Tips for a Successful PR Campaign

The music industry is not an industry that is easy to emerge into. It can be costly and potentially detrimental if it isn’t done correctly. According to Echoes, there are three crucial stages that must be properly executed in order to have a successful PR campaign:

1. Pre-PR phase: Planning
2. During-PR phase: Pitching
3. Post-PR phase: The Eagle Has Landed

The first phase is planning; before you market your personal brand, make sure you have decided the exact message you want to portray. If you positively market your brand, it will compliment your music and pave the road to success.

Once your have established the planning phase, it is time to pitch the idea. Before you pitch your campaign, ask yourself these questions: Who is your target audience? When is the ideal time to launch your campaign? How are you going to follow up? Following up is crucial in order to pack a punch and continue the success of your campaign.

Finally, use these tips from Echoes in order to complete the final phase of a successful campaign:

1.  Follow up with the media maker and thank them for featuring you.
2. Share the feature on all of your social networks and tag the media maker whenever possible.
3. Include the media maker in a #FF (Follow Friday) tweet.
4. Share OTHER features theirs on a regular basis.

Relationships are crucial in order to be successful and promote one’s brand. If you meet someone who could potentially help your career or campaign, follow up with them. Build that relationship and include them in your career strives. You never know who may be able to help you down the line.

For more help creating PR campaign goals, check out Echoes article about realistic versus unrealistic goals.

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Reputation Management

  

In the past few months, there has been all sorts of publicity for music artists including both positive and negative press. All of the gossip got me thinking of how hard it would be to create a positive image none the less maintaing it. Paparazzi are so quick to change words and turn simple pictures into front page tabloid disasters. So what does it take to create a positive reputation? Can you think of any artists that have done an above and beyond job with this challenge?

Meghan Trainor did an incredible job kicking off her personal brand with a foundation promoting positive body image. In her first single “All About that Bass”, she created an hit for all of the women out there that aren’t a size zero encouraging them to embrace their beauty. She sings,

“If you got beauty, beauty just raise ‘em up
‘Cause every inch of you is perfect
From the bottom to the top ”

That catchy tune earned her a fan base that wasn’t afraid to be who they are, and in turn, she provided them with a positive role model to look up to.

While Trainor has had extremely positive feedback from the public, other’s have not been so lucky. Artists such as Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus have been in the press for all sorts of reasons, most recently not in the most positive light. Some argue that any publicity is good publicity. Do you think that’s the case with maintaining a reputation?

Overall, this topic could be dragged on for pages and pages but I’ve concluded with a few main points to help create a positive reputation regardless if you are a famous musician or just beginning to build your reputation:

• Most importantly, stay true to yourself.
• Be personable; people are drawn to others that they can relate to.
• Be honest; honesty builds trust which will gain loyal followers.

I would love your opinions on how to build a positive reputation and in the mean time, good luck and stay true to yourself!

The Ins and Outs of Infographics

Have you ever seen a infographic that you loved? What about one where you were lost in the numbers? If used correctly, infographics can be a unique tool that conveys a point in a visually appealing way.

Recently, for my Strategic PR Communication course, I was assigned a project that included creating an infographic through Piktochart. Here are five tips I learned in the process:

1. Define your audience: Who is this infographic for and what do you want to tell them? This is crucial because your audience will determine the tone and strategy of your infographic.
2. Organize, organize, organize: Before all else, organize your thoughts: What key points do you want to focus on; What statistics will be vital to your audience. Infographics demand a lot of research therefore organizing your thoughts and information will help when you stay sane.
3. Tell a Story: To effectively create an infographic, it has to tell a story. Have a clear beginning, middle, and end so the readers don’t get lost in your information. If there is no direction, the reader may not take away the important factors that you want them to.
4. Keep it Simple: Make your infographic visually appealing. Stick to a few colors; if you choose to many, the viewer will get lost and will lose focus on whats important. Arrange your information to it is easy and clear to read.
5. Peer Review: If you think you are finished, I highly encourage to have someone else look at it! You can stay at your design for hours on end, but there is a good change they will notice something you don’t!

This is my final product describing the ever changing music industry! Good luck with creating infographics!

 

For more information, check out Piktochart’s ultimate guide to creating an infographic!

Today’s British Invasion

According to The Richest, The Beatles have over 250 million unit sales making them undoubtedly the most successful rock bank of all time. Even though they are from the United Kingdom, they have dramatically impacted music across the nation.

The 1960’s marked a time period where British rock and pop music took off in the US; this era coined the phrase “British Invasion”. The Beatles started this movement when they performed on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.

The Ed Sullivan Show was a way for viewers to tune in and see this foreign and exciting new age music. Rolling Stone states it was “a sweet surrender, as millions of kids (and not a few adults) succumbed to the sound of guitar-wielding, mop-topped redcoats playing rock & roll that was fresh and full of the vitality”.

