Top D.I.Y. PR Tips For Every Creator

Regardless of your position in the music industry, positive PR will always be to your benefit. Although hiring from an agency remains the best route, there are many simpler and cheaper things that can be done independently which still significantly help to give you coverage.

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Guest post by Lizzie Cooley of Radar Music VideosWhether you’re a musician, artist, director, animator or pretty much anything in the creative industries, you can benefit from positive PR. Whilst an agency is usually the best way to go if you can afford it (agencies have great contacts and know individual journalists' preferences) there are a lot of simple things you can do yourself to boost your coverage, without spending your cash.First, find out who else will be promoting the content? For instance, if you are the creative and you want to promote artwork or music video that you made, you’ll need to discuss PR and permissions with the label, management or the artist directly. They may have agreed exclusives and premieres and there’ll certainly be a release date in place. So before you send your work anywhere, you must discuss what you can do and when you can do it, so as to not damage the artists campaign.
Second, build a target list of media titles who might write about your work. As well as the obvious titles to approach to reach music consumers, ie fans and potential fans, think about journalists who may be interested in your content for other reasons. For instance, trade press in the music video industry will cover exciting & notable creative work and typically they’re not included in a general PR campaign aimed at music consumers. Links and contacts for a selection of these are provided below.
Third, now you have your target list you’ll need a press release. Keep it short – a paragraph or two, with a snappy headline. Include good photos or screenshots, bright & eye catching if possible. A short bio, with quotes from other people (the better known the better) about whatever you’re writing about, plus links to the work.

Find a way to create a story around your work. For instance if you’re writing about a music video, did you work with a well-known actor, was the shoot memorable for any reason? Anything you can use to add to the newsworthiness of your work will boost the likelihood of gaining coverage.Fourth, create an email pitch. Keep this as short as possible – journalists receive hundreds of emails per day – make yours an email they want to open. Test the subject and first line before you send it, by sending yourself a copy. If you have the facility, don’t forget to put eye-catching information into the preview section before an email is opened. A bit of personalisation goes a long way – make sure you address the email to a person (if you can find a contact), and make it clear why you’re writing to them individually (eg “I know you cover interesting music videos from new filmmakers etc”).
Fifth and finally, follow up your emails 2-3 days after sending them. If you’re able to measure opens on your emails, check who has opened your emails. A follow up email is often worth the effort – be polite a just give a gentle nudge. Make a note of who gave you coverage, so you can thank them and develop the relationship a bit more next time.
So that’s how to run a simple campaign that should see you getting coverage for your creative work. Here’s a couple more bonus tips to help you stand out from the crowd…

Can you create extra content like a short interview video, so you can offer a website/blog extra easy to use content that gives a different angle?
Think your work is award winning too? Enter our Radar Awards for the chance to win a press campaign, industry feedback and mentorships alongside an unparalleled networking event at our exclusive awards night this October

Self-submit your video to these music video sites:IMVdB http://imvdb.com/guides/submitting-videosReddit https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicVideos/PromoNews.tv
UK and worldwideSpecialist music video site & newsletter.http://www.promonews.tv/submitVideoStatic
USA and worldwideSpecialist music video site & newsletter.Create an account and click on ‘Submit content’http://www.videostatic.com/node/add/postVOTD
WorldwideMixture of curation and voting, but in a good way (the judges are impressive).http://votd.tv/submission/step-one/