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11:40 am
June 11, 2011
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QuoteI'm hoping someone can help me out here.
After having spent a decade or so in the sales/marketing game back in the 1990's, I've submitted my very first Press Release today and after having just watched John's videos on how to do that. Thanks J
hn*, you have highlighted it as something that needs to be done (otherwise with all the work I currently have to do, I probably would have found it too easy not to do it) and your vids have fast tracked my learning curve. (*don't worry dude I'm not a poof, I just like pretty pictures!)
Anyway, I submitted through Your Story: http://your-story.org/
Also, I've tried to add that URL as an RSS feed into my website but my website keeps saying, "Your search has not provided any results please try again" – Any feedback on how to do that properly, much appreciated.
Hope to hear back from someone ASAP.
Cheers,
T.
If my post has been helpful or informative or whatever, please Leave A Comment in the comment box on the Home page or the Connect page of my new website. I will reciprocate. web: http://www.tommyroberts.org
12:30 pm
June 9, 2011
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Hey Tommy,
I just took a look for you. It seems like you had a lot of fun writing that. One thing jumped out at me...
It seems that you were taking a "Who the hell does this guy think he is" approach, which I think is actually pretty creative (and funny), but I think you may have shot yourself in foot by threatening to lower the price.
Let me explain....
Just the fact that there is "some jerk" who actually think his stuff is worth $7,000 per download is enough to generate curiosity. People will continue to read the pr just on that alone. But once the "punchline" is revealed, the curiosity goes away.
I think what I'm trying to say is that if you're taking the "I'm the Rupert Murdoch of MP3's" approach, you should stick with it all the way up until people visit your squeeze page... and then maybe deliver the punchline.
People will smile and say "Oh, I get it" and probably sign up for a free track.
Kudos for taking action though, man!
-Steve
10:51 pm
June 10, 2011
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HE HE HAW!!
I laughed my ass off through the whole thing! Very clever Tommy. Wouldn't that be cool if somebody with excess money got such a kick out of it that they actually paid the 7 g's!
I didn't feel like you were name dropping at all. Everybody, famous or not cross paths with other people all the time. Why not mention names?
What would a jam session with Gordon Lightfoot, Collective Soul, and Damien Rice sound like?
Check out Greg Parke and you’ll have a pretty good idea!
11:50 pm
June 11, 2011
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Thanks Steve & Greg for getting back to me.
It's reassuring to know you think it's a laugh and not too ridiculous.
Steve, I hear what you're saying about the worth of running with it and not showing your hand until later in the game.
Yes, I was actually going to take my songs off the player until a later release date because if they're on that particular player they have to be available for sale/download. Then I figured, why go to the trouble of having to upload all over again when I can just set the price at something no one is going to pay…unless of course I happen to strike it lucky with some rich eccentric patron of independent art? What are the chances? Anyway, that in turn inspired the note I wrote about Angels who like to RAP and that partly inspired the Press Release.
I'm thinking I would probably have been better off writing the PR in the 3rd (edit 25/06/11: well, I did write it in the 3rd person – what I mean is that I would have been better off using a 3rd person/party contact name rather than my own name – an alias). Ironically, it would give it more reader credibility (ie: as opposed to genuine credibility). Is it okay biz practice to be doing that or not? Any suggestions for the best ways to go about it?
Now, I'm wondering what the best ways might be to take this to the new buyer target market (ie: rich, eccentric patrons of independent art – my "pop" art)? Any suggestions most welcome?
Maybe, I'll give myself a good month or so trying this specific target market on and see if it flies anywhere good before I make the tunes available for general $0.99 – $2.00 public consumption…
I was thinking it might be worthwhile approaching corporate sponsorship/investment in a similar way. That may be a possibility but I kind of like the idea that it is RAP (as per my acronym for Risk Artist Patronage) where the burden of risk is not on me to show ROI. That of course makes it easier to just be the independent artist rather than dancing to some corporate tune so-to-speak. I can just say, "Hey, don't do it unless you're prepared to lose it!"
