Christian P. Pewitt Blogs: October 2018

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Mortgage rates today, October 31, 2018, plus lock recommendations

Mortgage rates today are driven by movements in financial markets worldwide. When the economy heats up, bond price drop, and rates increase. When the economy pulls back, interest rates tend to fall.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2yGhx8r

Do you need good credit to buy a home?

When deciding whether to own a condo or house, it's important to look at the advantages and drawbacks to each. Examine your lifestlye and goals to make a great decision.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2OhAfZb

Down payments get more affordable — especially in these states

Struggling to save for a down payment? You might be in luck, According to new data, average down payment are decreasing across the country — particularly in the South.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2qkgvur

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Mortgage rates today, October 30, 2018, plus lock recommendations

The most common HOA complaints (and who’s doing the complaining!)

Moving to a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association? Then pay close attention to your music, pets and lawn. According to a new survey, these are some of HOAs’ most complained-about issues, regardless of location.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2DbGDjz

Monday, October 29, 2018

Mortgage rates today, October 29, 2018, plus lock recommendations

What’s a Form 4506-T and why does my lender require it?

Why does your lender require a Form 4506-T? To verify your income. However, not all lenders or programs do. And you can protect your information by completing the form completely.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2PrA41X

Stuck in the rent vs buy dilemma? Consider the local price-to-rent ratio

If you’re debating whether to rent or buy, look to your local price-to-rent ratio for guidance. A recent analysis revealed which of the nation's housing markets boast the lowest ratios — thus favoring buying over renting — as well as the spots where renting might be more affordable in the long run.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2zaHKf6

Sunday, October 28, 2018

What happens after I accept the buyer’s offer?

You've had your home on the market and you have decided to accept the buyer's offer. But what happens next?

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2Jlwm4K

Friday, October 26, 2018

Mortgage rates today, October 26, 2018, plus lock recommendations

What luxury home buyers are looking for (and how much they want to spend to get it)

More than a third of high net worth individuals think real estate is the most obvious sign of wealth. But what exactly are these buyers looking for in their properties? A new study breaks it down.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2RmvjnZ

How do I receive an offer?

How do you receive an offer when selling a home? It depends on who it comes from and who's presenting it.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2OORMx9

Thursday, October 25, 2018

November 2018 mortgage rates forecast (FHA, VA, USDA, Conventional)

November 2018 will be an important month for mortgage rates. All factors point to rates trending higher, but that provides opportunity. Home prices are dropping amidst higher rates, and lenders are desperate for business -- ready to offer you the lowest rate possible.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2z4PXBv

Mortgage rates today, October 25, 2018, plus lock recommendations

What’s the best time of year to sell a home?

What's the best time of year to sell a home? Usually, in the spring. But not always, and here's why.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2O5agUx

Homeowners rack up $141 billion in credit card debt for renovations

Americans might have more home equity than ever before, but most aren’t tapping it to fund renovations. For those costs? Many homeowners are turning to credit cards instead, spending more than $141 billion on home improvement costs just last year.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2yAosAb

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

When to Replace Your Golf Shoes

Think about your latest pair of workout shoes. Running shoes. Favorite sneakers. You probably replace them relatively frequently! After a year or two of solid use, sneakers tend to deteriorate. The soles aren’t as comfortable.... Read more

The post When to Replace Your Golf Shoes appeared first on American Golf Blog.

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Mortgage rates today, October 24, 2018, plus lock recommendations

Should I buy a condo or a house?

How student loan debt hurts Millennial home buyers

It’s no secret that crippling student loan debt keeps many Millennials from buying a home. But according to new data, Millennials with student loan debt aren’t just less likely to own a home. When they do buy? They face more expensive mortgage loans and lower home values, too.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2AprDfr

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

HARP replacement: New underwater refinance applications start November 2018

As the popular HARP program ends, FHFA will roll out a new program that will give more underwater homeowners the chance to refinance.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2tzUICU

Mortgage rates today, October 23, 2018, plus lock recommendations

New ranking: Where borrowers can save the most by mortgage rate shopping

Buying a home in Cincinnati? Then make sure to shop around for your mortgage rate. According to a new analysis, it could save you nearly $24,000.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2q89nBg

