Hello, readers! We are thrilled to have you join us today. This post is intended for current Haulix clients, but it may also benefit those of you trying to better your digital marketing efforts. If you would like to learn more about Haulix and the way we help industry professionals worldwide safely distribute unreleased music, please visit our official website.
This blog exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
It’s no great secret that the number of artists vying for attention from the music industry is almost always on the rise, which means the chances of being quote/unquote ‘discovered’ based on a single post or article is forever almost always shrinking. We can discuss the merits of creating a quality product before focusing on other aspects of the music industry all day long, but having the greatest material in the world matters very little if you’re unable to make people talk about your art. Success in music today requires the creation of a dialogue with consumers, and the best way to make that happen after all this time is still through working with the press and other pop culture influencers to make the world aware of your existence. Haulix helps labels and independent artists kickstart these efforts through our journalist-approved digital distribution platform, but we’ve found it’s often true that simply sending a promo to someone is not enough to make them engage with it. You need to be proactive in your efforts, and one way to do that is through sending follow-up messages, including warnings regarding the deletion of certain materials.
There is a weird belief amongst many young professionals that PR efforts should be limited to one, or at max two email/messaging blasts for each big update. While I can appreciate their desire to not overwhelm certain writers with a flood of messages that would only pile on top of the countless other pitches they are receiving, it’s incredibly important that aspiring public relations professionals realize that constant communication and follow-ups are key to being great in music PR today. Some people may claim you’re being annoying or aggressive, but in fact you’re just doing your job, and if you do it well people won’t have anything negative to say about your efforts. There is a difference between pitching someone the same story multiple ways and shoving the same copy/pasted information into someone’s inbox until they work up the gull to unsubscribe from your email blasts. Figuring out what works best for you will take trial and error, but it’s not figuring out what works for you is a lot easier than, say, rocket science.
If you notice you Haulix Promos are not receiving the amount of attention from the press you had hope, our first suggestion is always to reach out to members of the media individually and tell them about your talent. This is a time consuming effort, but there is no marketing more effective than person-to-person communication. If you can make a writer feel like their opinions and traffic not only matter, but that they are also important to you as people, they will be a lot more likely to take a chance on whatever new release you deliver to their inbox. On the flipside, writers receiving promos from artists they don’t know sent by publicists they have no relationship with have next to no reason as to why they should make time for those promos. Writers often have very little time for new music discovery, and they are not likely to spend those brief moments taking chances on truly unknown talent. Just like anyone, writers take the suggestions of people they know before those they don’t. As a publicist of band trying to get recognition for your promo, forging that relationship falls on you, and I can tell you right now it’s going to take more than a single email to make that happen.
Writing follow-ups and still not getting a response? Trust us, we’ve been there. You may have to eventually face the fact not that many people are into your talent, but until that time arrives you can still make one last effort to gain engagement by sending out messages that notify press of promos that are set to expire in the near future. Many members of the press put off tasks and other things they think time will allow for in the future, but unless a deadline slaps them in the face they may never actually return to whatever it is they chose to set aside in the first place. Informing press of an approaching expiration date may spark enough interest to earn a click from someone who never engaged before, if only to know whether or not they were missing out. They might not cover the talent, but at least you’ve got a bit of engagement from them. Next time you email promos, those people who clicked last minute will be more likely to see what’s new.
