Reaching Out

Now that you know when you've got something newsworthy, let's talk about how to reach journalists. Let's say you have a new release coming up. What are the best steps you need to think about to get your PR in order?

Understanding Spam

First of all, you need to understand something about spam. Nobody likes spam. Any promotional message that is not interesting to someone is regarded as spam. And as you probably know from your own experience, people want to filter out their spam out of their inboxes. So the more unwanted promotional messages you send to someone, the bigger the chance someone will never open another email from you.

The second thing you need to realize is that journalists get spammed. They are on many mailing lists because everyone is trying to get their attention. Of course, they are also on the lookout for news. But still, they rarely check out their spam folder. To not end up in their spam folder, you need to make your email as personal as possible.

Finding Personal Email Addresses

Make a list of relevant journalists. You need to find out their personal email addresses. If you use general email addresses, you end up on a big pile. You can try to find their personal email address by googling their name and contact information or searching for it on their social media pages.

Otherwise, you can find out how the email address system works for the media company they work for. For example, if everyone has their name@mediacompany.com, you can try to add the name of the person you are trying to reach.

How to Address Journalists

Now that you know their email, let's discuss how to address them. Keep it casual but not too familiar. Hi [Name] is probably the best way to start. Then you could say why you have chosen to email them: "I've enjoyed reading your articles, and I follow your blog, and I think this might be interesting to you."

Then it would help if you immediately came to the point: "I have a new release coming up, and I think you should have it." Then you can share other important information about the release like the title, artist name, label it will be released on, release date, and any additional valuable information. Keep it short, however.

Add a link to your release where they can listen without the need to download your work. SoundCloud is an excellent platform for that; you can share secret links. Then it would be nice to add: "It would be great if you could cover this in any way. If you have any questions, please let me know."

Subject Line

Now you have to make a subject line. Make sure you add their name. In this way, they know it is a personal mail before opening the email itself, like: Promo for [name journalist].

Follow-Up Email

Unfortunately, many emails you send out will go unanswered. Don't get discouraged by this. It happens to everyone. If you don't get an answer, it's ok to remind someone that you sent them a message. I usually do this about a week after the first message.

Just email them saying something like: "Hey, I'm not sure if you've read my email, but here's a reminder." Then have the original email sent with it. If you still won't hear anything back after the reminder, it's best to leave it. More reminders will only work against you. Otherwise, you will get known as that annoying artist. You won't want to be that kind of an artist.