How to analyze offers

When selling your home, you'll have to weigh offers from prospective buyers. How do you analyze offers and choose the best one? Find out here.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2R8DFzf

Monday, October 22, 2018

Live in your own rental building and call it a primary residence

Owning a rental building and living in it can be an excellent way to save money on your mortgage, while building home equity for your future. How to do it.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2urZpfx

Mortgage rates today, October 22, 2018, plus lock recommendations

Selling a home: closing day and funding

If you're selling a home, closing day is a big deal. How it goes depends on if your buyer has a mortgage, the state in which the property is located, and the lender policies.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2Sb1Wpw

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Should I make repairs when selling if requested by the buyer?

Should you make repairs when selling your home if the buyer asks you to? It depends on your contract, what you can afford, and how good the offer is.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2Cw1PzA

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Buying again after selling: documents you’ll need

When you apply for a mortgage, there's a lot of paperwork involved and hoops to hop through. This checklist puts it together for you.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2yTdkgX

Friday, October 19, 2018

Mortgage rates today, October 19, 2018, plus lock recommendations

Moving to your new home: When should you schedule the move?

Moving to your new home was easier when you had college friends, pizza, and just a few carloads of personal items. Now you have a family, pets, furniture that does not involve crates and concrete blocks. And a mortgage. So consider this list before scheduling moving day.

from Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports https://ift.tt/2yQU7MT

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Music's $20M A Month Man: Spotify's Daniel Ek Shows Tim Westergren How It’s Done

The industry gave a collective gasp of horror when founder Tim Westergren was pulling down $1,000,000 by selling of Pandora stock while simultaneously fighting artists with royalty loopholes. Chris Castle writes that Spotify's Daniel Ek is leaving Westergren in the financial dust with a monthly windfall of $20 million.

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Guest post by Chris Castle from Music Technology Policy

Remember when we were all appalled that Pandora founder Tim Westergren was making $1,000,000 a month from selling Pandora stock while he was behind fighting songwriters in rate court for ASCAP and BMI royalties and stiffing artists with the Internet Radio Fairness Act and refusing to pay pre-72 artists? And then there was the 13 bathroom house in Marin. It was all a bit hard to stomach.

According to Jem Aswad in Variety, Daniel Ek is putting Westergren in the rear view mirror for sheer excess. Based on SEC filings made available to a Swedish publication (probably SEC Form 4):

….Ek sold 336,213 shares $61.7 million worth of stock between July and September, and late last month signaled his intent to sell another $69.9 million sold in July–September for a total of $61.7 million.

So a little over $20 million a month, and it appears that when added to the shares he already sold and will sell, Ek should gross more than all the songwriter class action settlements combined.

“Daniel will sell a small share of Spotify shares in the next nine months as part of his long-term financial strategy. This sale of shares will constitute a minimal part of his holding in the company,” Spotify rep Sofie Grant told the [Swedish] paper. Ek and Lorentzon declined comment.

Of course, it remains to be seen how Spotify does with the several individual infringement lawsuits in Nashville and the Wixen Music Publishing lawsuit in Los Angeles. (Spotify recently lost a motion to dismiss against Bluewater Music represented by attorney Richard Busch, see Order Denying Motion To Dismiss For Lack Of Standing And Failure To State A Claim, Sept. 29, 2018, Bluewater Music Services Corporation, Inc. v. Spotify USA Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-01051 (D.C. W.D. Tenn.) (2017), which also happens to be a great lesson in copyright law by the judge.)

So – Mr. Ek could spend his money on building an effective licensing operation, but….nah….Sounds like Mr. Ek is a man in need of yet another safe harbor, right?

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Spotify + DistroKid On Road To A Two Sided Marketplace

With news that Spotify had invested in DistroKid and offer it as a distribution conduit to other music services, came speculation as to the music streamer's greater motives. MIDiA analyst Mark Mulligan sees the move as part of Spotify’s strategy to work way up music's value chain by "a) removing some of the distribution component and b) entering into direct relationships with artists." But how will the record labels react?

