| Another Great Marketing Dog Article Topic: Your Press Kit by Slash Coleman |
A press kit is a dynamic reflection of who you are as an artist. Depending on how you create it, it will
either be your friend or foe. It will be the lone delegate in the room interacting with the ones making
decisions about your career, so some thoughtfulness is in order when you’re creating one.
Press Kit Mechanics
You need not spend a lot of money to make an impressive press kit. Content is much more important
here than aesthetics, although design plays an important element in the scheme of things as well. In
the beginning stages of your career, a simple colored two-pocket folder will do fine. Here’s what it
should contain:
What to do with your kit
The first rule, is that the press kit is a dynamic reflection of you and as such it should change as you
change. Replace old reviews with better, new ones. Replace old photos with up-to-date ones.
Secondly, don’t send your press kit out to a bunch of random contacts. It’s a total waste of money. I
suggest you don’t send one until you’ve made some kind of initial contact with a venue or media
source and either they request one or you suggest that you send one.
Press kits can be expensive and if you send them randomly there’s a huge chance they’ll end up in
the circular file. Those guardians of the firewall are inundated with large envelopes. Just ask anyone
who is in charge of booking venues at a club or bar…they always have a load of CD’s and press kits
stacked on their desk.
The best way to approach the media with your press kit is to send a press release first. Follow-up with
a phone call asking if they’ve received your press release and ask them if they’d like you to send a
press kit. You can also ask if they’d rather receive an electronic press kit. If so, ask them if you should
send it in a PDF format or as a word document as these are the two most common formats that the
press use.
For venues, it’s best to work it the same way. E-mail first and ask how they prefer to receive pres kits.
Even if it’s clearly spelled out on their site, this will give a you a reason and a way to make an initial
contact with someone in the abyss. When it comes down to it, it gives you an extra advantage to be
able to address an envelope to someone specific.
Sending your Press Kit & After
Write a short note to the person you’ve contacted on the phone and include it with your press kit. Just
mail it cheap mail. You don’t get any extra points on the other end for sending it priority! Wait about
a week and then follow-up with another phone call to make sure the person received your press kit.
Assumptions
In the words of my old marriage counselor….assumptions will always get you in trouble. Don’t assume
anything when it comes to response time when you are dealing with the press and don’t take anything
personally. Chances are the person on the other end has other deadlines to attend to. In one case, I
had a hot press contact become suddenly cold. When I called, I learned from her assistant that she
was on vacation for the next two weeks.
One other thing
Even when a press contact or a venue contact says “No,” oftentimes it really means, “Not right now.”
It’s important to put your ego and impatience aside and let go of your agenda. Sometimes the press
or even those guarding the gates to venues don’t know you from a hole in the ground. They don’t
know you’re a somebody. You know that saying… “It’s not what you know, but who you know,”….well it
really rings true in certain instances. As your career builds and your string of small articles leads to a
cover story and then the local cover story leads to some national press and so on and so forth…you’ll
find that more and more doors begin to open for you. Sponsors who wouldn’t even contact you when
you were a nobody will call you up. Editors who said, “Absolutely, no,” to you, two or three times will
suddenly say, "Yes." Be patient. Don’t take it personally and keep on trying.
either be your friend or foe. It will be the lone delegate in the room interacting with the ones making
decisions about your career, so some thoughtfulness is in order when you’re creating one.
Press Kit Mechanics
You need not spend a lot of money to make an impressive press kit. Content is much more important
here than aesthetics, although design plays an important element in the scheme of things as well. In
the beginning stages of your career, a simple colored two-pocket folder will do fine. Here’s what it
should contain:
- A sticker on the front with your logo and contact info. It may say something like, “Press Kit or
Promo Pack of Henri the Artist.” - A Sample Press Release
- A black and white head shot of you or your venue or troupe. (Sometimes the press will run
these with an article, so make sure it’s a good photo) - A copy of a newspaper article about you. If you don’t have one, there are two options: One,
write one yourself, and cut and paste it to make it look like an article. Two, publish your
article on a website and then copy it from there. Here's the first one I wrote under a
pseudonym and then got it published on the web. - One page of testimonials or reviews. Who is saying what about you, your show or event? If
you’re just starting out have friends and family write reviews for you. My first one said, “ A
poetic masterpiece for the theater – by Slash’s Mom.” - One page description about your show.
- One page bio about your career.
- A flyer for a past event.
- Although this is optional, I will sometimes throw in a playbill, a sample ticket or flyer or a
color copy of my cover story. When you’re just starting out, color copies can get expensive.
Remember, content is king. Design and aesthetics are secondary at this point. - DVD, CD’s and other extras. Since DVD’s can get expensive, I don’t always send samples of
my show out unless the venues ask for one. Ask first and then send.
What to do with your kit
The first rule, is that the press kit is a dynamic reflection of you and as such it should change as you
change. Replace old reviews with better, new ones. Replace old photos with up-to-date ones.
Secondly, don’t send your press kit out to a bunch of random contacts. It’s a total waste of money. I
suggest you don’t send one until you’ve made some kind of initial contact with a venue or media
source and either they request one or you suggest that you send one.
Press kits can be expensive and if you send them randomly there’s a huge chance they’ll end up in
the circular file. Those guardians of the firewall are inundated with large envelopes. Just ask anyone
who is in charge of booking venues at a club or bar…they always have a load of CD’s and press kits
stacked on their desk.
The best way to approach the media with your press kit is to send a press release first. Follow-up with
a phone call asking if they’ve received your press release and ask them if they’d like you to send a
press kit. You can also ask if they’d rather receive an electronic press kit. If so, ask them if you should
send it in a PDF format or as a word document as these are the two most common formats that the
press use.
For venues, it’s best to work it the same way. E-mail first and ask how they prefer to receive pres kits.
Even if it’s clearly spelled out on their site, this will give a you a reason and a way to make an initial
contact with someone in the abyss. When it comes down to it, it gives you an extra advantage to be
able to address an envelope to someone specific.
Sending your Press Kit & After
Write a short note to the person you’ve contacted on the phone and include it with your press kit. Just
mail it cheap mail. You don’t get any extra points on the other end for sending it priority! Wait about
a week and then follow-up with another phone call to make sure the person received your press kit.
Assumptions
In the words of my old marriage counselor….assumptions will always get you in trouble. Don’t assume
anything when it comes to response time when you are dealing with the press and don’t take anything
personally. Chances are the person on the other end has other deadlines to attend to. In one case, I
had a hot press contact become suddenly cold. When I called, I learned from her assistant that she
was on vacation for the next two weeks.
One other thing
Even when a press contact or a venue contact says “No,” oftentimes it really means, “Not right now.”
It’s important to put your ego and impatience aside and let go of your agenda. Sometimes the press
or even those guarding the gates to venues don’t know you from a hole in the ground. They don’t
know you’re a somebody. You know that saying… “It’s not what you know, but who you know,”….well it
really rings true in certain instances. As your career builds and your string of small articles leads to a
cover story and then the local cover story leads to some national press and so on and so forth…you’ll
find that more and more doors begin to open for you. Sponsors who wouldn’t even contact you when
you were a nobody will call you up. Editors who said, “Absolutely, no,” to you, two or three times will
suddenly say, "Yes." Be patient. Don’t take it personally and keep on trying.
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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 |
