[mplpost] Promoting and Marketing

[D'Merritt Creative/Promotions]

nicely put...you have hit the nail smack on it's head.

scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay Linden" <jeigh@rogers.com>
To: <maplepost@icomm.ca>
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2002 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: [mplpost] Promoting and Marketing


>
> A week late, sorry.
>
> I haven't been on the PR/marketing side of things in about a decade, but
> I have some old war stories from the publicist viewpoint.
>
> Even if you win, you don't necessarily win.
>
> Publicity is only one component of the marketing plan.
>
> If nobody is doing any advertising, you have to compensate for the lack
> of advertising.
>
> If you don't already have a "name", you have to overcome the fact that
> the media will choose known commodities before they choose you about 90%
> of the time -- they're not necessarily being mean or unfair; they know
> that their audiences want news about known performers, and their bosses
> are paying them essentially to sell newspapers/magazines or to increase
> ratings.
>
> If you're not getting any play in the appropriate locations (usually
> radio, often video, in the clubs, wherever, depending on what kind of
> music you make), it's a near impossibility that you'd translate
> publicity into sales, and it's also a long shot that you'd interest the
> media in giving you the publicity.
>
> If you're not supporting a release with tour dates, if you don't have a
> really compelling story (the folksinger who also invented sliced bread,
> or what have you), you have more things to overcome.
>
> After all that, as I say, even if you win, you don't necessarily win.
> Let's say you get some significant coverage.  What happens if people
> can't find your CD?  What happens if you don't have tour dates to
> support when the media coverage comes out?  People see the article, may
> or may not read it, quite probably won't remember your name very long.
>
> I've gotten *great* publicity on really good shows (theatrical,
> long-run) that we still couldn't sell.  Why not?  Bad location, almost
> no advertising, we never got over the hump with word of mouth because we
> never generated enough mouths.
>
> I've also gotten great publicity on shows that sold so well we couldn't
> meet the demand for tickets.
>
> The components all have to come together in a favourable alignment.
> Some of it requires luck and mirrors.  All of it usually requires talent
> and good quality, buyable "product" (man, I *still* hate that word when
> it means music and art).  But most of it (assuming the music is good
> enough to pay for) really just requires good planning and good
> execution.
>
> Jesse is exactly right: if people, from the media to the bookers to the
> audiences, never hear your name, you're not going to get anywhere.  And
> if you go through the exercise the first time and, for whatever
> alignment-of-the-stars reason, it doesn't take off, the exercise and the
> education are still worth their weight in gold.
>
> But you should plan a whole marketing campaign, not merely think that
> someone can get you famous by getting you some media coverage.  That
> plan may have to materialize over the course of several years and more
> than one CD, and the best marketing plans can always benefit from good
> luck and accidental good timing as well as from covering all the basics.
>
>
>
> Jesse Kumagai wrote:
> >
> > >On promotion:  Last year I hired an apparently experienced and very
> > >enthusiastic publicist to promote my release, much as an experiment
> > >(actually most of the things I've done I've viewed as experiments,
which I
> > >think is a good idea).  Anyway, she didn't have as much success getting
> > >press for me as she expected.  Why?  Was it her?  Me?  My
> > >music?  Circumstances?  Timing?  Strategy?  I have lots of theories.
> >
> > Here's my theory.
> >
> > I think many artists emerge from their CD release feeling let down that
> > they didn't make as big a splash as they had hoped.  The thing is,
> > promoting the hell out of your release is a valuable exercise purely for
> > the sake of getting your name on media and industry radar.  It'll pay
> > dividends later.
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