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By Mark Mulligan of MIDiA and the Music Industry blog

Spotify has taken a minority stake in DistroKid. In itself, it may be a slightly left field but relatively insignificant move, except that it is in fact one small but important step on a much bigger journey. Back in September, Spotify announced that it was enabling artists to upload their music directly to Spotify, simultaneously aggravating record labels, distributors, DIY platforms and Soundcloud all in one fell swoop. This raised an intriguing possibility of a ‘coalition of the willing’ forming against Spotify from slighted partners and competitors. But that’s another blog post. Right now, though, DistroKid’s role in this performance is as an enabler for Spotify in its path to becoming a next generation label / creating a two-sided marketplace (delete as appropriate depending on how all this affects your business).

Bringing efficiencies into the supply chain

Spotify’s DistroKid deal will enable Spotify’s direct artists to “seamlessly distribute their music to other platforms through DistroKid”.So, instead of putting all their streaming eggs in one basket, Spotify’s direct artists now get to stream their music on Apple, Amazon, Deezer and the rest too. What wasn’t made clear in the announcement is whether Spotify will have visibility of the streaming data from those other platforms and / or whether the revenue will be recognised as Spotify revenue and then distributed to its artists. If these statements were to be the case, then Spotify’s competitors would be feeding it data and revenue…

UPDATE: A Spotify spokesperson clarified that “Spotify has no rights to see data from other digital service providers and DistroKid will not share confidential information.”

Why this relatively small announcement matters, is that it is another piece of Spotify’s strategy of shifting its way up the value chain by a) removing some of the distribution component and b) entering into direct relationships with artists. It’s what west coast tech firms call ‘bring efficiencies into the supply chain’. If it all works, Spotify will get more margin, artists will get more margin, but middle players (labels, distributors etc.) will get squeezed.

Treading a subtler path

This is how Spotify can edge quietly towards becoming a record label without going nuclear from the get go. It is a strategy we predicted by in April ahead of Spotify’s DPO:

“As much as the whole world appears to be saying Spotify needs to do a Netflix (and it probably does) it just can’t, not yet at least. In TV, rights are so fragmented that Netflix can have Disney and Fox pull their content and it’d still be a fast growing business. If UMG pulled its content from Spotify, the latter would be dead in the water. So, Spotify will take a subtler path to ‘doing a Netflix’, first by ‘doing a Soundcloud’ i.e. becoming a direct platform for artists and then switching on monetisation etc.”.

The challenge for Spotify is whether it can execute on the strategy quickly enough to excite investors (and thus drive up the share price), but slowly enough to keep record labels on board…so that when they realise where things are heading then it is too late for them to do anything about it.

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YouTube, Eventbrite Partner For Direct Concert Ticketing

YouTube and Eventbrite have partnered to expand direct concert ticketing on the video platform. Combined with its existing Ticketmaster partnership, YouTube now says it covers more than 70% of the US ticketing market.

Starting today, fans watching videos on YouTube Official Artist Channels will see Eventbrite listings for live music performances in the U.S. below each video. A “Tickets” button enables purchase directly from Eventbrite.

Big Potential Upside For Artists

With more than 1 billion monthly users, YouTube’s global audience is a major destination for music discovery. 26% of Millenials and 44% of teens say they already discover live music events on YouTube, according to Nielsen.

So today's partnership should offer a boost to d.i.y. and independent artists and venues who use Eventbrite for ticketing. Live events continue to be a major source of revenue for artists, as much as 65% -85%.

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Sonic Branding: What Is It?

'Sonic Logos' may most commonly be associated with text notifications, and the turning on of computers, but the reality that this kind of audio branding is prevelent throughout almost every commercial industry. Here we scrutinize what exactly sonic branding is, and how it's been used successfully in the past.

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Guest post by Evan Zwisler of Soundfly's Flypaper

Have you ever thought about why your text message notification sounds the way it does? Companies like Apple and Samsung spend huge amounts of money and time making sure that the sounds you associate with their products — be they message notifications or the sound your computer makes when it powers on — make you want to use these products even more.

But it’s not just for tech applications, sound identities pop up in “sonic logos,” advertising [jingles], sonic design motifs, and even playlists, as ways for companies of all kinds to connect on a deeper, emotional level with their customer base. And brands pay good money for artists to create these sounds! If you’re able to create electronic sounds and plenty of them, it’s not a bad idea to start building a portfolio and pitching to agencies.

