| Another Great Marketing Dog Article Topic: The Kick Ass Press Release Part 1 by Slash Coleman |
Why Press?
Before you sit down to even write a press release, I suggest you take a good hard look at why you
think you need press and what you are expecting to get from your press. This is what would be in
the marketing section of your business plan or project plan if you have one. My guess is that you
don’t, as most artists don’t, which is good and bad. There are plenty of successful people out there
who have accomplished a great deal without a business plan or a college degree. My Uncle runs
a million dollar business and he never went to college and he’s a disorganized mess. He laughs
when you mention a business plan. But honestly, he probably has to work ten times as hard as
someone that has a plan in place.
In my estimation, if you are failing to plan…you are planning to fail. (Artists, read that last
sentence over and over and over again, until it’s a memorized mantra). If you don’t have a plan for
your event or for the artwork or product that you're selling, you're setting yourself up for a major
disappoint. How will you even know if you're successful if you don't have some way to measure
your success? Do you want 300 peope to show up at your event? Do you want to sell 4 paintings?
Fail is a Four Letter Word
I mention this because if you do a lot of work toward getting press and you don’t see immediate
results you’re going to end up feeling like a piece of shit. It’s true. I can’t tell you how many artists
I’ve consulted with, (myself included, in the early days of my career), who have written a crappy
press release, sent it out and then got discouraged because nothing came of it. In fact, I can’t tell
you the number of artists who have created a web site and then sat back and waited for the checks
and the publicity and the fame and fortune to arrive. You will only hear opportunity knock if you
build a door that it can knock on.
If you’re one of the impatient sorts and you just want your press without any sort of plan in
place…well, I think you’re just plain stupid….and you’re going to fail. As an artist you are probably
a sensitive sort to begin with, with a fragile ego indelibly linked to the success or failures of your
projects. If you don’t have a plan for what you want to achieve with your press release then how
will you know if you’ve even reached your own measure of success? You won’t….and
unfortunately, you’ll keep struggling along in the abyss, unsure of where your career is going or
how to get to that place where you feel you’ve finally “made it.” Setting goals and having a plan
for what you want to happen because of your press release will help you meet your goals and
continue to move onto the next level of your career.
Truth is a 5 letter word
Here are some truths about a press release. A press release informs the press in an objective
manner about an event you are involved in and when, where, and who is involved.
A successful press release doesn’t always have to end in press coverage. In fact, some of my
biggest and most important press coverage has been the result of over a year of press releasing to
the same media source. Some newspapers and freelance writers will use the press releases that
you send to follow your career and it will help them brainstorm an eventual angle for your story
and how it may fit best with their publication. When I made the cover of Style Weekly, it took
them almost a year to figure out an angle of how to best fit me into their publication. If I had let
the fact that my first 20 press releases to them didn’t end in coverage effect me, I might have quit
sending them in, not knowing that something bigger and better was looming in my future.
Whether a successful press release ends in a cover story, a front page article or even a small
article, know that it won’t affect ticket sales for your event in the short term. I repeat - an article in
a newspaper generally won’t pack your venue! So, before you spend a lot of time trying to
generate press for yourself, consider that last sentence. Newspaper articles and stories that appear
on the six o’clock news will give you exposure and build your credibility as an artist, period. These
things will help your career three years down the road more than they’ll help you in any way today
or even six months from now.
Set Your Sights Locally
In my business plan, one of my goals for 2006 was to have local and regional press exposure at
least once a month during the first year of my new show. Most big businesses pay their marketing
department to make sure their business name stays in the media 3-4 times a month on a national
level. So, compared to that, my plan is a bit reserved. If you check out my news coverage page,
you’ll see that I was able to, for the most part, achieve that goal. All this press, though in a certain
sense, didn’t affect ticket sales at events or my attendance rates. (Ticket sales and attendance
rates come about through person-to-person contracts.
How to “do it”
In my plan, I wrote down a list of which local media sources I wanted to receive coverage from.
After that, I did more than just send out my pres release and wait. As I said before, if you’re looking
to do things this way, you’re setting yourself up for major disappointment. The question at the end
of the day is, “Can you really afford to bruise your fragile ego for so little return?” (Read The Kick
ass Press Release: 2 for more on this)
I also made sure, to the best of my ability, that the people in the know knew who I was. I attended
events where I could either meet the editors themselves, meet freelance writers or meet people
that might know these types. Even asking friends if they know anyone “in the know” can help.
In one instance, I made an inquiry with the local newspaper to see if they could sponsor my event
– in other words give me free advertising. Although I was talking with someone in the advertising
department, when I told her about my show, she was so taken by my story that she talked it up
around the office and through the networking grapevine; I was soon connected to one of the top
writers. I didn’t get sponsorship, but I got a few future ticket sales and an article out of the deal,
which lead to my first bit of national media.
Since meeting my local press goals, I’m now onto the portion of my marketing plan that includes
coverage in the national media, I know that I meeting my regional and local media goals is going
to help me immensely as I set my sites on the big leagues – we’re talking People Magazine, O
Magazine, The Jay Leno show, CNN. I’m already finding that some of the small fish in the small
pond talk to the big fish in the big pond and even though all of them don’t, I know having a
stringer full of small fish looks good when you set your sites on the big fish. Some national media
calls are now just know starting to drizzle in. Although it hasn't happened yet, I've showed up on
the radar of Rolling Stone and The Washington Post. As I meet my national media goals, I’ll keep
you updated and write an article that can help.
