In a post I wrote last week, I mentioned that I’ve been following Matt Gross from popular music blog, The Music Slut on Twitter. After reading a thread of his tweets highlighting “PR Fail 1,2 etc” of the day, our office began to discuss what has been a recurring question “what is the best way to communicate with bloggers … without being completely obnoxious?” After bouncing thoughts around the room, we decided to go straight to the source and ask blog writers themselves.
We received an epic amount of feedback– and after compiling it all into the most daunting word document of emails, tweets, IM’s and forum posts, I went to John and asked him to buy me highlighters so I could actually make some sense of this giant Mecca of blogger wisdom by highlighting – I don’t even know…similar thought sequences, perhaps? We laughed, and yes I was partly joking but the point was 100% clear: everyone has both their own style and opinion; there is no one, correct way to address every single blogger.
Seems pretty obvious, right? But at the same time, as a PR person I understand how the whole drill where you receive new content from an artist and/or label and your goal is to get the artist exposure – blasting out the same email to everyone and their mom while crossing your little fingers that someone will bite and post your story seems like the most time/hype efficient way of going about your job. But, from what we’ve gathered – it’s not. Sans color coding, we came up with the three most paramount rules of thumb for reaching out to bloggers…as advised by music bloggers, themselves:
1. Don’t send PR blasts. Actually take the time to sit down and write a personal email to the specific blogger that you’re reaching out to.
2. Do some homework. Take a second and do your research so that you know who you are talking to. This way, you will correctly provide bloggers with relevant information that’s in line with their taste – considering taste is obviously the overarching incentive for people to even post your content.
3. Respect people. Don’t think of bloggers as an abstract concept, bloggers and the blogosphere are not synonymous; bloggers are individual people with unique interests that they portray on their own personal sites. MP3 music blogs are not just a filterless receptacle for all digital music.
Don’t Send PR Blasts
Niklas Discobelle: “When you, like me, get around 300 emails a day it is hard to keep up with it all and if you don’t address me directly I won’t even read the email.”
Travis BIGSTEREO: “It’s important to build the personal relationships. I’m more likely to read/respond to a personal email than something an agency sends out in bulk.”
David Largehearted Boy: “Be informative. Include links to the artist’s website, MySpace page, and other features and reviews in the e-mail/mailing. Do some of the legwork for the bloggers.”
Hannah Sheena Beaston: “I like when people get either my name or site correct (realizing, of course, that I’m no big shot that needs constant reaffirming of who I am, but it shows courtesy and respect). Spelling, grammar and punctualization are crucial to me, if you want to be taken seriously, then convey that in your release.
I particularly hate when a firm sends a release, then realizes they made an error, so they send the release AGAIN, only to realize there was another mistake…so they blast out THE SAME RELEASE again with a slight change.”
Andrew Live Music Blog: “Don’t send a note about a story if you know that the band’s fan email got it earlier or it’s already up on other sites. As a blogger it was always frustrating getting a note talking about so and so’s tour when you saw it that morning on P4K. Give them a little taste of what it may be like to really be the first to know and that should go a long way.”
Jeff THE CULTURE OF ME: “Please keep the mass emails to a min.”
Sean Mainstream Isn’t So Bad…Is It?: “I don’t think there is one PR pitch that’s the silver bullet. I’m glad that different folks try different approaches, but the ones that appeal to me the best are the ones that look the least glamorous and prepared by a marketing department. An opening that includes my name instantly starts off on the right note and typically gets me to read. If I get the same e-mail several times in the course of a minute with the same subject line, that’s usually a scratch.
One of my favorites is when I get a form PR e-mail with some of the fields left blank or still with the field name there to tell the author what they should have filled in if they had taken the time to do it correctly. Another point that miffs me is when a PR agent sends me an album with no clear guidelines on if / which tracks are postable, I post on it and include a track or two, and they see it and e-mail me asking to take down the songs acting surprised that I posted songs. If you look at 99.9% of my posts you’ll notice that I include songs. It’s no mystery. I write an mp3 blog.”
Tim The Blue Walrus: “Emails that are Short, to the point and always with some form of listen/watch/download link. Promoting artists I genuinely like doesn’t hurt either of course.”
Do Some Homework
Hannah Sheena Beaston: “It only takes a few minutes to scan a blogger’s site to know what music they like to feature, genres they frequent, or events to check out. Giving that slightest attention to detail in reaching out to that contact gives you all that better of a chance to not only have your information/music posted on their site, but to also form an ongoing and reputable relationship with them.”