I sat down with audio branding expert Mikey Ballou, who co-runs the digital creative agency Apostrophe 3, to find out more about why a musician like me might be interested exploring this territory.

But, first, a definition.

What Is Sonic Branding?

Ballou shares his definition: “Sonic branding is the strategic use of music and sound to help reinforce brand recognition and enhance the consumer experience.” Think about the Microsoft Windows startup sound (famously designed by Brian Eno) or the XBox’s sound logo below. They’re not jingles or songs at all — they’re small, powerful pieces of sound that are associated closely and identifiably with that brand’s values.

“Developing strategy based around sound helps to influence the relationship a customer has with a brand, and keeps the customer engaged,” he explains further.

“Consider the idea that every customer will have a multi-sensory experience when they buy — they see, they touch, they smell, and sometimes they taste. The listening component (when combined with the other senses), will ideally evoke new memories and feelings for the customer.”

Sound also contextualizes a brand’s message.

Think about how the music and sound that accompany Darth Vader in Star Warsimmediately tell you a story (a story within a story) about how to feel about the character. Sonic branding is often a huge part of a company’s promotional strategy, because the power of music and sound transcends language. It communicates via emotion and feeling, as opposed to the way that image and text serve to convey factual information; so sound can often be more enduring than a visual image.

Practically speaking, if you’re hired to work on a company’s sonic brand, you’ll need to be able to take the vague concepts central to that brand’s values and translate those into musical qualities. It may only be 3 or 4 notes, or a particular chord that resonates with the average listener, or it could even be nested primarily in the timbral identity of the track. (We can help with some of that, too!)

You may have to be able to provide a number of stylistic versions of your track, as well, like a samba or trap or polka version, and you may be asked to write something that emulates a specific artist, if asked. Often, the finished product will be a collection of clips and motifs that can be used throughout an ad campaign to express the dynamic boundaries of the campaign.

Ballou describes his own process as such:

“Usually an agency will provide a creative brief of what a client will want, and a composer will accommodate it as best as they can. If I develop a brief myself, I research the brand history, consumer demographics, and the geographical territories where the brand has its strongest influence, and overall goals of the campaign.”

Sonic Logos

A sonic logo often lies at the heart of a sound branding campaign. A sonic logo is the audio cue used by a company, TV show, radio network, etc., to leave a customer with a particular impression after the content spot ends, as well as strengthen that customer’s connection to their product in some way.

The best ones are designed to be instantly recognizable, without question as to what that music represents. Logos often will not change for decades, unless they’re either very unsuccessful or the company is rebranding its image and message and needs something new to build buzz and create new associations (keep reading for how McDonald’s accomplished this through music and sound).

Here are some of the most popular sonic logos, which, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should be able to recognize in your sleep.

HBO’s “Ahh” evokes lots of “TV sounds.” The static and the click that triggers the ahhsound is particularly clever.

NBC’s “Chime” logo is elegant in its simplicity. It’s just three notes which makes it easy to remember and impossible to miss. And it’s a classic example of the major sixth interval too!

Coca-Cola’s “Taste the Feeling” logo was developed so people could sing “taste the feeling” along with the jingle. Their previous sonic logo didn’t do that.

Columbia Pictures’ “Intro Logo” evokes feelings of magical whimsy and it builds to a frenetic climax that makes me feel as if whatever I’m about to see is going to make me feel good.

Branding Through Playlists

Sonic branding goes beyond short examples of sound design, music curation can also be an important part of the sonic branding process. Think about how different the music is in an Abercrombie & Fitch store compared with a Sur la Table or a Hot Topic. Ballou is particularly sensitive to this as both a consumer and someone who works in the industry, himself:

“On several occasions, I have walked out of a retail store because the music playing in the background wasn’t consistent at all with what I wanted to buy that day.”

But if you’re not walking in and out of stores in ever-diminishing malls all that often, where else can you find examples of curated musical experiences? Spotify! Companies have now started making playlists to coincide with other types of content, marketing campaigns, new product launches, or just for general brand engagement.

