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Perhaps the most difficult question that a musician has to answer when it comes to public relations or marketing is - why? Isn’t having created the art enough? The short answer to that is no and particularly not now. If you want to reach your public and get your art exposure, you need to take control of your marketing and your career. This is particularly true in the music world. The industry has been turned upside down. The days of label launched careers are all but a memory. In truth, musicians should have always been involved in their marketing and promotion, but now, with the seismic shifts taking place, it has become a necessity

The bad news is that if you want to launch a successful career you need to learn how to market yourself. The good news is that this is a whole new world and one in which you can have more control of your marketing, your image and your art than ever before.

There are a myriad ways to promote yourself, from such old standards as flyers and postcards, to ads, public relations, online marketing and social media. For building an image and a personal brand, PR remains the most effective and validating form of promotion. Through public relations you become the news. It’s the only form of marketing that can reach your target market and offer credibility and validation. Think about it, if you were to read an ad for a musician in a newspaper, or read an article profiling that musician in the same paper, which would grab your attention? One is a paid ad the other is a news story. Which would you be more likely to believe?

With the power of online marketing and social media, PR campaigns are more important than ever. Combined with a social media campaign, public relations takes on a whole new look. Most people see PR and social media as an “either/or” choice, where it really should be an “and” decision.

Although YouTube, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace were very big Internet stories, they became global powerhouses because of traditional media coverage in such outlets as CNN, the Today Show, the New York Times, Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal. The myth is that it all happens online, where actually, it’s a sequential process. These stories start online. They grow and often grow in a big way, but the stories truly explode after the mainstream media covers them. The media coverage drives the online title wave.

Others then try to replicate the phenomena on the Internet, not realizing that they are leaving out the most important element - PR, targeted media coverage on mainstream TV and in major newspapers and magazines. Because online marketing and social media are still relatively new and compelling, most miss the PR part of the marketing equation.

But before you can jump to marketing yourself, you have to take care of the basics and learn the art of PR. Remember, you’re going to succeed by learning how the media thinks, not by assuming you know what they want. The following are some tips that can hopefully increase your P.R.

Define your story and your career path. You can’t tell others about what you do until you fully understand it yourself. Write a short, clear and concise paragraph that defines what you do. Write it so that an eighth grader could understand it. You may be surprised.

Define your target market.

Think in terms of stories. People understand concepts best when told in terms of anecdotal stories.

Write a clear, concise one-page press release.

Study the various media outlets. Tailor your releases and your pitches to each specific media outlet.

Less is more. If you’re thinking of sending out a huge press kit filled with reams of paper, photos and brochures, think again.

Examine all of the available angles. Your first pitch may not work. Be creative.

Learn patience, be persistent and prepare for success. This is the toughest concept to master. We’ve had campaigns that have hit a home run in the first week, but most take time and persistence.

Public relations is a slow-building, on-going, cumulative process. If you are going to implement a P.R. campaign, make a commitment to stay with it for a minimum of six months. It will be worth it. Your career will be glad you did.

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