Basically, my idea, is that in the unlikely event I do somehow swing an Angel RAPER (contact details are captured in the transaction process), I will make personal contact and essentially give them some sort of special patron status YTD (yet to be decided). This may entail my having a place to crash if I'm ever in LA or Paris and stuff like that…
. The important thing being that I'm the one who gets to sing the tune I have to dance to and not the other way around, right.
Also, do you guys put your mobile # on PR's or not?
Cheers,
T.
If my post has been helpful or informative or whatever, please Leave A Comment in the comment box on the Home page or the Connect page of my new website. I will reciprocate. web: http://www.tommyroberts.org
12:40 am
June 7, 2011
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Hey Tommy,
I thought it was hilarious, and certainly worth seeing what happens.
It was entertaining reading to be sure, and that is 95% of the process.
From a purely technical perspective, a couple of things that seemed like they were missing...
1. It didn't seem like you were basing it on any big keywords. You want to do that if you're going to see traffic.
2. You didn't have any hyperlinks, which will also dramatically vut into your traffic. But I assume that was because it wasn't allowed with a free submission.
3. The press release site isn't one of the premium ones so distribution to quality sites will be limited.
4. Again, it was great reading, but I would have read it and thought it was a gag. Which I'm sure it largely is. I don't know how the more reputable sites would react to that. But it doesn't really matter if you get them published and you get traffic as a result.
5. There weren't that many quotes. I would typically write more like a journalist and then include a bunch of first person quotes so people have something to pull from.
6. You're web address is not a squeeze page so it's going to be difficult to get any new leads as a result of this.
With all of that said, I think there is something to the angle. I'd bet that if you pitched a version of this to some specific journalists you might actually get some coverage. It's really fun and well written.
I'd also really make sure you base it around a big keyword. It's also possible i missed something because I'm short on time as i read through everything so I was going fast.
At the end of the day all that matters is results. Do you see traffic as a result and do you see subscribers...
For what it's worth, it already shows up on over 150 sites:
http://www.google.com/#sclient.....38;bih=698
Well done on taking action. I just recorded an interview with the owner of http://www.onlineprnews.com/ - I'll publish it some time next week. There is some good stuff in there. I'll be giving their site a try next. Indexing is a big deal and that's what is most important with a PR site. Many of the smaller sites have issues there. PR web does not and onlineprnews.com supposedly doe s not either.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
1:24 am
June 9, 2011
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Tommy,
I don't see any issues in writing in the 3rd person. It depends on the context, I would imagine, but most of the ones I've read are done kind of 3rd person.
So like John alluded to, have some quotes in the 1st person to take people to the "source" of the release.
Press releases are just that... meant for the press. Blogs and even major press outlets scour these things to find something print worthy and I think your approach is ballsy, noteworthy and certainly high-five worthy.
Now just dial it in and let the traffic... and press... come your way.
-Steve
Hey John.... How were you able to grab that stat about how many places had picked up the release? I didn't click the link. Perhaps I'll do that now 🙂
10:29 am
June 11, 2011
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Thanks John & Steve for the feedback. Much appreciated.
Yes John your right about my not giving much time to key words, squeeze page etc and I'll certainly be looking at addressing that stuff with a more conventional PR next time.
Steve, I need to qualify what I said in my post. I did write that PR in the 3rd person. What I meant was should I have given different contact information under the contact heading (ie: 3rd party name/alias)?
That's the writer's contact info correct? Should I have put that as an alias? I'm thinking I should have because it would seem more credible to have written that PR as someone other than myself. It also means however that I would have to take out the PR a/c in a name other than my own…
T.
If my post has been helpful or informative or whatever, please Leave A Comment in the comment box on the Home page or the Connect page of my new website. I will reciprocate. web: http://www.tommyroberts.org
12:46 am
June 7, 2011
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tommy roberts said:
Thanks John & Steve for the feedback. Much appreciated.
Yes John your right about my not giving much time to key words, squeeze page etc and I'll certainly be looking at addressing that stuff with a more conventional PR next time.
Steve, I need to qualify what I said in my post. I did write that PR in the 3rd person. What I meant was should I have given different contact information under the contact heading (ie: 3rd party name/alias)?
That's the writer's contact info correct? Should I have put that as an alias? I'm thinking I should have because it would seem more credible to have written that PR as someone other than myself. It also means however that I would have to take out the PR a/c in a name other than my own…
T.