Naturally, Pixar does a great job using playlists to market their movies. Ms. Squibbles from Monsters University has her own playlist, even though she was only briefly in the movie, because she’s seen head-banging to metal. Pixar has playlists for a variety of their characters to help audiences better connect with their brand and create deeper connections to the characters… and so they can sell merchandise related to these identifications.

Victoria’s Secret has used playlist creation on Spotify as a tool, as well, capitalizing on the obsessive, almost cultish popularity of their runway fashion shows. Their “Rock the Runway: From the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (2001-2017)” playlist oozes with sex appeal and confidence, and will give any listener the sense that they themselves are the runway model. And every model deserves to be outfitted by Victoria’s Secret, so…

Even Carnival Cruise Lines has gotten into the playlist game on Spotify. Theirs are full of fun and family-friendly summer songs. Their Spotify campaign has only attracted approximately 2,000 followers to the branded playlist to date, but it serves to communicate the experience of being out on the ocean on vacation on one of their trips. Apparently the average listener engagement was about 20 minutes per session. Not bad, especially when you consider that on average a TV commercial only lasts about 30-60 seconds.

Here’s one that just makes sense. Hair product brand Herbal Essences released a playlist of “songs to sing in the shower.”

One bonus of using playlists for branding purposes is that, while an artist has the right to contact a company and ask that they not use their music, tracks do not have to be licensed or granted use permission when added to a playlist on Spotify.

Ad Music Done Right

Coca-Cola’s “Taste the Feeling” campaign is a brilliant example of sonic branding that takes many different aspects of their customer’s experience into account. The company’s previous major campaign (involving yet another redesign of the bottle itself), “Open Happiness,” was based around a bunch of different songs being played and tagged with the slogan “Open Happiness.”

This was successful in a few ways, primarily in creating a social aspect to their core product. But it didn’t allow consumers to sing along with the theme, something that creates internal connection and forges a personal relationship. The music was basically an afterthought.

Sound design has always been a big part of marketing products like Coca-Cola. We’ve been hearing sound effects like bubbles and sizzles and liquid pouring slowly to trigger thirst for years, so this, of course, was going to be used in Coke’s “refreshing” new campaign. But part of the reason this new campaign felt so successful was that the transitions between the entire sound design process, from opening the bottle, to pouring over ice, to drinking and expressing the sound of refreshment, “aaaah,” were so seamlessly blended with a singable melody.

It’s a holistic approach to their audio brand. And it didn’t hurt that that particular five-note melody was super catchy and instantly recognizable, just like another notable theme…

The McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” sonic logo is another super successful five-note melody, which has some insane history (the video below is well worth your 6 minutes)!

Because this McDonald’s campaign has been so longstanding, and so global, this one is a great example of how different global cultures require different melodic, vocal, and instrumental choices when branding in the country in question. Every culture is, indeed, different and certain advertising norms and techniques simply don’t translate to other audiences. Here’s a compilation of Japanese versions of the “I’m Loving It” logo, for example.

Finally, Avon has also leveraged sonic branding to help their customers make stronger connections to their product. Avon was one of the first brands to use sonic branding with their “Ding, Dong, Avon calling!” marketing campaign back in the 1950s. Lately, the brand has started releasing tons of online content, capitalizing on a strategy they implemented early on, in which they strive to look beyond “their visual identity to keep their communications consistent around the world.”

They still use the iconic “ding dong” sound in their sonic logo, to evoke both the past (always popular) and the notion of building neighborly community through their product, and then use a woman’s voice to sing “Avon.” This is a sonic logo that is both “modular and flexible,” which means they can use it across multiple platforms, and it has proven very effective — which is part of the reason they’ve expanded the short logo into a full song recorded in a bunch of different languages.

If you’re an artist wanting to try your hand at sonic branding and logo creation, start building a sound portfolio to eventually pitch to clients and agencies. There are also tons of online competitions popping up that you can enter to see if you have a knack for this type of thing.

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The S.T.A.G.E.S. Of Email Marketing [Part 2]

In this second part of a two-part series on the break down of the ins and outs of email marketing, Cheryl B. Engelhardt looks at the four elements of strategy and how they can be implemented in your approach to email marketing.

