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Imagine you have a new artist release coming up. Or perhaps you’d like to announce a new show or a new merchandise addition to an artist’s shop. How are you going to promote it? The simple approach is to create a post on social media – which involves an element of hope that the algorithm pushes your content in front of enough fans’ eyes. Depending on your strategy, it might be preferable to send a message directly and simultaneously to fans across multiple platforms. This is the system Laylo is aiming to build.
Launched in 2021, Laylo is a messaging and CRM platform which, it says, is currently used by 20,000 creators and brands. It allows artists and their teams to notify fans about various ‘drops’ – such as content releases, merch and events. The platform powers the releases in two ways: firstly, by providing landing pages, messaging ecosystems, and link tracking; and secondly by sending notifications to fans directly the second the content drops. This helps creators build a direct relationship with their audience – and provides fans with an experience which hopefully will drive more sales and streams.
Artists that have used the platform include Flume and Odesza, who used it to sell tickets for their global tours; Kodak Black, who used it, Laylo says, to drive millions of streams; Calvin Harris announced and sold collectibles; and Celina Spookyboo announced her merch line, which sold out minutes after launch.
The company has multiple partners, including Apple, Universal Music, Sony Music, SoundCloud, CD Baby, and more – to build on fan engagement and offer their tools to creators globally.
There are two different account types – creator and enterprise. The enterprise account allows the management of creator accounts and adding of other team members. To personalise the artist’s account, the team can customise the URL – and fans can click this public link to join the artist’s list anytime, even if they don’t have a drop to announce. This link can be promoted on social media in bios, on Instagram stories (as a sticker), and more, and it can be embedded into artists’ smart links, too. The sign-up form can also be embedded on the artist’s website or work as a pop-up.
Users can update the artist’s profile picture and add their social links and info. There is an option to claim a custom phone number there as well. In the ‘Fans’ tab, you can import fans’ emails and phone numbers that you’ve already collected elsewhere.
All this fan information can be used to let them know about forthcoming ‘drops’. A drop is an automated event that announces when an artist’s tour, merch, or other content is released. Drop links can be created and personalised to match the artist’s brand in just a couple of minutes.
There is also an option to create a “multidrop” – to allow, for instance, setting up a tour with multiple locations, which may help increase ticket conversions. Fans on the messaging list are notified as soon tickets become available, and when fans open the drop link, the nearest tour stop automatically appears at the top of their page based on their location. If a concert is sold out, a ‘sold out’ message appears near the waitlist sign-up button – a useful way to continue to collect sign-ups, and measure demand by city. What’s also interesting about this feature is that it can be embedded on the artist’s website, so fans’ sign-ups can be collected there too. (Multidrop is currently an invite-only feature – users can email Laylo support to request access.)
Laylo also allows you to message fans via SMS, email, Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger; and fans receive messages on the platform they signed up on. Users can segment fans based on – for example – what drop they signed up for, where in the world they are, which items they have bought from the site (thanks to a Shopify integration) and if they are an NFT/asset holder.
Laylo has a number of web3 integrations. Artist teams are able to build a whitelist on the platform, to collect wallet addresses and contact info ahead of web3 drops. Laylo automatically detects which fans then make a purchase and teams can message them anytime in the future. Another feature here is the gating of drop pages – allowing only NFT/asset owners to join an exclusive messaging list or a drop. Laylo supports Ethereum, Polygon, Binance, and Avalanche NFT chains.
Another interesting feature Laylo offers is the sending of automatic Instagram DMs once the drop launches. To set it up, your artist needs to have an Instagram business account. Once a drop is created, they create a keyword (e.g. RSVP), then post a story asking fans to respond with this keyword. Fans will get a confirmation message followed by the drop once it goes live. This feature can be useful to gather contact information of fans interested in buying pre-sale tour tickets, for instance.
Laylo also allows fans to sign up for “autosaves” directly on drop pages – something which is slightly different to a pre-save. When a fan logins into Spotify via Laylo, the platform stores the fan’s Spotify information, and when the song is out, it loops through every fan and adds the track to their libraries. After fans input their phone number, they auto-follow the artist on Spotify, meaning they are notified about all artist future releases until they opt out.
Creating telephone campaigns requires claiming a dedicated phone number on the platform. It comes with a contact card, allowing fans to save the artist’s number, name, and profile picture to their phones as if they are a “real” contact. Secondly, users can customise the welcome message that fans will receive if they text the artist’s number. Artist teams can respond to SMS messages from fans.
Via a text line, you can, for example, remind fans when new content is live or share important updates and instructions for events and upcoming drops. Laylo can also work with you on phone call campaigns – when a fan can, for example, hear a snippet of a new song after calling the number.
It’s also interesting to see that you can set up Google and social media tracking pixels on Laylo. This will allow you to create remarketing or lookalike audiences of fans who viewed, shared or RSVPed to artist drops for your future ad campaigns.
In the ‘Fans’ tab, teams are able to see analytics and key insights, track conversions, and learn who the artist’s most dedicated fans are. They can also check how many people saw the page and signed up, where in the world they are, when they signed up, and what platforms they came from.
There are three pricing tiers: Basic, Pro and Enterprise. The Basic tier is free and includes unlimited drops, 250 free message credits, CTRs tracking, as well as SMS and email RSVPs. This tier is useful for new creators. The Pro plan costs $25/month and includes all the basic features plus unlimited RSVPs, drop appearance customisation, Instagram DM integration, Facebook/Google/TikTok Pixels, a custom phone number, and on-demand priced messages. Messaging credits cost $10 per 5000 credits, the type of message uses different numbers of credits: an email or a Facebook message uses one credit, an Instagram DM uses three credits, and a contact card uses 15 credits. An SMS in the US and Canada costs five credits per Message Segment and an International SMS costs 25 credits per 160 character Message Segment.
The third plan is the Enterprise plan. This is free – companies pay for their artists’ individual Pro accounts. Enterprise accounts can manage multiple creators, have flexible billing options and get priority support.
In our last year’s Sandbox Campaigns of the Year report, we spotted two other SMS marketing platforms of interest: Community and Superphone. Community allows users to set up a 10 digit phone number. The gathered contacts can be sorted by interests so you can send members content that has the best chances of appealing to them. There is an option to set up keyword responders so members receive automatic messages when they text those keywords. The platform also allows response clustering. The platform automatically groups similar text replies from members into clusters, so you can easily respond to all of them at once. The platform offers sign-up integrations and tools such as QR Codes, Shopify checkout, web pop-ups and more. There is a platform fee and a nominal charge per every message sent.
Superphone allows artists to manage their conversations with fans. There is also an option to set up recurring campaigns where the audience receives recurring text messages on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The platform facilitates 1-to-1 communications as well as provides filtering and segmentation based on geotargeting, product purchases, revenue generated and custom tags. The pricing varies depending on the plan (self-service or enterprise) and can range between $19.99/month to $499+/month for self-starters, and $499+/month to $1500+/month for enterprises.
Laylo empowers a drop marketing strategy, allowing artists to build their contact lists and automatically message fans the minute they drop a new single, merch, tour tickets, activations, giveaways and more. It helps artists build excitement and anticipation, and to develop a relationship between them and their fans. Laylo could be useful for a wide spectrum of campaigns. The sign-up process is easy for fans and the platform provides them with a tailored experience. The automation of the messaging system makes it easy for teams to manage audiences which is especially useful in today’s digital world with the audience scattered across various platforms.
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