Sorry, I forgot to answer that part. It's not the writers contact info, it's the contact info for the person that the media should contact. Using your own is fine, accept for privacy reasons. But really, who picks up their phone anymore 🙂
Using a fake manager is fine, but I used my own. I've made a decision to just be authentic from here on out. For me that means owning the fact that I'm an indie guy who is running my own career. There may be times when it doesn't impress someone as much, but I've decided I don't really care... for whatever that's worth. I think it WILL impress the people I need it to.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
8:55 am
June 11, 2011
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Hi John. Yes, I did think that the contact info was for the writer of the PR so thanks for clarifying that. It makes sense not to include the mobile if it's the person being written about because hey, "a celebrity" does not want to be fielding calls from crazy fans right?!
Maybe my headspace is still partly in yesteryear 'cause I assumed that my mobile might get as far as a journos newsdesk but not actually be published together with the PR right across the internet. Not one call yet though, so it isn't an issue.
Yes, I guess alias' /pseudonyms could get confusing and keeping it authentic makes sense.
I guess the style and content of teh PR might also play a part in which way is the best to go. From a literary and/or possibly myth creating perspective, I think I'd prefer to have it seem that someone else is writing about me rather than it be so obvious that I'm writing about myself in the 3rd person. I think I'd prefer that Issued by link to say, suncitymedia rather than tommy. Seems more professional and somehow less on myself. Anyway, whatever floats your boat I guess.
I really appreciate you getting back to me on it John. You certainly put in the hard yards and give good value for the $27 (or whatever it was exactly) investment so thanks for that!
If my post has been helpful or informative or whatever, please Leave A Comment in the comment box on the Home page or the Connect page of my new website. I will reciprocate. web: http://www.tommyroberts.org
10:43 pm
June 7, 2011
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Thanks Tommy,
Yeah, I can see both arguments. I don't think there is really a wrong way to go. What ever matches your vibe and the story you are presenting.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
8:28 am
June 11, 2011
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John, I just submitted a couple of PR's through your suggestion of trying "onlineprnews". I tried 2 x $22 option in both the Entertainment and Music categories. They allow for heaps of media rich content which is great and the process is reasonably fluid and simple. My PR's are still pending approval so I haven't seen a result yet but I can update that when I do, if anyone's interested.
T.
If my post has been helpful or informative or whatever, please Leave A Comment in the comment box on the Home page or the Connect page of my new website. I will reciprocate. web: http://www.tommyroberts.org
6:42 pm
June 7, 2011
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Definitely, please share. I'll have the interview with them for you in the next few days.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
1:30 am
June 11, 2011
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Okay so here's my feedback on that.
(1) Service from onlineprnews.com was excellent. Really, A1 (thanks, LaToya). She got back to me about my 2 x PR's after I had submitted them and explained exactly what needed to be fixed and why. I did that and they were approved and published. Good thing about this service is you can also edit after it has been published so if you feel uneasy about anything you've said you can get back in there and save yourself all the anguish. Also, the PR remains active for eternity unless you decide to delete it which you can anytime. Like I said before, I got plenty of rich media content in the PR (pic, links, large window to my website) for my $22. The more expensive packages give heaps more multi-media embedded within the PR (videos etc).
I'm not so clear on how many more contacts you actually get sent to with the more expensive packages? It seemed to me from a cursory reading of packages that I wasn't really going to be put in front of so many more contacts with the more expensive packages but that's worth clarifying?
First, let me qualify the fact that my 2 x PR's were intended more for (a) creating awareness (b) getting the attention of potential angels who might consider sponsoring/investing in my work (ie: paying that ridiculous $7K 'cause they can & what the heck I might just prove to be worth the investment etc), (c) populating my site with some comments.
To the above ends I didn't have a proper squeeze page set up for this (I'm still working on one). Nevertheless, while it's not a squeeze page I feel the page I'm sending them to is well set up for catching contact info. What do you think?
(2) Okay the 2 x PR's have been published for a couple of days now. Unfortunately, the results suck! These 2 x PR's have generated a dozen plays or less to my player, NO comments and NO Joins to my mailing list - ZIP!