Before you sit down to even write a press release, I suggest you take a good hard look at why you
think you need press and what you are expecting to get from your press. This is what would be in
the marketing section of your business plan or project plan if you have one. My guess is that you
don’t, as most artists don’t, which is good and bad. There are plenty of successful people out there
who have accomplished a great deal without a business plan or a college degree. My Uncle runs
a million dollar business and he never went to college and he’s a disorganized mess. He laughs
when you mention a business plan. But honestly, he probably has to work ten times as hard as
someone that has a plan in place.
In my estimation, if you are failing to plan…you are planning to fail. (Artists, read that last
sentence over and over and over again, until it’s a memorized mantra). If you don’t have a plan for
your event or for the artwork or product that you're selling, you're setting yourself up for a major
disappoint. How will you even know if you're successful if you don't have some way to measure
your success? Do you want 300 peope to show up at your event? Do you want to sell 4 paintings?
Fail is a Four Letter Word
I mention this because if you do a lot of work toward getting press and you don’t see immediate
results you’re going to end up feeling like a piece of shit. It’s true. I can’t tell you how many artists
I’ve consulted with, (myself included, in the early days of my career), who have written a crappy
press release, sent it out and then got discouraged because nothing came of it. In fact, I can’t tell
you the number of artists who have created a web site and then sat back and waited for the checks
and the publicity and the fame and fortune to arrive. You will only hear opportunity knock if you
build a door that it can knock on.
If you’re one of the impatient sorts and you just want your press without any sort of plan in
place…well, I think you’re just plain stupid….and you’re going to fail. As an artist you are probably
a sensitive sort to begin with, with a fragile ego indelibly linked to the success or failures of your
projects. If you don’t have a plan for what you want to achieve with your press release then how
will you know if you’ve even reached your own measure of success? You won’t….and
unfortunately, you’ll keep struggling along in the abyss, unsure of where your career is going or
how to get to that place where you feel you’ve finally “made it.” Setting goals and having a plan
for what you want to happen because of your press release will help you meet your goals and
continue to move onto the next level of your career.
Truth is a 5 letter word
Here are some truths about a press release. A press release informs the press in an objective
manner about an event you are involved in and when, where, and who is involved.
A successful press release doesn’t always have to end in press coverage. In fact, some of my
biggest and most important press coverage has been the result of over a year of press releasing to
the same media source. Some newspapers and freelance writers will use the press releases that
you send to follow your career and it will help them brainstorm an eventual angle for your story
and how it may fit best with their publication. When I made the cover of Style Weekly, it took
them almost a year to figure out an angle of how to best fit me into their publication. If I had let
the fact that my first 20 press releases to them didn’t end in coverage effect me, I might have quit
sending them in, not knowing that something bigger and better was looming in my future.
Whether a successful press release ends in a cover story, a front page article or even a small
article, know that it won’t affect ticket sales for your event in the short term. I repeat - an article in
a newspaper generally won’t pack your venue! So, before you spend a lot of time trying to
generate press for yourself, consider that last sentence. Newspaper articles and stories that appear
on the six o’clock news will give you exposure and build your credibility as an artist, period. These
things will help your career three years down the road more than they’ll help you in any way today
or even six months from now.
Set Your Sights Locally
In my business plan, one of my goals for 2006 was to have local and regional press exposure at
least once a month during the first year of my new show. Most big businesses pay their marketing
department to make sure their business name stays in the media 3-4 times a month on a national
level. So, compared to that, my plan is a bit reserved. If you check out my news coverage page,
you’ll see that I was able to, for the most part, achieve that goal. All this press, though in a certain
sense, didn’t affect ticket sales at events or my attendance rates. (Ticket sales and attendance
rates come about through person-to-person contracts.
How to “do it”
In my plan, I wrote down a list of which local media sources I wanted to receive coverage from.
After that, I did more than just send out my pres release and wait. As I said before, if you’re looking
to do things this way, you’re setting yourself up for major disappointment. The question at the end
of the day is, “Can you really afford to bruise your fragile ego for so little return?” (Read The Kick
ass Press Release: 2 for more on this)
I also made sure, to the best of my ability, that the people in the know knew who I was. I attended
events where I could either meet the editors themselves, meet freelance writers or meet people
that might know these types. Even asking friends if they know anyone “in the know” can help.
In one instance, I made an inquiry with the local newspaper to see if they could sponsor my event
– in other words give me free advertising. Although I was talking with someone in the advertising
department, when I told her about my show, she was so taken by my story that she talked it up
around the office and through the networking grapevine; I was soon connected to one of the top
writers. I didn’t get sponsorship, but I got a few future ticket sales and an article out of the deal,
which lead to my first bit of national media.
Since meeting my local press goals, I’m now onto the portion of my marketing plan that includes
coverage in the national media, I know that I meeting my regional and local media goals is going
to help me immensely as I set my sites on the big leagues – we’re talking People Magazine, O
Magazine, The Jay Leno show, CNN. I’m already finding that some of the small fish in the small
pond talk to the big fish in the big pond and even though all of them don’t, I know having a
stringer full of small fish looks good when you set your sites on the big fish. Some national media
calls are now just know starting to drizzle in. Although it hasn't happened yet, I've showed up on
the radar of Rolling Stone and The Washington Post. As I meet my national media goals, I’ll keep
you updated and write an article that can help.
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If you feel like you've been
spinning your wheels with your art
career, this book will give you
practical steps to make changes
that you will see instantly >more
spinning your wheels with your art
career, this book will give you
practical steps to make changes
that you will see instantly >more
| © Slash Coleman 2006 |
