Running a successful campaign can be hugely rewarding. You’ve spent countless hours creating, performing, and nurturing your work into existence, and the time has finally arrived to share it with the world.

 

The guide below is to help you fit all the pieces together and give you an organizational foundation for promoting your work. This is a Fluence best practice that we share with anyone who promotes media in our system.

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Step 1: Define Your Goals

 

Properly defining what you want to achieve with your campaign is essential.  Your goals help you craft your promotional strategy and set expectations for your results. Goals typically fall into two phases: pre-release and post-release.

 

 

In the pre-release phase, you typically receive feedback on production and marketing strategy. In this phase you can establish connections that will be helpful for the post-release part of your campaign. For example, you can connect to curators and tastemakers who may want to have a private first look at your new release for premiering it on their blog or publication. These connections can also refer you to more curators who may be helpful for when you start promoting your release.

Goals in the post-release phase are usually related to generating exposure and amplifying your signal to the widest possible audience. Specifying your requests in your press release is important so people know what you’re looking for, how they can help, and who they should refer you to.

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Step 2: Craft Your Press Release

 

Crafting a beautiful press release can be a skill all by itself. Links to a few examples are included below, and here’s a useful outline download as a general template:

 

[ Title ] by [ Creator Name ]

[Release Date]

[Release Image]

[Basic Release Note] – One descriptive sentence including the release or pre-order date.

[Message / Pitch from the Artist/Creator] – Here’s where you start creating a meaningful connection and relationship with the person receiving your release. Give your pitch, what you’re looking for, and explain your goals in 1 – 2 brief sentences. If you’re using Fluence to manage your PR campaign, you would enter this as the first item in the “Description” area of your submission.

[Most Important Link] – This could be anything; a download, purchase, pre-order, signup, etc. Whatever it is you want people to do most, put the link (your CTA) here.

[Previous Press Highlights] – Use this space to include 1 – 3 positive quotes you’ve received from other press. Social proof is powerful!

[Brief Creator/Artist Description]

[Secondary Supplemental Links] – these usually compliment the main release in some way, but could include links to previous work.

[Social Media Links] – Add your full links instead of usernames: “https://twitter.com/fluence_app” = good. “fluence_app” = not so good.

[Contact Info]

[Lyrics or Product Specifications] – If applicable. Some people really want to see this level of detail. For example, song writing curators like Ari Herstand who are being asked about song writing feedback will require you to enter your lyrics.

[Credits]

Example 1: View Standard Email Press Release

Example 2: View Fluence Campaign Press Release

 

If you’re using Fluence to manage your campaigns, you can include your entire press release in the ‘Description’ field for people to see, along with your Twitter username for people to easily mention you if they share it.

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Step 3: Prep Your Social Media Assets

 

Your social media presentation is vital for every campaign. Your YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Vimeo, and Facebook media should all have a mini-version of your press release in the description. For a number of reasons (all of them good), make sure your most important link is always at the very top.

The Flashbulb (Benn Jordan) does a great job with this:

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Step 4: Target Relevant People

Picking the right people can make or break everything you’ve worked for on the campaign, so you want to make sure you send it to relevant people in your field or genre who will most appreciate your work.

 

Set time aside to research backgrounds, interests, and track records of the people you’re considering sending your work to. Save the people you want to reach out to in lists to stay organized.

If you’re looking for production or marketing feedback, make sure you search by expertise in specific areas such as music production and mastering, film/video, technology, start-ups, journalism, copywriting, and marketing. Choose whichever expertise fits best for your submission and be precise with your search terms.

With our new Fluence search and targeting features, we cut out the legwork by instantly recommending people who match your needs along with your social media connections. You can search by interest or expertise key words to see the best matching curators for your needs.

In the promotional phase of your campaign, choose the type of curator who will generate exposure for you depending on your needs. With a music submission, for example, you should spend a dedicated amount of time focusing on music blogger outreach, while also sending your submission to radio broadcasters and other music curators who reach people through different mediums like Spotify playlists and podcasts.

The Fluence Lists feature has social media integrations to show you people you already know who are on Fluence. You can reach out directly to people you follow on Twitter, SoundCloud, and Facebook on Fluence and ask them to participate directly in your PR efforts. The Lists let you also see the people who previously Liked or Shared your media so you can send them new releases.

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 Step 5: Launching Your Release

 

Once you hit that “Send” button, the game is on! Coordinate your social media posts beforehand, and take advantage of every scheduling tool out there to ease the stress and minimize accidents. Use services like bufferapp.com and hootsuite.com to schedule posts in advance.

If you’ve coordinated with bloggers and journalists pre-release, organize their releases on a calendar, and be sure to include their posts in your social media streams.

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 Step 6: Follow Up Responses

 

You’ve received feedback, traffic, views, shares, and responses: now is the time to turn all that attention into something tangible. Your end goal is to create 1 – 1 relationships with people, and here’s where it’s done.

• Be proactive about sending thank you emails and checking in to see if they need anything else from you.

• Follow up on referrals you’ve received and let people know you’ve pursued their recommendations.

• Keep track of the people who respond positively and love your work in a list. Keep these contacts close and it will be much easier to reach out to them with future releases.

• Share what they’ve done to help you with the world. Shout-outs foster goodwill, are always appreciated, and help you stay connected.
  

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  Step 7: Enjoy That Champagne!

 

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Want more tips on promoting? Check out these people on Fluence who can help.

 

Digital Media Experts | PR Experts | Branding Experts

Digital Marketing | Music Promotion | Music Industry Experts