spread the word about your band. Facebook, iLike, Purevolume, imeem, Bebo, MOG, LastFM, Virb, etc. are just some of the websites you can find music fans looking for something new (maybe looking for you)!

To learn about where to go and what to do once you’re there, talk to us. This can really increase your direct connection to your fans, enabling them to be the first to hear about show, exclusive offers, and whatever else you would like them to know!

Promotion Through MySpace

Your MySpace page can be the single most important place to reach your fans. Many people will check out your MySpace page before your website since they know they can expect to listen to songs, check tour dates, and read blog posts all in one place. So keep your page up to date! Here are a few tips:

• Try to put something new up once a week — whether it's a song you're working on, a post about a recent show, photos from the road, etc.
• Let people sign up for your mailing list and make it obvious. MySpace also makes it easy for fans to spread the word about your music. Make sure that your songs are available for other MySpace users to add to their page!
• Putting up a bulletin when you've got something going on is a great way to remind all of your friends and fans to visit your page.
• Put up a YouTube video or other media player that visitors to your page can then email to their friends.

Sound daunting? We’re here to help! 11spot can create and will send you most of the online promotional tools mentioned above. If you have any questions about how you can make any of these suggestions a reality, let us know.

Driving Sales Through Contests

We love contests, and so do your fans. If you have ideas, let us know. Or if you have a prize in mind, we’ll come up with a contest concept. Again, these don’t have to happen just when we’re promoting your new release; we can create contests to continue drawing attention to an existing release.

We’ve done everything from simple giveaways to elaborate “flyaway” sweepstakes. Prizes can be small or large: autographed CDs, “superfan” packs (CDs, t-shirts, hat, swag, etc.). Any idea is a good one, and we’d love to hear yours.

Driving Sales Through Relationships

Some of our most effective promotional efforts involve getting likeminded fans together. If you’re tight with other artists, clubs, venues, ‘zines, blogs or publications, we can find a way to work with them.

We always have our eyes open for contest partners, concert sponsorships, promotional partners in “lifestyle markets,” or cross-promotion with another artist’s fans. If you have these kinds of connections, talk to us and we’ll work out an appropriate way to make it work for everybody.

It’s your music — be the first to offer it to your fans! By running your own online store you not only make a larger profit margin but also get the opportunity to build direct relationships with your fans by offering them access and content not available from any retailer. New album pre-orders boost your first week Soundscan numbers and allow you to data-mine your sales for demographic information.

We can also create subscriptions to anything from a monthly digital single to a series of limited edition t-shirts. Fans pay upfront to get exclusive products periodically sent to them. You get the capital before you manufacture the product and make only as many as you need!

Beyond the Album - Merch

Any swag you’ve got can be sold in your web shop, used for contests, or as giveaways for preorder customers: t-shirts, buttons, posters, hats, stickers — hell, we’ve got panties and wrestling masks for sale.

If we are selling your disc to people, why not give those folks the same opportunity to add a t-shirt to their order? This can be a great way to increase your merch sales.

Beyond the Album - Bonus Music

Nothing makes loyal fans frequent online visitors like a regular stream of new music. Now hear this: Anything you’ve got (as long as it’s original), we will find a way to use unreleased studio tracks, live tracks, acoustic versions, demo versions, late-night four-track noodling - we’ll even take your spoken-word poetry. Of course we’ll discuss it with you first, but there are so many ways we can use additional material to excite your fans and the music press:

• Bonus tracks to encourage people to pre-order your latest release
• Exclusive tracks for sale or giveaway
• Private tracks that can only be unlocked with a code
• Special tracks to give just to your loyal fans

Seriously, there’s nothing that helps us promote your music better than having additional material. It doesn’t have to be perfect or even mastered. We only need MP3s.