Getting one good write up in a respected magazine can do more for your career in one day, than weeks of low impact music marketing tactics.
This one little piece of marketing can get your act in front of decision makers and suddenly have people coming to you with ideas and opportunities, rather than you always having to bang your head against a brick wall.
I once started working with a band who were struggling to get ahead for 10 years. But as soon as they got a short write up in the biggest music mag in the UK, they were instantly offered a tour with one of the top buzz bands at the time which greatly increase their fan list.
As a side note…I like to think of everything in music marketing as a source of hits to your mailing list sign up page, and that little tour was the biggest traffic generation tool they had up to that point!
But the idea of writing press releases and pitching ideas to big shot journalists is a source of fear for a lot of people, and top publications need a very good reason to write a story about you, or review your music.
An under pressure journalist will often throw your story out the window if it’s not planned out well with a good newsworthy hook.
So let’s look at how we can set your press release apart from the bunch.
1. Know Your Market
The first step is to do your research and make a list of the top 10 publications most closely related to your music.
There is absolutely no point trying to get featured in the local fishing supplement, if you play hardcore death metal. Keep your list small and ultra targeted otherwise you will always have an uphill battle.
I learned this the hard way over the years, thinking that if the music was good enough targeting did not matter. But after hundreds of 14 hour days cold calling I looked at where we had actually gotten press, and realised that only 5% of the most closely matched writers would give us their time.
Once you have your list of publications call the news desk, and ask who you should contact for music reviews and stories in your genre.
Make sure you get the full name, email, phone number and if possible try and learn something interesting about the journalist that you can use in the pitch email.
For instance you might find out that your target is Bill Turner and madly into basket ball so your email subject line might go “What about those Knicks Bill?”.
This email would have much more chance of getting read than something like “please review my band…I’m cold and hungry”.
You should also take the time to read a few articles from the writer to get a feel for the kind of work they produce.
2. Create a Story
This is the most important step in getting press, and should not be rushed.
Every band and musician on the planet has something newsworthy to talk about if you just take a few minutes to brainstorm.
The trick here is to give it a news hook, for instance…
I was once on tour in Scotland and one morning after a show the tour bus spun off the road, narrowly avoiding a young family and smashing into a road sign.
If you just pitched about a bus crash where everybody was more or less uninjured you would probably hear a lot of “who cares, next!”
So how could we add a news angle?
How about “Drummer sees the future after tour bus crash in Scottish mountains”
…now that’s a news hook! Although obviously your story should have some kind of basis in reality.
(The drummer did actually go a little bit weird, but I think he was just delirious after a bang on the head 
)
To be newsworthy and interesting you need to be the first, biggest, loudest or fastest…you see what I mean?
3. Use Standard Format
If you want your story to be taken seriously then you need to deliver it in proper press release format. This makes your information much more readable if someone is scanning through to make a shortlist for possible articles.
Just use this simple template…
4. The Phone Is Your Friend
Once you have submitted your masterpiece wait a few days, then pick up the phone if you hear nothing.
This will feel clunky at first, but as soon as you start speaking to media people everyday it will be more relaxed.
The thing to remember is that many stories are pitched each day, so it’s unlikely that they are going to stop everything and call you with warm and happy appreciation for your idea.
When you follow up you want to set yourself apart from the crowd by offering them an incentive to print your article. It’s also cool to re-state the biggest talking point and re-light the fire of interest in their mind.
You might use something like this…
“Hey Bob, I sent you a story the other day about our crazy drummer thinking that he could see the future! I just wanted to know if you would like some high quality photos from his hospital bedside to go along with the article?”
5. Build A Relationship
The most valuable thing about taking your time and going through this process is not the initial article, but the contact you have made in the media. This could ultimately lead to “media exposure on demand” if the writer sees you as a quality news source.
Call up a few days later and thank them for running your story, honestly praise some part of their writing and the angle they took. You could even offer to take them out for lunch or buy them a coffee sometime.
Many people forget this step and destroy a budding media friendship by not using simple manners. Going the extra mile will be appreciated greatly.
Final thoughts
Journalists are not some scary breed of half-human who you can never get close to. In most cases they are just a stressed out bunch of creatives eager to fill their pages with interesting content.
Make sure that you target the right person and be nice.
The goal here is to build a list of 10 publications that regularly write you up and send massive amounts of traffic to your website.
Good luck,
- Chris
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