John or whoever knows this stuff, when should I expect to see the most traffic from a PR? Is it in the first few days or later or ongoing or what? Also, is it okay industry practice to re-release the same PR at a later date or through a different PR outlet?
I'm thinking that maybe my PR's are either (a) too quasi-intellectual for your average bozo muso journalist or (b) onlineprnews.com doesn't have large numbers in my target market/audience or (c) I'm expecting too much too early or a combination of these things?
I'll be grateful for any constructive feedback from anyone who is prepared to read my PR's. They're both a rework of my original one (see original post). I posted PR#1 in the ARTS category intending to target more upmarket art investors with at least half a brain or similar and the second one (PR#2) in the broad brush of the Entertainment category. According to my interpretation of what LaToya from onlineprnews told me, the music category is covered by both. Below links should open to a new window.
Cheers,
T.
If my post has been helpful or informative or whatever, please Leave A Comment in the comment box on the Home page or the Connect page of my new website. I will reciprocate. web: http://www.tommyroberts.org
6:42 am
June 7, 2011
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The bulk of the activity usually happens in the first few days. But looking at your press releases there are a couple of possible problems I can see here...
1. Your keywords are the biggest issue. The only phrase that gets any search volume is "Australia wide". Admittedly I assume this is a term used in Australia that I don't really understand, but I don't think it's the kind of term that perfectly matches the search activity of your potential fans. I may be wrong there. I assume that it means "throughout Australia, and I don't see that as a match for the search activity of music fans.
2. The other big issue is that that term has 26,000,000 competing websites on the internet when you search it in quotes. That is WAY to much. Way WAY too much. I never ranked for anything with more than a few million terms and that cost me tens of thousands of dollars, and months of work to pull off.
3. Another factor may be that the press releases are a bit long. There is no rule that says they can't be. But if you can be brief you will tend to get better results.
The upside here is that you spent $22 to get bad results. I spent $10,000 with a publicist once to get not much more... Doh!
Wait until I publish the interview with the owner of onlineprnews.com. It should help.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
7:02 am
June 7, 2011
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I also meant to add, there is actually a pretty big difference between the expensive packages and the cheap ones. It rally comes down to the number of quality sites that your PR gets distributed to.
For example, with my $350 PR web example I was distributed through the AP wire. That's a big deal. The quality of the reach of a news wire like that is significant. I did see sales and traffic as a result. I wasn't blown away by it, but in hindsight I alos don't think that my keywords were ideal.
With onlineprnews.com, there more expensive package (the $79 one), you get submitted to 40 major sites. With the $22 one you just get submitted to the onlineprnews.com site.
That's not to say that you don't get picked up by other sites that pull the feeds from onlineprnews.com - you do. But the full html submission is only placed on onlineprnews.com.
That means that the traffic you stand to pick up is going to be based on the strength of onlineprenews.com almost exclusively. I think that's worth $22. But your reach will be limited. I'm not telling you to run out and spend more money just yet, because there is always risk. Not every press release gets traction. But these are some of the reasons you didn't see any kind of insane results.
You might also ask onlineprnews.com. I'd be curious what they had to say.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
8:42 pm
June 11, 2011
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Thanks John. Your feedback is worthwhile reading.
Okay, so your point about keywords is a good one. I'll have to address that better in future.
The number of competing websites is a factor I obviously didn't research properly either. I recall from my short glimpse of your MM2 that you have a good methodical approach to your market research and analysis and I can see how in this context, it pays off. Unfortunately, it's a weakness of mine in as much as I prefer to give more weight to the creative writing (left brain?) while ultimately limiting its exposure by not doing the more tedious work (right brain?) of putting it through the market research protocols. Yes, you're correct, I'll have to do that stuff if I expect to see real results.
Also, I didn't realise the difference in coverage for the packages so thanks for illuminating that - makes sense.
Cheers,
T.
If my post has been helpful or informative or whatever, please Leave A Comment in the comment box on the Home page or the Connect page of my new website. I will reciprocate. web: http://www.tommyroberts.org
12:37 am
June 7, 2011
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Glad I was able to help. I just listened through the interview I did with Onlineprwebnews.com. I should be posting it within the next 48 hours. There is some stuff in there that I think will really help.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
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