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Guest post by Cheryl B. Engelhardt from the TuneCore Blog

This is the second volume in a multi-part series by Cheryl B. Engelhardt, singer/songwriter, composer, and the owner of the music career consultation site In The Key of Success. Cheryl will be breaking down the key S.T.A.G.E.S. of email marketing for independent artists – we invite you to follow along over the next few weeks, as we’re sure you’ll be walking away with some hugely helpful tips for your email marketing strategy! Click here to check out Part 1.

“Strategy” can be an intimidating word. Some people think of it as a business plan with lots of fancy graphs and projections into the future. Others think of “strategy” as a way to manipulate the people and world around you to get something you want. And there are those who think that a strategy means commitment, therefore it is a word of terror.

Hey musicians, I’m talking to you when I say this: Strategy can mean all of those things, but when it comes to our careers, and specifically our email lists, strategy is simple and means this: we have a plan and we know why.

In other words, a strategy is being intentional with what actions you take.

You’re going to do stuff to move your career forward. You might as well do stuff that will make a difference. If you are doing what you think you should do, or what you’ve seen other musicians doing, then you’re guessing. If you’re trying stuff out and seeing what works, then you’re guessing.

When you’re intentional, it means you know what you want and you’re clear on what you need to do to get it.

THE 4 ELEMENTS OF A STRATEGY

Clarity on your goals. Your subscribers need to know what you want. If you don’t tell them what you need for your career, they’re not going to know how to be a great fan for you. So they’ll start guessing. And you definitely won’t get any of the results you actually want. Take my friend Jamie Kent. All he wanted was to be the first indie country artist to chart on Billboard when he released his record. For 6 months leading up to the release, all he talked about online, at his shows, and yes, in his emails to his fans, was how COOL it would be to make this happen. Everyone was on board and pre-ordered his record on iTunes. And guess what? He did it. His record debuted at #16 on the Billboard Top Country charts. (Hear Jamie talk about this experience on my podcast Key Conversations, episode 207.)

A content plan. You will be waaaaaaay less stressed out about sending emails to your list if you know what you need to write for each email series. What this means is figuring out how to automate your email series. (In other words, write them ahead of time, and send them out weekly or bi-weekly, based on where the subscriber is in their journey with you. For example, if a subscribe just signed up, you’d send them a series of four emails I like to call a Commencement series, or a welcome series. The intention of this series is to turn this person from a subscriber to a fan through sharing your best content and setting them up for what to expect as a subscriber.) If automating is a scary word for you, I’d strongly suggest taking a look at my Rock Your Email List course to get it all handled with ease.

A timeline. Part of having an effective strategy is putting milestones in place so that the results you want are not “Oh, someday I’ll do X.” When you have a strategy and a corresponding timeline, you’ll be able to see what worked and what didn’t work. (The idea is to do more of what worked, and less of what didn’t work.) If you don’t give yourself deadlines, you can perpetually be “working on” something and never stop to say “did we do it?” Without a timeline, you’re talking about someday. When you have a deadline, you’re able to get even more specific. For example, “I will have 100 new email subscribers by the end of the month” is much more clear and powerful than “I want more fans on my list.” You can go and take specific actions to get 100 new subscribers. Do you want to make a certain number of CD sales in a given amount of time? Work backwards and figure out how many sales per email you make, and then craft a series of emails (I call a “Rise” series) to specifically sell your record to your fans. (Note, not all of your series are sales series, and I recommend switching up selling with “nurturing” your list. I’ll talk more about this in a future article!)

Purpose. You want to have an overall idea of why you have an email list. If all you can come up with is “well, I should have one, right?” then I’d suggest sitting down and figuring out why it’s important to you. Specifically, how can you use your list to engage with your fans in a meaningful way? What would having a relationship with your subscribers mean for your career? What would change if you fostered care and put positive energy into the list?

If you can input these four elements of a strategy into your email list management, your subscribers will start to feel your clarity and purpose, plus gain insights into who you are. The more they can see you, the more likely the are to feel like they know you. This will have them stick around for the long-haul.

If you want to dig in deeper, watch this on-demand live training that goes through all the stages of email including strategy.

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