You’ve invested time, energy and finances into your music. Now, you’re preparing to release and are turning your attention to promotional strategies. Music promotion is comprised of several aspects that each operate with a specific purpose. Focusing solely on PR and omitting marketing techniques or vice versa will have an impact on your potential reach and, subsequently, sales and streams as not all areas will be covered. It is important to approach music promotion holistically in order to stand the best possible chance of reaching as many new listeners, potential fans, and industry professionals as possible.
First things first: music
In order to promote your music effectively, you need to ensure the quality is up to scratch. Quality music in terms of composition, performance, and production is essential.
Take a second: *do* judge a book (or album) by its cover
Image is key – this encompasses band/artist photos, logo, album/ single artworks. Not only do any visual materials need to be high quality in terms of pixel size, but also in terms of lighting and composition. Do your visual materials aptly reflect your band’s distinctive style? Do they reflect your genre influences and the type of music you make? While music is ultimately your main product, high quality visuals are needed to ensure people will want to pause in their day and take the time to listen.
Promoting Your Music: PR and Ads
Once you have ensured that your product (your music!) and necessary visual assets are all of high quality – you can begin to plan your promotional strategies.
As mentioned above, different aspects fulfil different requirements and all are necessary to get the best out of your efforts.
– PR –
PR is about increasing brand awareness. A PR campaign operates to put your music, tour announcement, new single, whatever it may be, in front of as many relevant industry professionals as possible with the aim of achieving good quality coverage across a variety of media. It is about getting your name out there to assist in building your reach and expand your audience, to which you can then implement marketing strategies to increase sales of music, merch and shows.
– Marketing –
Directly targeting the relevant demographics to drive sales and streams is the purpose of marketing strategies. Making use of social media ads is one method of marketing your music. Correctly identifying your audience first, though, is key: presenting an advert for your new death metal album to country music fans will not yield the best possible results. Ensure you have a clear understanding of your target audience before you begin investing in ads.
Additional marketing techniques also include running mailing lists and keeping your social media profiles up to date. All of the elements discussed in this post need to be running concurrently to obtain the best results. It may be tempting to dive straight into ads, for example, as it may feel like a quick win, but without proper preparation, solid social media, brand awareness and ultimately, a high quality product, this will be an ineffective means of promoting your music.
Interested in how a holistic PR strategy could amplify your music career? Contact us to learn more about what we offer and how we can tailor our services to meet your unique needs.