Travis BIGSTEREO: “I assume most bloggers are in the same boat as I am — hundreds and hundreds of emails a day and at least half of them are totally off target. Such and such folk artist may be brilliant but I will never in a million years blog about them.”
Niklas Discobelle: “I respect when PR people do some research before they contact me. Offer me something I would want.”
David Largehearted Boy: “Bloggers are individuals. Unlike journalists, we all have different agendas and our sites vary greatly from one to the next.”
Lucas The Late Greats: “I used to submit my poetry literary journals. In their submission guidelines, they always mention you should read the journal before submitting, “to see if your poetry is the kind of poetry we publish”.
I think PR folks could take a lesson from this. The Late Greats covers mostly acoustic music, that lines on the folkier side of things. When I get an email about the next great electro-punk-dance band, I hit delete. If PR people took the time to visit a blog before sending info, everyone might be happier.
I do get an occasional email that says, “since you posted about Artist A, you might like Artist B” which shows they did a little research. I usually listen to those/pay attention to those emails.”
Respect People
David Largehearted Boy: “Treat bloggers with respect, and don’t try and buy them off and/or push artists on them. Hopefully, introduce artists to them they will want to spread the word about. The bottom line is that what works for one blog may not work for the next. Respect is the key issue.”
Niklas Discobelle: “I like when I receive stuff not for blogging, but to build up trust, making me a part of things. Asking what I think about a song before it is out there, like labels are doing with top DJs. That is what I think the next step is, trust from both sides. Many bloggers feel like they are getting trash now a days. Give them stuff to listen to before everyone else, so they can work out what is good for posting or whatever. And I like when you ask what I think of stuff. Get bloggers more involved, get them to suggest remixers for tracks and more.”
Hannah Sheena Beaston: “Some of the REALLY ambitious cats figure out that by me having a Gmail address, they can directly message me on Gchat, so I get a lot of these IM’s
“hello, if this is Sheena Beaston, I’m hoping you can take a listen to my tracks”, etc….
If you ask me, that form of contacting is just intrusive if you’ve never introduced yourself at least via email first.”
Sean Mainsteam Isn’t So Bad…Is It?: ”Of course the more personal of a connection I feel with the PR person the better, but I understand that for them it’s a job and they’re interacting with MANY other people besides me. I know that I’m only a tiny cog in the machine and don’t deserve lavish attention. Anyone that I develop a friendship with certainly tends to get more of my attention though and I’ll give their e-mails a read almost all the time.”
Jeff Earvolution: “’Keeping it real’ is enough. Most PR people don’t seem to know how to do that. “
As Sean said, there is no “silver bullet” when it comes to PR pitches. Yet as evidenced by all this feedback, there are certainly ways in which all us PR folks could be doing better getting in touch with bloggers.
At the same time, the relationship between bloggers and PR people is a two way street. Typically, PR agencies aren’t granted total creative control over the content that labels/artists have presented them. So, there are definitely constraints when it comes to delivering bloggers said content. Jeff, from THE CULTURE OF ME says it best: “There is a 100% symbiotic relationship that we all have with PR people and if you’re not comfortable swallowing pride and prejudice and just react to the content itself and not the delivery method (or delivery person), then yes, it would seem annoying. But, I think that’s wrong. Artists need feedback. If you’re not into it, let them know that. If the PR person follows up, let them know you either haven’t gotten to it or it’s just not your thing.”
Ruben from Welikeit.indie adds to that with “You guys [PR agencies] make what I do so much easier. Really, if you don’t like it, just press delete, that simple.”
Ultimately the music industry (like most industries) is undergoing considerable changes due to the exponential progression of digital communication/exploration/recording/distribution. We’re living in an age where online media is situating itself over print media as the paramount portal for new information. In response, PR agencies are finding ways of reinventing themselves and their strategies. So, with all the criticism offered to the music industry on progressing in tandem with digital culture, we need to take a step back and acknowledge that the PR agencies probably need to start changing too. As David from Largehearted Boy expresses, bloggers and journalists are different; the PR approach cannot be universal for all types of media.
Just as artists need feedback in the betterment of their musical pursuit, and the music industry needs pointers in their digitally invoked evolution – PR agencies require similar assessment as they adjust to fit within this new space.
We express genuine gratitude to all the writers who took the time to not only read our thoughts, but offer up some suggestions, as well. Fingers crossed, this post will be valuable to other folks besides just us here at bigMETHOD. I mean, it’s the internet right? Information’s pretty accessible these days, isn’t it…?
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