This British Invasion has continued into today’s music industry. On the Billboard’s Artist Top 100 list, three out of the top ten artists are from the United Kingdom; Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and Calvin Harris. These artists in addition to Adele, One Direction and Mumford & Sons have claimed the biggest share in the U.S. album market.

How are these artists being so successful in the US market? The answer is simple. Social Media. The Beatles used these tools when they first performed on national television. They took advantage of being able to reach a large audience of people in order to spread word about themselves. International artists have since then learned from The Beatles and have mastered social media to create massive fan bases around the world. They have utilized the art of YouTube in order to share their videos and build their own personal brand. Its been shown that 80 percent of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US. These tools and social media outlets have built a solid platform for international artists to gain support in order to thrive in the United States.

 

Changing the Way of Online Streaming

Take a moment to think back a few years; you’d be listening to the radio, and all of the sudden a new song came on that you fell in love with. As soon as you got home, you would jump on your computer and purchase it from a source such as iTunes. Maybe instead you would go to the nearest store and buy a physical copy of the album, either way, you made some sort of purchase in order to get it.  

Since then, there have been incredible advancements within music sharing. Accesses music in today’s society has never been easier. Pandora provides you with customized playlists dependent upon your ‘likes’ and dislikes’ by a simple thumbs up feature. 8tracks provides with thousands of playlists already created with specific tags of what they consist of. You can search according to your mood or theme of the night. Maybe you want to listen to Christmas carols in July; they have a playlist for that! The graph below displays the decrease in recorded music industry in the past 15 years. Despite the large amount of digital downloads, they haven’t been able to make up for the lack of physical sales.Spotify is recreating the way they provide music to the public. According to Spotify, they are “proud to offer music fans a legal and paid service capable of generating for artists the royalties that they deserve”. They are revamping how listeners view their music. Once users log onto the free version of Spotify, they are urged to sign up for the premium subscription,speding $9.99 per month. Since 2009, premium users have slowly increased. Spotify focuses on the fact that every new premium user “increases the amount of revenue we receive and, in turn, the amount of royalties we pay out to the industry”. This progress is positively contributing back to the music industry turning their back towards piracy returning the focus back on paid services the create income for the artist.

Will “1989” reach platinum?

Its finally here; the album everyone has been anxiously awaiting; Taylor Swift’s release of 1989! Even though the hype has been through the roof, it may be the last album to go platinum.

According to SoundScan’s third quarter numbers, not a single album has achieved platinum status in 2014. Albums have gotten close, but none have earned the prestigious status. Listed below are the top selling albums this year, yet they were all released last year.

• The Frozen Soundtrack : 3.12 million
• Beyonce’ : 776,000
• Lorde : 754,000

Singles are being sold much more, however, it is a noticeable decrease from last year. More than sixty tracks have sold over one million units this year compared to the eighty three songs that went platinum in 2013.

Does Taylor Swift have it in her? According the Billboard, 1989 was scanned approximately 727,000 within the first two days of availability between iTunes, Target and Walmart. The debut week sales forecast is projected at 1.2 million units by November 2. If 1989 sales go as planned, it will be the largest selling album in 2014.

It’s unfortunate that albums have to compete with streaming, piracy and other factors that hurt their sales. Less and less hard copies are being sold because people can share them among each other. Regardless of all the hype and anticipation, instead of every individual having to purchase the music themselves, today’s society makes it extremely easy to share music, decreasing the albums that would typically be going platinum.

Extensive Guide to Planning an Event

Have you ever thought about planning an event? What about the audience intended? Eventjuice had a very insightful article laying out specific guidelines that need to be considered when planning an event. 

First and foremost, why are you planning the event? What is the objective that you are trying to accomplish? Is the focus the band or the audience. Each of these aspects need to be determined before you start looking for an act. Your purpose will influence the style you want to pursue and a venue.

When it is time to select a band, be very careful. The wrong choice could result in a very costly decision. Think to yourself a few questions that can decide the fate of the show: How has the band done in previous shows? Have they been successful? Are you confident in their music to preform an entire show? Not only do they have to be suitable, but they have to mesh with the chosen venue.

Congratulations! You have successfully chosen a band and a venue. Now you have to decide on the date. What else is going on in the surrounding area? Will you be competing with other venues for attendance? When choosing a date, it is crucial that you research the surrounding area in order to have a positive outcome.

Now that the event is planned, how are you going to inform people about it? Marketing efforts are important to “sell the entire experience”. What resources are available for getting the word out? Be cautious, marketing campaign efforts can be expensive. If it is done correctly, there is a good change you will be profitable with the event.

Even though this may be extensive, the effort that goes into planning is essential. All of these key steps will help play a key role in creating an enjoyable event!

How Stuff Works also has some great insight when planning music events if you’re in need of more information.